Help Don Andrews Rebuild Hughes Easels

Hello, my name is Brandie and my dad is Don Andrews, owner of Hughes Easels. I wanted to share some recent events with those that know my dad. He’s the kind of person that would do anything for anyone at the drop of a hat but will be struggling himself and yet never ask for help. So I’m doing this to try to help him recover and get him back to what he loves doing most❤️

Hughes Easels has been dedicated for the last 40 years to creating and evolving a state-of-the-art easel for his beloved artist community.

But the last few weeks have really turned our world upside down! We have been impacted by not just one but two hurricanes. On September 26, Hurricane Helene came through and brought a substantial amount of storm surge that flooded the building with 30” of saltwater. Immediately after, we started the cleanup process. We worked from early morning to night because we knew the longer his equipment sat in saltwater, the more it would deteriorate.

I guess that was just a practice run because about 10 days later, we received news that we needed to start preparing for another one! On October 9, Hurricane Milton roared right through and really complicated the situation!! The morning after, my dad eagerly went to check on his workshop and was blown away when he saw that it had taken on another 45” of water. It was a disaster.

The saltwater destroyed thousands of dollars of manufacturing equipment, office equipment, a large inventory of hardwoods and hardware, along with his forklift, which he uses to receive materials and ship finished products. Honestly, when it comes to water damage, nothing was spared. Unfortunately, flood insurance was never seen as a necessity due to the shop not being in a flood-prone area, so the expense of it wasn’t justified. Locals have never seen this amount of storm surge in over 100 years. Below are some pictures of before and after the storms.

If you’re at all able to help and support him rebound from this catastrophe so he can continue to live his dream, serving the artist community and doing what he loves, we would be beyond grateful