Help Stuart's Family Rebuild After Hurricane

My name is Danielle, and I am a coworker of Stuart Pacheo! Stu and his family were recently affected by the destruction Hurricane Helene brought to Western North Carolina. They lost their home and cars, surviving with the shirts on their backs and the memory of fearing for their life in the face of Mother Nature.

As a Trader Joe’s family, we want to help him and his wife rebuild their life in the place they call home by helping fund a new house and cars. Thank you for any help you can offer!

Below are Stu and his wife’s experience in their own words:

After being married for 36 years and living in the same home for 27, and caretaking for my wife’s mother, who passed in January, for almost 10, we were looking forward to finally having time to do the things we never got to do. During Helene we went next door to escape the rising flood waters and made our way to the second floor. Over the next 5 hours we watched everything we ever worked for wash away. Our home crashed into my wife’s mother’s home as we clung to it, hoping someone would rescue us. No one was coming. We hit our knees and started praying as our home almost took out the foundation of my MIL’s home and the walls collapsed. At this point water had reached the second floor. We hung sheets out the window to signal for help, then we waited and prayed. Suddenly, the waters started to recede and we were finally able to climb out and flag down a passer by who picked us up and took us to safety. Once we got to dry land, people turned us away again and again. Finally, the Double Tree up town took us in with no power or water. We have been here since with no real plan of what comes next.