Help the Carpenter-Halbach Family Rebuild After Helene

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Western North Carolina has a long recovery ahead. I grew up in the safety of those mountains and have time and time again fled to them to hide with my family from the storms we see on the coast. Because my large family is there, many friends and community members of mine in Charleston have expressed their eagerness to help, so I am starting the first GoFundMe I’ve ever made, and hoped I never would.

There are many, so please donate where you feel led. The fund I am creating is specific to help my family. We are SO grateful first for the safety of over 15 of my family members who live all over the Asheville area. Most were spared damage and will ride this out with limited utilities, gas, work, cell service. We are standing.

BUT I need help. My big sister Emily and her family of 4 was hit hard and in an area that hadn’t seen flooding in hundreds of years. This has left them to pay for EVERYTHING. No flood insurance and a house torn apart to dry. Bathroom is gone, kitchen is gone, the bottom of each wall is gone. I arrived at their house yesterday and have been in awe of them. At every turn, they have been working through it and sending any help to others. Turning away aid because they were well prepared. Doing the work themselves because they are “able.” They are talking about a huge loan they will have to get on the house but “grateful that could do that.”

Ya’ll, I LOVE MY SISTER and she is SO. DAMN. STRONG. But I don’t want her to always have to be the strong one. The one who turns away help to give it to others. Even with this, she will without a doubt turn around and first make sure all of my siblings' needs are met and my parents' needs are met.

The Carpenter family could use the help to rebuild, and I want to rally for them because I know their need and their hearts.

They also still don’t have internet or cell coverage so I can do this for them NOW.

There are so many needs, so I hope you give where your hearts are led. Giving isn’t always monetary, so prayers and hands are everything too.

Thank you to friends old and new. Please help me share this of nothing else!

Be blessed and stay courageous. :)

Love, Dee