Rebuild Hope for Michele and Rob's River Home

*Update: insurance isn’t wanting to cover the main house at all. I raised the goal despite knowing we won’t get there, because I want it to reflect reality. Thank you all so much for your kindness. Every dollar and share has meant everything right now to Michele and Rob.

-Food, water, toiletries/ hygiene products

-cat food, dog food

-clothing

-gas

-batteries

-land leveling

-clearing mud from inside house

-housing repairs

-essential belongings replacement

-miscellaneous fees and services

-etc

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Michele and Rob visited the French Broad River years and years ago. They fell in love with the River and the people. They got to know folks in the area and started visiting and camping there regularly. Eventually, they decided to buy land and build their dream home. It took a long time, but they succeeded in building paradise right on the French Broad. They have made friends with so many people over the years. Even purchased the house next to them, built a cabin for friends and family, built a cabin for Rob’s mother Kay… Tragically, this weekend like so many others, they lost everything to the flooding from Hurricane Helene. The flooding completely washed away 5 of the 6 residences on their property along with all of the houses past theirs on Pond Curve Way and destroyed their primary residence as well.

The waters were rising so Michele, Kay, and my elderly MawMaw who is on oxygen and had a seizure two weeks ago evacuated to a nearby Church on higher ground. Pets were not originally permitted, so Rob stayed back with their dogs. He went to a neighbors house on a bit higher ground to stay the night. We lost all contact at that point. We were hearing the worst that the house Rob was staying in was washed away - no sign of him or the dogs. A close friend of Michele and Rob, who was renting their other full size cabin home, was able to tell me my mom, grandma and Kay were at the church but couldn’t verify Rob and the dogs’ locations.

It was a long day of reading posts scouring for names or photos. My phone rang - caller id showed the number from Ocala FL. I answered. A kind stranger was hiking through, and my mom gave her my phone number to let me know she was ok. When she got to an area with service, she immediately called me. She said Rob got the dogs together and brought them to the church rules be damned and everyone was ok! She said no power though. I was grateful and hung up.

I quickly realized Mawmaw would run out of oxygen soon if she hadn’t already as the concentrator needs electricity to charge and it was surely dead, so I called the fire department and told them where they were. They had to take my Mawmaw out of there on a BOAT, because the roads are flooded or gone. My mom hiked out with another person sheltering for over a mile until they could get to someone with a car to follow Mawmaw to the hospital. I finally heard my mom’s voice for the first time in over a day. Mawmaw was ok, but we needed her to get safely to Charleston. My wife found a flight from Knoxville to Charleston in just a couple hours. I asked my mom if she could get her there within an hour and purchased a plane ticket on the spot. Our family back home received her safely and through the kindness of more strangers, we were able to coordinate getting her a temporary oxygen device until my aunt was able to get her oxygen service transferred to Charleston.

That leads us to now: mom and Rob surrounded by their home in shambles. The first floor is washed away and filled with logs. The ground is all washed away with a damaged and unstable foundation. The second floor flooded but is still intact (my mom was so grateful to recover some of my baby photos). The floors and walls are damaged beyond repair. Four of their residences are gone completely washed into the river (in the photo map #s 2, 3, 4, and 6). The cabin Rob built for his mom is up in some trees destroyed (#5). It will take countless weeks and months to rebuild and recover.

Many of you know Michele whether friend, family or client. She owns a mobile dog grooming business. There are few passable roads. Their road is impassable at the moment. Unsure when they will be able to work again. My goal is to help, in part, raise funds to for for hotel expenses and eventually buy a small RV for them to live in and a generator. Kind strangers have been helping with food, water, dogfood, blankets, clothes and toiletries for the moment. Family has sent money to help purchase the basics. They need to be able to rebuild their lives and not stress about having a roof over their heads or when the business will be able to start back up. My mom said they will NOT be building a new structure on that land. The ground is too soft, the bank is eroded raising likelihood of flooding again. They will be figuring out where to live once all is assessed.

Can you help them? Every $5 helps. Even sharing the Gofundme helps so much to get this in front of others who know and love Rob and Michele. Thank you for reading. They have sent thank yous and love and gratitude through the emergency SOS Link a gracious neighbor is letting them use to send messages. ❤️