Support Boone's Resilient Community Recovery

Hello everyone, my name is Natalie Velez. I am on here to come out and talk about the travesties that have hit not only my college town, but Asheville, North Carolina as well. I currently live in Boone and am gracious enough to have lived through such a travesty. My friends and many of my peers are being forced to leave their apartments and evacuate Boone due to Hurricane Helene. As many of you may not know, Boone does already have a lack of housing for members who go to the school and need a place to live. Because of this, many of the people who have been evacuated from their homes are unable to find a place to live. I am devastated to hear that many of my friends are homeless and in need of food and water. Unfortunately, one of my very close friends had to evacuate her home that was not only hit by Hurricane Helene but the tornado that had hit Boone as well. She is unable to make it even 100 feet away from her home as it is in such deadly conditions. Anything that you can do to not only help members in my college town will be greatly appreciated. It is important to note that these funds will go to individuals in direct need of funding to be able to live a "normal" life again.