Support Lorraine's and Jason's Family After Hurricane Helene

Greetings to all of you wonderful people. This is Janice and Francis Dauw on the Big Island. We have started a GoFundMe page for our daughter, Lorraine Dauw Gladden, her husband, Jason, and their three sons, William, Garrison, and Anders.

Lorraine and her family live in Asheville, North Carolina, and like the entire community, Hurricane Helene's disastrous impact continues to have a ripple effect on their lives. They do have homeowners insurance, but because the city of Asheville is at 2,385 feet and their home is built up against a hill, they did not have flood insurance.

Four huge old oak trees fell in their yard, two on their house, and one on their shed and chicken coop. The weight of the trees on the roof caused the main rafters and support beams to split and the roof to leak. The hillside gave way, and the basement and the main floor of the house were flooded. They have had a licensed contractor look at the damage; he estimated $60,000 for repairs on the house. Lorraine and Jason are handy and plan to do much of the inside repairs themselves, but the cost of dealing with all the tree cleanup is monumental, not to mention the new roof and new flooring needed throughout the entire house due to flooding.

Thus far, FEMA has given them enough money to make their home “liveable,” which was $3,000 for flood repairs. Lorraine and Jason are negotiating with the insurance companies to cover more of the damage caused by the trees; however, to date, coverage has been largely insufficient to repair all of the damage.

On a different note, Jason and Lorraine run two warehouse liquidation stores that sell bargain foods and household supplies. Both stores were doing well before Hurricane Helene. Unfortunately, the storm knocked out power and closed roads. Once roads were cleared and the stores could reopen, lack of power prevented the use of debit or credit cards and threatened significant loss of refrigerated and frozen products. When community members couldn’t access cash, and the lights were out, Lorraine and Jason donated perishable goods and had shoppers use headlamps to find needed supplies. A steady flow of people arrived at their doors begging for food and supplies; Lorraine and Jason eventually donated over $100,000 of product to help support their community in crisis.

Francis and I have been thinking about how we can help Lorraine and her family, and quite a few people suggested this GoFundMe platform.

So here we are, asking family, friends, and other generous folks to share if they can. Lorraine and her family have taken a huge hit. They know they will survive, but even the smallest donation helps. One of the biggest lessons we have learned during our many years of living is that generosity and kindness come back to you when you most need it.

If you can't make a financial donation, please feel free to contact Lorraine. She has shared that hearing from people who care has had a positive impact on tackling feelings of overwhelm and stress.

Thank you very much for any and all donations!! Please know that any donations will be used specifically for materials and labor costs accrued as Lorraine and Jason rebuild their home from the damage caused by Hurricane Helene.