Support A Community's Lifeline Through Hurricane Helene

My name is Auden and I am a student at UNC Asheville. Leaving the nest and starting a new, collegiate life has been made much easier, thanks to the great friends I've made, finding routine, and diving into life in my new Asheville community. All of this came to a grinding halt when Hurricane Helene showed up. Suddenly our classes were canceled, I was stuck in my dorm watching trees pull out of the ground. And even then we couldn’t escape the chaos of water damage, landslides, and lack of power, water, and internet. The only constant I had through this was my friend group who fled together, and the Mom of one of them; Ms. Heather Hopey.

Ms. Hopey had turned into Mom away from Mom, for all of us. Every Sunday, she would have us over for a family meal, and was always there providing comfort and support, knowing she was just up the road if we needed anything.

Heather Hopey owns two stores in the Asheville area; Hopey & Co. Her stores focus on the needs of her community and supporting NC products. With the help of our group of friends, we supported Ms. Hopey to get the store’s contents to donation distribution spaces. She is heartbroken and devastated, while keeping her flame of community alive. All the while, providing us with water, food, hygiene products, bedding, and her home. The stores were able to open on Monday enough to manage customers, but not without the sheer fear of looting.

She, on top of everything, worked to find a way for all five of my friends to get home, reaching out across the East Coast. Once we were all safely out of harm’s way, our focus turned to it being our turn to help Ms. Hopey. With access to the internet, I want to secure funds to ensure the livelihood of Ms. Hopey and her family survive and thrive.

She has worked tirelessly with churches, hotels, and food trucks—really anything with working cooking equipment—to get all the perishable foods cooked and distributed to everyone in the area, all at her expense. She hopes to salvage inventory for cash to help keep the community she cares about in this unprecedented time.

This was a devastating event for our community and their family's livelihood. They can use all the help they can get. Please consider donating, or at the very least, spreading this message to help this single mom and business owner.

Video of Asheville's Devastation

Hopey And Company