Support Paulette and Nola's Journey to Recovery

Our dear friend Paulette Sokolow lost everything in Helene at her home north of Asheville, NC.

On September 27th and 28th, Helene ravaged Western North Carolina. The area of Barnardsville was devastated by raging flood waters that some say had the strength of Niagara falls. Our dear friend, Paulette Sokolow, lives there. She and her pup, Nola, were out of town for a vet visit, and that is what saved their lives. The pump house and studio were torn in half and moved across the yard, with a large tree resting on top. The cottage was inundated with over 4 feet of water with four large trees on top. The back section of the house was moved and cracked. Mud now occupies the entire crawl space. The full acre of land is covered with up to 3 feet of river sand. Eight years of creating a sustainable garden is destroyed. Where there was once topsoil and edibles, there is now only sand and rocks. Debris from other places is scattered everywhere. Her entire store of firewood, the only heat source, is gone. The 2004 CRV is full of mud. She was left with her pup, her small car and the clothes on her back.

We know Paulette from the work she has done and continues to do in Nicaragua. She lived in a small community in the mountains near Esteli and worked with the local community members with seed saving and organic farming practices. She has worked on Hurricane relief efforts to feed whole villages in Nicaragua more than once. In the US, she works as an ESL teacher and helps migrant families in communities near Asheville who have been displaced from their own countries. When she was finally able to access her house, she arrived to find a group of immigrants from Guatemala ready to help her get all her soaked belongings out of the house and begin ripping out walls.

It is estimated that it will take many thousands more than she will be allotted from aid sources in order to move displaced buildings, rebuild a driveway, rebuild the retaining walls (boulders were washed away!), rebuild the water system and electrical system, put on a new roof and restore her home to a livable condition, so that she can begin rebuilding the gardens and the lifestyle that sustains her. She needs help to do this.

Please join us in helping someone who has done so much for others over the years. It's an honor to be able to help a friend in need.