Jimmy  Darts

SB Mowing

Pattie Gonia

Little Miss Flint

Kalina Silverman / @makebigtalk on Instagram

The Dogist

Patriotic Kenny Foundation

Samuel Weidenhofer

Peter Bond

That Good News Girl

Ben Saunders - Flawless Cleaning

Flavor Flav

Ask Uncle Jack

Amy Jandrisevits

FowlMouthFarmer

Tess Bohne

Latonja and Taylor Richardson

Officer Richard Craig

John Wolfe

Khloe

<div>Akira Satake is one of our favorite people and artists. He's been a mentor to our son and a creative inspiration to us and countless others across the world. He is truly a one-of-a-kind artist, musician and person. We are deeply saddened to hear what he, his family and his community are going through and are happy to help in supporting their recovery.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Message from our friend Akira Satake
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>This September, my life changed shockingly and irrevocably when Hurricane Helene swept a path through Western North Carolina. My ground floor ceramics gallery and studio, located in Asheville's River Arts District, was inundated by flooding from the nearby French Broad River, the building submerged in water up to the middle of the second story. My employees and I were able to move about half of my pottery out before the full force of the storm hit, but all the equipment—kiln, wheel, tools, and materials—as well as furniture and hundreds of pots and all my work in progress, are now destroyed.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>It will be a long road to recovery, with many months, maybe a year, to reorganize and rebuild what I've lost, if it's even possible. I will be losing these next three months of sales during what is normally the busiest time of year. I need to make sure my amazing studio assistants and gallery employees are able to continue to earn a living while we comb through the wreckage and start to rebuild.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I moved to Western NC from Brooklyn, NY 21 years ago, with my wife Cynthia, finding here exactly what I'd been seeking in order to nurture my evolving ceramics practice. I fell in love with the beauty of the land and the wonderful community of creative people I found here. Inspired, I built a pottery studio in my home in Swannanoa and, several years later, was able to establish myself and my work here, in a 1600 square foot studio/gallery close by the French Broad River, that was the heart and soul of my life's work.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Now it seems that to continue with this work, I need to ask for your help.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>To try and get things going we are setting our goal at $80,000 but in reality our expenses from the damage amount to $304,330.00 upon initial estimate. Below is everything we can see that has been destroyed. This is everything that made our business run, the biggest missing item of course is the gallery space itself we do not yet know if this building can function again in time or if we will have to find somewhere else.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Our life is completely turned upside down now and ... we are the lucky ones. We have neighbors who have lost everything. We will be helping each other locally as a community while we all reach out to our larger community and ask for help. We would be so grateful for any assistance in getting our life and work back on track. Every bit helps and I hope to be bringing you more work and pots and workshops soon.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>With immense gratitude,
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Akira Satake"
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>An itemized list of losses
</div>
<div>2 Shimpo pottery wheel $3500
</div>
<div>Skutt Kiln $6000
</div>
<div>Furnitures $18000
</div>
<div>Video and camera equipment $5000
</div>
<div>Pottery $30000
</div>
<div>Sculpture $38000
</div>
<div>Greenware (in fired pots) $3000
</div>
<div>Clay $3000
</div>
<div>Canceled workshop $36000
</div>
<div>Next three months of gallery sales $75000
</div>
<div>Packing materials $1200
</div>
<div>Office tools $3500
</div>
<div>Square processor for credit card $300
</div>
<div>TV $300
</div>
<div>Pottery tools small $2800
</div>
<div>slab roller, $2500
</div>
<div>Banding wheels x 22 $680
</div>
<div>Rolling pins x22 $400
</div>
<div>Carpenter tools $4000
</div>
<div>Paintings $8000
</div>
<div>Refrigerator $600
</div>
<div>Ware carts x11 $10000
</div>
<div>Shipping station $1800
</div>
<div>Wooden boxes from Japan $5000
</div>
<div>Payment to my employees for next 3 month $30000
</div>
<div>Cleaning expenses $5000
</div>
<div>Lighting $3000
</div>
<div>Music station $650
</div>
<div>Office supplies $ 1200
</div>
<div>Hot water dispenser $1200
</div>
<div>Kitchen equipment and supplies $2500
</div>
<div>Signs $800
</div>
<div>Business cards, club cards, $1400
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Total $304,330.00
</div>

Support Akira Satake's Recovery After Hurricane Helene

<div>Hi, my name is Jason and as some of you may already know, I was recently diagnosed with End-Stage Renal Disease.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>A.K.A: Kidney failure.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>It's taken a lot for me to put this information out in the open as I am typically kept to myself until you get to know me, but it has come to a point where I've deemed it necessary to do so.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Due to complications at birth and needing to have one kidney taken out at that time, I have lived my entire 33 years with just one and have been more than fine for the most part.
</div>
<div>In recent years, I got caught up in my career (as a young adult does) and regrettably left my health on the back burner. After a couple years of traveling, my beautiful best friend and I bought our first home in April of 2021 and got married in October of 2022. Life was going very well!
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>In an unfortunate turn of events and a few nights in the hospital later, I ended up leaving the job I thought would take care of me. When in actuality, it turned out to be a big factor in my rapid decline.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>After a long overdue visit with my new primary care physician, I received an alarming call that my lab work showed my only kidney was hustling at just<strong> 6%</strong>!
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I was immediately scheduled to have a permacath placed in my heart to begin quick access dialysis. As if that wasn't fun enough- dialysis triggered an onset on seizures which sent me to a neurologist where I spent several months experimenting with medications until we finally found one that didn't cause me to have essential tremors.
</div>
<div>(Luckily?) Instead of the tubes hanging off my chest, I now have a fistula where a vein was fused to an artery in my arm and now get two needles poked into it to fulfil my dialysis treatments.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>So, within the past 2 years I have gotten married, purchased a home with a mortgage, lost my job with insurance, gained 6 specialty doctors (Nephrologist, Neurologist, Endocrinologist, Dermatologist, Urologist and Cardiologist), Have been prescribed 8 new medications, (don't ask me to spell those!) and now have mandatory dialysis treatments for 3 hours at a time, 3 days a week in order to keep me alive.
</div>
<div>People aren't kidding when they say life can turn on a dime.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Finding a new job under these circumstances has been a defeating task and has thus far led to no avail. Although I qualify for disability, if you live in America, you are probably aware of how efficient and prompt our social security administration can be. Especially post Covid.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>My wife and I have made it through the past 6 months with her job, our savings, and the help of our amazingly, incredible friends and family.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Even though I am required to obtain Medicare due to having ESKD, the monthly premium was too much for us to afford at a time and I unfortunately lost my Part B and D coverage which is required for medical care (like dialysis), doctor visits, prescriptions, and to be enrolled on the national kidney transplant waiting list. This has been a detrimental event for my care.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The social worker at my dialysis center is working diligently to have this corrected and with their guidance, I have applied for additional help through the American Kidney Fund.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>However, the estimated time this will take is currently unknown and we were told to be prepared for covering all costs ourselves until July. As I am writing this, we are currently in January.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>At this time, we owe <strong>$10,254</strong> in accrued medical bills and are expecting to owe an additional average amount of <strong>$853</strong> <strong>each month</strong> for my dialysis treatments alone. This would be with insurance and the high hope that I will be able to get Medicare Part B back very soon. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>This is the cherry on top of my medication cost (<strong>$75</strong> per month), mandatory specialist visits (<strong>$230</strong> per month), our mortgage <strong>($1,560</strong> per month) and all other bills (<strong>~1,736.19</strong> per month for both Shawna and I). 
</div>
<div>At this time, my primary need for help is for dialysis treatments. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>If you've made it this far, please give yourself a pat on the back for however many times you've read the word "Dialysis".
</div>
<div>And please consider donating to this fundraiser.
</div>
<div>I really appreciate you taking the time to visit this page and would be immensely grateful for your help and support during this extremely challenging time in my life.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>If you are not able to make a donation, please consider sharing this page on your social media platforms to reach the eyes of others. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I am also searching for a living kidney donor! If you or someone you know may be interested in sharing your spare, <strong><em>PLEASE</em></strong> reach out and Shawna can walk you through the process!
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>You can also visit my site on the National Kidney Registry for more information here: <a href="https://www.nkr.org/BZK463" target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.nkr.org/BZK463</a>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I'll owe you a kidney! ;)
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Stay positive out there and have a great day!!
</div>
<div>Thank you!
</div>

Wilma-Maria Conway

Wilma-Maria Conway

What they care about

Featured causes

About me