This weekend, a devastating hurricane knocked out a large swathe of the Southeast. A superstorm caused by climate change, Hurricane Helene is the largest natural disaster to hit the Carolina region in recorded time. Disaster relief is slow going, and the destruction has been insanely under-covered. Which has left a lot of the immediate response to people on the ground.
Here are a few sources and bookstores(!) reporting and requesting from the front lines. Give these places a follow to contribute to locally grown relief efforts, and find reliable updates about the unfolding tragedy from cultural hubs.
Bitter Southerner
The Georgia based indie publisher has been re-gramming lots of non-profits that could use support, like Beloved Asheville. They’ve also amplified food distribution sites across the affected areas, like this event hosted by World Central Kitchen.
Firestorm Books
The queer feminist collective behind this Asheville bookstore is supporting and facilitating several mutual aid efforts at the moment. Though leaders note they lack the bandwidth to respond to direct emails, texts, or DMs, “Firestorm will continue to act as an in-person resource and information hub over the coming days, with staffing from noon to 4pm. A daily meeting at 2pm serves as a space for neighbors to get verified updates and coordinate mutual aid efforts.” This from their website:
If you would like to donate to grassroots recovery efforts, please send funds to our friends at @MutualAidDisasterRelief (bit.ly/donatemadr or Venmo @/MutualAidDisasterRelief), who are already on the ground, or local organizers (Venmo @AppMedSolid or Cash App $Streets1de with “Flood Support” in the memo), who have been caring for our community 365 days/year.
Main Street Books
Via their frequently updated IG, the Davidson bookstore is linking to crowd-sourced mutual aid efforts, volunteer calls, and disaster FAQs. They’re also hosting a relief drive on site today, for affected locals.
WCNW – FM
The public radio station is updating regularly with intel about supplies, road closures, power outages, water boiling advisories, business hours, places to get WIFI, and supply distribution sites.
The Citizen Times, Asheville
These local heroes are doing some terrific on-the-ground reporting in Asheville and its surrounding area. Reporters have covered all the local non-profit efforts that reached people before federal aid. They’ve also been among the first to cover the USPS delays that could effectively disenfranchise voters in Buncombe County before election day.
We’ll try to update this list with more news and cultural resources as we find them. And stay tuned for other best ways to help!
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