Support Urgent Hurricane Helene Relief Efforts

Friends of All Hands & Hearts!

In response to Hurricane Helene, All Hands and Hearts (AH&H) is 12 months into an initial12 month commitment to a long-term U.S. relief program in the heavily damaged Asheville, NC area.  We have provided months of debris cleanup and stabilization services, plugged our volunteers into community distribution sites, and fully transitioned into long term home repairs.  Our current expectation is to provide critical home repairs until at least April 2026 - 19 months of work in total begun immediately following the disaster that was Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina.

Our most recent program highlights and achievements include:  welcoming four new Site Supervisor Trainees and one Associate Construction Manager; putting out our first bids to local contractors for our newest grant; completing our sixth consecutive Chainsaw Training program; welcoming volunteers for a large community improvement project with corporate sponsor, Traveler’s; finishing the Swannanoa flower shop restoration project; and working on homeowner outreach for more rebuild projects.  

Program Accomplishments

206 Response Jobs Completed:

•  31 Debris Removals
•  75 Mold Sanitations
• 100 Muck & Guts

Note:  We have completed six Chainsaw Training cohorts for staff and volunteers that are looking for that type of expertise which is highly sought after - especially in the early response phase.

15 Long-Term Recovery Work In-Progress:

• 8 Recovery Homes completed
• 5 Recovery Homes in-progress
• 2 Special projects

Community Partners

• CORE - Lead partner in a mobile home community restoration project.
• Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat  Center - Local faith-based hotel and retreat complex where we provided post-disaster repair work and where we have our residential base.
• Land of the Sky United Church - Local church partner active in case management activities.
• Mountain Projects - Local community action agency serving as a local recovery group for the long-term recovery of Western NC communities affected by Hurricane Helene. 
• Savage Ops - Local grassroots distribution center for non-food items that we have been supporting with volunteers.
• Team Rubicon - Long-time national partner that was piloting a service learning program and shared some of their volunteers with us.
• Toolbank - Long-time national partner that provides free tools for our recovery work.

Program Challenges

• Relocation of Residential Base - within the seasonal resort where we have our base of operations and our residential accommodations, we are outfitting a new area in the heated part of the facility to accommodate our staff & volunteers for the remainder of the program.
• Development of a Mold Sanitation SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) with other U.S. programs to provide to individual homeowners and for community training on demand.
• Staffing - with two large recovery grants awarded recently, we are actively looking to hire several program positions.

Our Impact To Date

• 1,163 # ofIndividuals impacted
• 154  # of Homes with completed response and recovery work
• 293 # of Residential Volunteers
• 59   # of Day Volunteers
• 350 # of Volunteers in total
• 20,062  # of Volunteer Hours (the equivalent of $702,170 in donated labor at $35/per hour)

Note:  While we have only completed work on 221 homes out of the projected 300 we hope to ultimately complete, with a total of 1,163 individuals impacted already that exceeds our projections of 800 served in total.

Volunteer Feedback

“For the first time in a long while, I feel like something I’ve done has had a real impact on people.  I’m very grateful to have had this opportunity.”

With deep affection and gratitude for the generosity of the GlobalGiving community, Thank You!  All Hands & Hearts

Links:

• https://allhandsandhearts.org/our-work/programs/north-carolina-hurricane-helene-relief