A call for help
Western North Carolina is in desperate need right now.
Asheville, NC is a special place for us. About eight years ago, while Allison was pregnant with our first child, we decided to break the news to our niece Susan that she was going to be a big cousin. Asheville was the backdrop, and a beautiful one at that.
We were visiting their family who live in nearby Appalachian Mountain town called Waynesville. We walked along the French Broad River by the New Belgium Brewery, and told her the big news. She’s going to have a new cousin!
She was confused. We gave her another clue. Her cousin’s parents’ names are Tom and Allison…
Here’s a screenshot of the moment, just before it all clicked for her.
Her face lit up and looked at Auntie Allison.
“You have a baby!”
Yep. Allison had a baby in her tummy the size of a peanut, we told her.
It’s right there.
“REEALLY!? Hooray!!” she beamed.
I’m glad my brother-in-law John had his video camera going on his iPhone. It captured a beautiful moment in our lives, something we’ll replay again and again.
But I also want to draw your attention to the river that we walked along.
It’s so far down the hill you can’t even see the water. But it’s there.
And this tunnel here. It must’ve been 20 feet below our sidewalk.
Here’s what that walkway, some 30 feet above the French Broad River, looked like after Hurricane Helene:
We get the question all the time.
Why Charlotte?
There are a few reasons, but the biggest one is family. Raising a family is hard, but it’s a little easier when your own family is around. Those extra hands come in handy. In Miami, we didn’t have that.
Allison and I had family on both sides in the Charlotte area. My parents were set to retire in North Carolina, just down the road in the Sandhills. I have cousins in Charlotte. My wife’s older sister, her only sibling, lives in Waynesville, a town of 10,000 people. She lives with her husband, a Waynesville lifer, and her two young children.
The city of Charlotte had an NBA team and a busy airport which was nice for me with work.
But being closer to family is the biggest reason why we moved to Charlotte.
Last week, I’ve never felt so far away.
Helene hit Charlotte hard. Lots of rain. Downed trees. I barely slept on Thursday night hearing the howling winds around our tree-lined house. Power went out at 7:30 am last Friday as I was turning on the coffeemaker. Before we knew it, a foot of water filled our basement. I called friends in the neighborhood for help. Water was filling their basements, too. My next-door neighbor, thankfully, had installed a generator just days before the storm. We scrambled and found extension cords to run a small network of power throughout the neighborhood.
Once we got the sump pump got going, the water in my basement slowly drained. Luckily, the rain had stopped and we were OK.
After we caught our breath, we called my wife’s sister in Waynesville. Straight to voicemail. I called her husband. Straight to voicemail. We texted. No response. We looked on the news. Pictures of downtown Waynesville underwater. The interstate that connects us to them, i40, was falling apart. The city of Asheville was unrecognizable.
Call again, maybe they’ll pick up. Straight to voicemail. We saw reports that the cell towers and internet in the entire Western North Carolina was down. I hope that’s why they weren’t picking up.
That’s how it was for two days. And then, suddenly, a text. From our niece, Susan, of course.
“We are ok!”
They were OK. We could exhale. They were at the town rec center, the only place with internet. We eventually got them on the phone. Yes, they were OK. Safe, house in tact. OK. They were trying to contact their friends in town, but no one could use their phones. No one could reach each other. Not just on the phone. The roads were so bad, people couldn’t literally reach their loved ones.
I asked John, who has lived in Waynesville his whole life, how I can help. He forwarded a link to his place of worship First United Methodist Church which is collecting donations for the larger Asheville/Waynesville community. The direct link for monetary donations (select Hurricane Helene) can be found here, if you’re so inclined.
If you prefer the non-church route, here are some options:
Chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen
For my readers in the Charlotte area, I’m passing this along from Resident Culture:
I’m so relieved our family is OK. Those two days, without contact from our loved ones, felt like two weeks. Even now, a week later, some of our friends are still without power, without contact with loved ones. Hundreds are still missing. Houses gone, lives washed away. Water, as twisted as it is, is in short supply.
We are the lucky ones.
Help, if you can.
We love your basketball content - that’s what you do after all - but right now this is so much more important. Glad your family is OK and thanks for sharing.