01/04/2026
$60b in damages, 39 counties, 53,000 meals, countless hugs
I had the vision for this book in the days after the September 2024 hurricane here in Western North Carolina. The storm destroyed $60 billion worth — homes, businesses, roads, and forestland across 39 counties and the Qualla Boundary. The storm drove floodwaters 30 feet high. The storm killed neighbors.
The vision came to me before I could make it out of my neighborhood past downed trees and power lines, a couple weeks before we got power back, nearly two months before clean running water returned, and several months before I could get my damaged home repaired. All of us — more than two dozen talented writers and artists from across the region — created it under trying circumstances.
I think that passion shows in the book. That’s the emotion I wanted to capture, to document, to offer.
The book launched on February 18, 2024 — less than five months after the storm.
In each of the dozen or so book events we’ve hosted, at least one person hugs me and tells me the poems, artwork, and essays have helped them process their trauma.
The truth is, they’ve helped me process mine too.
We’re donating all our profits to the recovery effort. Last week we sent more funds to heroes at a local food bank, who tell us our donations, so far, have let them provide 53,000 meals. Local stores that sell our book have seen a needed bump to their bottom line during a tough time here — to put it mildly — for business owners.
There’s more to do. The current federal administration’s policies make it far harder to recover than it should be, far harder than it would have been before the new policies. That’s not controversy, that’s not partisanship, that’s just the lived experience and common knowledge here in this decidedly mixed area, regardless of political affiliation. People still struggle, bridges are still broken, flood-ravaged buildings still sit crumbling.
Yet it is also true that just a year and a few months out, things are far better than I thought possible. Thank goodness, tourists are enjoying restaurants, getting married here, and hiking Blue Ridge vistas again. We welcome them with open arms. Visitors have a great time while honoring the hard work it’s taken to get to this point. Here in the mountains, and grateful for help from afar, together we are stronger than the storm.
Stronger Than The Storm: Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina https://a.co/d/8avtkF2
