CCA Adds to Its Hurricane Helene Relief Aid
By Risa Shimoda
The next chapter in CCA's commitment to help with Hurricane Helene relief has been written in two parts with some plot twists.
In the first chapter, as recounted in the November-December Cruiser, member contributions totaling about $3,000 plus $500 from the club allowed us to buy 10 large tents and ground cloths. CCA Chair David (Cotton) Cottingham delivered these in his van to the Helene Rebuild Collaborative. Our donation was augmented with dozens of women's sweaters and other high-quality outdoor gear provided by Bo Terry and his team at Sunrift Adventures in Travelers Rest, just north of Greenville, SC.
Member contributions kept on mounting—hence the next chapter. In mid-December, CCA donated $2,000 to French Broad Riverkeeper, a program of MountainTrue, to help purchase a lift dump truck. By contributing to their vehicle (not yet purchased at the time of this writing), we will be helping both their Helene-related recovery and cleanups in the French Broad River watershed for years to come!
Roughly $850 remained. By the end of December, we determined that needs had evolved from shelter to tools to help folks rebuild— literally. We contacted McLean paddler John Bell, former resident of Cabin John, who is a cabinetry and custom carpentry professional to see if he could help us find a way to stretch our funds by purchasing goods at wholesale prices, as we did with the tents. While he is not able to purchase tools that way himself, he had an idea.
Dec. 20: John met me at Christopher's Glen Echo Hardware (on MacArthur Boulevard at Goldsboro Road) to meet the long-time manager, Russ Whitt, who is the nicest gentleman. When Russ heard what we were trying to do, he took us back to his ordering computer, did a bit of searching, and found DeWalt Impact Drill sets he would let us purchase for roughly half of retail. Yes! We ordered eight sets.
John planned to drive to Columbia, SC ,on New Year's Day to help his squirt boating pal (and 2023 World Champion!) Andy Grizzell host the 25th annual Iceman Race on the Saluda River. I asked if Andy happened to know someone from Asheville who would be racing and who could drop our goods off after the race weekend. Andy's brother Curtis and sister in-law Jessica volunteered to help, and we were set! Almost.
Dec. 27: When Russ's order arrived, there were only two DeWalt sets, due to an error by his distributor, and John was about to leave town! Russ knew he would receive the balance of the order a few days later, so he sold us drill sets from his inventory for the sale price, less than what he'd paid for them. He added four boxes of dust masks and two Makita satchels full of safety glasses and work gloves. How much do we love him!?
Jan. 5: This time we identified Beloved Asheville as an organization that seemed to have taken on the role of accepting and distributing Helene-related relief goods. After the their race, Curtis and Jessica loaded up our donations, brought them home to Asheville, and planned to drop them off that week—except that Beloved Asheville was not opening during their stated hours. Their phone message said they were not answering messages and suggested emailing to make a drop off appointment. They did not answer emails. They were overwhelmed.
Jan. 13: We started thinking about other worthy local organizations who would appreciate our donation. Andy suggested a tool library in Hendersonville that serves the Hispanic community. We were about to pivot.
Jan. 16: Curtis and Jessica saw a post that Beloved Asheville would be open for drop-offs! They drove over and made the final handoff, to the joy and relief of us all.
This ended up being quite the saga, but a testament to amazing connections within the paddling community.
Next time you need an item from a hardware store, consider spending an extra buck with Russ at Christopher's Glen Echo Hardware. And if your travels take you down that way, please stop by Sunrift Adventures in Travelers Rest, owned and operated by Bo and other great folks.
Thanks go to all who donated to this Helene Relief effort and to Susan Sherrod for setting up the website, Ginny DeSeau for sending thank you notes to donors, and Marilyn Jones for arranging for payments and reimbursements related to the tents, dump lift truck donation, and impact drills.
Photos (from the top): Cotton (left), Sunrift Adventures' Bo Terry, and a van chock full of tents; Russ Whitt (left) of Christopher's Glen Echo Hardware with Risa Shimoda and John Bell, the patched-together order, and the store's donations; and Jessica Merithew (on the truck) handing off drills and more at Beloved Asheville