Help Hendersonville NC Heal from Hurricane Helene October 04 2024, 14 Comments

My name is Victoria Price. I am Vincent Price's daughter -- and the keeper of the Price Family Legacy.

In 2016, I became a nomad.

In March 2020, I checked into an AirBNB cottage in Hendersonville, North Carolina. That was the day the world locked down. I spent nine months in a town of 16,000 where I knew no one. But I quickly met lovely people like my new neighbor Val, with whom I shared a driveway. We stood six feet apart and talked about the world and planted a garden together. I met my fellow dog walkers as I wandered the streets and found fellow nature lovers as I explored the Blue Ridge Mountains by car.

In January 2021, I found another much smaller AirBNB, a carriage house in a small historic neighborhood. There I met more incredible people who have become some of my dearest friends.

The longer I stayed, the more I loved Hendersonville, North Carolina. Although I have returned somewhat to my nomad life, my home base is now there, surrounded by the most incredible neighbors and community.

Our community took a huge hit from Hurricane Helene. As I write this, many neighborhoods, including ours, still have no power or potable water.

Val has a tree through her bedroom, Joan is still trying to get the tree off her house without having the power lines come down on everything. Mike & Brit's daughter lost everything including her car in the floods. Our pet store, Barker's Anonymous, is gone! I have been pulling five 100-foot trees out of the roof of the home I recently remodeled for Louis. It is decimated.

These are just a few stories.

But the real story are the people.

My neighbors Sean and Evie who grill for our neighbors every night. Susanne who made pots of soup from all the food about to go bad in our fridges. Kathy who helped her dentist salvage what he could from the mud. The other Kathy who somehow showed up with fresh guacamole just when I thought I might never see a fresh vegetable again. Tom who is handing out water every day. Joe who stopped getting the water out of his own basement to come help at Louis' house.

People like these are why I am putting together a benefit to help Hendersonville heal.

I am so grateful to the Community Foundation of Henderson County for helping to make this happen. Their Mud & Flood Fund will launch soon -- to help individuals and small business owners whose insurance policies are not covering this type of damage.

We will be raising funds for individuals and small businesses who cannot get any help from their insurance companies. Mud or flood is not covered and folks have lost everything.

We are setting up a webpage where folks can make online donations and bid on cool stuff donated for an online auction.

On October 30, Hendersonville's kids will create a Thriller Flash Mob as families, friends and businesses celebrate HENDOWEEN with music, movies, food, fun, and other cool stuff!

More details will follow about the auction/event/fund, so please stay tuned. Check back here for more info and a link to our FB Event page.

We are proud to be supported by North Carolina's own Mad Monster & Famous Monsters. Please read Eben McGarr's statement here:

"For over 13 years, Mad Monster has celebrated horror and pop culture in North Carolina. Our NC community and family are second to none, so much so that we relocated our base of operations here two years ago. As we all scrambled to check on each other and coordinate how to best navigate relief effort, Victoria reached out with the plan and we are proud and honored to partner with her. Professionally and artistically, she's inspiring, having known her personally for over a decade, she's amazing. Famous Monsters' relationship with her dad goes back even further. Our families have a long distinguished history of uniting monster kids and we are committed to continuing the legacy."

Everyone affected by Hurricane Helene is trying to find ways to move forward with hope and healing.

ALL FUNDS RAISED WILL HELP INDIVIDUALS & SMALL BUSINESSES IN HENDERSON COUNTY SEVERELY IMPACTED BY HURRICANE HELENE.

This is my small way of trying to help Hendersonville rebuild.

Thank you in advance for helping Hendo heal!

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