Greetings from Embrace Humanity! Thank you for your love and contribution towards assisting the citizens and animals in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee who are recovering & rebuilding their lives after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc. Daily we are blessed that God has allowed us to help them. It is an honor to do so and we have you to thank for coming alongside us as partners. We would not be able to do what have without you!

Since we started this Give Send Go campaign so much progress has been made! Here are some highlights:
-    Erin Smith, the tireless leader of our endeavor, decided to make her love of helping people recover from disasters and disruptions in their lives official by starting Embrace Humanity. We have a Facebook account and are working on getting a website online very shortly. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61568526673847
-    We have partnered with some amazing individuals and groups who are also assisting the people of WNC & ETN. We have formed a great network that speaks daily to streamline our efforts to assist victims and in doing so better enable us to respond quickly to meet the growing needs.
-    Some of those we have partnered with are:  Beloved Ashville, Jaks Stables, 828 Helene Relief, ARCC, SFO, GAP, Refuge International, Cotton Patch in Ellenboro, Housing Relief for NC Families, Volunteer Coordinators, Emergency RV, Savage Freedom and more.
-    We have sent out countless Search and Rescue teams and now Search and Recovery teams with and without cadaver dogs.

We have gifted:
•    5 campers each equipped with bedding, kitchenware, a fire extinguisher, a backup generator, a power plug, a power pole, fuel for the generator, a propane grill & fuel, camp chairs, indoor & outdoor floor mats, food and personalized items of décor specifically picked out based on their personal preference.  
•    20 hot tents with cots, a wood stove, indoor and outdoor mats, a fire extinguisher, a carbon monoxide detector, a tarp for under the tent, cold weather sleeping bags, hot hands and feet
•    One month of rent at $975 for a single mom and her child at a campground where her Emergency RV donated camper will be delivered to on Sunday.
•    65 wood burning stoves
•    Diesel heaters for tents and homes that keep the temperature high for up to 16 hours compared to other methods of heating.
•    Dehumidifiers
•    Electric and kerosene heaters for homes
•    Different varieties of batteries
•    Cold weather sleeping bags, blankets, pillows
•    Cots
•    Propane tanks & fuel
•    Kerosene & electric heaters with fuel
•    Chainsaws, replacement chains & fuel
•    Camp chairs
•    Boots
•    Gas for volunteer’s vehicles to deliver donations & assist on their property as well as vitims.
•    Tarps
•    Hand & feet warmers
•    Clothing
•    Flashlights, camp lanterns & headlamps
•    Shovels & brooms
•    Food & water
•    Household supplies
•    Laundry supplies
•    And much more

-    Erin coordinated a driver in Wyoming to pick up a donated camper in Idaho and deliver it to a family in WNC.
-    Erin found out that some farmers who lost their crops desperately needed hay to feed their animals. She went down to the corner store and secured 100 bales of hay and had it delivered to the farmers.
-    Erin was able to get the owner of a large warehouse, AA Storage in Butner, to donate 2 months worth of usage of their warehouse for donations and supplies free of charge. Thank you AA Storage! https://www.aa-self-storage.com/locations/butner-nc/
-    We have partnered with all manner of individuals of all trades and skills forming a think tank and working group to fulfill immediate needs as well as try to predict others that may arise in the future so we can plan for them.
-    We have 4 distribution hubs throughout WNC and we are working on a 5th one.
-    We have area fire departments and sheriff’s offices call us to get hard to get items for their citizens.
-    We have removed the deck and awning from a donated camper & moved it 5 minutes down the road for a recipient.
-    We have found emergency needs like specialty formula or medicines late in the evening and delivered them to the person in need.
-    We have housed & fed countless volunteers and citizens.
-    We have participated in a Trunk or Treat event put on by the Cajun Navy Relief group.
-    We have removed countless downed trees off of people’s property
-    We have arranged the donation of the entire year’s crop of fresh squash valued at $16,000, from a farm in NY, found a trucking company in TN, Danny Herman Trucking from Mountain City, TN, to haul the produce from NY to WNC (Who didn’t charge us for the trucking.), thank you Danny!, found a local farm to keep the produce in their refrigerators, thank you Bottomly Farm!, had Bottomly Farm donate their crop as well, then our volunteers delivered the produce along with 2 weeks’ worth of meat, water, and other food to people in lower income areas. We couldn’t have done it with these wonderful people. Https://dannyherman.com/ and https://www.bottomleys.com/  They have a Christmas tree farm too!
-    We secured & delivered a tankless water heater for a homeowner.
-    We have repaired damaged private bridges, roads and driveways.
-    We have obtained and donated large water filtration systems for groups of people.

Our volunteers have spent countless hours day and night, weekdays and weekends, helping the victims in WNC & ETN get their immediate needs met and prepare for their future needs. We are happy to do so and immensely grateful to you. We are incredibly proud to call you our partners in this Biblical level disaster and recover effort.  

Our needs:
-    Money.  Getting the residents of over 120,000 destroyed homes into safe, climate-controlled housing is an astronomical feat.  Doing so without the assistance of our government or corporate donations in a few weeks before winter sets in is near impossible.  But, we know that nothing is impossible with God.  We need money to purchase construction materials, road building materials. Over 12,000 square miles is a lot territory and a lot of people to help rebuild.
-    Boots on the ground to help with all types of responsibilities. We need volunteers to run donations to people in remote areas or to people who cannot come get them themselves. We need people to help search through and move the massive piles of debris and mud off private property so they can rebuild.  We need teams of construction workers, builders, heavy equipment and operators and truckers. We need medical personnel, food service people, animal husbandry volunteers, vets and vet techs, farmers, farm hands, grant writers, people who can help with organizing and coordinating supplies and supply drops. We need people to cook and serve donated meals. We need people to help with computer work, social media engagement and website assistance. We need mechanics to work on damaged vehicles as well as on donated campers. Most recipients of campers have no idea how to use them or how to maintain them. We need people to assist thousands of business owners figure out how to start again. If it exists, we need help with it.
-    Material donations. We need hot tents, stoves and other supplies to equip the hot tents. Generators, fuel and solar powered everything. We need donations of campers and trailers (near complete value tax write off) as well as parts and equipment for them.  We need donations of vehicles and parts to fix disabled vehicles. We need chainsaws, replacement chains and fuel.  We need diesel heaters and other fueled heaters. We need cold weather equipment for families. We need laundry supplies and money to give to people to get their clothes cleaned at laundry mats. We need parts to properly insulate campers, a lot of hay for the remaining farm animals, medicines and equipment, pet food and supplies, seeds, soil, soil amendments and farm equipment. Businesses need supplies, loans and grants. We need everything that is required to help the victims start their lives all over again with nothing going into winter. If it exists, we probably need it.

A special request for the holidays. We need Christmas and holiday gifts & cards for children and their parents as well as Christmas trees and decorations. We need people to donate food for the holidays and help cook & serve it.  We need people and groups to donate their time and talents for holiday events. We want to make this holiday season a very special one for the victims of Helene and we really need your help to do so.

Coming up, we will share personal stories with you to put names to people you have helped and to restore your hope in humanity.

Thank you, again, for your generosity and kindness.  We couldn’t do what we are to help the people of WNC and ETN without you.

Your friends and partners at Embrace Humanity!

Embrace Humanity Helene Update
 
Hello Dear Friends,

Wow!  What a time has it been! I am very sorry this update is so late in coming. It is hard to pull yourself away from directly assisting victims to do other things. Every person's struggle feels so urgent, and you yearn to ease their suffering immediately. But, communicating with our friends about what we are doing on the ground with the donations you have graciously and lovingly given is equally as important. Your interest, the contribution of your hard-earned money and the love you send along with it, represents your contribution to easing the suffering of the people of Appalachia. You are our partner in this herculean effort to help build back Western North Carolina and I promise to update you weekly on what we all have accomplished. I will tell you about the relationships we have formed with other people doing the same and recount your stories of individuals you have personally helped. Please check back here in the next few days for a more detailed recount of our progress.

May I make a request? Will you please share our updates with your friends and family so they, too, can participate in helping the people of Appalachia? They, too, can hear about how their fellow Americans are successfully recovering & rebuilding their lives after living through the worst disaster ever experienced in the history of our nation. Literally. They can celebrate the progress we are  making and hear us recite about how the love of perfect strangers,  yours, helped those in a dire and heartbreaking situation find the  strength to claw their way back from despair; how your assistance  provided a scaffolding for those who could not stand on their own; how  you gave hope to the hopeless and restored in the hearts of the  Appalachian people a belief in the goodness of humanity. Express how wonderful it feels to help others, even from halfway across the country.  

You, our friends, are making history right now. Cherish it. Share it. Grow it.

It is with sincere love and deep appreciation that we extend to you a huge thank you!

Your fans at Embrace Humanity