18/12/2024
8:40am 12/18 update
Some hard truths are setting in for Western NC as we approach the landmark of 90 days Post-Helene.
Mutual aid organizers on the ground are hitting the wall with burnout. Our nervous systems are fried as so many of us struggle to meet our own needs and the ongoing, emergent needs of our neighbors and friends. Meanwhile, interest and energy from the outside world that was present in the immediate aftermath of the storm — interest and energy that literally helped to pull us out of the water and the mud and saved countless lives — has tapered off, now that we are old news, buried under the cycle of perpetual, global crisis.
There’s the return of that familiar fear from the Before Times: scarcity. A collective sense of unease, shared in silence, as we watch supplies dwindle along with boots on the ground, even while the deluge of needs remains constant and evolving and is no less critical. I’ve been saying since the first week that the second wave of catastrophe for our region would be economic, and it sucks to watch that prediction unfold.
Our fate from day one was sealed as part of the same story that is as old as time for our ancestors in the Appalachian mountains. The government, as they always do, did the bare minimum to satisfy only their own bureaucratic measures before leaving us to fend for ourselves.
Time and time again in my life I have been radicalized by witnessing the abandonment of Western NC by entities that hold resources and power like the government, major nonprofit organizations, political party apparatus, social justice organizations, and so on. Well, except for when they are using us as a political prop — a literal chess piece in their silly little game — to leverage for the purpose of consolidating power further as they pave the way for the next chapter in the unfolding of fascism.
To date, the state’s financial commitment to rebuilding after Helene has been meager, totaling just 2% of the now estimated to be over $59billion that is needed. Helene is the second-deadliest hurricane to strike the United States mainland in the past 50 years, and our state can’t even muster up a measly 5% of the recovery costs?! The latest “relief bill” sets aside a mere $225million in the Helene reserve fund for disaster response that can’t even be used until lawmakers appropriate it to specific purposes, which they likely won’t do until 2025.
That $225million just sitting in reserve from this latest so-called relief bill COULD HAVE provided over 134,000 households with rent money for the month of December — which is still only HALF of the number that have applied for temporary federal shelter assistance. Instead, previous rounds of state funding (just $1 million for rental assistance) amounted to two months of rental assistance for fewer than 300 Western NC households. Meanwhile in congress, there’s only two days left of this session, and they have yet to issue disaster relief aid to those affected by hurricanes Helene or Milton. This isn’t just a failure due to incompetence… this is overt violence.
A quick rundown of some numbers:
- 100+ lives lost in NC, more than any other state impacted by this storm.
- roughly 16,000 displaced
- More than 17,000 unemployment claims; Buncombe County’s unemployment rate has climbed to include almost 1 out of every 10 people
- 2,500+ businesses in NC applied for Damaged Property Loans with the Small Business Administration // only 11 businesses received loans so far
If it seems like we’re still asking for a lot of help, this is why. We need SO MUCH help still, and the most help we can count on is from each other — while our government fails us over and over.
We desperately need your help to survive this next dark layer of hell. With a shortage of supplies and boots on the ground, the most impactful things you can do are:
1. organize a work crew of 4+ people to come in for a planned day (OR MORE!) of labor
2. organize a collection drive in your area to collect supplies and drop them in WNC — the most needed items by mutual aid networks are on the following slides
Please DM me or email rednecksrising @ gmail (rednecks is PLURAL!) for questions or to schedule volunteer days/donation drop-offs.
So much love, gratitude, and solidarity.
Chels w/ Rednecks Rising
Antifascist, antiracist, anticapitalist, ADHD Appalachian podcast.
