ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — In a massive show of resilience for downtown Asheville, over 100 small business owners filed into a conference room yesterday morning to plan for the way forward.
828newsNOW livestreamed the event. Watch it here.
The Asheville Downtown Association orchestrated the gathering, held from 10 to 11:30 a.m. yesterday, Oct. 11, at Mojo Coworking, 81 Broadway St.
Hayden Plemmons, Executive Director of the ADA, opened the meeting with a moment of silence for the businesses and people that were affected by the Hurricane Helene disaster.
“I invite everyone to take a brief moment to hold space for ourselves and our neighbors, who have been deeply affected,” Plemmons said.
The next speaker, Asheville City Council member Maggie Ullman, echoed Plemmons’ call for empathy amid the hardship of Helene.
“I encourage everybody to check in with themselves when you need to. This is really hard,” Ullman said. “Personally, I’m oscillating between numb, shocked, despair, sad.”
However, Ullman did not dwell in those feelings. Instead, she sought to share positive news with the room.
“I’m gonna talk about things I’m feeling really pumped about right now,” Ullman said. “The first thing, we have connected the bypass line to the water distribution center at 1 a.m. this morning.”
That milestone is the first step to restoring water access to Asheville after Helene destroyed the water treatment facility at the North Fork Reservoir.
Read more about what the restoration process looks like at North Fork Reservoir here.
Other news that Ullman shared was for business owners uncertain about reopening and facing difficulties at home.
“If you are experiencing major flood damage or other stuff from the actual storm or flooding, we have emergency permits available with no fees,” Ullman said. “If you’re needing electrical support to get electricity back into your home, there’s on-call support through our building department to work with you to get on-demand.”
Ullman invited the business owners to contact her directly.
“I don’t know if I can solve your problem, but I can help get your email to the right people,” Ullman said. “I can connect you a lot quicker if you’re getting slow response from the city side of things.”
Bekah Wallace, Community Investments Manager for Mountain BizWorks, spoke about the aid her organization could provide to the crowded room.
“This is the most business owners I’ve seen in one place in a long time,” Wallace remarked.
Mountain BizWorks is offering rapid loans to small businesses impacted by Helene. There is no minimum credit score to apply and all resources are listed in English and Spanish. The loan application is collected in a resource page on the Mountain BizWorks website called WNC Strong, which includes other disaster relief opportunities.
“I’m really happy to share there’s a lot of active conversations going on about additional funding streams like grants,” Wallace added.
One of those grants is the Always Asheville Fund, organized by Explore Asheville.
The grant fund was announced by explosive flair by Vic Isley, President and CEO of Explore Asheville.
“Forgive me if this offends anyone, but the last week felt like ‘Oh, f–,” Isley quipped.
Isley shared that the Tourism Development Authority, which runs Explore Asheville, had also been hit hard by “the devastating personal, natural and economic loss from Helene.” However, she had been inspired by the response Asheville had to the disaster.
“We are heartened by the gumption, the grit and sense of community of this place and people,” Isley said.
Isley and Explore Asheville decided that the best way to give back to the community was through two charity efforts. The first was the Luke Combs and Eric Church-headlining Concert for Carolina, of which Explore Asheville is a $1 million sponsor. The second was the Always Asheville Fund.
The fund is intended to “help our small, independent travel and hospitality businesses across the county to recover” by awarding “emergency micro grants.”
“Grants, not loans,” Isley reiterated.
The fund had reached $500 thousand by Thursday morning.
WNC Strong, Concert for Carolina and the Always Asheville Fund, in addition to the other relief efforts discussed in the meeting, can be found listed here.
Representatives from FEMA were also present at the meeting. For help with FEMA applications, visit A. C. Reynolds High School, 1 Rocket Dr. to speak in-person with a FEMA agent.