Hurricane Helene Business Update | Asheville, North Carolina

I’m sitting in a stuffy office in downtown Asheville and accessing the “free” WiFi that’s available. The connection is slow, too slow for a zoom or teams call. I just took the first “work” call in 10 days using my phone. The 4 of us on the call were in 4 different locations, which isn’t necessarily odd unless you consider the reason for the different locations, which is that one of the most devastating Hurricanes in history catastrophically impacted our homes in Asheville, North Carolina.

This is the story of what’s been happening since then and the furious scramble to obtain and help distribute survival supplies for people across the region.

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Across the street from our headquarters is Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen. And not much further behind that is a makeshift helicopter landing pad. Our offices in downtown Asheville still remain without power and water. But as you know, the World Central Kitchen doesn’t show up unless there is an absolute disaster. And that’s where we are, without question.

In the immediate wake of the storm, we knew our communications were cut off. But we still had a little water. Within 24 hours, the water was gone, power remained off, and we all found out that there was no way in and out of Western North Carolina other than by air. The mad scramble began. 

📦 First came supply planning. What do we need?

💰 Then procurement. How do we obtain what we need?

🧭 Then logistics. How do we arrange for obtaining procured items?

The scale of this decision matrix starts with immediate family. Then your neighborhood. Then we see if we can fan out in larger concentric circles.

This is what we did for about 12 hours a day for 10 days after the storm.

Once even the slightest bit of communication was restored, furious offers to help were streaming in from the outside world. 

What do you need? We’re sending supplies. Where should they go? 

What do you need? We’re sending supplies. Where should they go…repeat, ad nauseum.

Having even the slightest bit of supply chain knowledge came in handy for the last 10 days. We knew that we had to put our oxygen mask on first before navigating the rigors of living without any running water, internet, and spotty communications. 

But, we also needed help. And so did our neighbors. Everyone in Asheville needed supplies. As roads began to open, makeshift supply chains were forming. Who had space to accept donations and the ability to redistribute them became an hourly discussion with rapidly fluid answers.

🚛 Transportation and logistics.
🚢 Shipping and receiving.
🏣 Site management.
📊 Supply and demand planning.

All being haphazardly coordinated with an iphone with no internet and a notepad. The coordination of sedans loaded down, pickups slammed full, and even 50+ pallets of water on semis was initiated. 

Moving from tactical to strategic and back again, sometimes within 30 minutes as phones blew up with more offers and the need to find a home for them so that these supplies could get to people who needed them most.

That’s a very basic and broad stroke picture of how a lot of us have been existing since Hurricane Helene fundamentally altered the city of Asheville and completely erased entire communities in surrounding areas of WNC.

We are picking up the pieces and our colleagues working in different parts of the country helped to keep the wheels turning for SCM Talent Group. We are grateful for your patience and your understanding as our new reality descends upon us. Our home office remains without power and water, while the entire region remains without running water and will for quite some time. 

But, the good news is that we – as an organization – are uniquely positioned to serve. We have already began tapping our vast networks for things like large water totes to be placed throughout residential communities so people can shower and improve home sanitation. We’re going to continue to contribute and give back because as part of our core values, “Giving Back and Helping Others,” that’s who we are and what we do. And we look forward to partnering with many of you to ensure that Western North Carolina will recover and continue to thrive in the wake of this unprecedented disaster.

Again, thank you all for your patience and understanding. Hopefully we haven’t missed too much of a beat. Our staff is resilient and our local team is safe and ready to continue operations. Just bear with us some while we ensure that our makeshift indoor plumbing gets us out the door in the mornings.

The photos you see were taken by local Asheville photographer/videographer, Brian Kennedy, a native of Asheville and our beloved Marketing Manager and Audio/Video guru. Brian got out into the River Arts District, our cultural epicenter, to capture some of the damage. As a life long Asheville resident, his lens is more than just a camera, but a life lived in these mountains that have been forever changed.

If you wish to make a donation to help those in need within Asheville and surrounding communities that have been impacted by Hurricane Helene, here’s a list of recommended non-profits and charities:

• MANNA FoodBank: Hunger relief across a 16 county area that was impcated by the storm.
• BeLoved Asheville: Working to restore housing and essentials for people in Asehville and beyond. 
• Asheville Humane Society: Like much of Western North Carolina, we’re facing unprecedented challenges in Helene’s wake. Please donate to support our work on the ground and for the animals remaining in our care.
• Team Rubicon: Ex military members who are boots on the ground here doing everything from search and rescue to mucking out flooded homes.