Disaster Relief

• Opened the on-line Disaster Relief Fund link on our website to accept monetary donations.
• Out of our Pastor’s Discretionary Fund, we sent a $5,000 contribution to Black Mountain Presbyterian Church.
• Outreach sent $5,000 to First Presbyterian Church of Asheville.
  — Both Black Mountain Presbyterian and First Presbyterian Ashville have on-the-ground resources to provide meals, shelter, and rest for those in need.
• WMPC Presbyterian Women donated $1,000 to the Disaster Relief fund.
• The Weekday School community collected diapers, wipes, and baby formula that will be distributed through the Diaper Bank of NC.
• Became a resource for area nonprofits, churches and individuals to learn ways to be helpful.
• Sam Stewart, son of Jan Stewart, Chair of Outreach’s Community Service Committee, and his Young Men’s Bible Study group travelled to Black Mountain Presbyterian Church to deliver two large SUVs full of food staples and water donated by WMPC members. These young men also cooked and served 1,500 BBQ meals. Sam has made subsequent trips to Western North Carolina including hard-hit Yancy County
• Presbyterian Women are making 200 Feminine Hygiene packs for Western NC to be donated through Church World Service.
• From a request by First Presbyterian Church Asheville, and response facilitated by Christopher Edmonston and Eddie Williford, necessary port-o-potties were delivered that will support volunteers and open tutorial services for children.
• Youth: Purchased items requested from Asheville Youth Mission (AYM), including work and rubber gloves, magic erasers, and paint rollers. Youth will write prayer cards to include in the box of supplies being sent to AYM.

Disaster Relief Fund Disbursements

On October 15, 2024 $70,000 from member contributions to the disaster relief fund was distributed to the following locations. The $70K is in addition to $5,000 that was sent from Pastor’s Discretionary and $5,000 from the Outreach budgets for a total of $80,000.

• First Presbyterian Asheville – $5,000 from Outreach Budget; +$10K from disaster relief.
• Black Mountain Presbyterian – $5,000 from Pastors Discretionary Budget; +$10K from disaster relief.
• Banner Elk Presbyterian/Feeding Avery Families (recommendation from church member Bill Gwyn and Rev. Dr. Byron Wade, General Presbyter of the Presbytery of Western NC). Emergency Food Distribution to families in Avery County. $10K from disaster relief.
• First Presbyterian Marion – recommendation from Rev. Dr. Byron Wade. Huge need for bleach and cleaning supplies. Helping people complete FEMA forms and doing counseling to people that have been affected by the storm. $10K from disaster relief.
• Beloved Asheville – recommendation from Rev. Dr. Byron Wade. Rehoming hurricane survivors and repairing homes. $10K from disaster relief.
• Bounty and Soul nonprofit – Feeding people in Black Mountain, Swannanoa and beyond. $10K from disaster relief.
• Appalachia Shower Project – A short-term, rapid build mission project under Appalachian Service Project focused on Western North Carolina (WNC) Helene Recovery Efforts. The project is strategically targeted on building 8-10 standalone shower units for the hardest hit WNC communities impacted by long term access to clean water/warm showers. The Mobile shower units will be deployed to churches in the hardest impacted areas of WNC. The project will provide a church hosted mission for individuals to charge their cell phone and get critical access to warm showers, and be touched by the mission of the host, and the hand of the Holy Spirit at work. Additionally, these units will be leveraged to positively impact physical and mental health for first responders/recovery teams/volunteers in the field, providing warm showers for them in between shifts. $10K from disaster relief.
• Sent winter clothing, propane tank, and necessary supplies to Yancy County