Down Home North Carolina Retools Election Canvass for Hurricane Helene Disaster Relief

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, MVP partner Down Home North Carolina has activated its get-out-the-vote (GOTV) operation to support devastated communities across Western North Carolina, moving $10,000 in resources to local organizations and coordinating national efforts to support the hardest-hit areas.

Down Home NC is an organization “building power with poor and working-class people in North Carolina’s small towns and rural communities”. 

Down Home Watauga and Ashe County Chapters in Western NC are leading recovery efforts: checking in on members, assessing the situation, identifying and vetting trusted groups on the ground who can lend support, and determining how people outside the region can best support their efforts.

On September 30th, 100+ community members joined Down Home efforts in Watauga and Ashe County. One organizer described the event: 

“I can’t even explain to you the work that’s happening. This is once-in-a-lifetime stuff. They are reaching people that firefighters, emergency services haven’t been able to reach, finding ways to areas that haven’t been reached by officials, literally mapping out the county and establishing supply distribution lines that no one has been to yet. I don’t know how well to tell the story of this, but Jesus Christ, what incredible work is happening here.”

This is the power of year-round local organizing. By investing in locally-rooted groups like Down Home NC, we are supporting durable, community-based infrastructure that is far bigger than simply getting out the vote on Election Day.

For people outside the Western NC Region who want to help: Down Home is helping fundraise for emergency relief and mutual-aid efforts through another MVP partner, Organizing Resilience. Please donate to their Hurricane Helene Relief fund here.