Make a Tax Deductible Donation to Support Hurricane Relief for Farmers

Posted December 5th, 2024

Helping WNC Farms Impacted by Hurricane Helene

In late September 2024, Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina sending entire towns down the mountain and leaving others completely flooded. Farms were buried under water and mud and farm equipment was carried away with floodwaters never to be seen again.

We are choosing to support our fellow farmers in Western North Carolina whose farm businesses were impacted by this disaster. Our work has been strategic, partnering with NC Choices Executive Director, Sarah Blacklin, and numerous NC State agricultural extension agents to identify needs and respond accordingly. We are collecting supply lists from farmers and transporting farm infrastructure supplies, hard goods, feed, and seed to farms across nine counties impacted by the hurricane. The goal is to provide the supplies needed to restore infrastructure and operations to Western North Carolina Farms so they can continue to feed their communities.

Our initial efforts focused on the immediate needs for fencing and feed for livestock farmers. We are currently redirecting our efforts to support vegetable producers. We are also focusing on supplies that are not readily available to purchase from Western North Carolina businesses. We do not want to inadvertently hurt local Western NC farm supply businesses that need to thrive and sustain their communities in the long term. There are several supplies, such as drip tape, row cover, greenhouse plastic, and silage tarps that normally have to be shipped from afar. These are items we can transport to farmers to assist them with reestablishing necessary materials for the upcoming growing season.

Where we need help...

Our current need is for additional funds to help Country Farm and Home cover the costs of supplies. Country Farm and Home's goal is to continue to support WNC farmers with supplies as long as we have funding to do so. Country Farm and Home is contributing labor and trucking to source and distribute supplies and is making no profit on the supplies sourced.

At this point, the cost of supplies delivered is exceeding our pool of financial contributions. Currently, we are working on sourcing supplies for horticultural producers in Watauga, Ashe, Avery, Caldwell, and Wilkes Countries for drip tape, cover crop seed, silage tarps, row cover, and more. We would like to source and send these supplies but need additional funds to do so.

In the spirit of transparency we have created a public spreadsheet documenting a running total of the costs of donated farm supplies as well as contributions to date. You can track our progress here:

Country Farm and Home WNC Farmer Donations: Accounting of Inventory and Contributions

100% of all monetary contributions are used to source farm supplies for WNC farmers whose operations were affected by the hurricane.

How to Contribute:

We are now partnering with WNC Communities who will be fiscally managing our donations for tax deductible status.

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation, please make your check out to WNC Communities. Personally deliver or mail your check to Country Farm and Home, 203 South Small Street, Pittsboro, NC 27312. Upon receipt, we will give you a letter from WNC Communities for your accountant. Please do not send checks directly to WNC Communities as they will not know your donation is intended for our use.

For all other contributions, you can use one of the following payment methods: