A weekend rally organized by Hands off Haywood commenced with the presentation of a $2,500 check to Haywood Christian Ministries in Waynesville, highlighting a direct link between protest activism and local hunger relief.

Hands off Haywood organizer Mary Ford told the crowd that demonstrators have faced insults and “more middle fingers since March than we have in our entire lives” while taking to the streets on a weekly basis earlier this year but said the group’s focus has remained on democracy and community support.

Hurricane Helene recovery czar Michael Whatley is blaming Democrats for the growing chorus of criticism over his job performance — but in heavily Republican Western North Carolina, it’s not just Democratic voices calling for Whatley to be replaced or step down. 

Last week, Mountain Projects’ Amanda Singletary was convinced she’d be calling all 250 Section 8 landlords with bad news: they wouldn’t be receiving October’s rental payment.  

Because Section 8 received funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, but HUD hadn’t indicated what might become of its finances given a federal government shutdown, Singletary was “sweating bullets” as the Oct. 1 deadline to extend a continuing resolution to keep the federal government open loomed over the horizon.  

As on any other rainy late summer morning in Southern Appalachia, the sun rose over densely wooded, knobby green peaks cloaked in a thick downy mist.

At a large, nondescript warehouse off Swannanoa River Road just outside downtown Asheville, it may have looked like any other day — workers bustling about, trucks coming in and out — but for MANNA FoodBank, which fights food insecurity in a historically poverty-stricken region by serving up to 190,000 people a month, this day would be unlike any other for perhaps the last thousand years. 

It started as a ripple softly lapping against my back as I pulled into the driveway of our quiet mountain cove. The roar of the interstates and swarms of fellow travelers behind me after the 1,300-mile sojourn to Lake Erie and back. I made it. Breathe. 

Presented by Axe & Awl Leatherworks and powered by the Historic Frog Level Merchants Association, the “Haywood Heroes” flood benefit concert will be held from 3-8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, onstage in front of Axe & Awl on Depot Street in Waynesville. 

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited Asheville to hear firsthand from local, state and Tribal officials, emergency managers, food bank staff and volunteers, and impacted producers on the region’s relief and recovery efforts and highlighted resources from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help producers, families and communities in the Tarheel State recover from the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene. 

There are many churches and community relief and service organizations that are and will continue to help in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Please make sure you check on what local area churches may be doing or need in terms of donations. Money is often the best thing to donate so they can buy what they need. Volunteer time is also often appreciated. 

Hospital staff work through communication disruptions, water system failures and their own storm-induced uncertainty to keep caring for patients. 

When I became a parent for the first time, I asked my brother what to expect. He already had two small children and another on the way. 

“It’s overwhelming in every way,” he said.

He was right. It was, and it has been. They grew up too fast. That’s the oldest cliché in the book, but my God.