Supporting small businesses recovering from Hurricane Helene
When Hurricane Helene hit Chimney Rock, Shari Cummings and her family were asleep in the building they had called their home and business for nearly three decades. Within minutes, rising water forced them to flee. Twelve minutes later, the building was gone.
“It looked like a bomb hit,” she said. “We lost everything we owned. We had no idea what we were going to do next.”
Cummings is one of the owners of The Hickory Nut, a garden and gift shop that has served the Chimney Rock community for 28 years. Like many small businesses across western North Carolina, The Hickory Nut faced total loss and an uncertain future in the aftermath of the storm.
In Chimney Rock, where tourism drives the local economy, the storm hit just as businesses were transitioning from the lucrative summer season into the busy fall months. “We were shut down for nine months with no income at all,” Cummings said. “We still had to keep making our bills, and we were cleaning up at the same time.”
The North Carolina Community Foundation is helping communities like Chimney Rock recover from the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene through its Disaster Relief Fund. One key investment is a $1.4 million grant to Mountain BizWorks, a nonprofit with deep experience supporting small businesses across western North Carolina.
“Small businesses are really the economic engine in western North Carolina,” said Ret Boney, NCCF’s Disaster Relief Fund Program Director. “When businesses can reopen and keep people employed, it allows families to stay in the region and participate in the local economy. That stability is a critical part of long-term recovery.”
Matt Raker, executive director of Mountain BizWorks, said Helene forced more than 80 percent of small businesses in the region to close temporarily. To support recovery, the NCCF grant helps fund part of Mountain BizWorks’ two-year WNC Strong: Recover Forward program, which provides grants for small business recovery and scholarships for small business coaching and courses.
Designed to meet businesses where they are, the program combines immediate financial relief with ongoing coaching and training to help owners stabilize operations, rebuild, and prepare for long-term growth following disasters like Helene. Mountain BizWorks projects the program will reach more than 300 businesses and help retain as many as 750 jobs in the hardest-hit areas.
“It takes so many different partners to support the many stages of recovery,” Raker said. “Because the North Carolina Community Foundation was leading on long-term recovery, we had the confidence to focus on the immediate response, knowing the region would have what it needs for the long term.”
Additional funding for Recover Forward comes from Appalachian Community Capital, the Appalachia Funders Network, the WNC Long Haul Fund, and Global Giving.
For Cummings, the program made it possible to keep The Hickory Nut running through temporary setups and maintain payroll while rebuilding. She said few other recovery funding options were available, making grants essential.
“It had to come from somewhere, and thank goodness Mountain BizWorks was around to help us out,” she said. “This is not the income we were having before, but it is at least some income.”
Now, reconstruction at The Hickory Nut is underway. The foundation for a new building will be laid soon, and plans are in place to reopen the store within the next year.
“Recovery takes time,” Boney said. “Small businesses were on the front lines of immediate relief, and more than a year later, they’re still key to helping communities recover and rebuild for the long term.”