Editor’s note: As part of our Fall Nonprofit Issue, Xpress reached out to a number of local organizations to learn how their work has shifted post-Helene. The “Unstoppable” series is available in its entirety in this week’s issue.
Amy Upham is the executive director of Blue Ridge Pride. The nonprofit works to promote equality, safety and quality of life for Western North Carolina’s LGBTQIA+ and allied communities.
Xpress: How has your nonprofit’s focus shifted in the aftermath of Helene?
Upham: Our primary focus right now is hurricane relief. In an odd series of events, we had actually decided to open a food resource area and onboarded our first mental health intern right before the hurricane hit. These two brand-new initiatives, along with our 1:1 financial assistance program, are pretty much all we are doing right now. We are still looking for ways to gather the community, but the “S” or “Service” part of our four pillars or “ACES” will likely continue to be a huge part of our work now going forward — even beyond this crisis.
Could you share a positive story about your nonprofit’s interaction with the community post-Helene?
Our distribution site — aka our new office — has only been open twice a week for two weeks. In those few days, we have seen numbers rise from two per day to 10 per day. We are hearing people who have been denied for or waiting on everything with tears in their eyes when we hand them a grocery gift card. We love that we can be nimble and responsive. We don’t have thousands for each person, but we are filling gaps quickly and helping people get through.
Based on the communities you serve, what are the most dire needs?
Rental and mortgage assistance. We hope to hear some positive news on a couple of grants as we’d like to also offer this assistance to people. We are seeing a lot of people who lost their jobs or hours due to the storm. We also are hearing about issues with community bathrooms for our trans and nonbinary friends, so a queer-specific mobile shower would be amazing.
Beyond monetary donations, how else could community members support your mission?
We’d love more donations to our food and supply shelves. We have plenty of canned and dry goods; what we are really needing is allergen-friendly food and cleaning supplies. We are not taking general clothing donations, but we could use hats, gloves and socks (all new please) for the colder weather ahead.
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.