A Special Message to Our Helene Affected Appalachian Friends

This is a special message to our friends in Appalachia who have been affected by the massive flooding brought on by Hurricane Helene. You all are in my heart and thoughts. I hope you and your loved ones are safe and the floodwaters quickly recede in your communities.

I wanted to take a moment to speak about community. One of the great things about our American spirit is our ability to set aside differences in times of crisis. We roll up our sleeves, work together, and lift our communities up.

After the mud is cleaned away, the sheetrock torn out, and houses rebuilt I hope that we all learn from this. I hope that we all learn that climate change is real and disasters like this will continue to grow in frequency and scale if we don’t change. Most of all, I hope we learn that nowhere is safe from these disasters and we are all in this together.

For Weathered readers not affected by Helene consider rolling up your sleeves and building a more resilient community where you live. Your food pantry needs donations, there are open spots on various municipal boards you can volunteer on, and there are charities you can donate to. My partner and I will be donating to the Red Cross this time around.

Climate change and these disasters are frightening and feed into the doom loop too easily. What’s hard is tackling these problems head on and it’s becoming abundantly clear that we must do so. We must answer the call together, led by our faith, compassion, and love for our brothers and sisters.

Let’s roll up our sleeves and get going.

Best,
Thomas