News

Community Foundation has given $1.4 million in Helene grants

By Lightning Reports, Published: March 28, 2025

As Western North Carolina continues the extended work of rebuilding and recovery following Hurricane Helene, the Community Foundation of Henderson County is marking a milestone in local giving and response.

Just six months after the storm, CFHC has distributed more than $1.4 million in grants and assistance to local nonprofits providing immediate frontline services within communities and to local businesses in need of support.

“It’s a privilege to be part of a responsive community that walks the talk when it comes to caring for our neighbors,” Community Foundation President and CEO McCray Benson said. “Within days of this crisis our team was able to begin distributing funding to organizations helping the
people in our community who needed it the most. The unprecedented generosity of individuals from near and far, in addition to gifts from corporations and investments from peer funders, makes this giving milestone possible in Henderson County.”

In just six months, grants for Hurricane Helene relief quickly exceeded any other designated disaster-related relief in the foundation’s history, even surpassing funding distributed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020 the foundation provided $565,000 in combined Covid relief, a total eclipsed by 147 percent for Hurricane Helene since October 2024. Hurricane Helene relief donors were also extremely wide-ranging in their geographic origin, hailing from 45 states.

Of the $1.4 million distributed locally to date for Hurricane Helene assistance, $950,000 has funded relief, recovery and rebuilding grants awarded to 44 different nonprofits, with the remainder given through donor-advised funds to support disaster-related needs. Additionally, 95 community businesses in need of support received grants totaling $314,000 through LoveHendo Business Relief Funds.

In addition to the magnitude of gifts through the last six months, Helene funds are supporting projects in Henderson County that are innovative and collaborative. CFHC grants have funded environmental testing and waterway clean-up conducted by nonprofit partner MountainTrue, the rebuilding of the Stoney Creek Road bridge through the Bridging Together program operated by LDR Carolinas and Mennonite Disaster Service, and funding for a critically needed disaster caseworker position for the Children and Family Resource Center, to name a few.

Throughout the region’s recovery process, CFHC has benefited from strong partnerships with peer foundations and local entities focused on regional resilience including Dogwood Health Trust, Duke Energy Foundation, Optimum, Polk County Community Foundation, Henderson County, the city of Hendersonville, the Partnership for Economic Development, Henderson County Chamber of Commerce, Blue Ridge Community College and Henderson County TDA.

“Nonprofits from Henderson County and the immediate surrounding areas have shown enormous creativity, initiative and partnership to help our community rebound from the impact of the storm,” Community Foundation Board President Ruth Birge said. “We are blessed to be part of a community with problem solvers in both philanthropy and social services. Together, we are forever giving, forever caring.”
The Community Foundation of Henderson County will continue to accept disaster-related applications from qualifying nonprofit organizations serving the community through April 15, after which identified long-term project based funding will be available. For more information or to discuss disaster-related funding needs contact Program Officer Kris Merritt.