Pictured here, my painting, After the Storm, oil and acrylic on canvas approx. 48" x 70", 2019, courtesy of Tracey Morgan Gallery. This is one of my surviving paintings, after Hurricane Helene destroyed my studio and 20 years of work last week. This painting is available, and both me and the Tracey Morgan Gallery would love the support if you're interested. Right: this is what my family lunches looked like this past week. Asheville restaurants cooked up all their remaining food and gave it away to all of us who have no water, power (or refrigeration). We ate them sitting on the sidewalk. In the top right you can see a line outside another restaurant. It was one of many beautiful comings-together of community during this devastating week.

Disaster is exhausting.

Beloved member of the Sunlight Tax community,

Here's a snapshot of me right now, one week after Hurricane Helene.

I wanted to go straight into helper-mode.

But it turns out that disaster is exhausting.

Living with two kids, a partner, a flock of chickens, a dog and two guinea pigs, with no water and no power and no internet for a week took a lot out of me.

It was slow just boiling water to make coffee.

With cell coverage reduced, neighbors want to hear what news you know, so walking around is connective and neighbors are getting to know each other, but it's hard to arrive anywhere on time.

We had to wait in lines for lunch. Every time I had an hour with internet, I got a flood of messages, many of them desperate and urgent.

I'm having weird feelings. A rain scene in Forrest Gump sent me into a panic. I'm thinking about...

...20 years of my [irreplaceable] art, gone

...my kids school indefinitely suspended

...my friends potentially leaving town

...my friends' who were living on a shoestring, now starting from nothing or trying to rebuild

...my community out of work until water comes back. Because how do you open a restaurant, a school, a hair salon, a brewery without water?

I know I'm going to have a reckoning with grief. But it hasn't even begun yet--right now it's like a deep unease. Perhaps the eruptions will be random. Like when I see rain in a movie, glimpse a Chinook helicopter (do you ever glimpse one of those when life is not upside down?).

And then something very strange: a vacation right in the middle.

For five years, my family has been planning a trip to Italy, inspired by my daughter who is obsessed with ruins. We thought, what better to see Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the modern city of Rome with its impossible layers of history built each on top of the next?

It seemed bananas to actually do this luxurious joyful thing in the middle of so much pain and tragedy. But wasting the money and the trip also seemed bananas. My kids need something non-tragic and distracting. Getting a break-- a shower, drinkable water, society operating as normal--sure, I'll travel a long way for that. Honestly, it's hitting me how long-term our situation in Western North Carolina is going to be. This is a marathon, not a sprint. And I'm already exhausted.

So we're here. I'm writing you in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius.

We explored Pompeii yesterday. I had to take several moments to let my feelings pass. Can you imagine, an entire community, with lives changed completely in a span of a few hours or days from a terrifying natural disaster?

Turns out that felt a little TOO relatable.

So that's my week.

I will be back in Asheville in 6 days, for the long haul. And to start in earnest my research on SBA disaster loans, FEMA money, IRS disaster loss filings.

Pisgah Legal hosted open office hours to help folks here with their FEMA applications, and you can also file yours over the phone if that's easier, at 800.621.3362.

This is your first step for all the rest. So if you're in WNC, apply now.


***And while it feels wrong to talk about sales or money right now, I do in fact need to keep earning a living for my family to be ok, and to have the space to offer the support that I am capable of to my community--

• FEMA grant info
• SBA loan info
• IRS disaster relief info.

For those of you wondering how you can help me or my devastated community, here are a bunch of links to friends who need help.

• Asheville Tea Company
• Melissa Weiss pottery
• New Stock Pantry
• Rebel Rowing (Venmo)
• Ruth Greenberg

If you want to help the people here, use any of those links above or donate to the links at the bottom of this page. I have featured all of these folks on my Instagram, and you can read their stories and find more there.

Direct aid is nice, because applying for things is hard in a disaster situation. Taking on more business loans when you're already paying back your COVID-era loans feels like a lot. And paperwork is hard when your brain is mush.

I also encourage you to support any businesses in Asheville or WNC that are still operational. Our community is about to go through a targeted mega-recession while no one has water to operate.
My gallery, the Tracey Morgan Gallery is one of these businesses, and yes, Sunlight Tax is one, too. Please hire me to teach a tax workshop. My assistant Mark can get everything scheduled for you. Or join Money Bootcamp.

• the program is lifetime access,
• the materials are immediately available to you upon purchase
• I will give a free 1:1 consult to everyone who joins during this acute phase of the disaster.

You can listen to this week's (weird, micless) emergency podcast here.

I am beyond grateful for the generosity of all of you. A tiny fraction of the love I have received is this:

• S.Matt, who offered to and is applying for a Gottlieb disaster aid grant for me for my ruined studio.
• Paddy, who recorded and aired an emergency podcast to help get this story out
• Lisa, who got behind the scenes of my business to help me stay functional for you last week
• Thousands of supportive loving messages.
• Many donations for mutual aid (stories to come)

I love you all so much. Joy and pain do not arrive in separate packages. I'm finding that life braids them together.

Warmly,

Hannah