Post-Helene Update

Hello, friends of AMS,

As many of you have heard, our valley and community have been hit hard by Hurricane Helene. We are so grateful to report that our community of staff, students, and student families are safe. Thank you to all who have reached out with care and concern about our school and neighbors. Our campus facilities have sustained some flooding and tree damage, but our roads have been impacted most dramatically. AMS students have been weathering the last few weeks with family, and staff have been working long days to provide meals to our local community and support relief efforts, on and off campus. With a kitchen stocked to serve a school, we have been uniquely positioned to feed our neighbors, a role we have felt so grateful to play.

The community response to this event has been profound. Neighbors have come together to muck out flooded houses, clear roads and build bridges, share their homes, and get word out to family by satellite phone. Amidst all this, we grieve what has befallen the land, lives, homes, and livelihoods of this valley and its neighbors. As our community works to get its needs met and recover, AMS staff are working to make campus a safe and nourishing home for AMS’s young people to find meaning, structure, and growth in this time of loss and rebuilding.

Many of you have reached out to ask how you might help us to recover and support children at this time. One way is to make a tax-deductible donation to support our program’s recovery and continued operations–including recuperating resources redirected toward our larger community. You can also keep an eye on our wishlist of items to help the school reopen next week even as we await power up at the boarding houses.

If you are seeking ways to support our community more broadly, you might consider PATH WNC, who are coordinating local resource distribution and disaster response, and South Toe River Valley Recovery Fund, which aims to resource our broader valley to rebuild. Thank you for your thoughts and support.

With love,

AMS

Community members gather to share a meal by candlelight