Madison Alliance for Rebuilding Communities- MARC

09/29/2026

With all of the beautiful, heart-wrenching Helene anniversary posts filling our feed, we thought it best to simply share our most recent milestone and remind our community that we are still here for you.

As of this month, MARC has officially funneled more than $3 million into Madison County’s recovery. This critical funding has allowed us to serve more than 100 households throughout Hot Springs, Marshall, and Mars Hill 🥳

That said, our work is not done yet. We currently have 70 open cases and more coming in every week, so please consider donating if you have the means, or share this post with friends and family outside of WNC who may want to help make a difference in the lives of Madison County residents.

09/12/2026

Today was the kick off of our Emergency Asset Mapping Project! 😊

Our goal is to create a physical map for each area that shows emergency assets as well as gaps in emergency resources. This information will help show our communities and potentially county where to focus attention and funding requests to fill the identified gaps.

Wendy Stancil, our Community and Partner Liaison, will be hosting these sessions throughout the county over the next 5 weeks in Laurel, Hot Springs, Spring Creek, Mars Hill and Marshall.

In preparation, we’ve had folks that live in each of these areas recommend a small group of community stakeholders such as VFD/ first responders, town government officials, town police, community center board members as well as church and school leaders to participate.

The kick off session today at Laurel Community Center was a great conversation. Impactful ideas and observations were discussed for their community and we discovered a few more assets to be added to the mapping process 😊

Thank you to the Laurel Community Center board members, Laurel VFD members and long time residents that helped with the mapping today!

Once the physical mapping is completed we will have a digital version created as well for residents to access.

As the 2nd anniversary of Helene approaches, it feels empowering to come together collectively to create something that will help inform our future preparedness ❤️‍🩹

08/18/2026

Here are useful, fire wise ideas to help create a defensible space around your home to help protect from wildfires.

Currently, the NC Forest Service is offering a free wildfire mitigation program to Helene impacted property owners. There’s a link in the comments if you’d like to learn more about how to enroll 👇

08/10/2026

We are forever grateful to partners like World Renew - Disaster Response Services for bringing volunteers to Madison County!

08/07/2026

MARC is looking for help from attorneys and other professionals 👀

1. Estate management or real estate attorney
2. Carpenters/contractors with insurance (at least GL and WC ghost policy)
3. Licensed tradespeople

*We always appreciate pro bono/discounted rates from those who can afford it, or from those who are interested in receiving the tax write-off for their donated services. However, we are fully prepared to invest in our local people for the above services.

The following are volunteer opportunities (not paid in cash, but you definitely get lots of Good Deed Tokens 😉):

1. Uninsured carpenters - help us once or set up a regular schedule of volunteering

2. Social media coordinator (3-4 hrs per month)

3. Committee member - our committees are a great way for college students, retirees, and anyone in between to get involved. (Minimum commitment of 2.5 hrs per month)

4. Board of Directors member - the MARC Board of Directors is composed of deeply invested community members and local nonprofit leaders who are looking for 1-2 new members. (Average time commitment of 2-4 hours per month)

06/24/2026

We're rocking and rolling ... and incredibly grateful to the groups of volunteers still coming to Madison County to help us rebuild. We can't do this without you!

06/19/2026

Great preparedness tool as hurricane season begins!

Although the National Hurricane Center predicts a below-normal season, North Carolinians know that it takes only one storm to affect communities statewide. Learn about the NC Flood Inundation Mapping and Alert Network (FIMAN) offering access to more than 700 flood gauges across the state. You can search for the flood gauges closest to your home and to sign up for alerts. Learn more in June news from GROW NC: https://mailchi.mp/nc/wnc-recovery-news-june-2026?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social+Media&utm_campaign=Hurricane+Prep

06/17/2026

A new wildfire mitigation program has opened up in NC via the NC Department of Agriculture. Free services to address wildfire risks for private and public landowners impacted by Helene. Learn more here:

Now open, the Disaster Mitigation Program reduces heightened wildfire risk in communities impacted by Hurricane Helene by providing wildfire risk reduction treatments at no cost to eligible private and public landowners: https://www.ncagr.gov/divisions/nc-forest-service/resist-wildfire-north-carolina/disaster-mitigation-program

06/12/2026

High fives and handshakes all around! This was an incredibly sweet ribbon cutting to celebrate this Mars Hill gentleman moving into his new home after losing everything nearly 2 years ago.

Special thanks to our Construction Manager Matt Bennett who oversaw this replacement project with precision and expertise.

We also thank all of the partners who helped make this day possible, including American Red Cross North Carolina , Catholic Charities USA , Pisgah Legal Services , Mountain Valleys Resource Conservation & Development , Community Housing Coalition, and Quartz Group. And finally, thank you to Commissioner Wechtel for joining us to commend this family and wish them well in their new home.

It's been a year full of celebrations, and we're just getting started!

06/03/2026

Check out the new MARC hoodies! Y'all, these are some seriously hard working ladies. In the group photo, from left to right:

Pietra Walsh, Administrative Engineer
Tori Huerth, Bookkeeper Extraordinaire
Wendy Stancil, Community & Partner Magician
Daria Uporsky, Boss Lady
Euny, Assistant to the Boss Lady