UPDATE: OCTOBER 9TH, 2024

On Monday morning Charlotte and I headed out to Asheville on a supply and Starlink delivery run. We delivered in-all 14 Starlink units to field locations around the Asheville and Boone, NC areas, along with 57 air mattresses and 22 cases of wet wipes and some other medical and assorted supplies. I've never seen our Ford Expedition so packed out!

The Starlink units were extremely well received. We connected 3 churches, 2 schools, 2 remote fire stations, 4 field teams, and 3 communities with these units. As needs on the ground change we will work to reposition these resources, including potentially taking some to Florida in the coming days or week.

Your support has been invaluable! Thank you all SO much! We are almost halfway to fully funding this effort, so please keep spreading the word! This was a "ready, fire, aim" scenario to get units into the field quickly to support the urgent needs across the region, so your support to fund this in retrospect is so appreciated.

Here are some photos from the deliveries yesterday.

Best regards,

-Caleb

Caleb delivering a mini-mobile field kit to the Fire Chief in Gerton, NC.

Two pastors in Black Mountain NC with the mini-mobile field kit they received that will enable them to provide remote communities with communications until cell towers and land-based internet connections come back online in the coming weeks and months.

The front yards on a street in Asheville, NC.

View from a bridge in Black Mountain, NC

THE STORY: ADOPT-A-STARLINK TO AIDE WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

Want to help with Western North Carolina hurricane relief? I’m looking for 13 businesses or individuals to help me “Adopt-A-Starlink” that will provide essential communications capability for disaster relief teams and completely disconnected communities.

I need 8 supporters for standard Starlink kits and six for mini-mobile kits, plus 2 months of service (Starlink are providing one month free for the disaster area). We can deploy these as early as Monday this next week.

Mobile kits will be used for recovery and support teams in the field as there is no cell service in most areas outside main city centers, hampering coordination and efficiency for field teams.
Standard kits will provide operational base and community hub locations that have generators or power with connectivity.

Mini Mobile cost $599 and service is $165/mo, so total support is $929. Standard kits are $299 plus $165/mo for the service, so total support of $629.

We will cover the tax and overnight shipping (about $200 each unit - we have to purchase these on the west coast as on-hand inventory on the east is basically nonexistent).

Your donations will route through La Pointe Foundation for tax deductibility and accountability.

Background

This last Monday I joined a team that went to Boone, NC to help with hurricane relief efforts there. We loaded up my RV and Ford Expedition with supplies, equipment, fresh water and fuel for the generator, chainsaws, blackstone, and two starlink units. I got back late Thursday night after an intense few days of mainly clearing downed trees from homes, cars, and roads. The destruction is hard to describe in its comprehensiveness across the region.

Coming out of it one of the most acute and most readily addressable needs is communications connectivity. There is limited cell service in town in Boone and Asheville, albeit inconsistent and unreliable, but as soon as you get out of the city proper there’s nothing. It will be weeks or months for the terrestrial power and communications grids to get restored. Many of these areas had little or no cell service to begin with because of the mountainous topography.

This leaves teams in the field unable to communicate with each other or their coordinating bases throughout the day, causing inefficiency for coordinating priorities, resource allocation, and changes in what is a highly dynamic disaster situation. There are also so many entire communities disconnected completely - no power, water, roads (bridges and roads are washed out all over the place), and no communications. With strategically placed Starlink kits we can connect these community pockets and enable them to be resource hubs in their area.

Thanks for your help during this disaster!

-Caleb Whitmore

Here are some photos from the Boone, NC area this last week

Adopt-A-Starlink for Western NC Hurricane Relief

Support hurricane Helene relief in Western North Carolina with funding a Starlink kit and 3 months of service for recovery teams and community hubs