Warrior brothers launch relief effort in wake of Helene’s devastation
Moved by widespread suffering caused by Hurricane Helene in late September, a group of ManKind Project men have launched a relief effort grounded in MKP’s values of deep service, community-building and equity.
“This catastrophe woke up something in me,” said Zachari Cahn, a doctor in Asheville, N.C. “I was seeing the direct suffering in front of me – families just like mine who are living in tents, families just like mine who lost their homes. I’m seeing from the perspective of what’s really important.” 
The death toll from Helene stood at 231 in late October – the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005. The storm caused $88 billion in damage and triggered more than 1,400 landslides. More than 100,000 families lost their homes.
Helene dumped up to 30 inches of rain on areas of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, filling houses and washing away roads, bridges and businesses – “like something out of a movie,” said Cahn, pictured at right with a fund recipient. He quickly assembled a team and launched the ManKind Project Disaster Relief Fund. He began working his broad MKP network to rally support. By late October, the campaign had raised $35,000 in direct contributions and $11,000 in donated goods.
Ben Vaeth-Levin serves on the relief fund’s board and leads efforts to collect supplies from MKP’s Mid-Atlantic Area, where he is area steward. He enlisted MKP brothers who drove up to 10 hours to deliver food and supplies to North Carolina towns that had essentially been washed away. Some stayed in the area up to a week, “carrying chainsaws from place to place and just doing what was asked of them.”
“The response has been beautiful,” said Vaeth-Levin, who lives in Baltimore and credits the power of relationships and trust. “People are more willing to extend trust to people they haven’t met because they know men are living lives of service through MKP.”
The relief effort focuses on support for those in the African-American, immigrant and Latino communities who have fewer resources and face more barriers to recovery. “They don’t have insurance,” Cahn said. “They lost their homes and their livelihoods.”
Board member Tatianna Sanabria, a Colombia native and also an Asheville doctor, pointed to other populations facing similar challenges. “It’s a very personal piece. The elderly can be forgotten, single mothers can be forgotten. They don’t have the backing of the government.”
Vaeth-Levin said the MKP relief effort has gained traction because it’s fueled by human connection and trust and not merely a sense of the latest obligation. “The value of that is immeasurable. It speaks to the sense that we are a community, and we are here.
“So often the best we seem to be able to do is to give money to things like the Red Cross. And that doesn’t feel connecting. There’s so much want for purpose and service and connection. And when it’s made into an obligation of I should do something, the true desire that’s in there gets twisted.”
How you can help
The relief fund’s board is organizing two fundraising concerts at an Asheville church. The concerts, on Nov. 16 and Dec. 13, will feature local and national musicians and will be livestreamed. Visit the campaign’s Facebook event for details.
Cahn is also a songwriter and will perform at one of the concerts. “There’s very real, on-the-ground evidence of the disastrous impacts of this storm,” he said. “Tens and tens and tens of thousands of people without any semblance of normal life.”
The space between, what’s a want and need
Gets crystal clear lightning fast when talkin’ to Helene
– from Cahn’s new song “Catastrophe”