Supporting Hurricane Helene Victims in North Carolina (2024)

While working on an article for her kid’s crafts series for the Leather Crafter Journal, Caragh learned about the devastation of Hurricane Helene. She decided she wanted to use her piece from the  article as a raffle item to raise money for relief efforts. 

Family friend Jim Shipley regularly organizes online raffles within several leatherworking communities on Facebook. Not only did he offer to coordinate the fundraiser, but artist Annie Libertini also donated a piece to help raise funds. 

Within 48 hours, 63 online “raffle tickets” had been sold at $10 each (plus a few bonus donations), raising $680 for hurricane relief efforts. 

The family contacted a friend in Florida about where to donate and she said “Florida is devastated, but we have strategies in place for this kind of thing. It was completely unprecedented for North Carolina.” She recommended a few potential charities and Pictures Helping People sent the money to Hospitality House Northwest NC. The organization was so touched, they shared her story on their Facebook page. 

Additional thanks to Tandy Leather for donating the dyes for this project and Maker’s Leather Supply for donating the leather.