A queer bar destroyed by Hurricane Helene in September is getting a new lease on life with the help of thousands of donations from around the world.
Nearly $200,000 has poured into a GoFundMe campaign to help rebuild the LGBTQ+ hangout DayTrip in Asheville, North Carolina.
Brandon Davis and his husband Davie opened the bar and coffee shop just weeks before Hurricane Helene ravaged the Southeast coast. At least 242 people have died in the storm and its aftermath. The estimated costs of damages is around $47.5 billion.
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The couple had plans to host LGBTQ+ fundraisers, burlesque shows, dog adoptions and other community events in the colorful space. They returned after the storm hit on September 26 to find it in ruins.
It looked like “a scene from an end-of-the-world movie,” Davis told NBC News.
The building was flooded under 23 feet of water up to the second floor, he said.
“It didn’t seem real,” he continued. “It looked like the building got picked up, spun around, shaken and then dropped back down.”
“We are in the mountains with 2,000 feet elevation and 300 miles from the coast, so we’ve never experienced being affected like this from a hurricane,” Davis added.
Now there’s hope for the couple and the queer community in Asheville. The GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign, started by a friend of the pair, has raised over $193,000 to date to rebuild DayTrip.
“They spent countless months and so much blood, sweat and tears renovating the space and realizing their dream of creating a cozy and quirky place for friends and neighbors to come and feel welcome,” Meredith Sims wrote in the online appeal. “It was that place for a sweet brief time.”
The couple was overwhelmed with the show of support.
“Thousands and thousands of queer people from all over the world have been donating, and I don’t have words to explain how grateful I am,” Davis said.
Davis says they’ll use the money to rebuild DayTrip, as well as compensate employees who lost their wages with the hurricane’s destruction and donate to local volunteering efforts, too.
Helping to rebuild lives in the Asheville community is top of mind before they start rebuilding DayTrip in the spring.
“Even though we lost our livelihood and financial security, we feel so lucky to be alive,” Davis said. “So many people lost their homes, or parents, children or spouses.”
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