ALDHA HELENE RESPONSE
and ongoing emergency relief effort…
March 11, 2025
Dear friends of ALDHA,
We are happy to announce that we have raised $137,863 for our relief fund. Your generous giving has allowed us to bring financial relief to nearly 30 hostels and other trail-related organizations and individuals on the trails affected by Helene.
We have paused donations so we can catch up with pending applications for support. Once we have expended the initial Helene Relief funds, ALDHA will transition to a general relief fund to be used for other trail related tragedies and disasters besides Helene. We hope that these funds will be something we can use to continue to bless trail related individuals, organizations and businesses who have suffered because of future tragic events. Thank you so much for your giving!
In response to the unprecedented impact to the trail community from Hurricane Helene, ALDHA allocated $10,000 from our operating account to establish an Emergency Relief Fund. The purpose of the fund is to provide direct assistance to hostels and other trail providers/services in the storm impacted area. Since going public with the fund, ALDHA has raised a total of $137,863 from over 494 individual donors (as of 3/11/2025).
ALDHA board members and volunteers hit the ground, visiting impacted areas and talking to hostel owners, shuttle services, town officials, trail angels, and others to get a sense of what was needed the most.
Spending from the ALDHA Emergency Relief Fund now totals $63,098 (as of 1/22/2025).
| Hostel Support | $15,500 |
| Trail Support | $10,500 |
| Food, cleaning supplies, work trips, individual support | $4,600 |
| Trail Businesses | $51,500 |
Additional funds will be disbursed as needed. There will be multiple volunteer work trips scheduled and more needs identified over the next few months. We do anticipate an ongoing effort will be needed to address the needs of our trail community. Thank you for your donations, with your help ALDHA will be in this for the long haul to ensure hostels and other trail services will be there for hikers throughout this recovery effort.
Please join the ALDHA Facebook Group for the most up to date information. Visit the ALDHA Care page for information about volunteer work opportunities. https://aldha.org/aldha-care/
