Well, It's Been a Weird Week!

And MCDT for October 2024!

This drawing was art-directed by Butterbean, and when it did not meet her expectations, she took the pen in her own hand and “made him smile”.

First, I want to say thank you to all of you who reached out this week to ask how we were doing. I honestly didn’t expect any of you to remember that me and my family live in Boone, North Carolina, and was touched that many of you messaged or emailed me to check-in. People say the internet is a terrible place, but y’all are so consistently kind and caring and that just means a whole lot. ❤️

In case you didn’t know, Western North Carolina was hit hard by Hurricane Helene last Friday. Eastern NC (near the beach) often gets hurricanes, but Western NC (in the mountains) hardly ever does. We got almost 20 inches of rain over 3 days, and the hills and mountains funneled all that rain into flooding, landslides, and sinkholes. Many people here in Boone lost their homes and almost everyone I know has dealt with the loss of some basic need, whether shelter, power, water, or food.

My family was extremely lucky. We are safe and healthy and our home is fine. There was a mudslide in our back yard (a steep slope), our deck is going to have to be torn down, and our water is still brown, but we are grateful that is the extent of our problems. We spent some time at my parents house off the mountain so we could have clean water and access to food, but are now back in Boone and attempting to help in whatever ways we can.

I write all this to you for two reasons:

1. To explain that this week and next week will not look like normal for me and this newsletter. I will most likely not be sitting at my desk writing and drawing as much as normal. I hope to be out volunteering as much as I can.

2. To give you a couple of options if you have been hearing about Hurricane Helene and are looking for a way to help those who have lost so much.

The school where Butterbean previously attended Pre-School, flooded by Hurricane Helene last week.

If You Feel Called to Give

I’m not asking you to give to me or my family—we are fine! There are two specific fundraisers here in Boone that mean a lot to me personally that I would like to share, if you feel called to donate.

Mountain Pathways: This is the small, Montessori school Butterbean attended for pre-school. It was a huge part of her early childhood and is such a loving and amazing community. We have made many lifelong friends through this school and I will be forever grateful for it. Last week, the school was completely flooded and teachers and parents have been working all week to try to get it back in operating order. The school is small and the damage is bad, so they need all the help they can get. If you would like to donate to their recovery you can do so here:

Children’s Playhouse Staff: Another organization in Boone that has been instrumental in Butterbean’s life is The Children’s Playhouse. This is our local children’s museum, but it’s very different than a typical children’s museum. It’s smaller and closer-knit—more of a community than a museum. I also (full disclosure) currently serve on their board. Four of their college-age staff members had their homes completely flooded and had to evacuate. They have lost practically all their belongings are attempting to find somewhere new to live in Boone (not easy to do normally, but especially right now). If you would like to donate to their recovery you can do so here:

Both of these fundraisers are hosted and run by individuals I personally know and vouch for. I don’t expect you to donate, but I know in situations like this it can be hard to know how to help and where to send donations. So, if you happen to be looking, these are my two suggestions.

MCDT October

In other news… it’s October! My lovely co-hosts Nick and Nikki are taking over MCDT for me this month and have decided to join forces with Inktober! Inktober is an international drawing challenge that has been going on for years, run by Jake Parker. Many MCDT-ers are also Inktober-ers, so let’s combine together this month!

If you don’t know what MCDT is, it’s our monthly initiative to gently encourage you (and me!) to draw today! You can learn more about it and how to join us right here.

Here’s the official Inktober prompt list above, and you can see Nick’s intro message here in our Chat. Can’t wait to see some of your drawings!

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today. Thank you for your patience as I work my way back to normal and attempt to help in whatever ways I can in the coming days. I’m still going to try to carve out a tiny bit of time for those Inktober doodles. :)

<3,
Christine