A letter from our Founder, Doug Ager

Just over a month out. from Hurricane Helen, we have a message to you, our community from our Founder, Doug Ager:

We really appreciate everyone's support and patience during these challenging times and want to extend our hearts out to all of you who have suffered losses. There are really no words to express what we've all gone through here.

Like many of you, we weren't able to communicate in the days after the hurricane, and since our warehouse and offices on the Swannanoa were completely flooded out, we also lost access to our tools and equipment. Once we were able to get back online, we shifted all communication to our team members outside of Asheville and were able to get up and running again. We appreciate everyone's patience who reached out as we were able to get back on our feet.

We lost the majority of our tools and equipment in the flood as well as our inventory of solar panels, batteries and inverters with a value of more than a million dollars. And like the majority of businesses in our area, we didn't have flood insurance because the river had never risen to those heights before. Fortunately, a new warehouse was already in the works as we'd signed a lease on it before the storm, so we were able to go ahead and move into our new long-term home in West Asheville. This location brings together our warehouse and office-team and is going to allow us thrive in a new way being in one location. Other things on our side have been our incredible partners and vendors who've helped us get supplies so we could service damaged systems and install new ones within weeks. 

Because of our material losses at the old warehouse, we qualify for disaster relief loans and they will help us cover our lost inventory and tools. We've also set up a GoFundMe site and are grateful to be receiving support there as well. We're aware that getting up and running as fast as we can is essential right now for the health of our business, for the future of clean energy, and for building a more resilient WNC.

We have an incredible community here and it's been really inspiring seeing everyone come together during this time. I have no doubts about our ability to recover and rebuild and come out of this stronger than ever. Events like these can show you how much you love a place and how unique and special our corner of the world is. Thanks for being part of that.