DENVER — As thousands of people pick up the pieces from Hurricane Helene, owners of a Colorado brewery are working to support those affected by the storm in North Carolina.
Trve Brewing has been a staple along Broadway in Denver for years. Back in March, the owners expanded the brewery to Asheville, North Carolina.
One of the owners, Nick Nunns, never imagined their new home would be devastated by Helene. Nunns told 9NEWS, the brewery in North Carolina is still standing, and he has been able to connect with his staff, friends, and other business owners.
“As connectivity improves in the area, we’re getting updates from everyone out there, and we’re getting more of an assessment of what we can do to help," said Nunns. "We have a lot of friends that own breweries closer to some of the rivers and I don’t think they have a brewery to go back to at this point unfortunately."
Hundreds of people remain unaccounted for, homes were swept away, and thousands are still without power.
“It's going to be a tough balance of trying to tell people don’t come too soon, but once we reopen please come and visit and support our community, hopefully we have the resources," Nunns said.
According to Nunns, this was supposed to be peak tourist season for Asheville, but instead Nunn and his family are traveling to North Carolina to help out their new community.
“This is unprecedented. I mean, this is the worst it's ever been for this area by a long shot. My heart goes out to people who are dealing with a lot worse than what we’re dealing with. We’re just hoping we can help in some way”
Trve Brewing will reopen the Asheville location on Tuesday for people to charge their phones and grab water. Nunns and his wife will be traveling to North Carolina this week with additional supplies, but also to see the brewery and their home for the first time since Helene slammed the area.
"In Denver we always tried to be a community hub as much as we can be, supporting the community that’s what the place is all about - that’s our goal to be a home away from home for people and that will be our biggest goal when we get out there. The biggest thing will be helping out the community and trying to support them in whatever way we can," Nunns said.