Three OnlyFans Creators Unite For Hurricane Relief In Asheville

Three OnlyFans creators recently headed to Asheville, North Carolina, to help with hurricane relief efforts, according to a video shared on TikTok and other channels. Alana Cho posted the video to the social media site alongside the caption "We helped hurricane survivors." The video, which has racked up more than 53,000 views on the app and more than 500,000 on Instagram, depicts Cho and two friends (@vvptoria and @jenfoxxuwu) shopping for goods to provide to the people of Asheville, which was badly hit by Hurricane Helene in September.

Alana saw Asheville all over TikTok and was heartbroken and very emotionally compelled to make a difference, said Ethan Fox, who directed the video. Some individuals made posts on social media about their specific needs, so we reached out to see if they were interested in us helping them.

Across the region, approximately 5,000 customers remain without power, down from a peak of more than 1 million, according to the office of North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. Some roads remain closed and others reserved for essential vehicles. In addition to the 1,500 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staff in the state and hundreds of millions of dollars in federal relief money, volunteers and individuals have been providing support.

In her video, Cho meets Darian Bodenhorst, a local volunteer with a group called AVL Fast. Bodenhorst explains what the community needs. "It's about to get cold," he tells the three OnlyFans content creators. "Imagine a generator, what it can do for a family to have heat."

Cho and her friends are then seen purchasing 11 generators, 25 laptops, and iPads. Cho says in the video that they spent "$30,000 on food, generators, and a bunch of other stuff."

Alongside her friends, she then delivers the aid to Bodenhorst, who is there with a group of people. Bodenhorst says, "This is going to get kids back in school," as he holds an iPad that the women had bought.

The three women are visibly emotional as they embrace people beside the truck of supplies. Bodenhorst then says that survivors need "$20,000 tiny homes, for as many people that lost their homes." Cho tells Bodenhorst and the group, "We want to give you $20,000 to build the first one."

At the end of the video, Cho asks Bodenhorst, "Do you know how we paid for all of this?" He responds that he doesn't, and she tells him they paid for it "With OnlyFans money." "Even better," Bodenhorst says.

"We're extremely grateful for her [Alana] and her friends," Bodenhorst told Newsweek. "They flew all the way from L.A., spent their earned money, and dedicated time to support our mission. Without support like this, we would not be able to continue our efforts in the capacity that we are."

He said he "wasn't aware of where the money came from prior to her telling us. After she told us, it had no effect on us." "I didn't think it was odd at all that three young women had that amount of money to spend," Bodenhorst added.

"There's a lot of OF creators out there that are willing to help out like this with the abundance of wealth they have, so I hope to arrange more things in the future that calls upon them," Fox told Newsweek.

He confirmed his volunteer group received the $20,000 and that they have "decided to direct these funds straight into renovating homes."

Bodenhorst has been helping with hurricane relief efforts and sharing footage of this on his social media channels for the past few weeks. He owns a wedding venue in Asheville with his sister and fellow AVL Fast team member Deandra Bodenhorst, which they have been using as a basecamp.

His GoFundMe page for hurricane relief efforts in North Carolina says that AVL Fast is "a team of friends, locals, and volunteers from across the country."

Bodenhorst told Newsweek there had been an "overwhelming amount of support with supplies." "It's important to continue to think long term," he said. "There will be plenty of people that won't receive power or running water for a long time. Not to mention cellular service." Bodenhorst said it's important that all organizations share information so they can streamline operations.

As for federal assistance? It's "a touchy subject," he said. "From what I've heard about other disasters, for example [2005's Hurricane] Katrina, FEMA was able to bring in tons of temporary shelters to people, and that's not something we're experiencing here."

"I haven't had any contact with the government here, although I know they are helping in some capacity, but I do feel that they could put more efforts towards helping people here."

"There's been a lot of controversy," Fox said, about the response to the hurricane. "Ultimately, we're not policymakers, we're OF creators, so we'd be reluctant to say we know how to fix the problems, but we met a lot of individuals trying their best to make a difference that we'd like to see supported."

A spokesperson for FEMA told Newsweek in an email that it is working on a range of "potential housing options" and has "approved more than 94,000 households for disaster assistance."

It also "provides money directly to survivors to help them pay for a temporary place to live, make home repairs, replace personal property, pay for lodging expenses, and assist with other needs not covered by insurance," the spokesperson said.

The FEMA spokesperson added that the agency has also provided paid temporary hotel stays to 2,800 households, and 15 disaster recovery centers have been set up in heavily impacted counties. "More recovery centers are opening in coming days," they said.

Update, 10/24/24, 06:11 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a comment from Ethan Fox.

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