ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Leslie Beninato and Kelly Jones spend a lot of time on the water.

What You Need To Know

  • Asheville Canoe House invited 14 participants to take on the French Broad River, launching a series of events that will be called “Paddling for a Purpose”  
  • The business raised $400 for Blue Ridge Pride
  • The Blue Ridge Pride festival will take place Saturday, Sept. 30 in Pack Square Park

“We met on the river, so this has just been a big part of our relationship,” Kelly Jones, Asheville Canoe House marketing specialist, said. 

The river serves as a happy place for both of them.

“If you love someone, get on a boat with them,” Jones said. “If you can still love each other after you’re in a boat together, then you’re solid.”

While building their relationship, they also just recently built a business called Asheville Canoe House.

It has been open for about three months, and it didn’t take long for their love of canoeing to meet with their desire to make a difference. 

The Asheville Canoe House team invited 14 participants to take on the French Broad River, launching a series of events that will be called “Paddling for a Purpose.” 

“It just kind of happened!” Beninato, Asheville Canoe House owner and general manager, said. “The stars aligned. It's like, ‘Oh, Pride's happening!’ They want to sponsor us or we can sponsor them, I guess we're doing our first 'Pride Paddle!'”

With the Blue Ridge Pride festival right around the corner, Beninato said it felt like the perfect time to do it. The festival will take place Saturday, Sept. 30 in Pack Square Park. 

“For people in the LGBTQ community, with everything that's going on, not necessarily in Asheville, but all around the country, like the whole ‘Don't Say Gay’ thing or the drag queen bans in Tennessee, it's really scary,” Jones said. “So you know, as queer women who own the business, we thought, we really want to be able to donate to a charity where we know the funds are going to go directly to help our local community.”

They said they want to give the LGBTQ+ community a safe space to share their voices and to remind the area that pride recognition should go beyond the month of June.

“People still need education about these things, access to medical care, sometimes housing,” Jones said. “So, that's why it's important to support those communities.”

The business raised $400, and Beninato is speechless seeing how the community showed up.

“Anything really helps,” Beninato said. “The fact that we did something, I'm really proud of that. We got people to show up for the community, to show up for the outdoors.” 

She’s already looking forward to the next event.

“This town shows up for the community, and that's just what we want to be a part of. So we're happy to do it,” Beninato said. 

While creating an annual “Pride Paddle,” Asheville Canoe House is also planning to do a “Paddling for a Purpose” each month, benefiting a different organization each time.