After Hurricane Florence made landfall earlier this month, the storm and subsequent flooding claimed 48 lives in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Moody's, an analytic research company, conservatively estimates damage could cost $17 to $22 billion.

Among those impacted are salons and spas who have had to close and hundreds of salon professionals who have either lost their homes, their place of work or both. Requests for help already are flooding the two funds established to help our industry recover from natural disasters--PBA's Disaster Relief Fund and The Salon and Spa Relief Fund.

PBA's Disaster Relief Fund is calling on salon professionals to give what they can. A hundred percent of all Disaster Relief funds raised go directly to beauty industry professionals affected by natural disasters. The fund is a program of the PBA Foundations, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Donations made to the PBA Foundation are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by U.S. law.

The Salon and Spa Relief Fund was established by the Neill Company in 2005 and has distributed more than $200,000 in grants, with 100% of the funds available to help people in the salon and spa industry. It is a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3), so donations to the organization are tax deductible. In response to Florence, the Salon and Spa Relief Fund issued the  $500 Challenge, with the goal of raising $250,000 by getting 500 beauty-based businesses to donate $500 or more.