News

Funders seek to claw back grants in bankruptcy of Absher's Only Hope WNC

In a bankruptcy filing, board members of Only Hope WNC say more than $200,000 in restricted grant money was "used improperly."

By By BILL MOSS & AMY B. MCCRAW, Published: January 15, 2026

Amid more than 20 charges of alleged child-sex abuse that suggest a moral bankruptcy at Only Hope WNC, the nonprofit agency has filed a petition to liquidate its assets and pay creditors the proceeds.

The last remaining leaders of the organization founded by Michael Absher in 2010 to shelter homeless teenagers hired an attorney to file the voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, which was filed on Dec. 17 in federal court in Asheville.

The petition , which lists $260,000 in assets against $371,885 in debts, comes as Absher remains jailed in Henderson County under a $2.22 million bond on 23 counts of sexual offenses involving juveniles in the agency’s care. He has been incarcerated since he was arrested last July 30 on the first of what grew to almost two dozen charges Henderson County sheriff’s detectives brought after a series of grand jury indictments.

Restricted grant money unaccounted for

In the bankruptcy petition, filed by Asheville attorney Benson Pitts, Only Hope lists assets including a trailer and storage building. But more than $200,000 of the total is described as a “restricted grant used improperly in eight months” by Absher, who was Only Hope’s executive director.

“At the moment it’s pretty a new case,” bankruptcy trustee Robert Mays said in an interview Monday. “My objectives are to find these assets to be liquidated or monetized in some way and pay as much as we can to the creditors. I am very much just getting acquainted with this. There’s a lot of supposition (around what became of the $200,000 grant). I don’t know all the details of what happened.”

As bankruptcy trustee, Mays is responsible for doing whatever he can to recover, secure and sell off assets and distribute the money to creditors who file a claim in the case. So far, nine creditors have filed claims, including Henderson County, the city of Hendersonville and three other grantors who helped support Only Hope for years.

“Sometimes in these kinds of cases, the person who knows the most about the books is not available,” Mays said, suggesting that person would be Absher. Mays said it’s possible that he would try to question the jail inmate about Only Hope’s finances.

“We’ll certainly be looking into that,” he said. “I’ve had people in federal prison and in state prison” who were principles in bankruptcy cases. “So we’ll see what the rules are and what his attorneys say about that.” But he added: “People can plead the Fifth Amendment.”

District Attorney Andrew Murray said Monday he was not aware of any criminal investigation by sheriff’s detectives into possible financial crime by Absher in his role as Only Hope’s CEO. Detectives did not respond to the Lightning’s request for comment.

Lance P. Martin, one of two attorneys who has filed an appearance in the bankruptcy case on behalf of the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina Inc. and its effort to recover a $196,385 grant, referred the Lightning to Mays, the bankruptcy trustee.

“He’s the guy who’s going to have the answers,” Martin said. “He’s the one who is going to do all the spadework to find out if any assets are available and if so what amount and how to get to them.”

Pitts said Monday he began representing Only Hope last fall after receiving a referral from an attorney in Hendersonville. Filing the petition for voluntary liquidation seemed to be the easiest and most orderly way to address the organization’s financial problems, Pitts said.

On Dec. 17, the remaining three Only Hope board members — Carol Brown, Kim Fletcher and Kyle Barker — adopted a formal resolution directing Brown to round up and deliver records for the bankruptcy filing to Pitts, the attorney, and “to appear in all bankruptcy proceedings on behalf of the corporation,” according to the Chapter 7 petition.

Brown told a Lightning reporter she had not been involved in the board for the past few years because she was caring for her sick mother. She directed questions about the missing grant money to Fletcher, whom Absher announced in a 2022 Facebook post had been named the shelter’s director of operations. Attempts to reach Fletcher were unsuccessful.

Barker was serving as the board’s interim chair in August when the board cut ties with Absher. In a telephone interview last October, he told a reporter that as of a few days earlier he was no longer part of the organization and declined to answer further questions.

Claims are unsecured

Under the U.S. bankruptcy law, the Henderson County tax collector, N.C. Department of Revenue and IRS would be priority creditors if they have claims for past-due property taxes, income taxes, payroll . The three are listed but none has submitted a claim so far.

Creditors that have filed unsecured claims include:

• Bob’s Pit Stop, a convenience store at 1048 Spartanburg Highway, $2,700. (“One of the most friendliest staff and place! Love getting my mountain dew and honey buns fix in!” Absher commented on the store’s Facebook page on Dec. 24, 2020.)
•  Carolina Hurricanes Foundation, a Raleigh-based charity associated with the NHL franchise, $50,000.
• Chris Kiefer, a chiropractor who owns the Allen Street house that Only Hope leased, unknown amount.
• City of Hendersonville, $12,825.
• Community Foundation of Henderson County, $24,500.
• Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, $196,385.
• Henderson County, $64,750.
• Anderson Ellis, $10,000, attorney fees.
• United Way of Henderson County, $10,724.69

The deadline for all non-government creditors to file a proof of claim is Feb. 25. Government agencies have until June 15 to file.

The petition says Only Hope’s assets were cash on hand, $56,806.71;

Computers, electronics, gaming systems, $2,000; trailer, $500; storage building, $1,000.

Grantors file claims

Grantors who donated taxpayers’ money or nonprofit agency funds to Only Hope say they did so in good faith when Absher described the programs for homeless youth he was providing.

Homeless as a teenager himself, Absher won the trust and support of influential people in the community when he was starting the nonprofit 14 years ago. A Republican, he won election to the School Board in 2016 at age 26. He was chair-elect of the county Library Board before his arrest in July.

“I believe that there are times when good things were done,” said County Commissioner Rebecca McCall, a strong supporter of Absher and Only Hope until the criminal charges came to light. “There were children that needed that assistance and weren't getting it from other areas. They did have a board of directors. I don't look at it as giving the money to Michael Absher, I look at it as giving the money to help the kids that needed the help.

“If it was misused, I'm not downplaying it, but that's things that happen all the time. I mean, look at what happened in Minnesota (with widespread fraud by nonprofits.) So unless we are have the resources to constantly monitor all the time, we're never going to know when some of these things happen. It's like we have 150 something nonprofits. How many of them are honest, how many of them aren't? I can't say. We do our best to audit, but just like a resume, you can look good on paper and not look good otherwise.”

McCray Benson, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, said although his organization did approve two grants for specific requests, Absher’s applications for regular operating money never passed the foundation’s due diligence reviews.

“We’ve actually only given them two grants ever,” Benson said. “One of those was to buy a trailer to be able to make some of the services mobile, to be able to take to schools or other locations. And they actually bought that trailer. So that was easy to know that they spent it for the purpose that it was for.

“The second grant was during the (Helene) disaster stuff. They had damages to the facility, and they asked for assistance through one of our disaster grants. We feel like that’s the only one where we don’t think any work was done or that was used properly, and that’s why we’re asking for those funds, if they have any in the bankruptcy, to be repaid back.”

The bankruptcy petition also reports that last September the nonprofit sold a 2023 Toyota Tundra pickup truck valued at $43,000, and Dodge Durango (model year unknown) valued at $19,000 to Dr. Kiefer, Only Hope’s landlord.

“I paid for them in good faith,” he said. “We paid market value on them. We actually paid above what the dealership was offering for them.” And the purchase cost him more, he said, because one of the vehicles had an oil leak that cost $2,000 to repair.

Kiefer said the total amount of his claim in the bankruptcy petition is unknown because extensive damage to the rental property has come to light.

“What happened was he had done some wiring (that resulted in) extensive damage inside,” Kiefer said. “We also had with a problem with water leaks where Michael had not done the proper shower (installation). And then also he dumped a bunch of rock that he was going to use for paving but he never did that. He came through with a lot of promises that he never fulfilled. We keep finding more and more problems where he cut corners, so we still haven't got a final number yet.”

Asked how he looks back now on his long association with Absher as a tenant, Kiefer, in somewhat of an understatement, said he was “just kind of disappointed.”

When he first learned about Only Hope, “I thought it was going to be a great organization to help the community, and I think, like everyone in this community, we’re disappointed in how things ended,” he said.