Converging in Asheville from North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Oakland, and Atlanta, Cisco’s Crisis Response Team bonded in a meaningful way. Some knew each other, others were meeting for the first time and becoming fast friends.
by Danny Mendl
Joe Linville, Dave DeCarme, and Garland Walker. Visit an Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity Home Repair job site on any given Wednesday and you’re likely to find one —or all— of these men working. We tagged along for a Disaster Home Repair job to learn how they got started volunteering with Asheville Habitat and what keeps them coming back each week.
Joe replacing baseboard in a Hurricane Helene damaged home.
Joe Linville has volunteered with Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity’s Home Repair team for six years — and for many of those years, alongside Dave DeCarme and Garland Walker. A now-retired firefighter of 30 years, Joe gained carpentry experience as a part-time handyman to supplement his income while working as a firefighter in Florida. Following his move to Western North Carolina in his retirement, Joe, having personally built two homes and renovated two more, sought out Habitat, where he thought his skills would be of good use.
Joe’s volunteer service began with a few days on a New Home Construction build, but after accepting an opportunity to work with Home Repair, he quickly realized that the dynamic, problem-solving nature of the repair work appealed to him more. “You have to improvise a lot on older homes because nothing is plumb, level, or square. You get into a job and maybe you have to tear out some drywall, and you get in there and find some of the studs are rotted. So now you have another issue you have to fix before you can do the job you started on,” he shares.
Beyond just the puzzles contained in the walls of old homes, Joe credits his enjoyment of his volunteer service to the camaraderie with his fellow Wednesday Core group and the impact of the work itself, saying, “The rewarding part of this is being able to see that some of these elderly people get to stay in their home. Whether six months or two years or ten years after that, at least they have a safe place to live, right? That’s what a lot of this is about.”
As far as Joe is concerned, the social and societal benefits will keep him showing up to Home Repair jobs for as long as he’s able to. An avid traveler who aims to take two or three big trips a year, most recently to Scotland and Utah, he says, “My mantra is sort of, ‘I want to do as much as I can for as long as I can,’ and if you stay active, it gives you a better chance of being able to do things for longer.”
Joe also knows that there will be no shortage of opportunities to stay active through volunteer service in the wake of Hurricane Helene, offering a parting message to potential volunteers:
“I’d like to say, as far as anybody reading this, if they have any interest and would like to volunteer, we’d appreciate all the people we can get going — especially with home repair now that we’re really doing home recovery more than home repair. The scope is really picking up.”
Dave DeCarme was born and raised in Pennsylvania, but spent his professional career in Washington DC, serving as Director of the Office of International Transportation and Trade, and moved to Asheville in his retirement. With no prior experience with Habitat for Humanity as an organization, Dave first began volunteering with Asheville Habitat around nine years ago when a neighbor invited him to tag along. “Other than seeing Jimmy Carter on the TV once in a while, I knew nothing about Habitat,” Dave says. His neighbor has since moved out of the area, but for Dave, the volunteer service stuck around.
Dave cutting baseboard for installation in a Hurricane Helene damaged home.
Today, he volunteers with Asheville Habitat two days a week, spending Wednesdays working alongside Joe and Garland on Home Repair jobs and Fridays at our New Home Construction sites. Like Joe, Dave finds the ever-changing nature and improvisational problem-solving of Home Repair’s work appealing. He credits some of his carpentry skills to his father, a man with a strong “Do-It-Yourself” attitude, but the rest to his years on the jobsite. Of his time with Habitat, Dave says, “You feel you’re contributing something. But there’s also never a day that I work here that I don’t learn something, so I get something out of it as well as giving something. It works out well for me.”
When asked why someone might consider volunteering with Habitat, Dave keeps it simple:
“You’re helping yourself by helping others.”
Garland Walker has been volunteering with Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity for over ten years. Once an attorney in fishery management in Alaska,
Garland applies caulk to recently installed baseboards in a Hurricane Helene damaged home.
Garland moved back to his home state of North Carolina in retirement. Growing up in Winston-Salem, he was fond of Western North Carolina and its mountains for recreation and always imagined he might end up in Asheville eventually.
When asked what brought him to Habitat, Garland says, “Like most everybody else, I was looking for something to kind of give back and do something once I retired.” With no prior experience in carpentry or construction aside from small fixes in his own home, he signed up for a volunteer shift with Habitat’s New Home Construction program. On his second day of volunteering, he was offered a chance to go out with the growing Home Repair team and never looked back.
“Because I had no formal training, it taught me things that I could still use around the house. I’m not going to have to build a house, but I might have to repair a deck or a wall. It’s these little things that will be, or have been, useful at home,” he shares.
Having watched Asheville Habitat’s Home Repair program grow from a one- or two-person team into what it is today — a “top-notch program with three leaders that take people out to do work every day,” as he puts it — Garland credits the success of the program to its director, Joel Johnson, saying, “It’s Joel and his leadership that was able to do that. I don’t think everyone could have done that, and it was quite something to watch and appreciate.”
To his enjoyment of the work and his time on the jobsite, Garland credits his fellow volunteers, the camaraderie built by working together each week, and the reward of the work itself:
“It’s a great thing because you’re doing good work for people that need the good work, and you’re working with good people. It’s that trifecta. I think it’s hard to beat that combination.”
Interested in volunteering with Asheville Habitat’s Disaster Home Repair program? Learn more about available opportunities.
Longtime WomBAT and construction core volunteer Julie White talks about the power of Women Build and what keeps her coming back year after year to Habitat.
Evan feels one can sit around and complain, or get involved, volunteer, and do things that make you feel good. His positivity radiates as he talks about his life, his family, and his interests.
Bryan in the donation lane of the Asheville ReStore
By Danny Mendl
Talk with ReStore Core Volunteer Bryan Bennett for long enough and you’ll get the sense that creating things is a core component of who he is. It’s fitting, then, that his volunteer work with Asheville Habitat helps to create opportunity and stability for new and existing homeowners in and outside of Asheville.
When COVID-19 hit in 2020, Bryan and his partner left their home in Brooklyn to seek a change after years in the city. They found it in Canton, North Carolina, where they eventually moved after growing attached to the area and its natural beauty. An interior designer with an M.F.A. in sculpture, Bryan left his full-time trade behind in New York City and now spends his time running an independent online retailer, tending to his garden, creating art, and volunteering.
Living 20–30 minutes outside of Asheville, Bryan sought volunteer opportunities as a means of spending time outside of Canton, engaging with new people, and giving back to the community. Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity was fortunate enough to be the first nonprofit he signed up to volunteer with, and for the past 3+ years he’s been a constant presence in the Asheville ReStore’s donation lane on Tuesday afternoons. Having no prior experience with Habitat for Humanity, Bryan says, “I really couldn’t even tell you if there was a Habitat in New York City — Asheville Habitat was my first exposure to the work they do.”
In the time since he started with Asheville Habitat, Bryan has not only grown familiar with Habitat for Humanity’s mission, but also become an advocate for it. “Most of my ‘proselytizing’ happens when I meet people who have misconceptions about Habitat’s work: that it’s giving out free homes, or that people don’t work for a new home. I try to let them know how the programs really operate, that they do great work in the community,” he shares.
Beyond helping in the Asheville ReStore’s receiving and processing zone, Bryan has participated in a few jobs with our Deconstruction team, extracting useable materials from local homes and businesses for resale at the ReStore, as well as helping run the ReStore registers when needed. But when asked what brings him back to the donation lane every Tuesday, Bryan praises the enthusiasm and engagement he finds at the ReStore. “The vibe, it’s the energy here,” he says. “People are happy to be here — or at least have a good attitude about it. Donors dropping things off will say, ‘Thank you for being here!’ And I’ll say, ‘Thank you for being here!’”
Bryan tests a donated lighting fixture
Though he no longer works full-time as an interior designer, Bryan continues to take clients on the side — mostly friends — and works hands-on in remodeling projects with a handiness he credits to his father, a carpenter. In the Asheville ReStore’s donation lane, his experience in design drew him to the bins of donated lighting, where he spends downtime testing and hanging fixtures for sale, as well as collecting loose or unhoused crystals from damaged chandeliers for his sculptural work. When his partner set about opening a new dessert bar in West Asheville, Potential New Boyfriend, Bryan took on the task of bringing the interior to life, even purchasing some of the decor from the ReStore. Today, one of his favorite finds from the store hangs inside the bar: a mirror, framed by wood-carved swans on each side.
Bryan’s Honda Shadow
If you were to ask him about his most valued ReStore treasure, however, he would point you to his motorcycle: an 1100cc Honda Shadow Spirit, the exact same model he once owned in Brooklyn. He purchased it from the front patio of the Asheville ReStore in June of 2022, with proceeds from the bike, like all ReStore sales, funding Asheville Habitat’s New Home Construction and Home Repair programs. What was once too much bike for the crowded, slow streets of New York City is now perfect for the green hills of Interstate 40, carrying him to and from his volunteer work on any warm and sunny Tuesday.
Interested in volunteering at the Restore? Click here to learn more.
Erika’s need for affordable, stable housing brought her to Habitat, but she found even deeper connection and meaning after becoming a core construction volunteer at Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity.
At Habitat, we see this community come together to put love into action every day. In 2024 alone, more than 43,500 hours of service was provided by 1,341 individuals. We’re celebrating them during National Volunteer Appreciation Week.
Instead of catching up on sleep or taking a beach vacation, many college students are swinging hammers and wielding drills during their spring break. Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity is hosting numerous college groups from all over the country this spring. Schools include Michigan Tech, Boston College, St. John Fisher University, Colgate University, University of Alabama, and many others. This provides students a hands-on opportunity to build homes, meet Habitat homebuyers, and learn about the challenges of building affordable housing.
Due to Hurricane Helene, Asheville Habitat is hosting more out of town teams than ever before. “We typically host 4-6 groups in the spring. This year, there are already 19 out of town groups scheduled and nearly three hundred more individuals have expressed interest in coming here to help,” said Construction Services Volunteer Manager, Stephanie Wallace. The organization has added a new Volunteer Associate to help manage the influx of volunteers.
In addition to out of town college groups, there are local schools and groups, as well as Habitat affiliates from all over the country sending volunteer teams: Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and Fredrick Maryland to name a few. And, to further support local recovery and rebuilding efforts, an AmeriCorps NCCC team has been dispatched to Asheville Habitat. The 8-member team is helping through mid-May with Habitat’s disaster home repair work and new home construction. Volunteers are working at various home repair sites throughout Buncombe County and Habitat’s Glenn Bridge neighborhood in Arden.
In a recent period of reflection, one student shared, “I love that future homeowners have a direct handprint on their own home.” Another said, “Even when it was really cold, I didn’t want to be anywhere else.” Whether commenting on the Habitat model, their personal desire to serve, or what they have learned, it is clear volunteers leave with something special at the end of their week with Habitat.
Sherry and Wendy at the Asheville ReStore’s upper registers.
Meet Sherry and Wendy, two best friends who worked together as educators and continue to work together as volunteers. Sherry introduced Wendy to the ReStore, and together they turn customers into new volunteers and volunteers into new friends. Learn more about their experiences at Asheville Habitat and what brings them back to the Asheville ReStore every Thursday in the video below.
Jan has been a Core volunteer with Habitat’s Home Repair team for 5 years, and she’s proud to be the only female core volunteer. Learn more about Jan, the kind of work she does, and what it means to her.
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