Volunteer duo Tricia and Charlie Franck (pictured R) were recently recognized for their extensive commitment to volunteer service with Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity. At the August 15th Buncombe County Board of Commissioners Meeting, the Francks received the Governor’s Medallion Award for Volunteer Service.
Asheville Habitat’s volunteer program has grown over the years, alongside its programs. In addition to utilizing volunteers on new home construction, community volunteers work on home repair, deconstruction, in the ReStores, and in administrative capacities including office support and committee work. “Cores”- those who volunteer weekly and bi-monthly volunteers- are the foundation of Asheville Habitat’s volunteer program.
On Friday December 9th at 3pm, Habitat’s New Heights neighborhood will be bustling with even more activity than usual. Following a short speaking program, Warren Haynes will join volunteers, supporters, and future homeowner Melissa Mitchell and her daughters to raise the first wall of their new home, the 2023 Christmas Jam House. This house is special for another reason too; it is 20-year Habitat staffer and Senior Construction Supervisor Kenny Busch’s 100th Asheville Habitat house!
To date, the annual Warren Haynes Presents: The Christmas Jam has raised more than $2.7 million for Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity, constructing 40+ Habitat homes and helping to pay infrastructure and development costs of entire Habitat neighborhoods.
Future homeowner and Asheville native Melissa Mitchell is thrilled to be able to purchase a new and affordable Green Built Habitat home. Despite steady full-time employment in the healthcare field, Melissa has struggled to find decent housing for her family in the Asheville area, one of the state’s highest cost housing markets. With few options for affordable housing, the Mitchell family has had to sacrifice quality to make ends meet. Melissa has described her current subsidized rental as “shelter,” and looks forward to finally having a place she can call “home.”
With the return of the annual benefit concert, comes the return of Asheville Habitat’s signature volunteer experience, Before the Jam, Lend a Hand. Volunteers from near and far will help build new homes, work on a home repair project, and serve in the Asheville ReStore. Local restaurants including Luella’s BBQ and Mellow Mushroom and will feed the helpers, and Merrell will again sponsor the signature volunteer event.
Asheville Habitat’s Executive Director Andy Barnett noted, “Habitat has been uniquely blessed this year. We are proud to share proceeds of the Christmas Jam with BeLoved Asheville. Working with those facing chronic housing instability, their work is a perfect fit with our vision of a world where everyone has a place to call home.”
Interested in helping the causes that Warren Haynes and The Christmas Jam support? Here are a few suggestions:
Alexander homeowner of 44 years now can live safely navigate her property, thanks to Habitat’s Home Repair program.
Learn all things Women Build- what it’s all about, the history and how to get involved to help us build another energy-efficient, affordable home in West Asheville.
Joe at his desk next to his current repair project.
In November 2021, volunteer Joe Young offered to help combat a growing problem under the Asheville ReStore: sewing machines were piling up in the basement. Despite having minimal experience with the machines, Joe pivoted from large appliance repair and set to work. Today, he is a seasoned sewing machine repairman putting his love for fixing and maintaining tools into a new passion. We sat down with Joe on National Sewing Machine Day to talk about his volunteer work, history, and, of course, sewing machines. Learn more in the video below.
Hundreds of Asheville Habitat volunteers were celebrated and thanked at Highland Brewing on April 20th during a National Volunteer Appreciation Week event.
Affectionately dubbed “The Boys,” Aaron Finkel and Steven Casciato are our exceedingly dedicated volunteers tasked with conquering piles of waivers and sign-in sheets – a task vital to the efficient operation of our large volunteer program.
If you ask Austin Brown about his favorite moment as a volunteer with Asheville Habitat, his answer might sound like a platitude: “they all are.” But that is not a brush-off.
Part-time volunteers and full-time friends, together Anne Justice and Lou Towson sort, curate, and price the enormous volume of jewelry that passes through the ReStore.
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