West Asheville, NC – Mar. 1-7, 2026

This weekend brought in a new long term team, with the exception of Ron and Char, who continue on here as Crew Leader and Cook.  Beth Ann had arrived on Wednesday and continues as a long term volunteer.  Mike and Linda (Project Director and Office Manager), joined them, after having served at the Bat Cave Bridge project for the month of February, and Hank (Crew Leader), Stephanie (Cook) and Jim (Crew Leader) completes the LTV team.  We look forward to good weeks together here in Asheville.

Two groups of short term volunteers came in on Sunday, both groups arriving from PA.  It didn’t take long for everyone to start getting acquainted and visiting together.

Work continued Monday at the Gyska house, building stairs and attaching railings to the front porch and working on a side deck; that work continuing on through the week  Volunteers painted bi-fold doors at the Culler house most of the week, touch up painting was done and the vanity installed. Work was also done in the crawl space, putting up a fire wall, and a lot of cleaning was done in the house as well.   At the Walls house, there was continued work taping and sanding drywall, and by Friday the primer was being painted.  Spackling and sanding was also done at McPherson’s, and installation of a stair rail.  Several smaller jobs at various houses were worked on through the week also, including working on some wiring and installation of a switch and light and cleaning floors.

Our volunteers enjoyed joining the volunteers at Bat Cave again this week on Wednesday night.  They got a look at the destruction still evident there, as well as enjoying a good meal together.  Robert and Jen, members of the Bat Cave Fire Dept., then shared with the group what life was like right after the storm and the days following as they walked over and around the mountain bringing care and help to all those around needing assistance.

On Saturday, the long term team enjoyed the afternoon exploring Chimney Rock and hiking the trail to the waterfall.

We had beautiful spring weather to work in this week, and we are thankful for a group of volunteers who not only used their skills, but interacted with homeowners as well, learning their stories.

The long term team:  Mike & Linda, Ron & Char, Jim, Hank, Stephanie and Beth Ann