North Carolina Bridges – Mar. 15-21, 2026

We had a group of young men who came from the Shiloh Ohio area. They all knew how to use the skidsteer and backhoe, so they took turns playing in the dirt! We had some very cool weather this week, in fact freezing temperatures, and rain, so the site got pretty messy! There was no unhappiness, just a lot of laundry to do. It’s all in a day’s work!

This week we poured the approach for the Kerber bridge with concrete which is unusual but since the bridge was at an angel it seemed to be the way to go. Everything was cleaned up from this site and the Allison bridge started with piles and forms. At the Allison site we installed a temporary culvert for better access. By the end of the week the decking was on and the end walls were poured, the only thing left was the curbing which will happen next week. Another bridge is almost complete with a very happy new bridge owner!

We had two bridge dedications this week, one at the Martin bridge and another at the Lyda bridge. It’s truly heart warming to see the excitement when a bridge is complete! Our group from Shilo enjoyed music so they sang “Shall We Gather at the River” for both dedications.

Tuesday, we had a delicious dinner with the West Asheville group. Emma Churchman, who is a local resident, shared a few stories of what it was like right after the storm. She has written a book called “The Deep End of Hope” (available in Amazon) if you’re interested.

From the long-term team: Clete, Mike, Betty and Willy