West Asheville, NC (SYP) – July 19 – 24, 2026

For a Summer Youth Project, the third week’s group of weekly volunteers was a bit different from others.  The average age of the 19 mostly gray-haired volunteers from the Harrisonburg, VA, area was 71.5 years of age.

Some volunteers came with skills, others came wanting to learn new skills, and all came ready to work hard.

On Monday and Tuesday two truckloads of lumber for the bridge project arrived.  Each piece of lumber was unloaded by hand and placed closer to the bridge.  That amounted to 21,800 pounds of lumber and hardware, around 350 pieces of 2X6X14 pieces of treated lumber.  Then the stacked lumber had to be carried to the bridge.  One of the volunteers accidentally slipped while crossing the creek while on the bridge project.  Later, he got into the water to simply cool off.  His antics produced a lot of laughter! On Friday, the decking was finished!  Over 11,000 galvanized nails were used to complete the decking.

Block laying at the Radford project continued Monday and Tuesday.  They completed the first course and began the second course (of five).  There was no shade, and frequent breaks were taken and a lot of water was consumed.

Rain moved some of the volunteers inside on Thursday, and more mudding was done at the Graham house.  Mr. Graham shared with the group how his house was destroyed by a huge tree and other smaller ones that fell on the center of his house.  He is grateful to God and the MDS volunteers who are making his new home a closer to reality.

At the Hillman house, fascia board and hurricane straps work was completed.  Plywood was put on the roof and rafters for the porch were installed.  Sheathing was done and they started reframing the windows.  (The rough openings had been framed too small by another group.)

On Thursday evening our supper guests were author and trauma counselor Emma Churchman and her husband Jeff.  Emma shared their experiences of surviving Hurricane Helene.  She then read several excerpts from her book The Deep End of Hope in the Wake of Hurricane Helene: 40 Days and Nights of Survival and Transformation.  Ironically, as she was sharing it began to rain very hard.  The scary effects from the storm two years ago were still troubling her.

In the evenings, volunteers often gathered under an awning and chatted, sharing stories and building friendships.  The group’s purpose was accomplished as they worked hard and learned new skills, and made new friends.

For all of us at West Asheville,

Edith, Rex, Dave, Conrad, Bruce, Sovilla, and Anita