ASP News

ASP Awarded Lilly Endowment Grant for RESPONSE: ‘ Vocational Discernment through Volunteer Service Program’

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:37:00 -0400

Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded a four-year, $600,000 grant to Appalachia Service Project (ASP) to launch RESPONSE, a theologically-based vocational discernment through volunteer service program.

The RESPONSE program will identify the current effectiveness of current ASP volunteer programs, develop and deploy vocational discernment curricula for volunteers and field staff, and inspire all associated with ASP to better understand how they might answer God’s call to live lives of service.

“For over 40 years, ASP has enlisted and deployed volunteers in support of its mission to make homes ‘warmer, safer, and drier’ for the most needy families in Central Appalachia,” said Walter Crouch, president of ASP. “Our volunteers—now numbering over 16,000 each year—give of their time to serve others, and in the process of doing so their lives are dramatically changed for the better. We believe that the RESPONSE program will magnify the transformational power of the ASP volunteer experience for both our staff and volunteers.”

RESPONSE will build a framework of Scriptural reflection, vocational discernment, and commitment to lifelong service into the ASP experience of both volunteers and members of our field staff through six key activities: 1) Investigating and understanding the current effectiveness of ASP in inspiring Christian service, 2) Developing a vocational discernment curriculum for high school volunteers, 3) Designing curriculum, paired with new service opportunities, for college students during interim academic terms, 4) Developing vocational discernment and clarification tools and programs for summer staff, 5) Initiating year-long communities of ‘Lilly Fellows’ at each of ASP’s four year-round centers, and 6) Evaluating each program component for effectiveness and improvement.

RESPONSE will be led by Charles Oberweiser, program director, and Becca Davis, chief ministries officer.

“In its infancy, ASP was a simple home repair ministry that was founded by a humble, Methodist minister,” said Davis. “Today, ASP is a major force for good that relies on volunteers whose lives are changed as they serve Central Appalachia’s neediest families. We believe that RESPONSE will not only help people develop a better sense of their personal call to service, but it will make a dramatic difference in achieving ASP’s ministry goals.”

For more information about ASP’s RESPONSE program, contact Charles Oberweiser at (423) 854-4430 or charles.oberweiser@asphome.org.

About Lilly Endowment Inc.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. The Endowment is, however, a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. It is devoted to the causes of religion, education and community development. The Endowment supports a wide variety of efforts to enhance the quality of ministry in American congregations and parishes. Funding is provided also to help identify, recruit, call and nurture into Christian ministry a new generation of talented pastors. The Endowment also funds projects designed to promote informed dialogue about religion in American life, generate new knowledge, communicate fresh insights, and renew and sustain vital institutions of American Christianity.

ASP First Annual Golf Tournament | April 28, 2012

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:36:00 -0400

Appalachia Service Project (ASP) will hold a First Annual Golf Tournament to benefit its ASP Tri-Cities Program on Saturday, April 28, 2012 at the Elizabethton Golf Course, Elizabethton, Tenn. The presenting sponsor is Bank of Tennessee.

The two-person scramble format tournament will begin with a shotgun start at 8:00 a.m. Fees are $75 per person when registering individually, or $130 for a two-person team when registering together. Registration includes golf and cart fees, an ASP golf shirt, a gift bag, and will qualify golfers for eligibility to win various prizes.

Proceeds from the tournament will be used for roofing materials, plumbing supplies, and other building materials needed to provide home repairs for low-income families in the Tri-Cities.

On the day preceding the tournament, Friday, April 27, ASP will host a day of home repair voluntarism at one of ASP Tri-Cities’ current work sites.

For additional information or to register as a player, please visit our golf website or call Amelia Caldwell at (423) 854-4423.

ASP 2012 Summer Center Openings -- Call for Volunteers

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 09:34:00 -0400

As we gear up for a busy summer of making homes warmer, safer and drier, we wanted to make you aware that we have openings for volunteers in our summer centers as a part of our summer/youth program.

Please consider adding additional volunteers to your group. Or, if you haven’t made plans to volunteer this summer, it's not too late to join us this summer as we work to transform the lives of the families served by ASP.

• Most weeks have openings that would allow you to add additional volunteers to your existing group.
• There are many openings in weeks one (June 10-16) and seven (July 22-28) that can accommodate large groups of up to 56 people.

To add to your group, or to register to volunteer this summer, please call Carolynn Bailey at 1 (800) 289-4254 extension 208, or email her at cbailey@asphome.org.

Thank you for your service, and for your ongoing support of Appalachia Service Project.

Sincerely,
Karen Frederick
Director, Volunteer Department

UPDATE: ASP responds to tornado disaster

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 14:57:00 -0500

Last Friday’s devastating storms in Appalachia Service Project’s (ASP) service areas, particularly Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia, left many families homeless and many homes in need of repair. ASP has responded by sending staff members to assess damage and plan for teams of volunteers, both as a part of our year-round program, and as part of our summer/youth program.

Already, our team has discovered specific needs for volunteers and supplies in Kentucky and West Virginia. If you are interested in volunteering or sending relief supplies, please do so only after making contact with the following organizations, or another with which you might be personally familiar.

Kentucky—Pollyanna Gilbert, Kentucky Home Place, pshou1@uky.edu, (606) 668-7900
West Virginia—Charity Damron, Wayne County Family Resource Network, (304) 272-6003

ASP is continuing to recruit teams of volunteers to fill our summer centers, as well as to fill our year-round centers. Please call ASP’s Volunteer Department at 1 (800) 289-4254, or send email to info@buildanewyou.org, to request information on volunteering.

ASP will continue to receive financial donations to apply to areas of greatest need especially in the areas where we currently serve as well as in communities where volunteers will be serving this summer. To make a donation, please click here or via the link on our website, www.asphome.org.

Thank you for your interest in helping those who are in need, and for praying for all affected by these devastating storms.

God bless you.

Tim Norton
Chief Advancement Officer

URGENT: ASP counties hit hard by March tornadoes

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:05:00 -0500

March 6, 2012

Late last week, devastating tornadoes hit several states including areas where ASP serves families who desperately need warmer, safer, drier homes.

Many of the Kentucky and Virginia counties where ASP serves, including Magoffin, Morgan and Johnson (KY) as well as Lee County (VA), home to ASP’s Jonesville Center, sustained widespread damage.

ASP stands ready to assist families in need, but we need your help. Please make a gift that will allow us to assist families in our service area.

Descriptions of the devastation are remarkable! And, reports from the communities in Magoffin, Morgan and Johnson counties in Kentucky indicate that a tornado containing 165 mph winds was the culprit.

In Lee County, a tornado with 110 mph winds touched down ripping a path of destruction for 4½ miles, leaving behind several destroyed homes, severely damaged roofs, and other damage that is yet to be fully uncovered.

ASP staff members are out assessing the damage, meeting with community leaders and making plans to put volunteers to work right away, cleaning debris, making home repairs, and serving families whose lives have been torn apart by these storms.

For the families served by ASP volunteers the wind alone—not to speak of the hail—will have caused severe damage. That’s why your help is urgently needed now.

Your gift now will make a difference as together we work to help Appalachia’s poorest families get back on their feet.

Your prayers—now and in the days and weeks to come—will help sustain the families and the many volunteers serving them. So, please print this news story and post it somewhere in your home where you’ll remember to pray for Appalachia’s most needy families and for ASP volunteers who will come to serve.

God bless you,
Tim Norton
Chief Advancement Officer

ASP Iowa City volunteers critical to success of Knoxville Extreme Makeover build

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 10:18:00 -0500

When the call went out from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition for volunteers to assist with a new home build in Knoxville, Tenn., longtime Appalachia Service Project (ASP) volunteer Mike Hodge didn’t hesitate—not for a moment.

With just a few days notice, Hodge assembled a team of five who loaded their truck with tools and headed out from Iowa City, Iowa—a 12-hour drive—to work as skilled framers on the Knoxville project. Hodge and his crew included son Andy, nephew Kevin Hodge, and co-workers John Moylan and Todd Salter.

The Knoxville Extreme Makeover home is being built for the Watson family, a family of five that includes parents Daniel and Mandy, and their three adopted children. Two other buildings, including a duplex for single mothers who are the mission of the Watson’s “Restoration House” ministry, are a part of the Knoxville build.

ASP first got involved with Extreme Makeover when the contractor on last month’s Friday family build in Lincolnton, NC, Wade Miller—an ASP volunteer himself, contacted ASP President/CEO Walter Crouch. Miller was interested in reclaiming materials from the Friday family home for re-use on ASP projects for families in need.

Crouch’s willingness to assist, and his personal involvement on the Lincolnton project, led to the Extreme Makeover project leaders in Knoxville coming to count on him to produce volunteers from ASP’s home in Johnson City, Tenn. as well as from Connecticut, Iowa, New Jersey, and North Carolina.

“There is nothing quite as invigorating as seeing what can be done with a group of committed volunteers who know that what they are doing is making a difference in the lives of the persons being served,” said Crouch.

“ASP is very fortunate to have volunteers like Mike Hodge—a 14-year volunteer mind you—and others, like ASP board members John Crandall, Marv House, and Karan Moore, who have sacrificed their own time on these two Extreme Makeover projects.”

Many other ASP staff and volunteers have worked on the two Extreme Makeover projects. “We are extremely grateful for their service and ministry in the name of Christ,” said Ben Martin, ASP’s adult program director.

“This reclamation of materials reminds me of the spirit that [ASP founder] Tex Evans envisioned when he tore down an old barn for ASP’s first supplies in 1969. “We’ve come a long way but we still value every good thing that comes our way just like Tex taught us to look at those we serve, ‘we accept people right way they are, just as they are’.”

Materials reclaimed from both the Lincolnton and Knoxville projects will be used this year on homes in Central Appalachia.

Mike Hodge and his crew are headed home to Iowa City, but they have already secured their week of service for this summer with ASP in one of the five states where ASP is currently working—Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Appalachia Service Project (ASP) provides life-changing short-term Christian mission volunteer service opportunities bringing youth, adult and college volunteers into Central Appalachia to make homes warmer, safer, and drier for families in need.

For information about how you can serve alongside volunteers this summer in ASP’s youth program, or throughout the year in the adult program, please visit www.buildanewyou.org or call 1 (800) 289-4254.

ASP partners with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on Knoxville, Tenn. project

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:40:00 -0500

Since 1969, Appalachia Service Project has worked to make homes warmer, safer and drier for poor families in Central Appalachia.

As a result of partnering with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on a project in the Charlotte area last month, ASP was asked to bring volunteers in to reclaim doors, windows, cabinets, appliances, and much more on this week’s build in Knoxville, Tenn. These reclaimed materials will be used this year in homes across ASP’s service area that includes Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky.

Volunteers from as far away as Iowa City, Iowa will join volunteers from the region, working alongside ASP staff from the Johnson City, Tenn. office, to help build a new home for the Watson family.

As a part of a series of 2012 holiday specials, the Watson family home will be featured in an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition show on Thanksgiving Day.

To follow progress on the Watson home build, please visit http://www.joinextreme.com/tennessee or visit Knoxville’s ABC television affiliate WATE for daily reports at www.wate.com.

If you are interested in supporting ASP’s ministry on this project, please click here for a direct link to ASP’s secure online donation portal, or send your gift payable to ASP noting that this gift is for support of the ‘Makeover Project’.

Appalachia Service Project, Inc.
4523 Bristol Highway
Johnson City, TN 37601
(423) 854-4400 or 1 (800) 289-4254
www.BuildANewYou.org

‘Extreme Makeover’ Project in Charlotte to include ASP Volunteers

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:40:00 -0500

ABC’s popular reality show "Extreme Makeover" is coming to the Charlotte area to build a new home Dec. 11-18, and Appalachia Service Project has been enlisted to reclaim and reuse materials from the house for a needy family’s home in Central Appalachia.

In a twist on its traditional ‘knock-down-the-house’ model, general contractor Bellamy Homes—whose co-owner Wade Miller has been an ASP volunteer through Providence United Methodist Church in Charlotte—has enlisted ASP to bring in volunteers who will remove doors, windows, cabinets, fixtures, and other materials for re-use in early 2012.

About 3,000 volunteers are being sought for the weeklong project, said Wade Miller, 31, and Frank Hereda, 35, owners of Charlotte-based Bellamy Homes, general contractor for the installation.

The location of the home to be replaced won't be disclosed until the project begins. They said five families were under consideration by the program's producer, Endemol USA, to be chosen for the house.

ASP President/CEO Walter Crouch said, “The request from Bellamy Homes and Extreme Makeover for assistance on their build project in the greater Charlotte area—and to extend their generosity to a family in need in Central Appalachia—is an extremely gratifying opportunity. “Wade Miller’s experience as a volunteer with ASP has come full circle, and we are thrilled to supply volunteers—who are the core of this ministry—in partnership with Bellamy Homes and Extreme Makeover.”

For information, and for regular updates on the project, visit www.bellamyhomes.com.

Adult/College Program Update

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:39:00 -0400

THE ON-LINE REGISTRATION PROCESS FOR ALL ADULT AND COLLEGE TRIPS IS READY TO GO!

Effective January 1, 2012, all Adult and College groups will register for their ASP trips on-line. Summer groups will register in August of 2012 for summer 2013 registrations.

A webinar is provided to demonstrate the steps in the process (22 minutes): http://appalachia.adobeconnect.com/p4nch6n3cit/

Frequently Asked Questions are available HERE.

Some highlights of the new process:
• Volunteers will have access to space availability information for all of our trips so that preregistration is no longer required.
• Credit card payment is an option for group registration fees
• A team roster is developed as group members register, accessible to the Group Leader and all registered group members.
• Email capability between GL and group members will be via Participant Center.
• Trip financial summary information is available at all times.
• Automated or manual invoice can be generated.
• All volunteers will have access to the Participant Center to view their current trip information as well as their trip history as it accumulates.

Front Porch Newsletter: Fall 2011

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:21:00 -0400