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Appalachia Service Project was once a dream in Reverend Glenn "Tex" Evans' heart. During his 13 years as director at Henderson Settlement in Frakes, Kentucky, Tex witnessed the great need for home repair assistance. He envisioned a way to meet this need by matching high school youth groups with families in need. By transforming Christian faith into action, ASP-the ministry he founded-helped to alleviate poverty's consequences while encouraging growth in Christian faith and stewardship.
In 1969, the Appalachia Service Project's inaugural summer, 50 volunteers came to Union College in Barbourville, Kentucky, and repaired 4 homes.
Our philosophy of service has remained the same since 1969: ASP encourages people to act responsibly in the face of human need and injustice. By transforming faith into ASP service, volunteers respond to a specific need: housing. Their commitment to serve really is a contract with God. By putting aside their own needs and desires, ASP volunteers free themselves to share talent, love, and concern with the people of Appalachia and with one another. More important than construction know-how is a willingness to enter communities and homes of central Appalachia with sensitivity, concern, and love—accepting people right where they are and just the way they are.
Today, ASP hosts nearly 15,000 volunteers each year through our Home Repair Ministries program. Our goal remains to make homes warmer, safer and drier for families in need. Yet ASP is more than a home repair program. It also provides a unique framework that fosters transformational experiences for volunteers, families served, and staff. Volunteers, families, and staff build relationships with each other that break down cultural, social and economic barriers. We often hear of significant life changes resulting from the ASP experience: of families renewing their faith in the goodness of others, of people newly motivated to continue their education, of youth/young adults choosing lives of service through lay/ordained ministry and other helping professions. No one walks away from the ASP experience unchanged. The results are truly amazing!
Since our founding in 1969, over 240,000 volunteers from across the nation have repaired more than 12,500 homes and, in the process, Appalachian families, volunteers, and staff have been immeasurably blessed.
Association with the United Methodist Church
Originally founded as a program of the United Methodist Church's General Board of Discipleship in 1969, Appalachia Service Project incorporated as a separate entity in 1976. While ASP has long been associated with the United Methodist Church and more than two-thirds of our volunteers participate through United Methodist congregations, ASP is an independent organization separate from the Church. ASP has an ecumenical outreach that appeals to many denominations.
In 1998, ASP was designated as a General Advance of the Church by the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church (UMC). A "General Advance," or "Advanced Special," is a mission project that has special impact in areas of highest need.
By designating ASP as a General Advance, the UMC has recognized the three decades of prayers, discipleship, servanthood, and hard work of thousands of volunteers who have put their faith in action by working on homes in the hills and hollers of Central Appalachia.
United Methodist congregations can now designate second mile and other gifts to ASP through the General Advance program. Our Advance project number is 982050. Please tell your Mission Committee and your United Methodist Women's and Men's organizations about this designation and encourage them to contribute a portion of their giving directly to ASP through the Advance. | 
