Volunteer Opportunities

Within the Presbytery:

The disaster recovery from Hurricane Helene is entering some new phases and we could use some help from across the Presbytery.

We anticipate each of these will take a couple of hours up to twice a month.

We have a tool trailer that our weekly volunteer teams access to supplement the tools they use on the worksite. Could you help us maintain the tool trailer inventory?
- Once a month check the inventory of the tool trailer (based in Enka/Candler), purchase additional tools or replacement items (e.g. paint brushes, saw blades etc) using Lowes gift cards, and occasionally retrieve a tool from a work site left by volunteers?

Would you be willing to sit on a monthly call on any of these Long Term Recovery Group calls and then join a separate PWNC coordination call once a month to share what you learn? Henderson, Madison, Haywood, Yancey, Mitchell, Avery McDowell? This will help us identify unmet needs and build additional work partners.

We are beginning to coordinate some flexible projects for our visiting volunteers that are going to help survivors in their recovery, but are non-urgent. These will be 'backup' projects for if one of our worksites has too many volunteers or needs a day for the contractors to set up the site for volunteers etc. So we could use a skilled handy person to occasionally teach volunteers how to safely use a portable table saw, drill holes/drive wood screws, and then assemble (using plans) projects like outdoor seating, picnic tables, neighborhood pantry boxes.

Thank you! Please email Anne Waple at awaple@presbyterywnc.org if you'd like more information or think you might be able to help out.

How to bring a team to WNC to help rebuild

rebuild

If you are a volunteer team that would like to come to WNC and spend a week helping in the rebuilding and recovery efforts, we work with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance to run three church-based host sites.

Please read the details below before reaching out to schedule, but then please just send an email to Anne Waple: awaple@presbyterywnc.org with your preferred dates and the approximate number of people you intend to bring, and we'll be in touch. We have lots of interest for the host sites, so please give us about a week to respond.

A few details to bear in mind:

Teams generally arrive Sunday late afternoon/evening, then work Monday-to-Friday, then depart on Saturday.
The maximum number of volunteers we can accommodate is 12 at each host site.
The three sites are in Spruce Pine, Asheville, and Canton. Volunteer crews could be placed at work sites across the region depending on the week/projects. We try to keep the drive to the worksite less than 30 minutes, but it is a rural area, and it can sometimes stretch to 45 minutes.
Minimum age on rebuilding projects is 16 years old. If you have a youth group or an intergenerational group, please still reach out, but these opportunities are more limited at the moment.
Each volunteer group should have a team lead/point of contact to help us coordinate details with you.
There will be a small per diem cost to help our host sites manage the extra expenses associated with hosting. This is either $20 or $25 per person/per night depending on the site. However, if this is a barrier to you in volunteering, please let us know, we will work with you to make sure volunteering is accessible to all.
Each site has a full kitchen available to you, accessible showers, and two or more rooms for sleeping. The beds are either foam mattresses, cots, or bunk beds depending on the site. You will usually have to bring your own sleeping linens, towels etc, and although there may be occasional meals provided by the church members or partner organizations, groups should plan on making their own meals.
Details about other amenities can be shared once we know which site you will be staying in.