Volunteers from The Home Depot Foundation marked the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene by working on a project that will benefit veterans in Asheville, North Carolina, who were impacted by the storm.
Along with the Appalachia Service Project and 364 Connect, The Home Depot Foundation volunteers teamed up for a large-scale renovation effort on Sept. 30 at Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministries’ local Veterans Village.
“The impact in the Asheville area was personal to us,” said Executive Director of The Home Depot Foundation Erin Izen. “The week prior to Hurricane Helene’s landfall in the area, hundreds of Team Depot volunteers were there making improvements to Asheville Buncombe County Christian Ministry's veteran housing facility.”
At the time of the storm, 250 veterans were living at the housing facility, known as the Veterans Restoration Quarters. Hurricane Helene’s floodwaters left the VRQ unsafe, displacing the veterans who lived there. ABCCM began rebuilding efforts following the storm. In July, it officially acquired the former Quality Inn on Tunnel Road in July with plans to convert its 134 units into permanent supportive housing for veterans known as "Veterans Village."
“We were there just this June to refresh and made upgrades to ABCCM’s crisis ministry center and to help Appalachia Service Project build framing packages for 15 - 20 houses that will go to the area’s most rural and underserved residents who lost their homes in the floods,” said Izen. “And now we're here again in October to renovate the motel that will serve as permanent housing for these veterans, helping to make it a home for so many who have served us.”
The volunteers focused on renovating rooms, building bicycles for veterans, and framing homes for delivery to Helene victims in remote areas.
Izen said since Hurricane Helene devastated the region last fall, The Home Depot Foundation, Team Depot and nonprofit partners have been on the ground supporting immediate disaster response and long-term recovery, including committing $3 million to relief efforts.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.