Appalachia Service Project Recruits Volunteers in Ridgefield

From ASP: High-school teens and adults can attend an information session on Thurs., Jan. 17 offering details about a meaningful week of volunteer home- repair this summer through Jesse Lee Appalachia Service Project (ASP).

This no-obligation meeting will introduce students and their parents – and any other interested adults – to the Appalachia Service Project overall, and especially to the developing plan for the local ASP group’s mission trip June 29-July 7. The session will start at 7:30 p.m. at Jesse Lee Memorial United Methodist Church, 207 Main St. Meet in the church’s Carriage House, the Tudor-style building at the west end of the parking lot. ASP is a national Christian volunteer organization founded by Rev. Glenn “Tex” Evans, a Methodist minister, in 1969. Since then, some 410,000 volunteers fromacross the nation have participated in weeklong mission trips to make more than 18,000 homes in West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina “warmer, safer and drier.”

This is the 36th year for Jesse Lee ASP, which is the second-largest local ASP organization in the U.S. Last summer, 242 local students and adults worked to restore the homes (and hope) of folks in three counties in West Virginia and Kentucky.

Jesse Lee ASP is open to anyone who will have completed their freshman year of high school. Adults are encouraged to volunteer – both those who have teens participating and those who don’t. You don’t have to be a member of Jesse Lee or any church, you don’t have to live in Ridgefield, and you don’t need to be an expert with a hammer to volunteer. Basic construction skills and safety rules are taught in training sessions prior to going on ASP. There’s also a fund-raising component. And it helps if you like ice cream.

Image via ASP