Appalachia Service Project
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| Founder(s) | Rev. Glenn "Tex" Evans |
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| Type | Interdenominational, non-profit Christian Mission |
| Founded | 1969 |
| Location | 4523 Bristol Highway Johnson City, TN 37601 |
| Area served | Central Appalachia, specifically in the states of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. |
| Motto | Build a Whole New You |
| Website | Official Website |
Appalachia Service Project, Inc. or ASP is a Christian volunteer organization operating in Central Appalachia, specifically in the states of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The organization is concerned with home repair for low-income families, as well as a limited amount of free home construction. Its primary goal is making homes "warmer, safer, and drier".
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[edit] Statement of Values
Appalachia Service Project lists the following driving values:
| We believe that each person is a child of God imbued with dignity and worth.
We accept people right where they are and just the way they are. We believe that affordable, safe, sanitary housing is a basic human right. We are committed to witness through the good quality of our work and careful stewardship of our resources. We believe God calls volunteers to serve others as partners in ministry and we will encourage their growth in faith, as they are involved in this service. We believe where ASP is involved in local communities we will encourage, affirm, and support social and economic justice |
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[edit] History
ASP was founded in the summer of 1969 by Rev. Glenn "Tex" Evans, a minister in the United Methodist Church. During Tex's 13 years as director at Henderson Settlement in Frakes, Kentucky, he witnessed the great need for home repair assistance. He recruited 50 teens and adult volunteers to repair homes in Barbourville, Kentucky. They worked on-site during the day and worshipped in the evenings. By summer's end, they had repaired homes for four families.
Since then, ASP has grown into a large organization operating in 25 communities. In the summer of 2006, 12,612 volunteers repaired 369 homes. ASP also spun off organizations known as the Sierra Service Project in California and Project NOAH in Louisiana. In addition to the summer volunteer program for youth, ASP operates three year-round centers in Jonesville, Virginia, Chavies, Kentucky, and Brenton, West Virginia. Adult volunteers as well as college groups come to these centers to repair homes throughout the year.
Since 1969, more than 260,000 volunteers from across the nation have repaired 14,000 homes. Today, about 15,000 people volunteer in the program annually.
ASP's goal is to not only provide families with warmer, safer, and drier homes, but to also foster positive relationships between the volunteers and the recipients. They claim that some of the results of the project include families renewing their faith in the goodness of others, people motivated to continue their education, and young adults choosing careers of service.
