Asheville community highlights local efforts addressing hunger and homelessness

Press release from Haywood Street Congregation:

Local nonprofits are responding to growing public concern about homelessness in Asheville by organizing a series of events designed to increase awareness and invite residents to participate in their efforts. The events will take place during the week before Thanksgiving, designated nationally as Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week.

A focus of the awareness campaign in Asheville is highlighting the ways in which service providers and faith communities are working together with city and county staff to respond to hunger, homelessness and related challenges.

“This summer we kept hearing folks say that collaboration is missing from the local homeless services system and that’s simply not our experience,” says Laura Kirby, Executive Director of Haywood Street Congregation, a church and faith-based nonprofit whose ministries help address the needs of individuals experiencing homelessness or at risk. “We frequently share information and meet with partner organizations looking for ways to work together and complement one another’s efforts.”

Kirby says each nonprofit has a unique approach but there are many examples of collaboration. Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week is one of them. A dozen local organizations along with city and county government are hosting events during the week to educate and inspire residents to take action. These are key goals of National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week, launched in 1975 by students at Villanova University.

A kickoff event on Monday, November 13^th is a presentation by Debbie Alford, Homeless Strategy Specialist for the City of Asheville. The presentation, “Understanding Homelessness & Your Personal Response,” will take place from 9:00 – 10:30 am in the sanctuary of Haywood Street Congregation at 297 Haywood Street in Asheville. Following the presentation, representatives from partner organizations will be onsite sharing information about their programs and how to get involved.

Other events include guided tours of Compass Point Village, the Bounty & Soul Community Market and the Downtown Welcome Table; Volunteer Orientation for ABCCM’s Code Purple Shelter and Transformation Village; and opportunities to participate with free meals hosted by First Baptist Church of Asheville and First Presbyterian Church of Asheville.

With pressure mounting to remove visible signs of homelessness from downtown, Haywood Street Congregation has chosen to include the Haywood Street Fresco as a focal point for its observance of Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week. Unlike historical fresco paintings that depict traditional religious figures or powerful political icons, this painting features individuals on the fringes of society whose stories are often marginalized and forgotten.

As Haywood Street Congregation Founding Pastor Rev. Brian Combs says, “Poverty, in so many ways, makes people feel invisible. One of the beautiful things about this fresco is that it puts folks who have felt unseen and unheard their whole lives front and center, to be seen in this magnificent and permanent work of art that will be here, quite literally, as long as this building still stands.”

On Tuesday, November 14^th at 1 pm, Rev. Combs will be joined by fresco model James Blount and fresco artist Christopher Holt for a conversation about the fresco, its meaning and connection to Haywood Street’s ministry with and among individuals experiencing homelessness.

A complete calendar of events for Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week in Ashville can be found at www.haywoodstreet.org/hunger-and-homelessness-week.