Press release
From Veterans Helping Veterans of WNC:
On April 19-20 and April 26-27, Veterans Helping Veterans of WNC will be having their first of several Community Volunteer Days at 52 Huffman Road, Asheville, NC. Shifts will be 6 AM-10 AM, 10 AM-2 PM, 2 PM-6 PM and 4 PM-8 PM. Having a strong showing will allow the organization to have the workshop’s framing completed by the end of the month. Please RSVP to Matt Shepley via email mshelpley@vhvwnc.org, give him your name and organization, number of people by day and time, tools being brought, number of coolers with ice and a point of contact with their information for each shift so that we can plan accordingly. Water will be available for those who are thirsty.
Veterans Helping Veterans of WNC is a non-profit 501(C)3 organization attempting a national first, establishing a sustainable community aimed at helping high-risk veterans while empowering them with life changing skills. Phase I includes a workshop having two primary functions, call center and education center. As a call center, vets can call in any issue they’re having. It could be that they’re not getting the benefits they’re legally entitled to in a timely fashion – we have lawyers and elected officials that can work with them on that. It could be that they’re having a personal or family issue that a community partner organization can assist with – we’ll refer it over to them after processing an intake. At present time, we have 3 interns from area colleges that will be helping to manage our call center and other logistics. Beyond the call center portion, half of the workshop will serve as a community education space where we’ll be offering various job trainings. The first community education program will be a pre-apprenticeship in Urban Agriculture. It is currently being registered with the State Department of Commerce. Anthony Coggiola’s Asheville Urban Farms has donated $50k+ in hydroponic farming equipment and will be teaching a class. This will serve a large role in this program. Phase II includes building studio apartments for the veterans and providing agricultural training. The apartments will be a sustainable with radiant heating, solar power, and the use of cisterns.
If someone is interested in the project but can’t make it to any of the Volunteer Days and would like to make a monetary contribution to the project instead – we can assure those funds will be earmarked for Workshop Capital Expenses/Operations. Please make checks payable to Veterans Helping Veterans of WNC, 52 Huffman Road, Asheville, NC 28806 or click the donate button at www.vhvwnc.org. For more details, please contact Matt Shepley via email mshelpley@vhvwnc.org or Tim Sadler at email: tsadler@vhvwnc/828-458-9426.
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