Asheville
Program Partner
The local non-profit entity that will lead the Asheville YAV program is Hands-and-Feet of Asheville, which is a ministry partner with Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church (GCPC) in Asheville, N.C. Volunteers are placed in a variety of ministries and non-profit organizations that work with Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church (GCPC) in Asheville, NC, with the Community of the BeLoved, a ministry partner with churches across the city, with other ecumenical ministries and with non-sectarian non-profit organizations meeting the needs of the most vulnerable people in the Asheville community.
Program description
In a city celebrated as a tourist destination and surrounded by the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Asheville YAVs will engage in transformative mission, living the Gospel by building relationships and creating community with people on the margins experiencing desperate need.
Placement opportunities
Volunteers serve as full-time workers in community-based ministries and non-profit organizations. While the specific placement opportunities may vary from year to year, the focus of each placement is relationship-building with people on the street, those newly placed in housing, those who are hungry, sick, and children with a variety of needs.
Some possible placements include:
- - Work with the Community of the BeLoved in a flexible ministry meeting needs of friends on the street
- - Work with a local food bank that feeds hungry people
- - Work with after school programs for children and youth
- - Work with organizations that support women in the wake of trauma and abuse
- Work with congregations (Methodist, Episcopal, UCC, Presbyterian, non-denominational) who are present with a marvelous mix of people on the street, from the wider community, who are hungry, need clothing, temporary respite to recover from illness, community, worship, and art.
housing
Volunteers share housing with other Young Adult Volunteers in Asheville. Costs, chores, meal preparation and other aspects of communal living are negotiated within the group, with guidance from experienced mentors in intentional community living.
intentional Community Living
The Asheville site has the unique opportunity to have a ministry partner with the Community of the BeLoved, an intentional Christian community created by people in poverty (some voluntary, some involuntary), who have years of experience negotiating all that is involved in creating community intentionally and successfully across differences and within covenants that are re-negotiated as needed, with attention, care, and hospitality. The Young Adult Volunteers will live together and will work with the Community of the BeLoved to create communities across boundaries. Weekly meetings and retreats several times a year will help support the community development, spiritual formation, and vocational discernment for members of the community.
Requirements
Age: 21 to 30 at the time of service
Education: College degree or equivalent age and life experience
site coordinator
Kathy Meacham, Board Chair
