Appalachia Service Project

Appalachia Service Project is a Christian ministry, open to all people, that inspires hope and service through volunteer home repair in Central Appalachia. ASP provides one of the most rewarding structured service opportunities in the nation — bringing thousands of volunteers from around the country to rural Central Appalachia to repair homes for low-income families. For more than 50 years, we’ve made homes “warmer, safer, and drier” for families and provided transformational service experiences for volunteers. By transforming faith into ASP service, volunteers respond to a specific need: housing. By putting aside their own needs and desires, ASP volunteers free themselves to share talent, love, and concern with the people of Appalachia and with one another. More important than construction know-how is a willingness to enter the communities and homes of Central Appalachia with sensitivity, concern, and love — accepting people right where they are and just the way they are. Since 1969, volunteers from across the nation have repaired homes and, in the process, Appalachian families, volunteers, and staff have been immeasurably blessed. Today, with the help of 17,000 volunteers each year, our goal remains to make homes warmer, safer and drier for families in need. Yet ASP is more than a home repair program. It also provides a unique framework that fosters transformational experiences for volunteers, families served, and staff — by building relationships with each other that break down cultural, social and economic barriers. We often hear of significant life changes resulting from the ASP experience: of families renewing their faith in the goodness of others, of people newly motivated to continue their education, of young adults choosing careers of service. No one walks away from the ASP experience unchanged. The results are truly amazing!