High-school teens and adults are invited to an information session on Wed., Jan. 22 offering details about a meaningful week of volunteer home repair this summer with the Jesse Lee Appalachia Service Project (ASP).
This no-obligation meeting will introduce students and their parents – and any other interested adults – to the Appalachia Service Project overall, and especially to the developing plan for Jesse Lee ASP’s 41st year: a mission trip June 28-July 6.
The one-hour information session will start at 7:30 p.m. at Jesse Lee Church, 207 Main St. Meet in the sanctuary.
ASP is a national Christian volunteer organization founded by the Rev. Glenn “Tex” Evans, a Methodist minister, in 1969. Since then, more than 430,000 volunteers from across the nation have participated in weeklong mission trips to make 19,000 homes in West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina “warmer, safer and drier.”
Jesse Lee ASP is one of the largest local ASP groups in the country. Last summer, 268 Ridgefield volunteers repaired and improved homes in Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Jesse Lee ASP is open to anyone who will have completed their freshman year of high school this summer. Adults are urgently encouraged to volunteer – both those who have teens participating and those who don’t. You don’t have to be a member of Jesse Lee or any church, you don’t have to live in Ridgefield, and you don’t need to be an expert with a hammer to volunteer. Basic construction skills and safety rules are taught in training sessions prior to going on ASP. There’s also a fund-raising component. And it helps if you like ice cream.
You don’t have to pre-register for the Jan. 22 information session.
Previous ASP volunteers need not attend the Jan. 22 meeting. However, they should plan to attend one of the required “first orientation” meetings scheduled for Wed., Feb. 5 and Tues., Feb. 11. Choose one.
For more details, go online to www.jesseleeasp.org or call Deb Ahle (203-438-6782) or Sandy Carpenter (203-470-4328).