Hurricane Helene’s devastation in September 2024 affected much more than single-family homes in Asheville, NC; it also forced more than 100 veterans to be evacuated from their residence in the Veterans Restoration Quarters (VRQ), a building along the Swannanoa River.
A year later, Asheville organizations and national nonprofits have come together to create Veterans Village, a complex that includes a former Quality Inn that was purchased by the nonprofit Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry (ABCCM) and is being renovated into permanent housing for the displaced veterans.
When more than 400 volunteers from The Home Depot Foundation (THDF) arrived for a volunteer event at Veterans Village, the TOH TV team joined in – taking a day away from following five homeowner renovations in Asheville as part of Season 47’s ‘Carolina Comeback’ – to help.
“It was an honor and a privilege to be part of this effort,” says TOH General Contractor Tom Silva, who especially admired the dedication of ABCCM and The Home Depot Foundation in jumping right back in to create more veteran housing after the heartbreak of losing the VRQ building—which had just been completed days before the 2024 storm. “For them to come back and do it all over again, my hat is off to them,” says Tom.
Indeed, the VRQ loss was devastating. Gabe Sneller, Manager of Foundation Projects for The Home Depot Foundation, recalls: “Some 500 volunteers from Team Depot and ABCCM had just completed the building, and four or five days later, Hurricane Helene swept through and destroyed everything. ABCCM picked up all the vets and started over again.”
Sneller coordinates The Home Depot Foundation’s Team Depot projects across the country all year long and credits hundreds of suppliers, vendors, nonprofit partners, and Team Depot volunteers who regularly participate in the volunteer events. “We have 400 people coming off the buses with smiles on their faces,” says Sneller.
For the Asheville volunteer event, Sneller worked not only with ABCCM at the Veterans Village (former Quality Inn)—where the work consisted of exterior painting, flooring installation, and outdoor patio planning, but also with another local nonprofit, Appalachia Service Project (ASP)—where the work involved preparing framing components to be taken by pickup truck to sites for homes that ASP is building in remote areas of Asheville.
For the framing components work, Sneller said all the volunteers were in awe of Tom Silva’s abilities, noting how Tom immediately sussed a more efficient way for the work to proceed and trained Team Depot volunteers on the spot. Says Tom, “We were basically pre-cutting and pre-building all the pieces for a house and a lot of volunteers hadn’t really used a hammer for that kind of work before. We had fun.”
TOH Plumbing and Heating Expert Richard Trethewey lent his know-how to the flooring installation process at Veterans Village, where all 100+ rooms are getting new premium vinyl plank flooring to replace worn carpeting. “I saw firsthand the magic of teaching and self-confidence,” says Richard, who began the day training a handful of Team Depot volunteers on the importance of starting the flooring install in the right part of the room—and was rewarded when he went back a short time later and found the first group already teaching another group. “They got so fired up and filled with self-confidence, there was no stopping them,” says Richard, who worked with New Jersey contractor and builder Zack Dettmore on the flooring installs.
Meanwhile, TOH Landscape Contractor Jenn Nawada gravitated to outdoor work and helped build picnic tables and raised planters for the patio area that is in the planning stages at Veterans Village, replacing a defunct swimming pool from its hotel days. “I was also on Team Nathan part of the day,” says Jenn, who worked alongside TOH Carpenter Nathan Gilbert to build window components for the ASP homes in remote areas. “The entire event was so well organized and there was such a positive feeling from everyone involved. I am glad I could contribute to what turned out to be an amazing amount of help.”
In addition to hard work, the event in Asheville also had its poignant moments. The Home Depot Foundation’s Gabe Sneller was thrilled to orchestrate a surprise—handing a $100,000 check to ABCCM so they could purchase all the flooring needed for Veterans Village. “Right after that, one of the veterans belted out the National Anthem and left us all in tears,” says Gabe.
TOH Host Kevin O’Connor found this volunteer event remarkable for the combination of how well-organized it was and how dedicated all the volunteers were to complete so many projects. “This event was well-staffed and well-supplied, and it was clear that the organizers were counting on all of us to get our jobs done,” says Kevin. “They had a finish line in mind and all of us volunteers, several hundred strong, felt that drive to be impactful.” Mission accomplished.
