Community Support Plays Key Role
Community Workday Draws Crowd of Enthusiastic Volunteers
On Saturday, May 31, more than 25 Swannanoa residents and supporters swarmed the Swannanoa Habitat jobsite to help build homes. The volunteers split into three separate crews and set to work assembling scaffolding, mixing concrete, painting, installing flooring, and applying stucco, among other things. By the time the day was done, three of the remaining Habitat houses in the 17-home Swannanoa community had moved a few steps closer to completion, including the Sweet Home Swannanoa house. This special community-sponsored home is being built through donations from folks who live in, or have connections to, the Swannanoa Valley.
The May 31 Community Workday included a delicious lunch provided by The Swannanoa Welcome Table. During the afternoon break, well-known Swannanoa musician, Steve Moseley, arrived with his guitar to lead the group in a rousing chorus of “Sweet Home Swannanoa.” After the music faded, volunteers competed in a lively game of Swannanoa Team Trivia. Members of the winning team received Swannanoa bumper stickers, as well as bragging rights as official “Swannanoa Scholars.” The day was a wonderful celebration of the spirit of Swannanoa — friendship, good food, willing hands, big hearts, and can-do volunteerism.
Overwhelming Support for Sweet Home Swannanoa House
A couple of months ago, Friends and Neighbors of Swannanoa, in partnership with Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity, set out to raise the money for an Adopt-A-Lot sponsorship for the Sweet Home Swannanoa house. The goal was to collect $7,500 in community donations, thereby triggering a dollar-for-dollar matching grant that would bring us to the full $15,000 needed for the Adopt-A-Lot sponsorship. We’re pleased to report that the $7,500 fundraising goal has not only been met, but exceeded by more than 100% ~ allowing Habitat to cover the entire cost of the lot on which the Sweet Home Swannanoa house is being built, without using a single dollar of the matching grant.
The amount raised thus far is $17,685 (wow!), which includes numerous donations received from community members, a pledge of $7,000+ from the Asheville Breakfast Rotary Club, and a $2,000 donation from Native Kitchen & Social Pub, a Swannanoa restaurant. The generous Rotary Club pledge was facilitated through the efforts of Rotarian Jerry Vincent, who grew up in Swannanoa and whose family is co-sponsoring the Sweet Home Swannanoa house.
The $2,000 donation from Native Kitchen follows the successful “Swig and Swine” community fundraiser that the restaurant sponsored on Saturday, June 7. Festivities included a cornhole Swig and Swine Cornhole Tournament tournament, pig roast, local beer specials, free music, and more. The proceeds from the cornhole tournament and the sale of beer were donated to Habitat for the Sweet Home Swannanoa Adopt-A-Lot sponsorship. Native Kitchen made an additional substantial donation to raise the total gift to $2,000.
Many thanks to the Asheville Breakfast Rotary Club, Native Kitchen, Pisgah Brewing and Highland Brewing for their support! And a big shout out to all the community members who helped make the Sweet Home Swannanoa house a reality. Whether you contributed money, volunteered your time to swing hammers and pound nails, or donated food to feed the volunteers – your efforts made a difference in helping to bring affordable housing to Swannanoa.
The celebration culminated with the unveiling of a donor recognition wall in the Habitat ReStore: a metalwork “quilt” created by local metal artist David Earl Tomlinson. Friends and Neighbors of Swannanoa (FANS) is honored to be recognized with a quilt panel (bottom center) on this beautiful work of art. FANS partnered with Habitat in 2014 to help recruit donors and volunteers for construction of the Sweet Home Swannanoa house, one of 17 homes in Swannanoa’s new Habitat neighborhood in Beacon Village. Although FANS’ name appears on the quilt panel, the recognition really belongs to the many “friends and neighbors” in the Swannanoa Valley, whose generous donations of money and time helped make the Sweet Home Swannanoa house a reality. Thank you!
