Appalachia Service Project
Appalachia Service Project (ASP) is a hands-on home-repair ministry that is sponsored locally by Jesse Lee Church. It makes a huge difference for families who live in the mountains of West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina, some of the most poverty-stricken areas of our country. We work not only to make their homes warmer, safer and drier but also to give them hope. As the ASP motto goes, ASP is “a relationship-building ministry with a little home repair on the side.”
About Appalachia Service Project
Jesse Lee Appalachia Service Project (ASP) is one of the largest local ASP groups in America. Last summer, some 312 Ridgefield volunteers worked in Leslie County, KY, and in Fayette, Nicholas and Kanawha counties in West Virginia.
ASP is a national Christian volunteer organization whose participants make an annual weeklong mission trip where they work to make local folks’ homes warmer, safer and drier. Since its founding in 1969, more than 425,000 volunteers from across the nation have repaired nearly 19,000 homes in central Appalachia.
Jesse Lee ASP is open to teens who will have completed their freshman year of high school. Parents and other adults are especially needed, no matter their skill level. If you can drive a minivan, hold a ladder and listen to an old lady’s story, you’re able to go on ASP!
To prepare for the trip, volunteers attend monthly orientation meetings from February to June. In addition, new volunteers receive basic skills training (ladders, power tools, hammers, etc) in late April, while all volunteers put their training to use in May by building wheelchair-ramp sections, which Jesse Lee’s Spirit Builders employ in their construction ministry.
Support ASP
There are significant costs in taking more than 300 volunteers down to Appalachia for a week. YOU CAN HELP: by purchasing “stock” at $10 each from a volunteer; by making a donation toward costly vehicle rentals; and by having your car washed in front of the church on Saturdays April-June.
ASP 2026
In 2026, Jesse Lee ASP marks its 42nd year with a return to Appalachia from June 27 – July 5.
Being a Jesse Lee ASP volunteer is a commitment. Mandatory monthly orientation meetings begin in February. In addition, we hold Basic Skills trainings for all new volunteers in April, our Saturday car washes from mid-April to mid-June, and Ramp Building weekend sessions in May.
Interested in joining us? A meeting for first-time teens and adults will be on Wed., Jan. 21 at 7:30 p.m. The mandatory first orientation meeting will be offered at 6:30 p.m. Wed., Feb. 4 and again Tues., Feb. 10 (pick one). Learn more about this life-changing volunteer opportunity at www.jesseleeasp.org.