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) made its 40th life-changing home-repair mission trip in 2024. Some 270 teen and adult volunteers participated, again making Jesse Lee ASP one of the largest local ASP groups in America.
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.
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.
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 vehicle rentals; and merely by paying ASP volunteers to wash your car in front of Jesse Lee each Saturday from mid-April to early June.
ASP 2025
Jesse Lee ASP will mark its 41st year with a return to Appalachia from June 28 – July 6, 2025. Mandatory monthly orientation meetings have already begun. In addition, we’ll start our Basic Skills trainings for all new volunteers in April, our Saturday car washes in mid-April, and our Ramp Building sessions in May. Adults are especially needed this year so we can take all the youth who wish to participate. Learn more at www.jesseleeasp.org.