Mast Store employees volunteering along the Watauga River in Valle Crucis, NC.
Alternative Spring Break Ideas

Alternative Spring Break Ideas

Western North Carolina is open and welcoming spring breakers! Hurricane Helene blew through the mountains 17 months ago on September 27, 2024, and on the surface, where visitors might spend their vacation or spring break, most things are looking fine. Yes, with your help, WNC is making great strides toward a recovery that will be more sustainable than before. But, there’s still much work left to be done – roads to be repaired, homes fixed, and bridges rebuilt. 

Sometimes it’s hard to find places and opportunities to give your time. There are so many groups on the ground and doing good that oftentimes they forget to keep up websites and Facebook pages. We’ve done our best to pull together some connections to make it easier. We appreciate your time and talents as we continue our journey to recover from Helene’s wrath.  

If You Can Give a Week, Try These Opportunities

Fuller Center for Housing Disaster ReBuilders working in Swannanoa and Black Mountain 
Group registration, looking for people with construction skills, $200 per person for lodging. 

Putting Down Floors

Samaritan’s Purse is working in Buncombe County (Asheville), Yancey County (Burnsville), and Watauga County (Boone). Volunteer slots are filled through April, but they are accepting applications through August right now.  

Baptists on Mission has five rebuild sites established in East Flat Rock (Henderson County), Black Mountain (Buncombe County), Burnsville (Yancey County), Spruce Pine (Mitchell County), and Boone (Watauga County). If you can give a week of time, that is great, but if not, Baptists on Mission may be able to place you if your volunteer time can only be a couple of days.   

Can You Give a Couple of Days or More?

Asheville Habitat for Humanity has full-day shifts (Monday-Thursday and Saturday – 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.) and a half-day shift in the morning on Friday. Working with Habitat for Humanity requires no prior experience.  

Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church Disaster Ministries is working in the Boone and Asheville areas. This group is working to get residents back into homes that are safe, secure, and sanitary. If you can donate a week, that’s great; if you can give a day or two, that’s great, too! Learn more about volunteering here.  You can also e-mail Doug, one of the site coordinators, for more information or to sign up.  

The State of North Carolina has a list of Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster that are like first responders after a disaster like Hurricane Helene. There are opportunities for groups, individuals, and families.  

Foscoe Home Team is a home-grown organization helping 500-600 people in and around the Foscoe community. Some of the families that are being helped still do not have running water. They are looking for volunteers to greet clients, unload and restock shelves, etc.  

High Country Hope is a local organization founded right after the hurricane hit. It is helping people muck out houses, clear debris, rebuild bridges, clear landslides, distributing supplies. In speaking with the organization's founder, no matter how much time you can give, they will find a way for you to help. Please help them plan ahead by letting them know when you are available. You can fill out this FORM to share skills/equipment you have and when you may be available to help. 

Can You Give a Morning or Afternoon?

New River Conservancy is hosting live-staking events to restore and stabilize riverbanks and river clean-ups from March until June in the Boone/West Jefferson area.  

MountainTrue is organizing clean-ups and live staking events along the French Broad, Little Tennessee, and Green Rivers and tributaries from now through June.  

The Pisgah Conservancy is hosting its biggest volunteer day of the year on April 25, 2026. Volunteer registration opens in mid-March. Activities will include clearing brush, planting native trees and plants, general trash clean-up, and more.  

Food security organizations can always use volunteers for a half day to help repackage food, stock shelves, and fill client orders.  

Specialized Skills

Mennonite Disaster Services and Lutheran Disaster Response are Bridging Together to help replace some of the more than 5,000 private bridges in Western North Carolina that were damaged or washed away entirely. There are opportunities to volunteer to build bridges, but in this case, there needs to be at least one person on the volunteer team who can operate heavy machinery and one who can weld. Here’s where you can LEARN MORE.  

Things to Do, Places to See

We know it’s your break from school, work, etc., so we want you to get out and have some fun, too!  

The attractions in the region are open and ready to welcome you, including Biltmore, the NC Arboretum, Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, Western North Carolina Nature Center, Cradle of Forestry, Chimney Rock Park, River Arts District, Grandfather Mountain, Tweetsie Railroad (limited days), Mystery Hill, Linville Caverns, The Blowing Rock, Blue Ridge Parkway (some closures and detours), Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and so much more. The ski areas are open, too! (Closing mid March, usually.) Check the ski reports HERE. 

For more ideas on things to do and see, restaurants to enjoy, check in on the area’s tourism websites: 

Thank you for your continuing support. We wouldn't be this far along without you! We are Mountain Strong!