ETSU is marking Founders Week with a new initiative aimed at helping Appalachian families recover from disasters.
Project Welcome Home, a partnership with Appalachia Service Project, is gathering donations through an online housewarming registry to provide essential household goods for families moving into new homes. Items include cookware, bedding, appliances and furniture, all of which will be delivered when homes are ready.
Dr. Leah Adinolfi, dean of student engagement, said the project reflects ETSU’s mission to serve the region while acknowledging the ongoing recovery needs of communities that were devastated by Hurricane Helene last year.
“Each year with Founders Week, we are focused on what makes ETSU unique and our contributions to the region,” Adinolfi said. “Of course, everyone knows last year we as a region suffered a huge, truly traumatic event. We wanted to continue to recognize that the recovery effort was not a short-term fix. We still have families who are recovering from that effort, and Appalachia Service Project seemed like the perfect partnership.”
Adinolfi added that the goal is simple but meaningful.
“For the families we’re helping to serve, these are families who have lost everything,” she said. “This will help them feel supported in our area, to feel like this is their home. It’ll be nice if they have a bed to sleep in, not just a roof over their head, but some pots and pans to cook with.”
Nathan Farnor, assistant dean of student engagement, said the effort comes as the region recognizes the one-year anniversary of Helene.
“As time goes on, support often dwindles, but the work must continue,” Farnor said. “This is really an opportunity for us to recommit to that. We know it’s called long-term recovery for a reason. It doesn’t happen overnight.”
Farnor emphasized that ETSU is in the recovery effort “for the long haul.” He noted that Appalachia Service Project, headquartered in Johnson City, has deep local ties and continues to serve families across northeast Tennessee, southwest Virginia and western North Carolina.
He also pointed students, faculty and staff to ETSU Serves, an online platform for connecting volunteers to recovery work.
“All the long-term recovery groups in the region that are making ongoing efforts are on that platform,” Farnor said. “Depending on what county they’re wanting to work in, if somebody’s from Cocke County and they really want to help rebuild a home in Cocke County, they can go there and search specifically by location. If they want to search based on time, that is available as well. So, they don’t have to spend time Googling and finding phone numbers. It is all in one location on that website.”
Adinolfi said Project Welcome Home also introduces a new way to support families by connecting donations directly to household needs. “We’ve learned quite a bit from the process and hope to do this again in the future,” she said.
Donations will be accepted through Oct. 10 as part of Founders Week.
