What impact does the COVID-19 pandemic have on our planning?
ASP is about bringing people together into a community - volunteers, staff, and families being served. Volunteers travel and work together for an extended period, live in lose quarters, and enter families' homes. Our fundraising and training events bring large groups of people together as well. All of these things may be contraindicated during a pandemic.
Friends of Appalachia will not take volunteers into a situation that we feel unsafe. Appalachia Service Project will not host volunteers unless it feels it an do so safely. In the summer of 2020 and 2021, that resulted in the cancellation not only of our trip, but all ASP trips, impacting both thousands of volunteers and hundreds of families that we counting on their help.
FOA remains committed to the goal of addressing substandard housing in Appalachia to the best of our ability, so if the decision has to be made to cancel again, we will, again, send the funds to ASP to be used for what it was originally intended for - funding home repairs for those in need - even if it wouldn't be us doing the work.
While planning for FOA's 2023 Trip, please know that we are in constant conversations with ASP and together will make decisions regarding our trip to Central Appalachia with the highest regard to the safety of our FOA Volunteers.
Please find our FOA2023 Covid-19 Protocols below.
ASP is about bringing people together into a community - volunteers, staff, and families being served. Volunteers travel and work together for an extended period, live in lose quarters, and enter families' homes. Our fundraising and training events bring large groups of people together as well. All of these things may be contraindicated during a pandemic.
Friends of Appalachia will not take volunteers into a situation that we feel unsafe. Appalachia Service Project will not host volunteers unless it feels it an do so safely. In the summer of 2020 and 2021, that resulted in the cancellation not only of our trip, but all ASP trips, impacting both thousands of volunteers and hundreds of families that we counting on their help.
FOA remains committed to the goal of addressing substandard housing in Appalachia to the best of our ability, so if the decision has to be made to cancel again, we will, again, send the funds to ASP to be used for what it was originally intended for - funding home repairs for those in need - even if it wouldn't be us doing the work.
While planning for FOA's 2023 Trip, please know that we are in constant conversations with ASP and together will make decisions regarding our trip to Central Appalachia with the highest regard to the safety of our FOA Volunteers.
Please find our FOA2023 Covid-19 Protocols below.
