In the fiscal year 2023-24, the Hunger and Health Coalition provided 495 loads of firewood for folks in the community. So far in 2025, the weather has been so cold that we've distributed 69 loads of firewood this year.
Harold Stoephl and other members of the Grace Builders team from Grace Lutheran Church started the program around 2006. The group saw the need in the community and decided to create the Helping Hands Wood Lot to provide free firewood to those in the community.
After about a year of providing the firewood program at Grace Lutheran Church, the program outgrew the space. The crew moved operations to a section of the Hunger and Health Coalition, partnering with the agency for the program.
At its inception, the program had enough help to go out into the community to gather wood to bring back to the lot to split. However, since then volunteer help has dwindled, so Harold now partners with local arborist professionals who bring wood lots to the agency for the group to split.
Each week, volunteers from Grace Builders come to HHC to ensure firewood is split and ready to be picked up by community members. Folks needing firewood to heat their homes or to use for cooking steadily grows more and more each year. to heat their homes or to use for cooking steadily grows each year. Harold said the wood lot is a “project that never ends, we just keep going and growing.”
He added that he’s passionate about ensuring the wood lot operates successfully as he can’t imagine what it’s like for a lot of community members who don’t have heat in the winter. He also shared his thanks for agencies such as the Hunger and Health Coalition who help to provide necessities for the community such as food and firewood.
“There’s more need than there are resources to provide it,” Harold said. “It’s an uphill battle. You can’t worry about the things you can’t do; you just have to try to do the things you can.”
With all the cold and wintery weather, the area has seen in 2025, it’s been difficult for volunteers to come out and split the wood, Harold said. Not to mention, the firewood lot was completely underwater after Hurricane Helene; half of the wood floated away, and several pieces of equipment were badly damaged.
Right now, Harold said he could really use volunteer help and monetary donations to keep the wood lot going. One-time groups are helpful, but regular volunteers who would be willing to stay on and ensure the success of the wood lot are preferred.
All volunteers for the wood lot are asked to sign a waiver. Volunteers under the age of 18 are not able to operate a log splitter but can help in other ways at the wood lot. Harold said if a volunteer would like to be trained on how to use a chainsaw, they must have a genuine interest in ongoing volunteer work.
For more information on volunteering at the wood lot or about donating wood, contact Harold at (828) 789-9127. To donate to the Helping Hands Wood Lot Program, visit secure.qgiv.com/for/firewooddonations.
Коментарі