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Montreat Conference Center Donates Shelving to Help Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity
Montreat Conference Center has donated shelving from the former Presbyterian Historical Society building to Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity. The conference center will use the vast area that once housed the floor-to-ceiling shelves for offices and conference meeting space.
A work crew from Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity agreed to dismantle the empty shelving on two floors and take the sections away. “It was an enormous undertaking,” said Mike Morse, Vice President for Hospitality at Montreat Conference Center. “Those were heavy-duty metal shelves and each unit had to be taken apart and carried out of the building in pieces.” Morse went on to explain that the conference center, in considering how to put the shelves to the best use, felt it was important to consider the needs of local outreach organizations. “The Habitat people took one look at what we were offering and said ‘Yes, yes, yes, we can use them all!’”
Standing in a labyrinth of shelves, Paul Reeves, Asheville Area Habitat’s Home Store Development Manager and supervisor for the project, admitted it was a daunting job. “After today,” he said, laughing, “I’m not sure these guys will come back.” Staff members Anthony Gillespie and Clarence Ogle, plus volunteers Joe Kane and Bill Crownover, were good-natured about the hard work, however.
The shelving – approximately 300 units on two floors of the building – is being sold to the public at the Habitat Home Store on Meadow Road in Biltmore Village. Every year, 550 tons of materials sold at the Habitat Home Store – appliances, furniture, building supplies, household items, and more – is diverted from the landfill and recycled back into the community. Proceeds from Home Store sales cover all of Asheville Area Habitat’s administrative and fundraising costs, build one complete Habitat house, and pay for the foundation of 16 Habitat houses in Buncombe County annually.
“Pulling out these shelves has been like taking apart a giant Erector Set,” Morse observed. “But we all feel good about the decision to make this donation. Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity is a great organization and one Montreat Conference Center hopes to work with often in the future.”
Montreat Conference Center is one of three national conference centers of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Located in the western North Carolina mountains just east of Asheville, NC, the conference center is host to approximately 35,000 people year-round and annually offers over 45 conferences and retreats.
Asheville Are Habitat for Humanity, Inc. is a nonprofit ministry dedicated to building simple, decent houses with community volunteers in partnership with qualified families currently living in inadequate housing.