Hospitality House of Boone Feature Story November 19, 2013 Contact: Zoe Croft Cell: 207-776-5030 Email: croftcz@appstate.

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BECOMING A SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY

THE HOSPITALITY HOUSES HOME-GROWN APPROACH TO A STRONG FUTURE
BOONE N.C. --A sustainable community is one that is economically, environmentally, and socially healthy and resilient. The Hospitality House of Boone is taking progressive steps towards becoming a sustainable community. This kind of community works towards meeting challenges through integrated solutions that protect the environment while providing the community with economic and social benefits. This allows the Hospitality House to become resilient and adapt to their future needs. One can tell that even though the Hospitality House of Boone recently moved to a new, bigger, and better location, it is still crowded. There is constant activity. People are talking, filling out forms, and getting their kids off the school bus. The Hospitality House is the only nonprofit crisis agency in seven counties. It provides many shelter programs along with services that help residences get a hand up in the competitive world. Many volunteers and employees work hard to meet the heavy demands of a large community nonprofit. I toured the Hospitality House with Katie Beth Caswell, a recent ASU graduate. When I first visited the building, she was busy talking to a kid who was Photo by Zoe Croft Plaques are visible around the Hospitality House, repeatedly asking about whether he could eat a Laffy Taffy that he found on the highlighting the amazing acomplishments of the residents and the shelter. ground. Caswell was kind enough to stop what she was doing to give me a tour. Walking through the building was impressive, and I started seeing many themes in the Hospitality Houses projects. The things that make the house a success story are not just the testimonies that residences have given; it is also the diverse nature of their sustainable nonprofit model. The Hospitality House is not merely focused on quick turnarounds of residents or being a charity for those in need. It is focused on the accomplishments that children and adults make during their stay, as well as in the future. The nonprofit puts a tremendous emphasis on the value of work, community, and being sustainable in order to reach these developmental goals.

Every day people in our community face eviction, utility cutoffs, heating storage and lack of access to prescription medication. At the Hospitality House, each clients story is different. Some people are there because they struggle with substance abuse, domestic violence, sudden job loss or social exclusion. Others come for the day to participate in food co-operations or skill building clinics. This local nonprofit organization helps many people through education and advocacy. The positive growth and change that you see when you walk through the halls and grounds of the house is unlimited. The importance of courses given in sustainability, self-worth, community, and its invaluable path to independence is obvious. As the Hospitality House demonstrates, it takes a long-term perspectiveone that's focused on both the present and future, well beyond the next budget or executive director. THE HOOP HOUSE This year has proved to be critical for the Hospitality House. One of the great stories of the year started on May 22, 2013. The Hospitality House, in partnership with Blue Ridge Seeds of Change, hosted a workshop to build a low cost hoop house. A hoop house is a structured greenhouse or season extender. It is characterized by a half round hoop shape and is typically constructed out of PVC pipe. This workshop was led by Anthony Flaccvento, a farmer and a sustainable community development consultant. The hoop house allows the Hospitality House to further its vegetable garden by allowing early and late season crops to grow inside the greenhouse.

photo by Zoe Croft The Hoop House in the yard of the Hospilaity House allows residents to garden year round.

GROWING PLACES David Grant, a resident of the Hospitality House, said in a video interview that going through life with certain struggles is stressful, but with the opportunity to garden, some of that stress can be let go. It allows residents to contribute to a greater outcome, something that all members will benefit from.

Photo by Zoe Croft The Hospitality House gives the opportunity for residents to become self-sustaining and reliant on their own abilities, pictured above are snap shots of the garden and lifestyle of a sustainable community.

Growing Places is an umbrella program, which covers the gardening, cooking, and internship programs at the Hospitality House. This program is unique in the way that it reconnects people with the land and its fragility. Being able to tend to a garden is an empowering experience. Head coordinator of Growing Places, Chatty Majoni, says that opportunities like this enable people to connect to each other, to new resources, and alternative life choices. Developments like the garden allow Majoni to participate in

peoples lives, be a friend, and support them during major life changes. SOLAR THERMAL Another project that the Hospitality House has implemented is a solar thermal system. On my tour, Caswell took me to see the nine 20- to 40-inch solar panels that match the existing roofline is helping offset the energy demand used for heating water. Through the use of this renewable energy source, the Hospitality House will reduce its dependency on propane and its costs by 25 percent. These are the types of financial and environmental benefits the Hospitality House receives the day of implementation. Through investors like AIRE, Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corp (BREMCO), and Appalachian State University's Appalachian & the Community Photo by: Zoe Croft Together, the Hospitality House is able to invest in renewable The Hospitlity House of Boone's new solar thermal water system sources of energy that help complete its model of sustainability. By investing in renewable and sustainable practices, the house can grow in many directions. I think that the Hospitality House has many influential programs that can bring resolution to many lives. The Hospitality House of Boone is a great representation of a community of people working towards a balanced future. It proves to the residents and the larger population of the High Country that this nonprofit takes its mission seriously and is a valuable resource to many in need. Through becoming involved in programs that address economics, the environment, resiliency, and adaptation, residents become empowered and equipped with skills that will allow them to transition to an independent life in many ways. On any given night in the seven-county region, there are more than 1,200 homeless people on the street (Hospitality House of Boone). With the help of the Hospitality House, those affected by hardship can develop from adversity to stability, poverty to sustainability, and homelessness to self-sufficiency. XXX

Work Cited
"Hospitality House of Boone." Hospitality House. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. <www.hospitalityhouseofboone.org>.