Recovery here will take years.
Hurricane Helene came through Western North Carolina in September 2024. Most of the news coverage stayed on Asheville, but the damage reached across the whole region and beyond, including small mountain communities that were already stretched before the storm. The headlines have moved on. The rebuilding hasn’t, and we expect it to take a decade or more.
Through Appalachian Impact, we work with local agencies and organizations to connect your group with service and learning that helps these communities recover, grow and thrive. As the needs change, the work changes with them.
We ask youth groups to come ready to serve with humility, to build real relationships with the people here, and to go home understanding this region better: its needs, its resilience and its beauty. Every group that comes adds to a recovery that depends on people who keep showing up.
Stay at Lutheridge or Lutherock.
Appalachian Impact runs at two NovusWay camps in the North Carolina mountains, with weeks at each one. Wherever you stay, your group gets the full week: the service, the adventure day and camp life every evening.
Lutheridge
Arden, NC
We’re just south of Asheville, and your group serves with partners around the Asheville area.
Lutherock
Newland, NC
We’re up in the High Country of Avery County, and your group serves with partners in the communities around Newland.
How your week works.
Arrive and get settled
Our Area Director and staff meet you when you arrive, show you to your housing and give you a tour of camp. Before any work starts, we lead an orientation on Appalachian culture, what actually happened in the storm, how it hit the people here and how your help fits into the recovery.
Serve and learn with local partners
Your group spends up to three days serving alongside local partners. Projects may include food pantries and distribution centers, debris cleanup, community gardens, environmental restoration and community support. Most of the work needs willing, hard-working people more than construction skills, and we match it to your group’s ages and skills.
Your group may also spend time in rural Appalachian communities and with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, learning directly from the people whose history, traditions and ongoing story are woven into these mountains.
Take your adventure day
After the work, your group takes a day to play: whitewater rafting, ziplining, tubing, a summit hike or a swim beneath a waterfall. See the options at each camp below.
Reflect, then head home
We close the week by reflecting together on the work, the people you met and how you’ll carry it home. We’re glad to lead that time, or to join your group in its own way of doing it.
Every evening
Back at camp, evenings bring favorite camp activities and time to rest and grow closer as a group. Our staff can lead morning and evening devotions and reflection, or join the ones your group already does.
Pick your adventure day.
Every group gets one adventure day. Choose from the options at your camp, or tell us about another attraction you’d like to visit and we’ll help set it up. Some options carry an outfitter’s fee; we’ll share current prices when you plan your day.
No added fee
- More camp time: crafts, the pool, archery, the Group Interaction Course or the indoor climbing wall
- Climbing and ziplining at the Challenge Tower
- A day hike to the waterfalls of DuPont State Recreational Forest or the mountain views of Pisgah National Forest
- A day in Hendersonville, Brevard or Asheville’s River Arts District
Outfitter fee
- A canopy zipline tour near Asheville
- Tubing on the French Broad River
- Whitewater rafting on the French Broad
- A day at Biltmore Estate
No added fee
- The hike to Cross Rock, with views of Tennessee, North Carolina and the Virginia Highlands, plus rock climbing led by our adventure staff
- Alpine Sky Park on the upper saddle, finishing on the Giant Zip
- The Alpine Tower and the Giant Swing
- A drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway, with stops for lunch and short hikes
- A day in Boone, Blowing Rock or Banner Elk
Outfitter fee
- Caving at Worley’s Cave, guided by Lutherock staff, with gear and meals included
- A day tubing the New River
- Whitewater rafting on the French Broad
- Grandfather Mountain and the Mile High Swinging Bridge