The HeArt of North Carolina

North Carolina is a deeply special place whose natural wilderness inspires community, art and culture wherever you go. After our stop at Bountiful Cities in Asheville, we couldn’t help ourselves and returned to Appalachian Community Relief before making our final stop back in Charleston.

Asheville Rainbow

Black Mountain Art Studio

We wrapped up our time with Bountiful Cities and had to say another hard goodbye to all our lovely friends in Asheville. I truly admired the mission of Bountiful Cities which is to assure that everyone has access to fresh produce and fight for healthy food as a human right. It felt great to participate in the garden and get our hands in the dirt, connecting us to the root of our food. We had a fun trip to the Asheville Art Museum and for anyone who doesn’t know, Asheville is known for their art scene. The Asheville art district, located amongst the blue ridge mountains, and home to many artists’ studios was severely damaged after Helene. About 70 to 80 percent of the artist district was destroyed but just like everything else, the community will recover and rebuild once again. Asheville was so welcoming to us and the bus and will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Downtown Asheville

Bountiful Cities garden!

On Friday morning we rolled back into our beloved Appalachian Community Relief lot. ACR is located in a warehouse shared with painters, welders, bakers and all sorts of artists which makes roaming the halls always interesting. You smell fresh bread baking, music from the woodshop and machines rumbling from the welder’s studio. It is a space thriving from creativity and innovation in different forms that left Juliet and I quite inspired.

Warehouse art

Bus parking spot

The reason we love ACR so much is because it is a space that offers much more than free groceries. It is a beautiful collective of individuals who have risen to support their community when it was truly needed. The first day we walked into the storefront, I could sense the deep wounds left by hurricane Helene, but this feeling was overpowered by the sense devotion and love these members hold for their community. It can be hard to ask for support, but ACR goes out of their way to demonstrate recovering from destruction is a communal effort. The walls are displayed with cards, drawings and other inspiring messages sent from places around the United States, encouraging hurricane victims to stay strong. They also make sure that no matter what language you speak, you can receive groceries. Spanish is well-represented amongst ACR customers, and they take the time to translate and share information with everyone, so all people have access to the resources they need.

ACR Storefront

One of the reasons we were so excited to return to ACR was because they had mentioned wanting a mural in storefront, and said we could do it if we wanted to. The mural will sit right above the newest addition in ACR which is a kid’s zone for little ones to play while parents’ shop. A mural for a kid’s area got us excited to make something bright and fun for every being who walks in the space. Juliet is the true artist behind the mural, and she paints all the time but had never done a big piece on a wall before and was excited at the idea of doing something new. She is one of the greatest artists in my eyes because of the beauty and color she sees in everyday life.

Conveniently, right next door to ACR is painter and muralists’ studio, Louie, who quickly agreed to give us all the supplies we needed to conduct our project. He has become our friend especially during late nights when we are the only ones around the warehouse. The first day we met Louie, it happened to be his birthday. Not even 5 minutes after discovering this, we saw Allison pull up to the store with a shipment of Whole Food desserts for customers, so of course we brought a big cupcake over to him. It feels like nice little coincidences like that seem to happen every day in Black Mountain.

Louie and his studio

The ACR crew truly feels like family and have never met a group of such generous people with a wide variety of inspiring stories. We loved getting to spend time with Fern and Monroe, Aarons parents, who are such special characters to our time in Black Mountain. They met on a trip to Africa and have both dedicated their lives to serving and advocating for others. Monroe has fought for social justice all around North Carolina and Fern has worked as a nurse practitioner advocating and caring for underrepresented women and their health. They have gifted us various bear pictures taken at their magical house in the mountains to remember them by. Juliet and I have agreed that once we get back to school, our dorms will be heavily decorated with the bear photos to never forget these amazing people and special place.

Fern and Monroe (In his Minnesota shirt!)

Bear photos!

Another reason we were excited to return to Black Mountain was because the ACR had crew told us that if we came back, they’d take us for a hike up in the mountains, which we had really wanted to do while we were there but felt like taking the bus to a trailhead could be sketchy. One afternoon we were picked up by Monroe and Fern and met Aaron, Allison, and her 3-year-old daughter Fiona at the Catawba Falls River Trail. It was a beautiful hike, filled with conversations and laughs with a gorgeous grand finale waterfall.

The ACR crew

Our downtime on the bus has been largely taken up by watercolor painting– Juliet’s favorite–and she has encouraged me to paint with her. Painting has been a huge part of this trip, and it has inspired me a lot. Juliet taught me that painting is a meditative tool that is not always about how grand the outcome is, but the experience of creation.

A quick paint by Juliet

This idea fits well into the biggest lessons I have learned from the bus. I think we sometimes believe that we are not good at something which becomes a barrier to even trying. But if you meet your interests with heart, there will always be something beautiful created within the process. I’ve observed this within myself, my dear friend Juliet, and all the people we have encountered along the way who are successful at what they do because it is executed from the core of love.

The finished product

It has made me rethink what it means to be a contributive member of society, and the various shapes, forms, and colors that this can take. Our true test begins once we get off the bus: to continue to lead a life full of acts of love and service, no matter how big or small.