It’s official, the journey to rebuild the Veterans Restoration Quarters (VRQ) is underway, and we want you to be there to celebrate with us. Mark your calendars for August 13, 2026 as we gather to officially kick off construction. Please join us for a special ceremony as we celebrate the resilience of our community and the start of this exciting rebuild.
Come celebrate resilience, community, and the next chapter of the VRQ!
Event Details
What: Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Rebuild and Expansion of Veterans Restoration Quarters
When: August 13, 2026 – 11:30
Where: 1329 Tunnel Road, Asheville, NC
- ASHEVILLE, N.C. — August 3, 2026 — Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry (ABCCM) will hold a groundbreaking ceremony on August 13, 2026 at 11:30 at 1329 Tunnel Rd., Asheville, NC 28805, marking the start of construction on the rebuild and expansion of Veterans Restoration Quarters (VRQ) nearly two years after Hurricane Helene left the nationally recognized facility in ruins. The ceremony will bring together veterans, volunteers, ABCCM leadership, elected officials, donors, contractors, and the community partners who have supported the recovery effort since the storm.
A Facility Nearly Lost When Hurricane Helene struck Western North Carolina on September 27, 2024, more than eight feet of floodwater rushed through the VRQ, severely damaging the 250-bed facility that had served as a national model for veteran housing and restoration since 2008. Veterans, staff, volunteers, churches, nonprofits, government agencies, and community partners came together immediately in the storm’s aftermath to ensure no veteran was left behind, and organizations including Team Rubicon, the Home Depot Foundation, Carolina Panthers, NASCAR and local partners joined ABCCM in the recovery effort.
“This groundbreaking represents more than new construction it represents renewed hope for the men and women who served our country and now need our support,” said Reverend Scott Rogers ABCCM Executive Director Not Just Rebuilding – Reimagining ABCCM leadership has been clear that this project is about more than restoring what was lost. As ABCCM Executive Director Reverend Scott Rogers has said, the future calls the organization to expand, innovate, and ensure every veteran has access to the care and opportunity they’ve earned, because veterans deserve more than gratitude alone. The reconstructed Veterans Restoration Quarters will stand as a transformative campus featuring 250 transitional housing beds and 65 emergency shelter beds designed to stabilize, restore, and launch veterans toward long term independence. Beyond housing, the campus will include:
● A state-of-the-art workforce training and education center
● A dedicated Veterans Resource Center – housed in the former Zaxby’s building on the property, purchased spring 2025 – bringing veterans service organizations, community partners, healthcare providers, workforce agencies, and support services together under one roof to streamline access and eliminate barriers to care.
Directly across the street, Veterans Village, the former Quality Inn purchased in the summer of 2025 in the wake of Helene, will provide 134 permanent supportive housing apartments with on-site wraparound services, creating a true continuum of care from emergency shelter to transitional housing to permanent stability. Together, the VRQ and Veterans Village are designed to serve as a national model for how communities can holistically address veteran homelessness, workforce development, behavioral health, and long-term recovery within a single veterans’ ecosystem of care.
“With deep roots in service to the veterans community, ABCCM has spent the past decade building a coordinated, outcomes driven system of care that restores lives, moving veterans from homelessness to stability, and from crisis to renewed purpose,” said ABCCM Chief Operating Officer Brandon Wilson, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran.
