Preparing Together

EEVS Neighborhood Assoc. Emergency Preparedness Team –

In 2025, the East End/Valley Street Neighborhood Association established its Emergency Preparedness Team to create a more structured approach to emergency planning and help our neighborhood become better prepared for future emergencies and natural disasters.

The Emergency Preparedness Team helps neighbors stay safe, organized, and resilient before, during, and after an emergency. Since its formation, the team has been working to share information, build partnerships, identify community needs, and connect residents with valuable emergency resources.

Building Awareness and Sharing Information

One of the team’s accomplishments has been sharing emergency preparedness information with residents through Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor, email blasts on the EEVS website, and neighborhood meetings. Providing information in multiple ways helps neighbors learn about preparedness and understand the resources available to them.

Learning from Emergency Professionals

In August, the team hosted an emergency preparedness workshop with the Asheville Fire Department and the American Red Cross. The AFD provided training on emergency preparedness and discussed key items to include in a home emergency kit. The department also offers Emergency Preparedness Certification, which includes hands-on training.

The American Red Cross provided information about immediate evacuation preparedness and the services it offers during emergencies and disasters, including shelters, temporary housing, food, and education.

Strengthening Community Partnerships

The team has also been building relationships with organizations that can help address community needs during emergencies. It is partnering with ABCCM’s Faith 360 program and its Pallet Program, which addresses food and mental health needs across various counties.

The team is also connecting with Buncombe County’s COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster) initiative to better understand and respond to the needs of our neighborhood during emergencies.

In addition, the team is connecting with Thrive Asheville Resilience Hubs across western North Carolina to share ideas and resources. Resilience Hubs are designed to support communities during three conditions: steady state, disruptions, and recovery.

Understanding Our Neighborhood

Another important accomplishment has been implementing a survey of the East End/Valley Street community. The survey will help us identify particular skills and available volunteers in our neighborhood that could be part of an Emergency Response effort in case of a weather-related or other emergency. Your neighbors might include trained nurses, retired doctors, part-time EMT volunteers, experienced logistics coordinators, grief counselors, and many others who live right in our neighborhood.

In a community comprised of diverse households, including seniors and residents who may be medically dependent, the information gathered through the survey can help identify emergency supplies and personnel to maintain and better support households with special needs or limited mobility.

Neighbor Helping Neighbor

Emergency preparedness is not just the responsibility of emergency professionals or a small group of volunteers. It is a community effort.

The Emergency Preparedness Team believes that Neighbor Helping Neighbor is an important part of building a safe, organized, and resilient neighborhood. By learning, preparing, sharing information, and looking out for one another, we can strengthen our community and be better prepared for an emergency.

Anyone with questions or who wants to get involved, please email us at: [email protected]. Share your interests, experience, training, skills, and anything else you have to offer so that, together, we can prepare today for whatever tomorrow may bring.

Leslie Abbot, Douglas Byrum, Sharah Schuetz, Ali Barfield, and Sharon Greene are members of the East End/Valley Street Neighborhood Assoc. Emergency Preparedness Team. Evelyn C. Herron is the Team Lead.