Rebuilding Hope is gearing up for its spring barbecued chicken plate fundraiser, which is scheduled for Friday, Apr. 24.
Come on out to 414 Raleigh Rd. beginning at 11 a.m. to pick up plates in the convenient drive-thru lane or park and head inside the Rebuilding Hope headquarters to dine in. Tickets are $12. Call 252.438.5132 to have a minimum of five plates delivered.
There’s a lot to coordinate, and Rebuilding Hope Co-Director Tom Wille said it’s a great team-building activity.
Just like the variety of carpentry and other construction skills that volunteers bring to jobsites across the county and elsewhere, dozens of volunteers work together to get the place ready for the daylong dine-in and drive-thru event.
There are those folks who get the big pots ready to cook vegetables, others who make the barbecue sauce – from scratch – some who bring in dozens of delicious cakes and still others who slice and bag those cakes so they can be tucked inside the now fairly famous plate heaped with succulent barbecued chicken, potatoes and green beans.
“It takes a lot of people to do this,” Wille said on Monday’s TownTalk. “We build ‘team’ through this event,” he said. “It’s a great time of camaraderie, encouragement to all the volunteers that work here.”
As Rebuilding Hope approaches 20 years of service, Wille said new volunteers are welcome.
“We invite them in on that day or any other day and talk about what we do and how we reach out,” Wille said. “Volunteers are critical – that’s how we operate.”
Last year, teams built 158 ramps and put roofs on 13 homes.
Fundraisers like the twice-a-year chicken plate dinners are one way Rebuilding Hope makes those ramps and roofs a reality.
The teams worked on 250 different homes last year and helped another 50 or so residents find resources for needs that the Rebuilding Hope teams couldn’t handle.
“It’s all done to point people to Jesus,” Wille said of the work that the volunteer teams do. “If we’re not helping them, then who are we?”
Because of the work – provided free of charge – people can live under roofs that don’t leak and are able to get in and out of their homes safely, whether it’s because of a newly installed ramp or repaired porch boards.
“There are many, many people who just need help,” he explained.
Registration for Rebuilding Hope’s youth summer camp is open now until May 1. Servants on Site has close to 100 young people already signed up, but Wille said there’s room for a few more.
The goal for summer 2026 is to repair or replace nine roofs, he said. This year’s S.O.S. takes place June 22-26.
The kids “work hard, play hard, and learn about Jesus in the process,” Wille said.
Learn more about Servants on Site at https://rebuildinghopeinc.org/
CLICK PLAY!
