From Staff Reports 

ASHEVILLE — UNC Asheville’s STEAM Studio received a $200,000 grant on July 1 from the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina’s Emergency and Disaster Response Fund for its community lumber project, according to UNCA.

The grant funding will allow the STEAM Studio to buy equipment and process trees felled by Tropical Storm Helene into usable lumber. 

“A mobile sawmill was purchased from Wood-Mizer at a generously offered 50 percent discount,” the Asheville Citizen Times reported on July 4. “The funding also helped acquire a compact track loader with a 2,500-pound operating capacity, an equipment trailer, a pickup truck and a kiln to dry the wood.

“The grant also will support the salary for a staff person to coordinate and operate the mill. The project will only mill trees that fell due to Helene or other natural causes. The lumber will be available free or discounted for a variety of uses related to recovery and rebuilding after the natural disaster.”

“As we progress with the project, we hope students will be involved in designing and building solar kilns to pre-dry lumber,” Sanders told the ACT. “This will be a fantastic hands-on design and fabrication experience. I am confident that more student engagement opportunities will emerge as more faculty members learn about the project and identify points of intersection with their curriculum.”

Once operational, the kiln will provide dried lumber for artists and woodworkers who lost inventory in the storm, as well as for trim, flooring, and other interior architectural needs for rebuilding homes.

“While what we are doing at times feels like a drop in the bucket compared to the relief work needed, it feels incredibly important that STEAM Studio, as part of UNC Asheville, does what we can to engage in work that supports the community that supports us,” Sanders told the ACT. “The concept was admittedly outside our normal scope of work, but sometimes stretching beyond those boundaries can bring unexpected meaning and growth to our work.”