Ashford Bunkle ministry outlines food, housing and rental-assistance work and seeks closer ties with Fletcher

Reverend Scott Rogers, director of the Ashford Bunkle Community Christian Ministry, told the Fletcher Town Council on Tuesday that the nonprofit’s crisis and emergency services reach hundreds of local households with food, utility and rental assistance and that the organization is expanding shelter and transitional housing capacity in the region.

“We’ve actually been around since 1969,” Rogers said, and noted the ministry’s long partnerships with area churches and social-service providers. He described services that include emergency food boxes, short-term utility or rent payments, connections to public benefits and a client-referral system that avoids duplication of assistance across agencies.

Rogers said ABCCM’s programs are designed not only to meet immediate needs but to stabilize families and connect them to longer-term services: “We help put not just the short‑term solution into place, but we also know how to connect them to other resources,” he said. He told council members the group coordinates with county social services, faith partners and a shared intake platform to verify prior assistance and reduce ‘double-dipping.’

The presentation included data the ministry collected for council: ABCCM reported serving 113 people it identified as Fletcher residents during the most recent reporting period and said Woodfin has allocated $40,000 for rent and utility assistance to be used only for Woodfin residents under a targeted agreement. Rogers said the new Brevard Road facility will increase food-distribution capacity and that a 36‑bed emergency shelter for women and mothers is expected to open by mid‑October.

Council members pressed for local specificity. Mayor (speaker 1) and others asked whether the 113 residents were inside Fletcher town limits or within the 28732 ZIP code; Rogers said the ministry’s reporting generally uses postal ZIP codes and county-level data but that staff can provide address-level detail if the town provides parameters for what it wants to track.

Rogers emphasized ABCCM is not asking for immediate funding but offering the town a closer partnership: “We’re here to say, here’s a resource if we can build it stronger and closer,” he told the council. He described a verification process—using income and expense checks plus a shared community database—to determine eligibility for rent and utility assistance and said the typical intake resolution is four to five business days.

Council members signaled interest in exploring the idea further during the budget process, with several suggesting staff and ABCCM return in December or January with a tighter proposal that could show how any town funds would reach residents within Fletcher town limits rather than the broader ZIP code area. The council asked ABCCM to refine its counts so local officials could evaluate whether targeted town support would effectively reach Fletcher households.

The council did not take any formal action Wednesday; staff said they would follow up to determine whether a budget request or a proposed memorandum of understanding would be the appropriate next step.