Community News

Healing Farm seeks site to continue its support of veterans, families

Al Yeck, the executive director of the Veterans Healing Farm, described the farm’s programs to visitors from Ukraine who traveled to the U.S. to learn about veterans support services. [LIGHTNING FILE PHOTO]

By Bill Moss, Published: July 8, 2024

During an appearance before the Hendersonville City Council last month, Al Yeck made an impassioned plea for help.

The Veterans Healing Farm, which loses its lease on its property in Horse Shoe in six weeks, has been unable so far to find a new home. For Yeck, a Marine Corps veteran who later served with the State Department in Africa, Europe, Central America and the Middle East, losing the pastoral approach to supporting veterans and their families is not an option.

“This is a model of nonpharmaceutical intervention for veteran trauma that I believe will continue to help our veterans,” he told council members. “The American Legion is a wonderful organization. The VFW is a wonderful organization.” But neither specializes in healing.

“We focus on trauma recovery,” he said. “Recently, the Mountain Express interviewed six area police chiefs and asked them what their top concerns were. For Hendersonville Chief of Police Blair Myhand, the first two were mental health and homelessness. The Connection Center is gone. Please do not allow organizations that are helping prevent veteran suicide close or leave.”

Historic Farm to foster beehives

Yeck made the same appeal to the Henderson County Board of Commissioners and he’ll happily step aboard any platform that will have him. He’s the first to acknowledge that, given land prices and market conditions, his is a big ask. The Healing Farm is looking for a site of 12 or more acres that contains 3 to 5 acres suitable for farming, city water or a functioning well and “proximity to highways or main roads to enhance community participation.”

“We’re still looking for land, still looking to raise money,” Yeck said Monday. “We’ve got to move the office, we’ve got to move the vehicles. We’ve got places to move them to so that’s a good thing. Historic Johnson Farm is going to foster our beehives so that’s a wonderful place to put ‘em till we find a home. Our lease is up Aug. 15 but our goal is to be out by Aug. 1.

“We have literally $600,000 in little checks,” he said, “but we’re looking at the cost of land, and then to rebuild we need quite a bit more.”

Yeck projects construction would cost $1.5 million on top of the land acquisition. “We were also trying to get an endowment started so we didn’t have to continue coming back to people” for donations, he said.

He also addressed “chatter” in the community “that we had turned down free land that was offered.” There was an offer, he said, but the land wasn’t suitable for several reasons.

“It was very thoughtful to want to give us this land,” he said. “But it’s in a flood plain and (planted in) cornfields surrounded by other cornfields that are being sprayed. Our bees are going to be gone. We just have not found that piece of land yet.”

49 workshops reached 477 veterans and caregivers

The Healing Farm’s Produce Donation program grows vegetables and flowers to give to veterans and their caregivers free of charge. Since 2015, the farm has donated more than 20,000 pounds of produce to veterans and veteran caregivers at the Charles George V.A. Hospital in Asheville. Last year, the nonprofit presented 49 workshops for 477 participants, grew dozens of varieties of heirloom tomatoes, offered therapy with gentle horses and taught courses on medicinal herbs, honeybees and more.

“We say we’re a three-legged stool with our workshops, agritherapy and our events,” Yeck said. “We’re down to one leg on the stool but we’re gonna keep it upright and we’re always hopeful someone can come forward that wants to help veterans.”

The farm plans to take the county up on its offer to use the new community room at the renovated VFW hall for its classes and events to support veterans.

As he closed his appeal last month, Yeck urged city council members to get the word out about the Healing Farm.

“Who do you know that can help that doesn’t know about us? he asked. “I don’t want to close. I don’t want to leave but the reality of life today is we’re gonna need some help to make this happen.”