A Place for Teachers to Rest — Finally

Have you ever noticed that teachers spend their days creating spaces that nurture everyone else — but rarely have a space that nurtures them?

Schools are the heartbeat of our neighborhoods. We all witnessed it in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, when schools became essential hubs — places to contact family, charge phones, get water, and feel safe. Schools hold our community together. And the people inside them — especially teachers — carry that weight every single day.

At Asheville Middle School, there was one thing missing:
a place for teachers to rest.

Even eight years after Asheville Middle’s complete remodel, there was still no teacher lounge. No spot to heat up lunch. No small room to grab a snack, call home, or just take one quiet breath before diving back into the needs of students.

Our Community School Coordinator saw the gap and reached out to the other staff at United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County. We worked together to fill it. 

Enter Eaton Corporation.

On a weeknight — after a full workday — fifteen Eaton employees arrived at Asheville Middle. 

They were eager to jump in a help build a teacher lounge. However this was no small task.  

They walked into a large room that was filled with boxes of disassembled furniture. Coffee tables, lounge chairs, meeting tables — all waiting to be transformed into something meaningful. Without hesitation, the Eaton team began unpacking, assembling, and arranging. Teams formed and optimized the furniture building, laughing could be heard from all corners of the room.

 

Piece by piece, hour by hour, a teacher lounge emerged. UWABC staff firmly believe that if we had not stopped the crew, they would have decorated and cleaned all night. You see, the Eaton crew was equally giddy at the thought of Asheville Middle School teachers walking into the new lounge the next moring. 

At the end of 3 hours, what was once a blank room was now a teacher's lounge. Not a generic break room, but a space created with care. A space that said: You matter. Your rest matters. Your well-being matters.

 

 

 

For the first time since the overhaul of their school building, teachers have a place to regroup. A place to breathe. A place to simply be human. Because sometimes the most meaningful act of community support is giving people space to rest. Eaton made a powerful commitment to our schools through their volunteerism- their actions showed us that showing up for our school communities doesn’t alway have to look like tutoring. It can be through supporting our educators as well. 

And that matters - for our entire community.

Don't Stop There....