The Richmonder 25: Firewood volunteer Steve Allen delivers warmth to Richmonders who need it

On a tucked-away lot in Richmond’s Northside, Steve Allen was splitting logs in summer’s heat.

When the colder months arrive, the pile of firewood he was building will be trucked off to needy residents in the Richmond area to make it a little easier for them to keep warm from wood stoves.

Allen, 63, is a longtime member in the all-volunteer Project W.A.R.M, which just marked its 50th year of delivering free firewood to the elderly, people with medical issues and others who might struggle to gather wood on their own. 

To others involved in the group, Allen is an unassuming leader who keeps Project W.A.R.M. on track by training new volunteers, overseeing delivery schedules, maintaining wood splitters and mowing the lot where the wood is prepped and stored.

“He’s number one. Top of the list,” said Wayne Hastings, another volunteer who was helping at the wood lot on a recent afternoon.

In Allen’s telling, he’s just one piece of many.

“It takes a whole lot of people to do this project,” Allen said. “And a whole lot of wood to help out people.”

Last season, the group delivered around 65 truckloads of hardwood. In the wintertime, there’s dozens of volunteers of all ages, working out of a city-owned lot behind John Marshall High School.

Project W.A.R.M was founded in 1976 by the late Lou Wilson, who was inspired to act after seeing a news story about a local woman burning her clothes and possessions to stay warm. Before Wilson passed away 12 years ago, there was uncertainty over whether the firewood project would go on without him.

“Steve said, ‘Nope, we’re going to continue it,’” said Mary Ann Wilson, Lou’s widow who remains involved with the project. “Steve is what I would call the backbone now of Project W.A.R.M.”

Allen, who works for a civil engineering firm by day, has been with the group for 36 of its 50 years. A Glen Allen resident, he first got involved in 1990, linking up with the firewood effort through the Tuckahoe Jaycees civic organization.

When asked what’s kept him at for so long, his answer was quick.

“The people,” he said. “Everybody out here is like family. And the people we deliver to.”

By taking wood into homes, Allen and other Project W.A.R.M. members often develop close relationships with those they help.

“We used to deliver to a guy who was a retired firefighter. He had a wood stove in his basement he called Big Bertha. And they would heat the whole house because ol’ Bertha was running on empty,” Allen said. “One lady we deliver to, she’s been fighting cancer for years. And every season when we start, I look forward to seeing her name on the list. For obvious reasons.”

The firewood deliveries typically run from mid-November to mid-March. The group delivers in Richmond proper, Henrico and Chesterfield counties and occasionally Hanover County.

The wood comes from a variety of sources, mostly from donations of downed trees.

“We'll go pick it up,” Allen said. “There's some tree companies that will call us.”

On the walls of a shed on the wood lot are newspaper clippings from various articles written about Project W.A.R.M over the decades, the obituary for Lou Wilson and a pumpkin-themed decoration that says “Gather here with warm hearts.”

The Salvation Army of Central Virginia manages the intake process for Project W.A.R.M. participants, ensuring the wood gets to those who need it most by screening applicants based on income and other criteria.

Once someone is on the list, they can call for a firewood delivery. And that’s where Allen’s role comes in.

“They send me the list on Friday,” Allen said. “Then Saturday morning, we come out here and we deliver to everybody that was put on the list that week.”

The wood deliveries continue in all types of weather, including the deep freeze earlier this year that left the region covered in thick ice.

The lot where the logs are kept, Allen said, was like an “ice rink.”

“We came out here and we managed and rolled them out,” he said. “We kept going.”

Mary Ann Wilson said her late husband had a saying for Allen that’s stuck with her. “Well Steve,” he would say. “You’re a good man. And there ain’t too many of us left.”

“That just says a lot. He is a good man,” Mary Ann Wilson said. “He’s the glue that holds it together.”

Contact Reporter Graham Moomaw at gmoomaw@richmonder.org

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