I never went to Appalachia

I never went to Appalachia. I helped my daughter prepare for the very first trip (and the next three) our youth group made to participate in the Appalachia Service Project. I bought stock, and encouraged my very shy daughter to sell stock to others. I rose early in the morning several times to send the group on their way with prayer, and stayed late at the church to welcome them back. I thought about them and prayed for them while they were gone, but I never went. When Bert Jones would entreat me to go, I typically responded, “I am so inept and klutzy I would only get in the way and maybe even hurt myself…best thing I can do is stay home, out of the way, and send money.”

As I watched the slide show at the recent ASP lunch celebration and listened to stories from this year’s trip and from past years, I almost wished I had gone. I’ve always known that those trips are life-changing experiences, and this latest report made that abundantly clear. The event featured reports from each work team, detailing the kind of work they did (from repairing roofs and digging huge ditches to building floors and hanging doors), along with descriptions of the families at whose homes they worked.

Coming in for special recognition at the luncheon were some of the folks who supported the project from the beginning, including Jay Pierson, who took the group on their first trip in 1979, when he was working as Director of Youth; Anna Jones, who, along with Bert, continued to shepherd the project after Jay left the church staff; and Gordon Wesley, who inherited the ASP mantle from Bert. Three who were youth on that first team were present: Laurie Barr, Kirsten Murchison, and Caroline Jones. Daughters of each one have made the trip, numerous times. Many other adults and youth who participated in earlier years attended, thanks to the organizing genius of Robbie Ausley. There were some joyful reunions!

It’s impossible to measure the impact of those trips to Appalachia on the lives of our youth and adult sponsors and on the people they met there. They can know for sure that they made homes “warmer, safer, drier” (ASP motto). They can know, too, that they made hearts warmer and larger—their own, and those of the people they helped. They have surely understood, with increasing maturity, something of the complexities of our nation, with its contrasts between wealth and poverty. And they know much more about themselves and each other, and what it means to be the Body of Christ in a wounded world.

I never went to Appalachia. Most of us at First Church did not—could not—go with the youth on those trips. But every one of us can be grateful to those who have gone and who will go in the future, on our behalf. It is a wondrous thing to be part of a church with a tradition of service from generation to generation. I’m confident that generations to come will continue to make the trip—and when all the homes in Appalachia have been made warmer, safer, and drier, there will be other fields of service. As long as I can, I’ll stay out of the way and send money!