The Mountain Spirit The Magazine o f the Christian Appalachian Project
The Mountain Spirit Contents From Our President.
Features: The Ministers’ Minister................................................5 Lists and Lists and Lists.............................................16 Free in the Spirit......................................................... 23 Departments: Letters.......................................................................... 4 Around the Project.................................................... 10 The CAP Closeup...................................................... 14 Editorial..................................................................... 20 News of Our Neighbors............................................. 21
The Magazine of the Christian Appalachian Project November-December 1983 Volume II, No. 6 Editor-in-Chief.................................................. Rev. Ralph Beiting Editor.......................................................................Margaret Gabriel Associate Editor.................................................Glen Edward Taul Advisory Board. Mike McLaughlin, Bill Begley, Doyle Fortney Circulation Manager................................................................. KathyStathers Typesetting.................................................................................. KathyStathers
The Mountain Spirit is published six times a year. The annual subscription price is $5.00. Subscriptions and other correspon dence should be sent to The Mountain Spirit, Christian Ap palachian Project, 322 Crab Orchard Road, Lancaster, Ken tucky 40446. Copyright 1983, The Christian Appalachian Project, Inc. All rights reserved. Member, Catholic Press Association. The Christian Appalachian Project is a non-profit Christian service organization operating throughout Eastern Kentucky. The Project operates on the philosophy that “ helping people help themselves” is the best approach to Appalachian poverty.
The November-December Theme In our annual issue devoted to spirituality in the mountains, Margaret Gabriel introduces you to Father Lou Lipps, S.J., Beverly Carter Sexton attends services in the Free Pentecost congregation of Harve and Myrtle Bond, and we give you an in sider’s look at CAP’s Christmas Basket program. On the COVER, Father Lou Lipps preaches at St. William Church in Lancaster (photo by Corsale). On the BACK COVER, late fall moves to early winter in the mountains (photo by Craven). BELOW, volunteers help with Christmas Basket preparations (photo by Wardle).
From Our President
It is nearly 11:30 p.m. as I begin to write this editorial on Spiritu ality. I am tired, I need a shower, and it has been a long day. I still have fifteen miles to drive after I finish this editorial before I can get to bed. I sure don’t feel spiritual at all. Yet, as I reflect on it, despite my feelings, I may be at my spiritual best right now. At different times in my life I have had great feelings about Christ and His work. I was so proud to be a part of it, I could hardly keep from shouting. I have known the exhilaration of speaking before thousands of people and hearing my voice echo off the dis tant hills. I have been on national and regional television with the op portunity to speak on our work for Christ here in Appalachia. It was great to hear from folks all over the land, and learn that you had moved them to get involved. On those occasions, it was easy to keep going. You were on a down hill track with a good wind behind you. Anyone can be spiritual on such days. But today was not made of such stuff. It began at 6:00 a.m. I couldn’t sleep. For more than two months my back has been killing me. At first I thought I had a severe cold which settled there. Now I am not too sure. It has been with me too long. Instead of folding my hands in prayer, I hold my back in pain. I dread to drive home tonight. There is no moon, and we have one of our mountain fogs. Some five months ago, I discovered that I had diabetes, and a blood clot has form ed in one of the blood vessels behind the retina of my eye. I have lost November-December 1983
lost almost all sight straight ahead in my left eye. It is now hard to judge distances, especially at night. The people I have met today haven’t helped either. There was the man who called this afternoon. He had no money to pay his water bill. If he didn’t have $30 by Friday, they would cut off his water service. After talking for a while, I decided to help him. “ Come up to the church,’’ I told him, “ and I’ll give you a check.” “ My car doesn’t run,” he told me. “ Could you please bring it to me?” He lived 15 miles away. About 10 o ’clock this evening I was cleaning out some paint brushes and rollers after painting a room at the church. One of the helpers said, “ there is a man out here asking for you.” When I went out, I knew I was in trouble. He was one of the many people who get stranded here and have no place to sleep. I felt like telling him to hit the road and try somebody else. I had been giving all day. But I didn’t. Instead I made arrangements for him at our local motel. The tale could go on and on. It’s been a long hot summer. I am worried about many things in our efforts to make Christ’s message alive and real to our people. I am worn out and there is no relief in sight. The appointment book is full for the rest of the month and still the calls come. As I said earlier, I don’t feel spiritual at all. I feel rebellious. I feel like telling people to go to hell and get off my back. I’m human, too. I have my limitations. I would like to sit down and cry and have someone to comfort me. But you know what? I’m not
Father Ralph Beiting and friend.
going to give up; I’m not going to yell at the poor and tell them to plan their life a little better. I’m going to stop feeling sorry for myself and resume the work of service. I’ll do this not because of some inner glow, but because on the wall behind my desk there is a cross on which Jesus is hanging. I know He didn’t want to go to Calvary or hang on a cross. But He did it anyway. I think there was more to this than winning our salvation. I think He was also trying to tell me how to be spiritual. “ Take up your cross everyday and come follow me.” “ Learn of me.” “ I have come to serve.” “ Suffer the little children to come to me.” My friends, I will be driving home now in a few moments. I’ll talk to Him all the way, thanking him for letting me know that spirituality is being invited to live a life like His, enduring as He did, giving without reserve, knowing full well that as long as we abide in Him, we can do all things. Spirituality is believing Him when He says, “ not my will, but thine be done.” 3
Letters On page 3 of the SeptemberOctober issue of The Mountain Spirit you’re shown with a title below your picture that is in direct contradiction to Our Lord Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:9. This puzzles me. Why do you and others of your profession teach peo ple to disobey Jesus? I’ve asked other priests, Roman Catholic and Episcopal—men I’ve respected—and never received any answer .. . God bless you. Ernest F. Freeberg II Bath, ME In order to fully understand Scripture, we must look at what it was that Jesus, through His divinely inspired writers, meant to convey to us today. Sometimes they spoke literally, sometimes figuratively, sometimes in stories, in order to convey a truth. When we look at Jesus’ message to us to “call no man father” in Matthew 23, he also in structed us to call no man “good. ” We believe that in the passage to which you refer, Jesus was cautioning His followers against the hypocrisy o f the Scribes and the Pharisees in their zest fo r following the letter, rather than the spirit o f the law. Jesus is telling His followers that they must go back to God, because the Scribes and the Pharisees were misleading them into believing that they themselves were teachers, leaders, and fathers, rather than our Heavenly Father. It is a long-standing tradition in the oldest o f the Christian faiths, i.e., the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Episcopal, that the leaders o f the faithful be addressed as “Father. ” People o f these faiths feel a close kinship to the Apostles, Peter, John, and Paul, who ad dressed their disciples in a childlike manner. Their disciples, in turn, saw them in afather-type role. The Catholic Church does not believe that a priest, who is ad dressed as “Father, ” is our primary father any more than it believes that 4
our physical father is our primary father. God, and He alone, is the primary Father o f us all.
program at the Mountain Christian Academy. We understand that she’s doing afine job!—Ed.
Father Ralph W. Beiting I love your magazine and all the subjects you write about, and could hardly wait to read the rest of the story about “ The Rivers Ran Black,” but did not receive the JulyAugust issue. The mailman may have left it in someone else’s mailbox, or you may not have sent it, but whatever the cause, I missed it, and wonder if you have one that you could send me. Whenever The Mountain Spirit comes it is hard for me to put down until I’ve read every word, and I love each one down thataway. Marion Antibus Akron, OH The July-August issue has been sent along to you. Sorry you missed it!—Ed. It is always a joy to receive your magazine The Mountain Spirit. Thank you very much. God bless you, and all the good folks in Ken tucky. Louise Wiesinger Washington, DC I have received the July-August 1983 copy of The Mountain Spirit. Could you send me a copy of JulyAugust 1982, if you have one left? There is an article about Marilyn Stefanski in that issue. I was at the library and her father, Ed, who is a friend of mine, was showing the ar ticle to some other men, and he said it was his daughter. I used to work with him . . . and I see him every day at the library. Gerard Fortier Wallingford, CT I t ’s great to know that Marilyn’s dad is showing The Mountain Spirit around there in Wallingford. Marilyn has moved to Martin, and is heading up the pre-school
Maxine, my wife, was born in Breathitt County, Kentucky. I am a native Californian, but in 54 years of marriage with this wonderful woman and her family, I have learn ed a lot about your people. I feel close to them, and want to help them all I can. I am twice removed from being a native of Tennessee. My grand father was native of Tennessee, and his people back to the early 1600’s, so I’ve always had a spot in my heart for the people of your part of this great country. God bless you and keep up the good work. We will help as much as we can. Raymond and Maxine Bolt P.S. Hello, Mary Frances, and all your wonderful helpers. God bless you. With pleasure I am writing to tell you how much I enjoy your CAP journal. I file them away and read them over and over. I am a cardiac patient and not too active, but happy in Jesus Christ, my Savior. I get a blessing listening to R. Kenton Craven write about my old friend, Sir Willie Coyle, and in the MayJune journal, where volunteer Steve Watso chats with Andy Conley of Martin, Kentucky, the look in Steve’s face, so sincerely looking, just blesses my heart. I do love what you are doing and pray for you and every one there at CAP. Here is a little gift. I can’t help much, but my prayers go with what I do send. Mrs. Virgie Walters Flint, M I Letters to the editor are welcome.
They should not exceed 150 words in length, and we reserve the right to edit them fo r space. Address letters to The Mountain Spirit, Christian Appalachian Project, 322 Crab Or chard Road, Lancaster, Kentucky 40446. The Mountain Spirit
Dillhunt
The Ministers’ Minister by Margaret Gabriel
ne of the great blessings to the work that is done in Eastern Kentucky is the presence of over a hundred Catholic sisters in many different loca tions and ministries throughout the mountains. These sisters have, in turn, been presented with a gift from the Most Reverend William A. Hughes, Bishop of Covington, Kentucky, and the Order of Society of Jesus—a full-time spiritual director, who has been assigned to work with them on their journey to Christ, as they minister to the people of Appalachia. November-December 1983
Father Louis Lipps, S.J. 5
Q k ji n c e 1981, Father Louis Lipps, S.J., has devoted his time to the spiritual direction of the sisters of the two mountain deaneries of Ken tucky. “ Our provincial came to speak to the Bishop to see if there was anything he should know, or should do, or could help with when a few Jesuits came to the Diocese. As he finished his meeting he told the Bishop that if there was anything we could do, with our specifically Jesuit training and gifts, to please let us know, we’d be happy to help. The Bishop said, ‘yes, there is. I have over 100 sisters scattered in the mountain areas of Kentucky, far from their motherhouses, and I need someone to do some spiritual direction and retreat work for them.’” Father Lou smiled and recalled, “ the provincial flattered me when he said, ‘I immediately thought of you.’” Father Lou, a soft spoken gentle man with the look of a prophet, was raised on a farm north of Cincinnati, and spent several years in retreat work and spiritual direction before coming to the moun tains, most recently in the Jesuit novitiate near Detroit. “ The Bishop made it very easy for me to begin my work here,” Father Lou explained. “ In October of 1981 he organized a meeting from his office, and sent out a letter, inviting all of the sisters to attend. He’s been doing that annually. He meets with them to support them, and en courage them, and thank them for their work. This time, he invited me. He introduced me to them, and gave me the opportunity to give a presentation.” During that meeting, Father Lou asked the sisters about their specific needs for spiritual direction, retreats, and days of recollec tion. “ Some had already been there for some time, and had already made contact with spiritual directors, or had set up support groups among themselves, where they would meet for a day of recollection. I plugged into those groups, too.”
have this contact with the local clergy, because I get a sense of their own ministry and how the sisters’ ministry can coordinate with theirs.” One of Father Lou’s priorities is to coordinate the direction of his ministry with the specific needs of the sisters with whom he works and counsels. “ I do plug into some of their ministries occa sionally,” Father said. “ For instance, Sister Marie, who is the Pastoral Ministries staff at Our Lady of the Way Hospital in Martin, often con tinues working with people after they have gone home from the hospital, especially if they have a terminal illness, or they’re old. She works pretty closely with Father Beiting, and through that has asked me, from time to time, if I would visit this little old Italian man who’s ninety years old, or that convert who’s way up in Left Beaver. Through her, I have met several people in Floyd County.” Father feels that assisting in this type of ministry, although it is not the primary thrust of his own work, lends a great deal of insight into the work of the people to whom he ministers. “ Since the Second Vatican Council, ‘the renewal,’ there has been an emphasis on priority to the poor. A lot of congregations of sisters have not been in volved in this type of ministry up until this time. The sisters who are working with the poor are very far away from the type of help and support from
The original plan for Father’s ministry was to give him a van in which to travel and live. Bishop Hughes applied for a grant for the van, which was turned down. The result of that small disappoint ment, though, has been beneficial in several ways. “ Many priests have extended their rectories to me. I’ve had keys to five different rectories, and have felt so warmly welcomed. People have said, ‘here’s the key. If I’m not here, take the bed, and make yourself at home.’” As Father Lou began to see the amount of travel involved in his new ministry, he realized that the cost of such a large vehicle would have been prohibitive. “ I had a bor rowed car for awhile, and had been offered this hospitality, and finally I realized that I didn’t need a van. In many ways it seems much better that I 6
The Mountain Spirit
other sisters in their congregations.” Father has been quite impressed with the sisters in the moun tains, who have searched out alternatives to the traditional communities in which many of them lived before coming to Kentucky. “ It’s very ex citing to me. Martin has, perhaps, the classic ex ample. There you have representatives from about six different congregations, living in the same con vent. And they’re not just guests of the Sisters of Providence who are there. They have formed their own unique community, and they elect their own superior, regardless of the different congre gations, with the approval of their provincials. They have done a great job of living together, with a great deal of diversity of background, and of apostolate. In other areas, too, there are sisters of different congregations working together in the same type of missions.” The ways in which the sisters utilize Father Lou’s gifts differ from community to community. In some places, Father says, the entire group will plan to take a day, or a half-day off, from their usual work, and spend the day as a community in directed prayer and meditation. In other places, they’ll post a sign on the icebox, stating that Father is coming and to sign up if they would like time to talk with him, pray with him, or go to con fession.
“ When I meet with the sisters as a group, sometimes our topics are seasonal, like during Advent or Lent—preparative times.” Several groups recently have requested discussion on the topic of “ wholeness.” “ In the medical profession right now, there is a lot of emphasis on the holistic approach to healing or health. The main source of a person’s physical disturbance might be a psychological, or spiritual, or even a relational problem. So, if we want to help a person to be really healthy and happy, we deal, not only with the chemical imbalance or tumor or whatever—it isn’t just a matter of curing physical ailments—it’s a matter of their tension or their inner worries or fears, that contributed to their illness. It’s trying to contribute to the total health of the person. So from my approach, in the spiritual approach, it would mean learning to know limits, and learning to take time off for self in order to become a more effective minister. It’s integrating spiritual, physical, psychological, and social, and trying to get a healthy balance between all those things. Some people will say, ‘here I am, Lord, to spread the Good News, to bring food to the hungry, and so forth, and knock themselves out, only to find themselves physically or emotionally burned out, or to become so preoccupied with work that they neglect their personal friendships. The idea is to integrate all of the areas of their lives to achieve total health.” F ath er Lou chuckled a little, and shook his head as he thought of his personal spiritual direc tion. Because his work keeps him on the mountain roads for weeks at a time, visiting his different communities of sisters, he has occasionally fallen into the trap of neglecting his own spiritual needs in his zest of ministering to others. “ It’s an ongoing struggle. The more that I give spiritual direction, the more that I am aware that I need it. I think the Lord, in His goodness, makes that very obvious. My own director has just challenged me to take a day off every week, when sometimes it’s hard for me to find a day a month! But, if I love the Lord, if I love the people I serve, then for their sake, as well as for my own, I need to do that. I’m finding various ways to take that time. A year ago I would have felt guilty about it. The sisters have
Father Lou leads the prayer community of St. William Church in Lancaster in Eucharistic devo tion on a Sunday afternoon.
November-December 1983
7
some of the same problems. There are so many needs! They don’t take time out for themselves.” Father smiled, and admitted, “ but, I need to prac tice what I preach.” When time allows, Father Lou enjoys filling in for clergy in several parishes in the mountains, and near Lexington. “ I frequently help out at St. Leo’s in Versailles, Kentucky, when I’m home on the weekends. They have five Masses there, and one priest. I’ve made a commitment to help there at least once a month.” At other churches, Father tries to coincide his visits to the sisters in the area with times when the pastor needs to be away for the weekend. “ I’ve been to the parish in McKee only a few times, and it’s very small, but I love the spirit there. Eleven o’clock Mass starts anywhere from 11:00 to 11:45, because of the chatting and fellowship that goes on as people arrive for church, and they pick it up again after services are finish ed, and go home anywhere from one to four. They said they’ve stayed over as late as one o’clock the next morning. So many of the mountain parishes are made up of engineers, doctors, lawyers—people who come from elsewhere. But one of the exciting things about McKee is that it’s a place where the reader will have a Kentucky accent, the ministers will have calloused hands. It’s really a mountain parish.” Father Lou’s commitment to the sisters of the mountains began, and remains, open-ended. “ Right now, I hope that I can continue as long as I am able to do it. In fact, I could use another per son coming in to help. Living in Lexington, many people know that my work is almost exclusively spiritual direction, and several people have called me for direction. I’ve taken on a few, but I could easily have someone working with me, just in the Lexington area, and helping out in parishes. “ I do find my job, really, kind of exciting and inspiring. Knowing some of the pain and struggle and the hardship and the sacrifices that the sisters make, and seeing their enthusiasm is like a shot in the arm. I do derive a lot of energy, I get energy from them. I also get a lot of ‘thank-yous’ from them. Part of that is not just me coming, but it gives them an opportunity to take a day off, to pray and to recollect, and to reflect a little bit, in dividually and as a group. I get letters and many ‘thank-yous,’ and from that point of view I find it very fulfilling.” Jesus tells us, in Scripture, “ by their fruits you shall know them.” Many mountain people have shared in the fruits of the sisters in Eastern Ken tucky. Perhaps it can be said that what the moun tain people reap from the sisters who work among them has been sowed by Father Lou, and his beautiful, simple ministry of giving to those who give. cap. 8
“. . . be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abound ing in the work o f the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. ” The Mountain Spirit
Who Are Jesuits? They are soldiers of spiritual warfare. The Society of Jesus is a fraternal order of priests within the Roman Catholic Church, and its members, who are called Jesuits, are spiritually and intellectually disciplined by rigorous training for “action in the service of God.” The martial spirit of the Jesuits reflects the in fluence of its founder and of the historical period in which their order was established. Established in the midst of the Protestant Reformation in 1540, Pope Paul III needed the Society of Jesus to help begin overdue reforms within the church, which had been brought to a critical light by the events begun by Martin Luther and John Calvin. He also needed them for the peaceful reconquest of those who left the church because of its abuses. Its discipline, its intellectual and spiritual orien tation, and its military-like organization were the direct result of a man who was a cripple, a pauper, and a mystic. Inigo the Basque, later to be known as Ignatius of Loyola, had intended to become a professional soldier for Spain until he was crippled as a result of injuries received in battle during the war with France in 1521. From this time, the pro cess of spiritual conversion, which led to the birth of the Jesuits thirteen years later, began. For awhile, there was a war within Inigo be tween the desires of the secular world and of the spiritual world. He discovered, after long hours of silent meditation, the secret of victory of the most difficult of conquests, the control every person must gain over themselves. Inigo recorded his per sonal pilgrimage in a book published as Spiritual Excercises. This book, as French historian Henri Daniel-Rops notes, was “ the most effective manual of warfare and conquest ever possessed by the Church . . . .” Ignatius said, “ study yourself, analyse what goes on within you, for there you have the lists where the spirit of good confronts the spirit of evil.” Spiritual Exercises is a philosophical book which instructs, through a series of exercises lasting four weeks, how to put the Christian faith into practice. The exercises are equivalent to rigorous military training. At this point, Captain Inigo is transformed to the hermit Ignatius. In the next seventeen years after Spiritual Exer cises was published, Ignatius went on a pilgrimage, lived in a monastery, preached, taught, and received a B.A. at age forty in Paris. During this time, he had little or no means of financial support. He eventually attracted a group of followers by 1534, who formed a fraternity devoted to each other’s mutual aid in the spiritual field. They vowed to observe evangelical poverty, perfect chasity, to convert the Infidel in November-December 1983
Jerusalem, and, if they were unsuccessful in the Holy Land at the end of the year, they would go to Rome to serve the Pope. Events prevented the group from reaching the Holy Land, and they were forced to observe their last vow. Before the Society was officially established, Pope Paul III began using Ignatius’s companions for confidential missions. Drawing from his experience as a professional soldier, Ignatius included several military elements in the organization after its establishment in 1540. Ignatius used to say that “ I do not consider myself as retired from military service, but only as having come under the orders of God.” The Society’s constitutions declared that anyone wanting to be a Jesuit must declare himself “ dead to the world,” and must obey Divine Pro vidence, via his superior. The selection process was designed to choose candidates who were balanced, moderate, prudent, and mistrustful of exaggeration of any form. To be fully qualified for entrance the candidate had to be healthy, in the prime of life, of good per sonal appearance, intelligent, and have an energetic and serene disposition. The training to become a perfect Jesuit should take at least seventeen years, Ignatius thought. The candidates went through six stages of train ing: postulant, novitiate, scholasticate, a final probation, or novitiate, and taking the fourth vow of obedience to the Pope, after which a Jesuit became known as “ Professed of Four Vows.” During the whole period, the prospective Jesuit would be observed, subjected to trials and tests, and trained in spiritual exercises, in conscience ex amination, in meditation, in classical studies, in philosophy, and in theology. At the end of his novitiate period, he would take the simple vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and during his scholasticate, he would be ordained a priest. The organization of the Society has a defined command system, with the superior-general being the head. He is elected for life by the General Con gregation which is composed of Provincials and two “ Professed of Four Vows” from each pro vince. Provincials administer the Society’s ad ministrative units known as provinces. The Society is independent of any church in stitution, except the Papacy. Under the Holy See’s direction, Jesuits perform duties as writers, preachers, lecturers, professors, missionaries, and, like Father Lou, spiritual directors. As the article on Father Lou indicates, a Jesuit is flexible with regard to any service that might be deemed necessary in the service of God. Glen Edward Taul 9
around the project “ The Rail Fence” Craft Store Opens in Berea BEREA—For many years Ap palachia has been a center for art ists, musicians, and craftspeople. CAP has been involved in marketing Appalachian crafts for many years, mostly through mail orders and small catalogues. On September 6, however, the product development department took a giant step forward in marketing and opened a craft store next door to the Berea Attic. Renee Mullins, a native of Berea, and a craftswoman herself; has been hired as the store manager. She is very pleased with the beginnings of her store, and says that business has been great. “ We’ve had many peo ple come through, especially on weekends, and it’s been a good mix of local people and tourists. They tell me that I have a greater variety of items in the store than many of the other stores in Berea.” Local consignees are marketing such items as willow furniture, quilts, afghans, and baskets, and the store is now an outlet for a number of well known craft groups, such as Bybee Pottery in Madison County, and David Crafts in Floyd County. CAP workers have also provided Renee with quite a bit of inventory. Everything that appears in the newest craft catalogue, also called “ The Rail Fence,” is available at the store, and many of the items that are produced by clients in CAP’s workshop for handicapped adults are displayed and selling well. Renee gives much of the credit for her successful beginning to John Mason, coordinator of CAP’s craft program, and to his staff, Pat Padgett and Ann Hopkins. “ They came from Lancaster, helped us set up displays, and made sure that we 10
by the CAP News Service
were stocking items that would be in demand.” In the future Renee would like to have some workshops and classes on craftmaking. She spends a certain amount of her time each day weav ing rugs, placemats, and pillowtops on a large loom set up in the store, and many people have expressed an interest in learning the skill.
week of August 21-26 in Garrard County. In addition to the eighteen volunteers who will remain with CAP for another year, the group in cluded eleven new volunteers, Father Ralph Beiting, CAP’s Founder and President; Mike McLaughlin, Executive Vice Presi dent; Marie Vanasse, Volunteer Coordinator; Bob Howe, Spiritual Director. The week of learning and sharing included talks and discussions on spirituality, the origins of CAP, a short history of Appalachia (in cluding an historical overview of religion in the region), community life, and a workshop on driver safe ty. All of these sessions were design ed to give new volunteers a start on the knowledge they will need to work effectively in Eastern Ken tucky, and give old volunteers, a sort of “ refresher course” in the things that they may have experienc ed in their living and working in Ap palachia.
Renee works at her loom at the Rail Fence Craft Store near Berea.
If ever you pass through Berea on Interstate 75 Renee guarantees that a short detour down U.S. Highway 25 to see Rail Fence Crafts would be well worth your time. If you’re not planning a trip in this direction, however, a large sampling of the crafts on display are listed in “ The Rail Fence” catalogue, which can be obtained by requesting one from “ The Rail Fence,” 322 Crab Or chard Rd., Lancaster, KY 40446.
Volunteers Attend Orientation at Cliffview Lodge CLIFFVIEW LODGE—New and old CAP volunteers attended their bi-yearly orientation session the
As a break from the instructional parts of orientation, a variety of ac tivities were available to the volunteers. Cliffview Lodge is situated on a beautiful part of Herr ington Lake which affords oppor tunities for swimming, sunning, and canoeing. Lorraine Corsale, head volunteer in the Lancaster com munity reported that Fun Night in cluded a game of “ Dizzy Bat,” which was organized by John Burns, a teacher at the Little World Child Development Center in Stan ford. “ Everyone divided up into two teams. The first person had to run to the bat, which was lying on the ground about 50 feet away, then put their forehead on the bat, run around it a few times, and then run back, and tag the next person on the team. But, by that time you’re so dizzy from running around that dumb bat, you’d run to the wrong line, or fall down. I think John Burns thinks he’s still at Little World.” The Mountain Spirit
around the p ro ject. . . continued Lorraine also commended Marie Vanasse for the great work she did in organizing the orientation, and screening the volunteers who were admitted to the program. “ It’s a great group. Everyone seems to fit in really well. It seems like they’ve always belonged here. They fit right into community life, and they’re really enjoying their jobs. Ad justments have to be made, but the whole thing went very smoothly” The Mountain Spirit would like to welcome CAP’S newest volunteers, and wishes all of the volunteers suc cess and happiness in the work they have undertaken for the coming year.
tims of fires, she said. For about eight months every year, families using wood burning stoves are in danger of being left homeless because their wood frame homes may be destroyed by fire. When this occurs, The Attic provides the vic tims with clothing and other necessities free of charge in order to help them get back on their feet. “ I have already seen smoke fires in the surrounding country today,” she said. In Berea, Doris said that she works with area churches, the Ken tucky Department of Human Resources, and the American Red
and tablet paper, pencils, crayons, and notebooks. “ We also have a need for used textbooks,” Doris said. In one county the Berea store serves, children, in the first four grades especially, are not provided books. Teachers often have to buy books for their pupils, Doris said, and they often come into The Attic to purchase used ones. If you have any of these badly needed item s—household or school—please send them to The Attic: U.S. 25 South, Berea, Ky. 40403, 322 Crab Orchard Rd., Lan caster, Ky. 40446. 160 Somerset St., Stanford, Ky. 40484, Route 4, Box 73, Mount Vernon, Ky. 40456, Box 504 A, Route 2, Somerset, Ky. 42501.
New Pre-School Program Opening at the Family Life Center
Keith Gilbertson talks with a new volunteer during a break from orientation.
Attics Have Critical Need for Household Items BEREA—The Attic stores have a critical shortage of household items, according to Doris Anglin, coor dinator for CAP’S five Attic stores. Items such as percolators, toasters, dishes, bedding, blankets, pillows and pillows slips, and cur tains are needed, she said. “ We need anything from a ‘hair brush to a water bucket.’” That is the slogan Doris often uses to tell someone what their needs are. The items are needed to assist vic November-December 1983
Cross in providing emergency ser vices to burn-out victims. CAP helps the Red Cross by pro viding clothing and household items. This allows the Red Cross to use their money for other services the victims will need. The Attic stores also need baby and children’s clothing. Part of the reason for the shor tage in children’s clothing may be the constant demand for clothing for school. “ We give out school clothing con stantly,” she said. In Berea, there is also a demand for school supplies, i.e. notebook
RENFRO VALLEY—Starting in mid-January CAP will open its fifth child development center, this one to serve the children of Rockcastle County. Ellen Burke, co-director of Human Development reports, “ we’ve been approached by many people for many years to open a center near Mt. Vernon. There is only one other center in Rockcastle County, and while it’s very good, it’s on the other side of the county from where we will be operating.” The new center, which will handle only child development, and will ex plore the necessity for day care, is to be housed in the Family Life Retreat Center at the Family Life Center in Renfro Valley. “ We feel we can pull in a lot more families to the Family Life Center by locating there,” Ellen said, “ and we can broaden our services to families and do more 11
around the project. . . continued She and Moe Mercier, her co director, see great benefits to having the school at the Family Life Center, because it is in the midst of other CAP programs which involve children and youth. “ We would like to pull in the younger group home boys, and have them work with the children. They might even be able to earn some money for their work. We also plan to work extensively with the handicapped children at the Harrison and Seals’ homes.” Jody and Judy Harrison and Lafey and Evelyn Seals are foster parents for handicapped children with their homes on the grounds of the Family Life Center.
Doris Anglin
preventitive work, in addition to the crisis intervention that we’re cur rently involved with.” The location near Mt. Vernon is actually a rebirth of the program there. CAP’s first child develop ment center, which began in the ear ly 1970’s, was established in Mt. Vernon. Although the center was closed several years later, a center had also been established in Berea.
Like the CAP Child Development Center in Berea, parents of the children will pay fees through work ing at the center a certain number of hours over the course of the year. Because children are one of the greatest resources that God has given us, CAP is pleased to be able to further develop this gift for the people of Rockcastle County.
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Mail to: The Mountain Spirit, 322 Crab Orchard Road, Lan caster, KY 40446. If you can, peel off your address label and in clude it with this coupon.
Former volunteer June Widman has been selected as director of the center, after two years of experience at the CAP Child Development Center in Berea. The remainder of the staff, which will include teachers, teachers’ aides, and a cook will be made of volunteers and paid staff. While the space that will be used for the center is large enough to allow for forty children, enroll ment will be held to around thirty in order to give each child the specialized attention that is so im portant in early childhood educa tion. “ It’s been my dream to have a school at the Family Life Center almost since it opened,” Ellen said. 12
Pulaski County kids watch attentively as their teacher, volunteer Ellen Rehak, works with them at the Children’s Discovery Center in Somerset.
The Mountain Spirit
Volunteers Needed For January LANCASTER—Marie Vanasse, CAP’s volunteer coordinator has announced that she has begun to ac cept and screen applications of peo ple who wish to join CAP’s volunteer program in January of 1984. CAP is currently maintaining volunteer centers in Lancaster, Stanford, Berea, Somerset, and Martin, and although orientation was very successful, there are still several positions open for volunteer staff in human development pro grams. Current needs include people to serve as: —teachers in child development centers. Teaching experience or experience in early childhood education is preferable, but not essential in this area. —workers in our used clothing stores. Retail management is a definite plus here. —floor supervisors for adult handicapped workshops. Again, experience or education in voca tional therapy, or a related field, is preferable but not essential —“ floaters,” who are willing and able to give needed relief to staff in residential programs such as foster homes for handicapped children, group homes for boys, and our spouse abuse shelter.
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CAP volunteers are asked to com mit themselves to a life of prayer, community, and service for one year. Although most of our volunteers are young—they are re quired to be at least 21 years of age—we have had a number of mid dle aged and retired people join the volunteer ranks, as well. CAP also has a limited number of openings for married couples, with or without children, who wish to volunteer as a family.
‘TIS THE SEASON FOR G IV IN G .. .
The life of prayer, which is such an integral part of the volunteer program is incorporated twice daily in all volunteer centers. Morning prayer includes an ecumenical ser vice, which is attended by all the volunteers, and is followed by Mass, or a communion service for Catholic volunteers, and shared or private prayer or meditation for non-Catholic volunteers. NonCatholic volunteers are also welcome to attend Mass, if they so choose. Volunteers meet again in the evening for a time of ecumenical prayer, song, scripture reading, and worship. If you think that service as a CAP volunteer might be a possibility for you, we would love to hear from you. Please fill out the coupon below, and address it to: Marie Vanasse Coordinator of Volunteers Christian Appalachian Project 322 Crab Orchard Road Lancaster, KY 40446
Yes! I am interested in becoming a CAP volunteer. Please send information and an application for your program.
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N o, I am not able to volunteer at this time, but I am in terested in your program for a future time. Please send information. I understand that this information will be held confiden tial and is without obligation. N am e________________________________ A g e _______________
A ddress__________________________P h o n e_________________
Send today for your free copy of “ December Giving. . . 10 Ways.” This booklet encourages careful thought of year-end gifts and describes 10 satisfying ways of giving to the Christian Appalachian Project.
t d ig and maiUoda^ in the enclosed envelope
Christian Appalachian Project 322 Crab Orchard Road Lancaster, Kentucky 40446 () Please send, without obligation, a complimentary copy of your booklet, “ December Giving. . . 10 Ways.” N am e____________________ A ddress___________________ City______________________ State_______________Zip____
City, S ta te __________________________Z ip _________________ November-December 1983
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13
F
Linda Hoose and “Family”
J L rom the beginning of its service in Pulaski County, CAP has been vitally interested in the needs—and contributions—of handicapped people in the area. In 1980 CAP and the handicapped citizens of Somerset and Pulaski County found a great friend in Linda Hoose, Director of CAP’S Sheltered Workshop located in Somerset. Linda was born and raised in Tennessee, and has exten sive backgrounds in Social Work, with emphasis placed on services to mentally retarded people. The Sheltered Workshop is designed to train hand icapped people in job skills, and also to teach skills that they will need to be effective in the regular work situation which is the goal for many of Lin da’s clients. Over the last three years Linda’s work has evolved into much more than just a place where people learn job skills. In their workshop, many clients have found an extended family, and in Linda, they have found a friend.
Gabriel
by the CAP News Service
When she first began recruiting clients for her center, many who had been involved in an Adult Activity Center through the local mental health agency had never done any type of work before. “ When I first approached the agency they said, ‘well there’s a few that might be able to do something.’ We took every last one of them, and they all did something,” says Linda with par donable pride.
The Somerset Work Activity Center
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The Mountain Spirit
Gabriel
For the next year Linda and her workers will be assembling cornshuck flowers for a product that will be sold in the fall of 1984 through CAP’S line of “ Rail Fence” crafts. “ The Adult Handicapped programs contracted with the Product Develop ment department to make 8,000 baskets of corn shuck flowers. Our part of the contract comes out to something like 80,000 flowers that we have to make!” The building which houses the workshop is an old Pontiac auto garage, which CAP acquired shortly before Linda was hired. “ They gave me this building—it had grease on the floor an inch thick, nuts and bolts lying around everywhere, and insulation falling off the wall—and said, ‘go start a program.’ I did quite a bit of driving around and thinking, there to start with.” Linda had a crew of local volunteers from the Episcopal Church—where she is a member—who came in, rolled up their sleeves, and went to work with her on the building. “ We put up the walls and cleaned up the place and got it off the ground.” About a month after she was hired Lin da began to take her first clients. “ I contacted the clients before we got the place ready, and they came and helped clean up. Their first job was to help build their own workshop.” Besides gathering for work each day, clients have an evening social once a month, which might be a dance or an outing to a local restaurant. In November-December 1983
the mornings, before they begin , their work at 10:00 they have a variety of activities which range from exercising with Jane Fonda’s workout record to reading classes for some people. “ A lot of these things just evolved,” Linda explained, “ but, recently we started a social club, whose main purpose right now is to plan recreation ac tivities. They all bring up their own suggestions, and we vote on them. The staff used to do the planning, but now we’ve got them involved in it. I think it’s a lot better. We’ll be drawing up new contracts with the clients very soon, and in them we want to stipulate certain things that we think they should be involved with for their own growth. Up to this time, though, most of them have wanted to participate in everything we’ve of fered.” Linda believes that her membership in the Episcopal Church—and the emphasis of the church on social responsibility—has influenced her career choices, and she firmly believes in the importance of a Christian emphasis in her workshop. “ We have devotions every morning. Sometimes we sing, and we always say the Lord’s Prayer. Sometimes different clients lead the devotions, do a little reading for the day. It’s very important to them. I think the Christian emphasis has been a lot of the difference between our workshop and the other workshop in the area. Just the loving, un derstanding part of Christianity really promotes better progress for the people.” Many of Linda’s clients are participants in the “ New Neighbors” program, a state supported ef fort to place handicapped people who have been institutionalized in foster homes. Over a year ago, one of Linda’s workers was faced with the possibility of having to return to an institution because of problems in her foster home. Linda was asked to consider taking Bernice as her foster daughter. “ My immediate reaction was ‘yes’” Linda recalls. “ I said, ‘there are probably other factors that I have to consider, but my first instinct is ‘yes!’ We’ve really enjoyed having Bernice with us, and she gets along very well with Shannon.” Shannon is Linda’s ten-year-old daughter. “ They like to play together, and have taught each other many different things.” It’s a family atmosphere that penetrates Linda’s work. “ Some of them feel like this is a home place, a place where they’re safe, and they’re not pressured, but most of them are very eager to go out into the mainstream of society and give what they have to offer.” Like a good parent. Linda encourages her “ family” to go on, make their way in the world, and succeed. But they are secure in the knowlege that she will be there for them, to share in the joys and the sorrows of their new found success. CAP. 15
Lists and Lists and Lists
Wardle
A Look at C A P3s Christmas Basket Program
While many Americans disdain the notion of “ Christmas in July” as a crassly commercial ex ploitation of one of our most beautiful Christian feastdays, at CAP the celebration of Christmas is already in full swing by that time of the year with the preparations for our Christmas Basket program. The celebration culminates 2 or 3 days before Christmas with the distribution of nearly 1000 baskets of food and gifts to needy families and elderly people in our counties. For the good folks—both volunteers and em ployees—who make this distribution possible, Christmas Basket season is a time of carefully con trolled hysteria, not due to disorganization, but because of the dozens (or is it thousands?) of little details that must be attended to in order to make
by the CAP News Service 16
the miracle happen. The Mountain Spirit
Sponsors make the program go “ The miracle” begins in early summer, when CAP supporters from all over the United States are contacted and asked if they would care to provide one Appalachian family with gifts for Christmas. Over the years CAP has heard from many sponsors who say that participating in the Christmas program is the highlight of their celebration of the birth of Christ. Usually at least 50% of the sponsors in any given year have spon sored a family at least once before. When this approach was tried for the first time in 1977, by former volunteer Maryann Crea, she expected the results to be only marginally suc cessful. That first year, Maryann’s goal was to ob tain sponsors for 200 of the 300 baskets which were to be given. To her surprise, the favorable response from the folks she contacted was over whelming, and since then the program has grown steadily, due to the number of gracious people who are willing to provide for one of our families in the five counties where the baskets are distributed.
Craven
In the late summer and early fall the volunteer corps hits the highways to begin one of the most important parts of the program, the home visiting. Families who wish to receive a Christmas basket are asked to file an application at one of CAP’S Attic stores. The home visit is made to double check the information on the application, and to ask if the family has any special needs. It’s also a good opportunity for the volunteer to “ play San ta” with the younger children and get an idea of what kind of gifts they would like. That aspect is one of the things that makes CAP’S Christmas Basket program so special—coordinators and sponsors working together to see that a family receives a basket that is designed especially for them.
CAP workers in Stanford sent “ thank you” flowers to Jean Brown on distribution day in 1982.
November-December 1983
Former volunteers, Peggy Patrick and Marie Vanasse keep warm wrapping gifts for the elderly.
When all of the family information is gathered it is then sent off to the sponsor, who shops for the toys and gifts, wraps them up, and sends them to CAP in time for distribution.
“ . . . just to see their eyes . . . ” Jean Brown, who serves as CAP’S purchasing manager, took an extra responsibility last year and served as Christmas Basket coordinator. It was an experience the previous year that promoted Jean to take on the job. Jean and her family had heard of a needy family through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Somerset, where they are members. The church membership had provided the family with food, and knowing of CAP’S Christmas Basket program Jean offered to obtain gifts for the family. “ Donya [Jean’s daughter, who was about 17 at the time] went with me to take gifts to the family two or three days before Christmas. What really surprised her was their Christmas tree. They had a small Christmas tree up, and they had made decorations to go on it. They had popcorn strung around it, and little paper dolls they’d cut out. There were no lights or anything like that, and there weren’t any presents under the tree. Donya was just amazed at all this. Not that Donya has everything, but she just couldn’t get over it. At our house, the tree had all kinds of present under it, lights and the whole bit. There were two children in this family, a little boy and a little girl, and before we left, they had shaken those presents until—well, if there’d been anything in those presents to break, they’d have broken them, sure! When we started back home, Donya still couldn’t believe it, and she started to cry. I guess when you live like we do, pretty average—we don’t have everything we want, but we have our needs—you don’t really see. But to see those kids, just to see their eyes. To see the wrapped gifts was really something for them. It didn’t matter what was in side.” 17
Lists and Lists and Lists Around the first of November, workers trans form a large area in CAP’s warehouse into Garrard County’s answer to Santa’s Workshop, and the work really begins. By that time the first packages begin to arrive from the sponsors, and what had been a program that consisted of lists with sponsors’ names, lists with families’ names, lists to tell which sponsor is responsible for which family, lists of important dates, and lists to tell where you can find all of the lists changes dramatically. Through code numbers which are sent to the sponsors, and keyed to more lists (!) which are kept by the coordinator, workers know which packages are sent to which counties for “ spot-checking,” and eventually, for distribution. The individual county coordinators double check the packages, seeing to it that there is a gift for each family member, and that the presents are securely wrapped. Sometimes presents get a little bit mangled in the mail, and coordinators like to make sure that the children can’t peek before Christmas! While all of this spot-checking, double checking and double-double checking goes on with the family baskets, workers in CAP’s elderly program are busily selecting and wrapping gifts for the elderly people on our list. For many of our elderly people Christmas is a particularly lonely time of the year. Because it is so commonplace for families to move out of this area in search of bet ter job opportunities, many elderly people spend the holidays alone and unhappy. Through the Christmas Basket program, CAP hopes to reach out to these people, and remind them that they are remembered and loved, especially during the Christmas season.
A Lot of Christmas Cheer By December “ Santa’s Workshop” consists of rows upon rows of boxes in numerical order (each number coded to a particular family), bins of toys that are sent to CAP with no particular family in mind, enabling us to fix baskets for families who were not able to apply early enough to obtain an outside sponsor, wrapping paper, ribbon, tape, and warm-hearted, cold-handed people (it gets pretty chilly in that warehouse in the winter time) including CAP employees, CAP volunteers, and local volunteers working sometimes as late as 10:00 at night to get finished by the appointed day. One of the most important events of the pro gram takes place the Sunday before distribution day. At that time CAP holds Christmas services in each of the counties and invites every family that 18
A Garrard County resident receives a bag of groceries during distribution in 1982.
The Mountain Spirit
is to receive a basket. The ecumenical services in clude a little singing, a little preaching, and a lot of good Christmas cheer. After the services are over, the certificates that the families need to pick up their baskets the next week are given out, and everyone shares a little punch and some Christmas cookies. And finally, distribution day arrives. As workers go through the day making sure that every family gets the right basket it is never far from their minds the goodness of each sponsor who has made all of this possible—for our Ap palachian friends to be able to share with us in the miracle of the birth of Christ. The biggest regret on that day is that each sponsor is not able to share in the thanks and the love we receive from the people they have helped.
Top, Peggy Abate and Carolyn Lambert take charge of the bread table; above, Santa Claus paid a visit during Distribution, 1981; below, CAP em ployees and volunteers check their lists to make sure that the proper family or elderly person gets the basket that was designed especially for them.
Craven
The main goal of the Christian Appalachian Project is to “ help people help themselves.” Why, then, this trememdous effort to see to it that each of our families has food for three meals on Christmas Day, and each of our children has a toy to play with? These things may not seem impor tant at all in the long run. Jean said it well when she explained why she got involved in the program. “ When we have everything we want, we get wrapped up in our own little world, and sometimes we don’t see the outside world, kids that are lacking things. They need to know that people care about them, especially at Christmas time. The Bible tells us it’s better to give than to receive, and when you see the eyes of those kids, you know that’s really true.” cap.
November-December 1983
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Guest Editorial by Bob Howe
I remember the first time I heard that Pope Pius XII was going on retreat. I guess my surprise was in thinking that he had needs to met, that he did not “ have it all together.” To put it in terms I understand today, I realized that whoever you are in ministry, you need someone to minister to you. The basis for ministers having a need for ministry takes us back ultimately to Him who was Minister par excellence. We all recall that Jesus would leave the crowds and go to an out of the way place. Why? It seems he went to enjoy a break from the gruelling demands of ministry. For, as Nathanael Emmaus says, “ no other profession demands half so much mental labor as the clerical.” Another place in the Bible says that after the temptations by the devil in the desert, angels came and ministered to Jesus. Do we need say anything more? If Jesus needed to have someone minister to Him, how much more will we, his fragile followers in ministry need the help of others? In my 16 years of fulltime ministry, I have yet to come to an end of a year, and feel I could go without a vacation. If, throughout any given year I couldn’t find a spiritual director, I suffered. I need ed someone to listen to my con cerns, to give me advice, to pray with me as I went to the Lord asking forgiveness for my failures in ministry. Everyone in ministry, at one time or another, goes on a “ work binge,” and can burn out. But, if they are sharing their life with a trusted director, they can usually spot the telltale signs of impending doom and correct their course before shipwreck. At times, when one is caring for others, in order to be more effective 20
in work, or in personal relation ships, some “ once in a lifetime” ministering may be necessary. For instance, I remember when my spiritual director told me that I should be more challenging to my pastor; because I was suppressing my desires and just going along with his. I began taking some counsell ing, and it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. If I had not let someone else minister to me, I would not feel nearly as good about myself as I do today. I am really grateful to that director who nudged me to let “ someone minister to the minister.” Peculiarly, help from another often comes in the least expected way, at the most un wanted time. I’ll never forget sign ing up for a seminar on ministry in Richmond, Virginia in 1973 at Em manuel Episcopal Church. At a wrap-up session, the two facilitators of my group began giving some feed back. As they went around the circle sharing their evaluations, I felt in creasingly uncomfortable. The time finally arrived for me. “ We have heard some very in tellig en t statements from you,” they said. “ You express your ideas rather well, but I don’t think we have gotten to know you. You seem to have a well developed set of defenses, and nothing of the real self seeps through into your conversation,” they concluded. Well, was I embar rassed! Fortunately, I had to leave early, and I didn’t have to face the group individually. But, the work had been achieved. I was forever changed by facilitators ministering to me, although I didn’t consider it ministry at the time, nor do I think I’ve become completely at home with my emotions. Most of our readers, I would ven ture to say, are not ministers, nor would many consider themselves to be in ministry. But I think you are underestimating yourself. For five
years I was an insurance salesman. I became especially friendly with another salesman, who, like myself, was not made for sales at that time in his life. His sales were low, hence his family sacrificed because of his income. Because of low production, his manager was really hassling him. The more I got to know him, the more comfortable we became with each other. Consequently, I began saying, “ I think you could benefit from some counselling. Your job has begun to focus on a ‘cat and mouse’ game with the boss, and your production isn’t improving at all.” When he realized he could get counselling for a fee tailored to his income, he began to see a counselor. His response was really positive, and eventually he changed jobs. Here, both of us were in the business world, yet it was minister ing that was going on. As a peer, I could suggest he would be happier if he could unburden himself by shar ing his life with another, a profes sional counselor. But the whole pro cess began with peer ministry when I suggested he talk with someone. There was a time when I thought I could minister to others, but didn’t need ministering from them. Pain fully, yet overall, joyfully, I have come to see the need for and to take delight in ministry from others. I guess I’m just a slow learner, for if Pope Pius XII, and above all, Jesus, needed to be ministered to, who did I think I was not to need it? Bob Howe has been with CAP for a fo r a little over a year, serving as Spiri tu al Director f o r the volunteers, and fo r CAP employees. The Mountain Spirit
News o f Our Neighbors
The Woods Are Filled With Poets The Kentucky Youth Research Center by the CAP News Service Photos Courtesy o f Kentucky Youth Research Center “ We’ve brought people through generations—they’re children who were Headstart enrollees, who have gone through the process, gone through college, gotten their degrees, and come back and taught for us,” explained John Destefano, Deputy Director of the Kentucky Youth Research Center, which promotes the education, health, and well-being of children and youth in Kentucky. Established in 1962, the original orientation of KYRC was research, demonstration, and train ing. But while child-oriented pro gramming remains the major focus, KYRC has also become a major source of community development in its 13 county service area of Ken tucky.
local staff. “ We have many staff people who have been with us 15 years or longer. Much of our ad ministrative staff is people who have been reared in the counties, and decided to stay and work. There are about 270 people on our payroll, and over 90% are in the counties.” The balance of the staff works out of the administrative offices in Frankfort, Kentucky’s state capital. “ There’s a community development aspect that goes along with these day care centers, and it’s a dedi cation that one goes through. It’s sure not for the money. We are the resource for community develop
ment in many of those counties, the focal point. We’re a substantial employer, next to the school system. Through those things, and through word of mouth, our reputation has grown.” Early in the development stage of the Kentucky Youth Research Cen ter, Mr. Edward Ellis joined the staff as the Executive Director, and since that time has become a vital, moving force behind the work of KYRC. “ Mr. Ellis is a unique in dividual,” Mr. Destefano said. “ He’s spent a good portion of his life out there offering training. Through his efforts, and his energy
Currently, the largest portion of the revenue of KYRC is through Headstart, a government sponsored pre-school program which gives children from low income families an educational boost or “ head start” before entering kindergarten or first grade. “ We are the grantee for 940 children, and the delegate agency for another 43 children,” Mr. Destefano said. “ Our philoso phy is to take the most isolated cases, so we go up into those hollows, knock on the doors, do our assessment, and bring them in.” The personal contact, so important in establishing the trust relation ship with mountain families who participate in programs, is faci litated by a large percentage of
Children at a KYRC child care center finish their noon meal.
November-December 1983
21
we’ve put millions of dollars into those counties.” In addition to state and federal grant money, KYRC is also the recipient of in-kind donations from churches and other organizations. A warehouse in the central offices in Frankfort holds typewriters, school supplies, clothing—anything that can be put to good use in the coun ties that are served. The Headstart model, which was developed by the Office of Economic Opportunity in the six ties, was designed to allow the spon soring agency, such as KYRC, to eventually back out of the program, and have the local community pick it up on their own. Mr. Destefano explained how the approach has worked very well in Jackson Coun ty. “ Because of the additional resources that they have had they’ve been able to build their own centers. They’ve also organized their own parent and volunteer groups. Our office there is in McKee (the county seat), and we have centers in Silver Dollar, Buncomb, and Hisle. The structure of the Headstart program requires that parents come into the centers and participate in various committees that are in volved in operating programs. “ Parents become involved in com mittees that deal with fund raising, parent education, or curriculum.” As the communities change, KYRC adjusts its program directions and goals accordingly. “ We try to adapt to the changing needs of the com munity, and we essentially try to work with that, not against that. We want to supplement programs that exist on the local level, and en courage those that are able to spin off, incorporate unto themselves, and provide additional resources for them. “ There’s a group that I’ve helped start with several other people about a year ago called “ I CAN,” (In dependent Child Abuse Neglect Network). Essentially, prevention, education, and training is the philosophy or goal for the primary prevention of child abuse and
On a lazy autumn afternoon, a child enjoys playing in a lane.
neglect. This group has brought in Parents Anonymous, and they’re very interested in setting up PA groups in Eastern Kentucky. They have a really great self-supporting group, but there are currently no Parent Anonymous groups there. With PA, we’ll encourage families to come in and work on improving parenting skills. In the past we’ve had parents come in as volunteers, and we’ve been able to hire them through various training. “ We’re going into our twentyfirst year. We feel we’re coming of
age, legal tender, as they say.” As the Kentucky Youth Research Cen ter grows, develops, and renews it self, changing and adapting to the changing and adapting needs of the people of Eastern Kentucky, one senses a strong love for the beauty and culture of the region, and a desire to work with families, rather than for families. “ There’s a renaissance going on,” Mr. Destefano observed, “ a rebirthing. The woods are filled with poets, with arts and crafts people, and that’s a renewal and a positive aspect.” The Mountain Spirit
I pulled into Harve Bond’s driveway, and he greeted me at the door. It was a terribly hot day and he was dressed coolly, yet discreetly, in a white sleeveless undershirt and high bib overalls with the legs rolled up midway between his ankle and knee. He seated himself comfortably in a large easy chair; a fan had been positioned on a ladderback chair facing him. Myrtle, his wife, entered the room and told us she was doing some laundry and would join us shortly. She then left us to talk a spell.
Free In The Spirit
Harvey Bond was born seventy-five years ago around the Red Hill area of Rockcastle County. “ They said I was a very small baby,” Harve said in a very low and slow country drawl. “ Only weighed about four pounds. When I was a little boy they called me the runt. Even called me that in school. I was about eleven years old before I start ed growing much. Then my brother, he got sick so I had to take over and do more work. I had to gather corn to feed the mules and cows and things, and then I started growing when I started work. “ In 1928 I started gettin’ in love with Myrtle Jennings, who is now my wife. But first of all I went with her sister Frances two or three times, but I didn’t want her, no, I was looking for Myr tle. The first time I went with Myrtle I had went to a meeting at her uncle’s house down under a big hill. She was there and it was a rainy night. After the meeting was over, I seen her and her cousin was walking so I asked them if they wanted to ride my mule and I would walk. They said ‘yes’ and they got on my mule and I walked through the mud and the rain up that mountain. I guess it was a mile or longer. From there on I kept getting closer connected to Myrtle. Finally me and Myrtle kept getting closer and closer and I asked her one day if she thought we could make a go of it as man and wife. She said, ‘yes, I think we can.’ “ So it was on Sunday, we were sitting back in the other room, I kept trying to get her to let me call her mom and dad in. Back in those days you had to get permission from the parents if you mar ried. No, she wouldn’t let me do that, so late that evening her dad left down to the barn to shuck corn for his stock to feed ’em. “ So I gets up and goes out the back door, down to the barn where he is at and he was a’shucking his corn. Well I stood there and talked with him for a little while, then I mentioned it to him what me and Myrtle had made up our minds to do and wondered if he had any objections. ‘Well,’ he
Harve and Myrtle Bond at their home.
November-December 1983
Story and Photos by Beverly Carter Sexton
Harve and the other worshippers wait for services to start at Crooked Creek Church in Rockcastle County.
said, ‘no, really I don’t have no objections, I think you both are old enough to know what you are doing.’ Then he said, ‘but you will have to get permission from her mother.’ So I went in at the dining room door, and Rachel, her mother, was in the dining room and she went out another door. She was trying to dodge me is what I thought. She came in the kitchen door and I heard her in there, so I stepped to the other kitchen door and I said to her, ‘well Mrs. Jennings, me and Myrtle have made up our minds to get married. I want to know if you have any objections.’ She said, ‘well, I’d lots rather she marry you than a lot of others she has went with. “ ‘No, I have no objections.’ So I told them then that I would have to have a note showing they didn’t object to our being married before I could get the license. So Melvin, her dad, came in then and wrote the note and I went the next morning to Mt. Vernon, to the clerk’s office, and got my li cense, come back home and we had to go back about five or six miles into the Red Hill area to a preacher, and he married us. So we lived together and the Lord has been mighty good to us all these years. “ I believe in free Pentecost. Getting sorry for your sins, get down on your knees and pray ’till you get forgiveness, get sanctified then filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost witnessed by the speaking of unknown tongues like they did on the day of Pentecost. And that is what I received. And 24
I believe the same today as I believed back then and that is what I intend to make it on throughout the rest of my life until I have to leave here. So I get happy, and when I humble myself I talk to my Father, and I can feel his presence right now.” Abruptly, Harve looked toward Heaven, raised his trembling hands and began praising the Lord. “ I knew that was coming,” he said with tears in his eyes. ‘‘I knew when I seen you a coming what you was going to talk to me about. I felt the presence of the Lord when I started talking. I knew I was going to turn myself over to him. I’m not a bit ashamed of it no matter where I’m at. When the Lord comes to me I turn myself loose to Him and let Him use me however He wants to. “ I was in church on Crooked Creek when I got saved. Woody Parret was the man preaching and when he sat down he said to Brother Carpen ter—he was another preacher sitting there—he said, ‘Brother Carpenter, make an altar call.’ Brother Carpenter got up and he started that song: ‘Don’t you want to go, don’t you want to go while we plead and pray, make us start today. ‘Jesus bids you come, to that happy home. Don’t you want to go, don’t you want to go.’ “ Well, I fell in at the altar, it was an awfully hot day. I had on new overalls, and my billfold was in my bib pocket, and I had a pass in there that I could ride the train anywhere on the track that I The Mountain Spirit
wanted to go free. Well, I was getting on with the Lord real good and I looked down and I was just as wet with sweat as I could be and here’s what the devil said to me. I know it was him. He said, ‘you are ruining that pass.’ I listened to him and that killed the spirit and I couldn’t pray no more. “ I got saved in church, but when I received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, I was out away from the house and I was praying and talking to my Father. On the way to the house it seemed I was a walkin’ in the air, I was so happy, and about the time I got to the kitchen door the devil, I know it was, spoke to me and said, ‘you had better not tell that, you may never do it again.’ I agreed with him that I wouldn’t tell and when I did that it felt like there was a string tied my throat. I opened up the door and stepped inside the kitchen. Myrtle was washing the dishes on an old coal stove in a dish pan. When I stepped in, the Lord struck me there, and I was all over that kitchen but I didn’t speak in tongues then. When I quieted down ’til she could talk to me, she said, ‘let’s go in here and pray and maybe you will get your baptism tonight.’ Well, when she said that, that untied that string around my throat. We walked in the bedroom, and I reached and got a straight back wood chair and bowed my head right down into that chair, and I started praying and said, ‘Lord satisfy me, satisfy me tonight.’ And when I said that I went back agin the floor and I lost sight of where I was at, and when I come to myself I was talking to my Father in an unknown tongue as the Spirit gives utterance just like the Bible recom mends. From that day on I still hold the same belief.
ning had throwed a metal cabinet out into the middle of the floor. The house was on fire in two places in the dining room, and in the kitchen. I got that bucket of water, and I throwed it on both of those patches of fire in the dining room and put them out. Then I went into the kitchen and put that fire out with the same bucket of water. I give God the praise for taking care of us through that.” As I was sitting there talking to Harve, I noticed that he didn’t have a television, so I asked him about it. ‘No, no! No television,” he said quickly, and for me, I don’t care about the radio but Myrtle likes to listen to the news and obituaries . I don’t believe in music what-so-ever, in church, or anywhere. I was down here at Brush Creek Church after I had been saved and we were singing a song: ‘When my savior reached down for me I was lost and undone without God or his Son.’
“ Being saved has really been a help to me. I don’t see how people can make it without the Lord. Now the things happening in the world is to bring back the end of time. You will find it in the Book somewhere, I don’t know just where it’s at, it speaks of all these bad things and it says it needs be to fulfill the Scripture and bring back the Son of Man. When he comes, the ones that are buried in righteousness will rise first, is the way I see it in the Bible, and they will meet Him in the air and then the living will be caught up to meet Him. “ The Lord is always near if you call on Him. One night—this was when we were living down in Boones Holler—it was around one o’clock in the morning. We were laying there in bed. Well it was a thunderin’ and lightning, and all at once there was a loud blast, and the house lit up. Myrtle, she said, ‘Harve the house is on fire.’ I said, ‘don’t get excited, I’ll put it out,’ and then I felt the presence of the Lord run all over me. We had to carry our water then in buckets. I went in the dining room. I had one bucket of water setting there. That light November-December 1983
Members of the Crooked Creek Church in Rockcastle County enjoy fellowship with each other as they leave after Sunday evening services.
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Well, there was no music going on in the church when someone walked in with a big guitar. Well, he walked right up in the stand with his guitar. By that time we had hushed singing this song, and he said, ‘now that was too slow, let’s get a little more pep about that.’ He started the same song with his guitar, and he didn’t sing more than one verse ’til three or four hit the floor a-shouting. Now, here is what the Spirit spoke to me, and said, ‘there is a way that seemeth right but the way thereof is death.’ I said, ‘Lord, don’t let me get in that stage.’ Well, when the meeting was over, we had to get out and ride our horses home. As I was coming up the hill, that was still ringing in my ears. We went on home, put our horses up and went to bed and it was still ringing in my ears and me ask ing the Lord not to let me get in that stage. Well, here is what He said to me; the Lord did, now. He said, ‘get out and go pray’ and I said, ‘I will pray in the morning,’ I laid there a little while and He said again, ‘get out and go pray.’ I said, ‘I’ll go pray when I go to feed my horses in the morning.’ Then He said, ‘in the morning might be too late.’ I said, ‘I’ll go now, Lord.’ I eased out of bed to try and keep from waking Myrtle up. I got my clothes on and went off down over the hill away from the house so they wouldn’t hear me at the house. I fell right down on my knees and I said, ‘Lord, give me the understanding.’ Then, here came the power of God down on me and it just shook me all over. Well, I got up then, and started to the house, and He said, ‘now read your Bible,’ and I made Him a promise that I would. Well, I came on a little closer to the house and I said, ‘Lord, I won’t go no more where they are having music,’ and He said, ‘what if Myrtle goes,’ and I said, ‘Lord, if the whole world goes, I’ll stand true, I’ll not go.’ And then Heaven came down around me and I talked to my Father in unknown tongues. And I have not volunteered and went since, where they are having music. I’ve been caught a few times, not knowing that music was going to be there. I won’t go know ing where it is, and I’ll stick to that as long as I live. I believe in singing, but in our church there is no music, just us a-singing.” Harve and Myrtle invited me to their church, so on a Sunday night I went. The gravel road kept getting worse the farther along we got. But as Harve said, “ it is a lot better than it used to be.” The church is on Crooked Creek and stands way up on a hillside. I had to take my high heels off af ter the meeting just to make it back down the hill. I took a seat in the front row. The benches were hard, but someone had laid handmade pillows around to sit on. Myrtle offered me an old time fan—I hadn’t seen one like it since I was a kid. It had a religious picture on the front and a funeral home advertisement on the back. There were eleven of us there, and since they don’t have a 26
regular preacher, and none was there on this night, the meeting began when Myrtle started sing ing one of the old time hymns. I picked up a song book laying by me and searched through it to see if I could find the song she was singing, but none of the songs sung that night were in the book. They were songs carried in the memories of these gentle elderly people. It was a good meeting, and I found myself caught up in the sincere testimonies and simple singing. One man read Scriptures from the Bible; twice everyone gathered at the altar to pray. The evening seemed to pass too quickly and soon we found ourselves saying goodbye to one another. I was invited back by everyone there. As I left I thought of the simplicity of the service, and how it reflects on the whole of Harve and Myrtle’s lives. In a small white house on Maple Grove Ridge in Rockcastle County, Harve and Myrtle Bond live contentedly, unaffected by the change and confu sion in the world around them. They have found the inner peace and happiness so many are search ing for. The Mountain Spirit
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