Issuu

The

M ou n tain S p irit The Magazine of the Christian Appalachian Project

Hunger and Nutrition

Welfare: An Investment? Walking with the People

May -June 1995

T he

May - Jun e 1995 Vol. XIV, No. 3

Mountain The Magazine of the Christian Appalachian Project

Welfare: Investing in People by Margaret Gabriel

The Miracle of Food Banking by Linda Piwowarski

CAP Close-up, page sixteen.

Walking with the People by Margaret Gabriel

Leaders for Tomorrow by Beth Dotson

D e p a rtm e n ts 3 15 16 Food Banking, page eighteen.

Random Thoughts Letters The CAP Closeup Around The Project

N u trition — th e v ita l issu e As we’ve worked on this issue of The Mountain Spirit, and explored the questions surround ing hunger and nutrition it has become clear that to treat hunger as a symptom of poverty is an important way to attack poverty itself. By making sure that lowincome people are well fed, we give them tools that they need to help themselves out of poverty. The good, hot lunch that the children have in our child develop ment centers is not, by itself, going to assure that they will have a better life. That lunch will how ever, enable the child to focus on the activities in the child develop ment center that will prepare her to excel in school. On page eighteen, you’ll read about God’s Pantry Food Bank, which provides thousands of pounds of food every year to needy people in eastern Kentucky. On page twenty-six you’ll meet two young people who spent four months in Berea familiarizing themselves with hunger issues as they relate to rural areas. There is little disagree ment on the need for welfare reform, and little about how difficult it is to free oneself from the current system. On page four, you’ll learn how four people did just that —and the risks they had to take to do it. On the cover, VISTA volunteers organize a food drive in Berea (photo by Beth Dotson).

Published by the Christian Appalachian Project. Editor: Margaret Gabriel. A dvisory Board: Father Ralph W. Beiting, Mike McLaughlin, Bill Begley, Carla Durand, Teresa McAnly, Katie Newsome, Beverly Potter. G raphic Designer: Elizabeth Reed Roberts. Circulation: Linda Grider East. The M o u n ta in Spirit is published six times a year. The annual subscription price is $6.00. Subscriptions and other correspondence should be sent to The M o u n ta in Spirit, Christian Appalachian Project, 322 Crab Orchard Road, Lancaster, Kentucky 40446. Copyright 1995, 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 Appalachia. The project operates on the philosophy that “helping people help themselves” is the best approach to Appalachian poverty. A summary of the registration and financial documents filed by this organization can be obtained by contacting: in New York, Secretary o f State, Office o f Charities Registration, 162 W ashington Ave., Albany, NY 12231; in Maryland, for the cost of copies and postage, the Secretary of State, State House, Annapolis, MD 21401; in NEW JERSEY, THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, 202-626-4380; in N O RTH C AROLINA, A C O PY O F TH E L ICEN SE TO SO LIC IT CH A R ITA BLE CO NTR IB UTIO NS AS A C H AR ITA BLE O R G A N IZA TIO N O R SPO NSO R AND FINA NCIA L IN FO R M A TIO N M AY BE OBTAINED FR OM TH E D EPARTM ENT O F HUM AN RESOU RCES, SO LIC IT A TIO N LICEN SING BRANCH, BY C A LLIN G (919)733-4510; in Pennsylvania, residents may caU the Pennsylvania Department of State at 1-800-732-0999; for West Virginia residents, the Secretary of State, State Capitol, Charleston, WV 25305; in Virginia, the State Division of Consumer Affairs, P.O. Box 1163, Richmond, VA 23209; Washington State residents may obtain a copy of the last report filed with the Washington Secretary of State by calling toll free within Washington, 1-800-332-4483; IN FLORIDA, RESIDENTS MAY CALL THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES AT 1-800-HELP FLA or by writing to Christian Appalachian Project, 322 Crab Orchard Road, Lancaster, KY 40446. Our license number in Michigan is MICS 9933. Registration with any o f the above government agencies does not imply endorsement by the state.

The M ountain Spirit

Random Thoughts Mary Jo Votruba In 1994 the Tufts University School of Nutrition, in Medford, Massachusetts, published a statement on “The Link Between Nutrition and Cognitive Develop ment in Children.” This compel ling report confirms the impor tance of nutrition to young children. As w e in food banking know , hunger and p o o r nutrition are sym ptom s o f poverty, and for children, one o f th e m ost insidi ous sym ptom s. The Tufts Univer sity rep o rt tells us that th e tragedy of u n d em utrition happens slowly, over tim e, silently robbing p o o r children o f th e potential to im prove th eir lives. “Energy is first reserved for m aintenance of critical organ function, second for grow th, and last for social activity and cognitive developm ent,” the rep o rt says. If education is one o f th e keys to em pow ering low-income people, and enabling them to im prove th eir lives, it is im pera tive that w e m ake learning possible through good nutrition. G od’s Pantry Food Bank tries to m ake good nutrition a reality for p o o r children th roughout eastern K entucky by distributing food through hundreds o f churches and agencies. Family R esource Centers, w hich are affiliated w ith the school system, have becom e som e o f the m ost consistent referral agencies to G od’s Pantry. It’s not uncom m on to have a child sent to the school nurse because sh e ’s not feeling well, only to have the nurse discover that sh e ’s not feeling w ell because she h asn’t eaten since lunchtim e the day before. W e can ’t ex p ect a child to learn effectively if sh e’s starving in the classroom.

There are 187 food banks in the United States —three in Kentucky.

January - February 1995

W e all w ork together to get the food th a t’s available to the people w h o need it. T here’s plenty of food available. W hat w e have are distri bution problem s. Over the last several years w e ’ve gotten m ore successful at getting resources to people w ho need it. As a practical m atter, w e have to be concerned about the costeffectiveness of moving foods to areas w here they are needed, and packag ing in a way that extends shelf-life. Mary Jo Votruba. For exam ple, th ere’s a food bank in Lubbock, Texas, N utrition program s are very experim enting w ith dehydration. simple, really. T here is food It’s in a big farming area, and by available, and people w h o need it. gleaning and producing crops O ur job is to see that the people specifically for the food bank, and the food get together. they’re dehydrating large quanti ties of food, w hich will give them One day a m other and h er tw o a long shelf life. On the w est pre-schoolers cam e in for an coast, they’re looking at ways to em ergency food box. The children use large quantities of fresh fish. didn’t look very healthy, but the Can they can it or freeze it to m om w as very protective — make it m ore usable? We d o n ’t obviously a very loving bond have a great use for a forty-pound betw een them . One of the kids block o f frozen fish in Kentucky, spotted a brand of cereal that he but if it’s processed, it can be really w anted, and said, “Can w e used som ew here. have that kind?” W hen th e m other said that she w as sure the box It’s interesting to see that there w ould include cereal, our w orker are foods prized in one area of said, “You know , w e ’ve got a lot the country, but ignored in of cereal. W ould you like tw o others. W e’ve had rice in Ken boxes?” As they w ere leaving w e tucky that w e ’ve sw apped for the heard the child ask if they could com m eal that they’ve had in New open one box in the car on the York. O ur folks here are as w ay hom e. unfamiliar w ith uses for rice as the people in New York are W ith all the extra cereal in this unfamiliar w ith uses for cornw orld, th e re ’s no reason w hy one meal. That w e ’re able to sw ap is kid shouldn’t have a couple of one of the good thing about being boxes. part of a netw ork. Through Second Harvest, a nationw ide netw ork of food banks w e joined M ary Jo V otruba is the executive in 1983, w e ’ve been able to make director o f G od’s P a ntry Food connections that w ouldn’t have B ank. been possible otherw ise.

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". . . i f anyone zvas u n fittin g to zvorkh neither should that one eat ’ ‘ThessaConians 3:10

W elfare: In v e s t in g in P e o p l e

a<The poor you zviCC aCzvays have zvith you 26:11 Story and Photos by ♦ by Margaret Gabriel ♦

,/\p p a r e n tly , w hen Jesus told his disciples they w ould always have poor people in th eir midst, he didn’t necessarily m ean th e same people. Recent statistics from th e U. S. Census told K entuckians that th e num ber o f p eople living in poverty increased b etw een 1989 to 1993, from 16.2 to 20.4 p ercent. T h ere’s evidence, though, th at people w ho participate in welfare program s are not in a stagnant pool but a revolving door. The May 1994 editorial in St. A n th o n y M essenger cites statistics from the Children’s Defense Fund, saying: “ . . . half of w elfare recipients are off w elfare w ithin tw o years. Some occasionally return to w elfare depending upon job situation, but the overw helm ing majority do not live a w elfare ‘w ay o f life’; they use th e program to get by b etw een jobs.” Christian A ppalachian Project outreach casew orker W anda Penm an is a good illustration o f exactly that use o f federal entitlem ent program s. In 1987, W anda, a graduate of Kentucky State University, w as a single m other of one child. She and Tonecia lived in the hom e w h ere W anda had grow n up and received Aid to Families w ith D ependent Children and food stamps. She had been w orking in a m anufacturing job, but w as forced to quit due to child care conflicts. “It w as good money; I didn’t have to beg to get th e bills paid. W hen I started on welfare, I w as draw ing $162 a m onth, plus about $115 in food stam ps. I’d had a taste of w hat it w as like not to have to struggle w ith the bills, and I w anted it back, if only for a little w h ile.” Wanda had th e chance to stop that struggle for a little while, w h en she was offered six w eeks of w ork at CAPRICE, CAP’S training program for adults w ith disabilities. She took th e job, even though doing so m eant giving up h e r welfare benefits, including governm ent-paid medical insurance for Tonecia and herself. “I’m not a person to rem ain idle for days on end. The life of leisure suits m e for about a w eek. It drives m e crazy to be sitting around not w orking,” Wanda said. “I really had to think about giving up that medical card, but it w as w o rth it.”

May - June 1995

“I t’s o k a y to ta k e h elp to g e t ba ck on y o u r fe e t, b u t n o t lon g term . ” The six-week job w ith CAP becam e a sixm onth job, then part-time and finally a full tim e position. However, she had no insurance or Medicaid w hile she was pregnant w ith her second child, and therefore had to pay for h er pre-natal care. “It took me six years to pay off those bills. It’s no w onder that people are afraid to risk losing that card. It’s sad to say.”

“ . . . th ere w as n o o th er w ay to feed h er ch ild re n .” Until the fall of 1994 Connie W agers m anaged CAP’S Family Life Abuse Center, w hen she tem porarily retired to take a position as a stay-at-home m om w ith h er children, Lauren and Jonathan. Connie’s experience w ith w elfare dates to h er childhood in K nott County, w hen her m other was w idow ed w ith seven children at hom e and the eighth in college. Her daddy had been disabled in a mining accident, then died suddenly. “Mom had not w orked outside the hom e and had very little education, so she had no choice but to go on welfare; there w as no o th er way to feed h er children. “It w ould have been far easier for h er to continue in the system, getting welfare, food stam ps and the medical card, but she firmly believed that any person w h o was able to w ork should w ork. It’s okay to take help to get back on your feet, but not long term. She w orked at w hatever she could find, cleaning houses and w orking in the school lunch room one day a w eek to pay for our lunches. I w ashed dishes during recess, to o .” Connie calls her m other h er “greatest h ero ,” and says that from h er she learned the value of hard w ork and the im portance of depending on herself. “Mom always encouraged all of us to get our education;

Connie said that people w ho have been on w elfare for extended periods of tim e feel the sting of public perception, too. “I’ve heard the ladies in the shelter talking about it. They w ould feel humiliated, like people w ere looking dow n on them .”

“ . . . th e y ’ve got it m ade o n w elfare; I d o n ’t se e h o w .”

With the help o f CAP volunteer Holly Rivers, Rose Mary Bailey studiedfo r and obtained her GED. Today she works in a bank, and has dreams o f obtaining the education she need to become a loan officer.

she saw education as the key. At that time, in that area, girls w ere not encouraged to go to college, especially if you w eren ’t from a well-to-do family. It w as just assum ed that you’d get m arried.” Connie says she ran in the o th er direc tion as soon as any boy broached the subject of marriage, and w ith the help of grants and loans —and the encouragem ent o f her m other —she w orked h er way through Sue Bennett College in London and Eastern K entucky University, earning a degree in social work. She eventually m arried Jerry Wagers, w ho traveled w ith an oil company. W hen they decided to settle in Kentucky, a prom ised job fell through, and they had to sign up for food stam ps for a couple of m onths, “until he could get another job,” Connie said. “It w asn ’t terribly dramatic, but I felt totally hum iliated, going to the grocery store and having to buy groceries w ith food stamps. I had a college education, and there I was w ith food stamps. No one ever said anything to me, but I’ve heard people make com m ents about people using food stamps. If you h appen to be one of the lucky ones w h o ’s not having to use food stam ps, y o u ’ll hear it. And you see the looks on faces.”

As college graduates, W anda and Connie have the skills needed to find jobs in an area of high unem ploym ent. Such w as not the case for Pete Laney. W ith the help of CAP’S Community Health Advocates in Magoffin County, Pete recently attained certification as an em ergency m edical technician. In studying for the certificate, Pete w as trained to transport people in Magoffin and surrounding counties to doctors’ offices and hospitals throughout the region. His wife, W anda, is studying to com plete the training, attain certification, and get a similar job. CAP m et Pete and W anda w hen W anda studied to obtain h er high school certification through a CAP adult education program . A native of Magoffin County and a high school graduate, Pete supported his family in the past w ith seasonal farming jobs; W anda receives an AFDC paym ent for a child from a previous marriage. “W hat w e w ere taking in just didn’t cover it,” Pete said. “We paid $80 in rent, a $70 electric bill, and in the w in ter w e w ere out tw o or three hundred a m onth for coal. It ain’t easy. People say th ey ’ve got it m ade on welfare; I d o n ’t see how. There are people out there w h o w ould work, but th ere’s no jobs for them to do. It isn’t because w e w o n ’t or w e d o n ’t w ant to work, but you go dow n to the unem ploym ent office and they’ll have a list of jobs that long, but you have to have five years of experience. Now, how are you going to get a job if nobody will let you get any experience?” Pete, too, brings up the issue of how risky it is to leave the welfare rolls for a low-paying job that does not include medical benefits. His w ork as an em er gency medical technician pays him by the run, and w hen h e ’s busy, the m oney’s okay, he said. “T hat’s the good side, but

The M ountain Spirit

the m edical card is gone, and I can ’t afford th e m edical bills if w e w ere to have to go to th e d o cto r.”

“I h ad to get an ed u cation .” W hen she w as very young Rose Mary Bailey d ro p p ed out o f school to get married. It w as not a difficult decision for Rose; she said she hated school. “In the second grade they p u t m e in special ed. I d o n ’t know why; I had straight A’s in the first grade. They held m e back in th e first grade because I had missed som e, so they told m e I had to repeat. From that tim e on, I said I d id n ’t like school. My grades decreased, my self-esteem decreased. I said w h a t’s th e use o f w orrying about it, so I didn’t.” D espite h e r lack o f education, Rose had an am bition not often seen in dropouts, and she began w orking in th e m any fast food restaurants in h e r native Salyersville. “W orking in fast food is a w ay to get off w elfare,” Rose said. Rose has no children, so she w as not eligible for AFDC. Her

husband, too, w orked a low-paying job so they w ere eligible for food stamps. “It w asn’t enough incom e to live on, and I knew that if I w as going to get out of this I had to get a b etter job. And I knew th at if I w as going to get anyw here I had to get an education. My friend told m e there w as a position at the bank and that it required a GED. T hat’s one reason w hy I started w orking on it.” Rose began studying for h er GED, through a program she saw on K entucky Educational Television, a public broadcast ing station. She w orked on h er ow n for about six m onths, th en finished her studies through CAP’S adult education program . In the fall of 1994, Rose applied for and got a job at a bank in Salyersville, “And I love it. I’m a p hone operator, and I balance checkbooks, and I’m taking college level accounting courses at the bank.” Rose, a special education d ropout and form er food stam p recipient, has set an ambitious goal for herself. “I’m planning on going back to school. Right now , my

Pete Laney became involved until CAP when his wife was studying fo r her GED. When he needed help with tuition money fo r a EMT training course, he came to CHAP worker Brenda Wireman, who “pulled a rabbit out o f the hat, ”he said.

May-June 1995

goal at th e bank is to becom e a loan officer, vice-president, and move on up. I’m w orking hard and studying to learn all I can right now . I try to pick up any inform ation I can. I’m terrible for asking questions!” Rose, W anda and Connie have m ore than just experience w orking them selves off w elfare in com m o n . All s p o k e glowingly o f th e inf lu e n c e o f th e ir m others, em phasiz ing the im portance o f family in shaping th e values o f young people.

food stam ps ever being in our hom e. W hat I can rem em ber is big huge gardens that w e all w orked, and I can rem em ber the variety of jobs my dad w orked. W hen I grew up, w e lived m ostly off wild game and that garden. My m om took in laundry at hom e after w orking all day at the hospital o r the school. W e’ve always been a w orking class family. The thought of draw ing welfare d idn’t set well w ith m e.”

" . . . a fte r a w h ile I s a w th a t I c o u ld a n d knew I w a s as g o o d

Connie learned from h e r m other that “It’s okay to take help w hen you absolutely have to have it, to help you get back on your feet. But she taught m e that any honest w ork is noble, regardless of how little it pays. W e have a responsibility to help ourselves.”

a s a n y o n e else. ”

W anda said she felt awful about herself w hile she w as on welfare. “But, W anda has always been hard on Wanda. I have a college degree, and being an educated w om an, it w as hard for me to accept the fact that I w as trying to survive on a w elfare check. “I w asn ’t raised in a family that lived on public assistance. My m other and father had 13 children, and I d o n ’t rem em ber

Rose credits h er m other for encouraging h er to dream dream s and achieve her goals. “She’s always told m e I w as smart and could do anything I w anted. That helped out a lot. W hen I w as sitting at

Wanda Penman, right, believes that her experience with welfare has made her compassionate, but realistic, with people who are also trying to work themselves o ff the system.

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Brenda Wireman, manager o f CAP’S Community Health Advocates Program, is a resource fo r many people in Magoffin County. Through CHAP, Brenda has become familiar with many o f the programs in the area that are designed to help folks help themselves. Pete and Rose speak highly o f the help they have had from Brenda.

hom e doing nothing she told m e I could do better. If not for h er I d o n ’t think I w ould have tried. I d id n ’t w ant to let h er d o w n .” O ther boosts in Rose’s self-esteem came from Holly Rivers, th e CAP volunteer w ho tutored Rose, and from o th er CAP w orkers she met. “An organization like CAP has to be m ade u p o f people w h o care for people w ho w ant help. I cam e in here and expected, like anyw here else, to find snooty p eople w h o looked dow n on me. I always felt everyone w as looking dow n on me, but everyone here treated m e as an equal. They w ere friendly, and told m e I could do it. After a w hile I saw that I could and knew I w as as good as anyone else.” W anda, Rose, Pete and Connie agree that the w elfare system needs reform, but they all expressed concern about the elimina tion of benefits w ith the start of any w ork rather than w ithdraw ing them slowly. “Supplem entation is a real key to welfare reform ,” Connie said. “You have to encourage people to at least try. If th ey ’re w orking a m inim um w age job —obviously not enough to support a family —at least let them keep th e medical card, som ething that encourages them to build u p some self-esteem and som e pride and not be so hum iliated that th ey ’re taking handouts.” Connie said that capping welfare benefits is especially unrealistic in th e rural

May - June 1995

area because of the lack of jobs. “If the jobs are not there to make a living w age, w hat choice do you have? W e’ve had years and years of things the way they are that discourage people from trying. It’s hard for a caring parent to give up a m edical card and food for the children to go out and w ork m inimum w age.” A com bination of jobs, education and b etter pay is crucial to meaningful reform, she said. “I w orry about people, but I know there are some people on w elfare that are there just to be on w elfare,” Rose said. “I believe if they can w ork, they ought to. But it bothers me to think of people that are unable to get a job. I’ve got a bro th er on welfare th a t’s not able to work. W hat’s he going to do? Some people are not able to w ork and are on welfare to get by until they can do better; it’s not right not to help th em .” W anda believes that the m ethods of welfare reform sh e’s heard through the new s media are unrealistic. “Y ou’re not going to be able to please everybody, and w hatever you do, som body’s going to suffer. My overall view is that people should be able to use welfare as long as they need to, but let it be because you need to. Like the m other w ith the three kids, w ho know s that to go out and get a job at m inimum wage is not going to do it. Fine, use the system as long as you need to, but after that let’s look to doing b etter.” D1

The Miracle of Food Banking

COURTESY COD'S PANTRY FOOD BANK

♦ b y Linda P iw ow arsk i ♦ 10

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(n a nation o f food surplus —food that is often destroyed, plow ed u n d er in landfills — people are going to bed hungry. For 40 years, G od’s Pantry Food Bank has filled shelves w ith food for distribution to the needy. G od’s Pantry serves 48 counties in Ken tucky, including 4 l in Appalachia. Only tw o have low er poverty rates than the U.S. poverty rate o f 13 percent; tw enty have poverty rates o f over 30 percent. Five have rates over 40 percent. O ne county reports its poverty rate at a dire 52 percent. “One of the sym ptom s of poverty is hu n g er,” said Mary Jo Votruba, director of G od’s Pantry. Those in poverty use w hat m oney they have first for shelter, said Mary Jo, th en for transportation and d octor bills. They try to feed their families from w hat little may be left over from those needs, she said. Only half o f those eligible for the food stam p program in fact receive food stamps, said Mary Jo. It is difficult for m any im pover ished people to apply, to com plete the paperw ork. O thers have seasonal or tem po rary incom es, and therefore go in and out of eligibility. Add to that the program ’s 30-day waiting period before one can receive food stam ps after m eeting eligibility requirem ents and the num ber of households in crisis increases. According to G od’s Pantry data, half o f th e households that receive food from its em ergency program have at least one child under six years of age. Nearly half, 46 percent, have a family m em ber w ho is in p o o r health. G od’s Pantry provides tw o com m unity services for the hungry. The Emergency Food Box program uses donated and purchased food to provide one w eek of groceries for a family in tem porary crisis. A family may receive a w eek ’s em ergency food supply as many as th ree tim es in a six m onth period, allowing, for instance, a family to make it through a waiting period for food stam ps or to tem porarily feed a family w ho has lost a hom e in a fire or covering one w eek six times a year w hen the allotted food stam ps didn’t quite stretch. The largest com m unity service G od’s Pantry provides is its Food Bank program . Agencies, not individuals, are provided w ith

May - June 1995

In addition to the food that is donated in the local area, God’s Pantry is also the recipient o f volunteer hours from many church groups and Scout troops. food across the 48-county service area. Lowincom e day care centers and nursing homes, spouse abuse centers, soup kitchens and homeless shelters —m ore than 270 private, non-profit agencies and churches that have food program s —receive food, personal care items and cleaning supplies through G od’s Pantry. Last year, said Mary Jo, m ore than 2.7 million pounds of goods w ere distributed through the food banks. Imagine a day care center, a nursing hom e, a soup kitchen, or a church-sponsored food box program , all w ith fixed budgets that depends on donations. Each serves a popula tion of bone-deep and desperate poverty. The church or agency attem pts to but cannot supply all its potential clients w ith aid; the m oney isn’t available. Now imagine that day care or spouse abuse cen ter’s food budget —a high-cost budget line. W ith the services of G od’s Pantry Food Bank, that food budget is reduced by 80 percent. A box of cereal that retails for $2.50 is purchased by the case for the same am ount of money. A can of green beans that over-the-counter costs 39 cents can be bought through the food bank for 15 cents. A tube of toothpaste, $1.69 retail, costs 3 cents a tube. It is a food bank miracle akin to feeding the m ultitude w ith three loaves and three fishes.

XL*

Bank. Mary Jo Votruba, executive director o f God’s Pantry “Whether we’re rich, poor or in-between, we depend on food coming from out-of-state.’’

The miracle frees organizations that provide food assistance to the poor to extend their services to more people. The miracle relies on a small dedicated staff, donations, 22,000 hours of volunteer labor each year and the willingness of giant producers to offer their excess to food bank programs instead of destroying it, as was customary in the past. God’s Pantry is one of 185 food banks in the U.S.; three are in Kentucky. God’s Pantry Food Bank is divided between two sites, one in Lexington, the other in Prestonsburg, in the Appalachian region of Kentucky. Food banks acquire surplus and salvaged products primarily through giant manufacturers who are networked through a national program of food banks, Second Harvest. A recent exam ple of a Second Harvest

transaction offered G od’s Pantry one of 10 trailer truck-loads o f m ixed goods from General Mills. W hen G od’s Pantry received the call describing the load, available in Minneapolis for donation if picked up w ithin a few days, G od’s Pantry accepted and paid for transportation of the trailer-truck to the Lexington w arehouse and unloaded cereal, toothpaste, grape juice, vegetables, deter gent, diapers, pest bom bs, p ap er towels, facial tissues, fem inine care products, aspirin, non-prescription cold m edications and garbage bags. For General Mills the donated products —w hich if not picked up w ithin the tim e allowed is th ro w n in dum psters or destroyed —is a charitable donation. For the people of G od’s Pantry service area, the products are gifts of survival. General Mills o r Nabisco or any one of hundreds of o th er m ajor food corporations often have surplus product. Over-production, changes in packaging, special prom otions, im properly w eighed, cosm etically im perfect or about-to-expire food and non-food products eliminate th e possibility of selling the still-usable materials. Second Harvest notifies the food banks of w hat goods are available. It is up to the local food bank to pay trucking costs from the m anufacturer to the food bank and then to the final destina tions of the goods, to the food boxes or non profit agencies that are m em bers of G od’s Pantry.

Rob Srodluski and Scott Beath, two o f the warehouse workers at God’s Pantry.

The M ountain Spirit

K entucky is not a food-producing state. Mary Jo noted the p roducts o f K entucky are tobacco, horses and coal. “W hether w e are rich, p o o r o r in-betw een, w e depend on food com ing from out-of-state,” she said. Through th e late 1970s excess p roducts w ere dum ped in landfills, often because th e pro d u cer misjudged th e quantity o f p ro d u ct needed for market. Through its salvage w ork over the last several years, how ever, the food bank netw ork has educated th e producers o f their w aste, reducing over-production o f food products from 20 p ercen t to a presen t low of 10 to 12 percent. Though reducing w asted production is a w elcom e savings to the m anufacturers, it also reduces th e am ount of food available to th e poor.

— transportation from the benefactor to the food bank is costly. The food bank also purchases food to fill in the gaps those food sources can’t supply o r can supply only irregularly. To aid th e pantry in transporting and filling in necessary food, th e pantry charges agencies and organizations up to 14 cents p e r pound of p roduct they receive to cover costs.

About 30 p ercen t of th e food distributed from G od’s Pantry com es through Second Harvest. A nother 30 p ercen t com es from food collected in food drives —from people w ho donate cans o f beans, jars of peanut butter, bags of pasta or cans of tuna fish through th eir churches o r designated donation barrels at businesses. The rem ain ing 40 p ercen t o f donated products com es from local w arehouses o r grocery stores.

Cereal, for instance, w eighs little so the cost of a box of cereal to a child care or rehabilitation center is only pennies. A can of beans, on the o th er hand, is heavy. The cost p er can of beans may be 15 cents to an agency, less than half of the retail price. Still, the savings to the m em ber agencies is outstanding; their grocery budgets, on average, decline by 80 p ercent through m em bership in G od’s Pantry.

Most o f those local goods are damaged products that are salvaged by G od’s Pantry. A forklift at a food w arehouse hits a wall and case o f vegetables falls, damaging som e of the cans in the case. The w arehouse has the option o f dum ping the entire case o r donat ing it. If donation is chosen, a salvager rem oves th e undam aged vegetables from the broken case for distribution through G od’s Pantry. Grocery stores also injure goods as they are m oved around th e store o r as custom ers drop products; those, too, are salvaged for G od’s Pantry.

G od’s Pantry m anages the em ergency food box and the food bank program w ith only one part-time and eight full-time employees. Most of their labor support com es from volunteers, said Mary Jo, m ore than 1,800 labor hours a m onth. C hurch m em bers

" . . . g r o c e r y bu dgets, on a v e ra g e d eclin e by 8 0 p e r c e n t th ro u g h m e m b e rsh ip in G od's P a n tr y .”

Bread and pastries have a one-day shelf life and are donated in large quantities to G od’s Pantry. Mary Jo said that five m arkets give away bakery p roducts every day to th e food bank. Still, bread is dum ped by markets; there is too great a quantity o f bread p ro duced to distribute before it goes bad. G od’s Pantry gives bread and bakery products at no cost to its m em ber agencies. Though th e products G od’s Pantry distrib utes are usually donated goods —through Second Harvest, through food drives or through local w arehouses and superm arkets

May-June 1995

Lexington help sortfood at God’s Pantry. Thefood was collected by a Scout troop.

pantry-provider m em bers, if w e closed, they’d close,” said Mary Jo. Fayette C ounty’s poverty rate is slightly higher than the U.S. poverty rate yet it ranks am ong the least im poverished counties in Kentucky. Fayette County citizens are generous and relatively w ealthy com pared to, for instance, Magoffin County w ith a poverty rate of 42.5 percent. The em ergency food box program w hich puts together boxes of groceries for em ergency needs in Lexington and Fayette County makes certain each w eek ’s groceries are nutritionally balanced and sufficient. Ten to twelve percent o f the food manufactured in the U.S becomes waste or salvage. Much o f what is usable is given to food banks fo r distribution to needy people. supply m ost of th e food from food drives and m ost o f the volunteer labor, she said. W ithout them , G od’s Pantry could not survive. Though churches donate the most hours, schools and organization like the Junior League, Kiwanis, and Lions Club willingly w ork to feed the hungry. The Lexington food bank w arehouse for G od’s Pantry now distributes food to eight sites in Lexington as well as sites throughout a 38-county area, 31 of w hich are Appala chian counties. In 1987 G od’s Pantry opened a satellite food bank w arehouse in Prestonsburg that serves the ten easternm ost counties in Kentucky. Recently the Prestonsburg site acquired its perm anent and final hom e, a 4,800-square-foot w arehouse w ith a long term no-rent lease w ith refrigera tion and freezer facilities and a loading dock. The Prestonsburg w arehouse was first given space by the Christian Appalachian Project for three years, th en m oved to a rental site before moving to its perm anent hom e. Many of the m em bers agencies of G od’s Pantry are also CAP program s. “They are as supportive of our w ork as w e are o f th eirs,” said Mary Jo. “Minds are boggled by w hat w e can accom plish w ith so few em ployees,” said Mary Jo. “People w ho w ork in (profit) food w arehouses are stunned by w hat w e accom plish. We m ust be very efficient or our agencies m ight as well go to the grocery store for food. But if they can save 80 p ercen t of their food costs here, then at least part of w hat they need can be accessed here. In truth, many o f the eastern Kentucky

The three food pantries located in Magoffin County, how ever, said Mary Jo, are entirely dependent on supplies distributed through G od’s Pantry Food Bank and they do not have the luxury of providing nutritionallycom plete grocery boxes for their clients. “They can’t w orry over nutrition as Fayette County worries; they w orry about volume. Fayette County has the resources to allow the luxury of concern for good nutrition; p o o r counties can ’t,” said Mary Jo. Fayette County can ask during a food drive at Thanksgiving for turkeys and o th er holiday foods for food boxes to the p o o r and can get them , Mary Jo said. “In Magoffin, they are delighted if they can provide ham burger.” Mary Jo has w orked for eight years w ith G od’s Pantry. She is concerned that the poverty rate could rise even higher in the U.S. —and that hunger could becom e even m ore w idespread. “I am not sure that the know ledge (of the problem ) is recognized at the highest levels of governm ent or recog nized that it really is a federal problem . I’m afraid there will be m uch greater need and many m ore requests for h elp .” Even w ith the 3-3 million pounds of food that G od’s Pantry distributed through the em ergency food box program and the food bank program last year, Mary Jo said G od’s Pantry is still not able to provide enough food for the hungry in the counties it serves. “There are times w e have to limit certain foods. There is not enough food available. There is always enough soft drinks, cookies and snacks (over-produced or dam aged that are donated) but there is seldom enough peanut butter, green beans, easily p repared and nutritious food to go around.” ft

The M ountain Spirit

Letters to the Editor Your book “Frontier Of The Heart” has an extra-special meaning to me. As I read it with great interest, suddenly three paragraphs on pages 72-73 jumped out at me —about the volunteer seamstresses who sew dresses for little girls and the Operation Sharing supplies you took to Sneedville, Tennessee. My grandmother was one of these seamstresses! She was Becky Carlson of Minneapolis, Minne sota, and for years I can remember her making dresses to send to the mission at Sneedville —and each dress was special, with a touch of rickrack or lace, special buttons, or something that made each one unique. Grandma went home to be with the Lord December 27th after 99 years of serving the Lord with all her heart, soul, and strength. What a comfort it was to read your book and know that this special work she had a part in will continue on and how glad I am to be able to help in some small way as well. My prayers are with you daily. Many thanks! Susan A nderson Boulder, Colo. I really enjoy th e in-depth articles and am encouraged by all the accom plishm ents. God bless you and your w ork. E velyn M. P lainte Old Saybrook, Conn. Y our cover o f th e elderly man stepping out o f his d o o r is m ost eloquent in letting us know that th ere are A mericans w h o need o u r help, not only in o u r cities, but also in th e beautiful rural areas o f o u r nation, as in Ken tucky. May the Lord richly bless your work. Mr. & Mrs. R o b ert B e m iu s Hull, Mass.

I enjoy reading The M o u n ta in S pirit, and w ait im patiently for it to com e again. It does my heart good to read of all the good th at’s being done. And it gave me great joy to help w ith gifts for the Christmas basket program . My prayers are w ith each and every one of your. God bless you.

Reading about Appalachian p eo p le’s great courage and ability to cope w ith th eir m any problem s always inspires m e to deal w ith my small problem s in com parison. God bless all w h o help.

A rlene A. M cM ahon Green Cove Springs, Fla.

My hom e here in South Florida is m any miles distant from the area of Appalachia served by CAP. I do, though, enjoy reading in The M o u n ta in Spirit the interesting and so often very touching accounts of the fine CAP accom plishm ent that every day are bringing com fort and hope to so many people.

Your January-February 1995 issue really brought home some memories to me! I was raised in Northern Kentucky on my grandparents’ farm, a long, long time ago. While we weren’t exactly in the hard times that Appalachian people experience I do know what they go through. I am making copies of “The Mountains of My Childhood” by Garry Barker to send to my brothers, who along with me know about mules, having led many a one down rows of com with our grandfather at the plow. They don’t step on com maybe — but watch out for your feet! J e a n n e O. N o rd m a rk Riverdale, Ga.

It is interesting to read about the people you are helping and it is sad to see there is so much more needed to be done. Mrs. J. Ross H a n a h a n Atlanta, Ga. Yes, I rem em ber so m uch of the reading I have done in The M o u n ta in Spirit and w ould hate to miss a copy. It’s w onderful to know that my prayers for you are reciprocated. Mrs. Elizabeth Coggins Cranberry Twp, Penn.

G erm ain A. C houinard Southw ick, Mass.

My contributions to your good cause are of necessity very m odest —but they are sent in the ho p e that every little bit does help. E lizabeth S. Jacobi P o m p a n o Beach, Fla. W hen you read about the people of Appalachia, you read about a people of great value to the fabric and fiber that m ade America great. Yet, society, and all its greed and materialism has forgotten those w ho m atter m ost, and has forgotten w hat it m eans to care for and love one another. CAP is the love of Christ in action —caring for people, and making them once again strong. B renda Terpening Gansevoort, N. Y. Letters to the editor are welcome. They sh o u ld n o t exceed 150 w ords in length, a n d w e reserve the right to ed it th em f o r space. Address letters to The M ountain Spirit, C hristian A ppalachian Project, 3 2 2 Crab O rchard Road, Lancaster, K Y 40446.

The CAP Closeup “I

kn ew th a t

so m e p e o p le h a d m o re than w e had. Marie Bonner.

Seemingly insurm ountable problem s are often the order of th e day for Marie Bonner, case w orker for th e Christian Appala chian Project outreach program in Garrard County. For exam ple, a single w om an w ith tw o children m ight be eligible for Aid to Families w ith D ependent Chil dren, food stam ps and an apart m ent in the housing project, but th a t’s about it. It’s a living, but just a subsistence living, according to Marie. The problem is that it’s almost im possible to ease oneself off welfare. Entry-level jobs rarely pay sufficiently to m ake the transition possible, especially in an area w h ere w ork of any kind is difficult to find. So w h a t’s a m other to do?

“They do w ithout a lot and, of course, they com e to see us,” Marie said. “I have no answers, really.” But like all of CAP’S outreach w orkers Marie helps people w ith day-to-day needs w hile encouraging and em pow er ing people to make long-term changes that will lead to selfsufficiency. Marie began w orking in CAP’S outreach program in her native Lincoln County, moving to a similar position in Garrard County just a year or so later. W hen she began h er w ork, she knew many of th e people w ho cam e to h er for help. “I think they trusted me. They knew that I knew w hat kind of situation they w ere in. Some of

the situations they w ere in, I had been in, to o .” W hen Marie w as grow ing up in Lincoln County h er father farm ed 70 acres to su p p o rt his wife and six children. “We did n ’t have a car until I w as grow n. W e d idn’t have electricity and running w ater until I w as a teenager. W e caught our w ater in barrels, carried our drinking w ater from the spring a quarter-mile away. Dad had built a little house over the spring, w here w e kept the b u tter and milk to keep it cold. I know ho w it is to go to the outside toilet w h en the snow ’s tw o feet d e e p .” Marie said that she did n ’t consider herself poor. “A lot of

+ by the CAP News Service ♦ 16

The M ountain Spirit

Marie Bonner people, especially my friends, w ere in th e sam e shape. I knew th at som e p eo p le had m ore than w e had, but it w as all Daddy could do to m ake a living off those 70 acres. The thing I hated th e m ost w as asking Daddy for a nickel to buy p ap er for school, ’cause I knew he d id n ’t have it. But he always m anaged to get it.” Marie believes th at th e Lord led h e r to h e r job w ith CAP because o f th e com bination o f h er experi ences and “being in the right place at th e right tim e.” For n ineteen years Marie has been m arried to Mel Bonner, a m inister w ith th e Christian C hurch (Disciples o f Christ). W hen they m arried, Mel was pasto r o f a small ch u rch in Garrard County, and held a full tim e job w ith th e local m ental health agency. “W ith tw o full-time jobs, he didn’t have th e time, so I did all th e visitation a pastor

w ould do. I had seven years experience w ith visitation before I w en t to CAP.” Marie calls that experience a plus for h er w ork in outreach, w hich includes a great deal o f visiting. A trip through Appalachia on well-paved, governm ent-funded roads is beautiful, but doesn’t p ut one in touch w ith the poverty that is present. Marie told of a volun teer w ho w as beginning to think sh e’d been misled about the conditions until she spent a day w ith Marie. “Then she did see the poverty; w e w ent to visit people w h o didn’t have w ater yesterday. ” Marie and the CAP outreach program are only one p art of a good-sized netw ork of people and groups that provide help to lowincom e people in Garrard County, som e w ithin CAP, some in other agencies. “I w ork closely w ith the Sunshine C enter and Parents-AreTeachers [CAP pre-school pro

grams] and the Family Resource C enter th a t’s part of the school system. And Social Services —I’ve had three social w orkers call in th e last tw o w eeks for things that they needed. For instance, one is w orking w ith a handicapped child w h o can ’t get into th e bathtub. They called to see if I could get som e tiles, so they could build him a show er stall.” Through local vendors and CAP’S O peration Sharing, Marie said she w as well on th e w ay to having everything they needed. “I’ve found the adhesive and the grout, but I need som e m ore tiles —I have an idea w here I can get three m ore boxes.” Marie quietly points out that CAP’S outreach program is not going to solve all the problem s in Appalachia, but “I think w e make a difference. I d o n ’t think w e ’re going to cure anything, but w e try to m eet the im m ediate need, and I think th a t’s very im portant. H ow long has it taken people | to get this far? It’s going to r* take that long to get som e w here else. I d o n ’t have any answers; I just reach out to the person th a t’s closest to m e.” ft

Marie visits an outreach program participant who lives on the other side o f the creek. During rainy season the creek is nearly impossible to cross.

May - June 1995

Around the Project Employees, Volunteers Involved in Work Fest Kathleen Leavell had to laugh at th e irony. “Everywhere you go, you see Bull Frog sunscreen that O peration Sharing distributed to all th e program s, and no w look at m e!” Kathleen, m anager o f ParentsAre-Teachers, CAP’S early inter vention program , w as sunburned and exhausted after w orking w ith college students in th e fourth annual Christian A ppalachian Project Spring Break W ork Fest. “The volunteers w ere the terrific shot in th e arm that they always a re ,” K athleen said. “I’m always im pressed h o w they com e, plug in and do th eir w ork and th en go away, som etim es w ithout even seeing th e results. M onths from no w I m ight go visit that family and see th e roof I helped p u t on that house, and th ey ’ll thank m e and CAP, but I’ll know that those volunteers w h o did the w ork will never h ear their thanks.”

Home repair worker Ken Stuber takes an opportunity fo r a “teaching moment with volunteers participating in CAP’S Spring Break Appalachian Work Fest. The 335 students representing 38 colleges w orked on tw enty hom es in McCreary and Martin counties. W eather, always unpredictable in March in Ken tucky, hit both ends of the spectrum , w ith snow and freezing w inds one day the first w eek, and enough sun to cause sunburn the next.

Kathleen w as part of a hard w orking crew , headed by hom e repair m anager Jim Lynn. “He told m e to climb a ladder to help w ith th e roofing and w h en I said I w as past 40 and did he really w ant me to do that, he either d idn’t hear m e or d idn’t acknow ledge it, God love him .” The volunteers had only had tw o days together, but K athleen said she could already see bonds betw een them , “And Jim knew everyone’s nam e. That m ade m e forgive him for the ladder. “I w as really tired by th e end of the day, b ut it w as a good kind of tired that connected m e w ith my days as a volunteer.” Jim Lynn called W ork Fest a “special tw o w eeks. I never ran into any volunteers w ho d id n ’t w ant to w ork like crazy.”

Work Fest ’95 marked the fourth year that the volunteer program has sponsored the event. Groups are already beginning to registerfo r 1996.

In addition to heading his ow n crew , Jim arranged crew leaders for tw elve o th er groups, using CAP em ployees and volunteers. continued on page nineteen

The M ountain Spirit

around the project. . . continued W hat Can I D o to H elp CAP? CAP supporters often ask w hat m ore they can do to help elimi nate suffering in Appalachia. First, you can tell others o f the p ro b lems in A ppalachia w hich you learn about in The M o u n ta in Spirit and o th er CAP publications. Please share this magazine w ith a friend and w e ’ll send a replace m ent. Ask us about any o f the problem s in Appalachia and w e ’ll be happy to share any know ledge w e have o r to refer you to another organization that can help you. Secondly, you can give us a m ost valuable com m odity —time. Since volunteers first arrived in 1950, millions o f hours have been

donated to the Christian Appala chian Project in helping the people of Appalachia help themselves. If you w ould like to volunteer three w eeks or m ore, contact The M o u n ta in Spirit and w e ’ll pass the inform ation to the volunteer office.

Moving? Please notify us of any change of address to make sure you receive every issue of The Mountain Spirit please print

OLD ADDRESS name

Finally, our m ost pow erful form o f assistance is prayer. We believe that if our supporters spend at least one m inute a day praying for p o o r p eople everyw here, m oun tains can be moved, the course of rivers changed. The CAP family forms a pow erful prayer netw ork reaching into Appalachia and across the nation.

address

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NEW ADDRESS name

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R a in b o w R e s p ite V isits F ra n k fo rt K entucky state representative Danny Ford (R-Mount Vernon), w elcom ed participants o f the Christian A ppalachian Project Rainbow Respite Care C enter w hen they visited the state capital in Frankfort. “It was a privilege to have som e o f my hom etow n friends spend tim e w ith m e and the legislature,” said R epresenta tive Ford.

W ork F est

The group toured the cham bers o f the House of Representatives and Senate, the G overnor’s Mansion and several historical sites during their visit to Frank fort. “We w ere supposed to just tour the capitol,” said Rainbow Respite m anager Gloria Jordan. “But there w as a lady in Frankfort w ho w ent out of h er way to show us around. She even invited us to stay for a session. She really made us feel w elcom e.”

state

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Mail to: The Mountain Spirit, 322 Crab Orchard Road, Lancaster, Kentucky 40446.

The Rainbow Respite Care C enter provides short-term care for children, teenagers and adults w ith developm ental and physical disabilities. Field trips, such as the one to Frankfort, are am ong the many services and program s made available through the center.

Continuedfrom page eighteen

“The long hours got to us, but w e got a lot done in a short tim e,” Jim said. “W hen W ork Fest w as over and w e w en t back to th e w ork sites to finish up, th e families w anted to know w hen the volunteers w ere com ing back. People m ade a lot of friends those tw o w eek s.” Lloyd Rice, lead hom e repair w orker in Lincoln County, received a letter from group of volunteers w h o expressed their gratitude for his help and signed it “Thank you for helping us all succeed even if w e are just sorry rascals,” Lloyd’s good natured description of his group.

March-April 1995

Participants of the Rainbow Respite Care Center visit all the sites in Frankfort, including the Governor’s Mansion and the chambers o f the House and Senate.

around the project. . . continued

Attention Retirees!

1000th Student G raduates from ALC Karen McAninch, a Lincoln County m other o f three, is the 1000th graduate o f th e Christian A ppalachian Project’s adult education program . The Adult Learning C enter has operated since 1981, but for th e first few years, only a small handful of students graduated. T eacher Tammy Sears, said that Karen w as m otivated to obtain h er GED (General Education Diploma o r high school equivalency) to be a good role m odel for h e r children w h o are seven, five and tw o years old. “She’s volunteering as a teach ers’ aide right now , and sh e’d like to get a paying job in th e class room ,” Tammy said. “They told h er sh e’d have to take a test to get a job as an aide, and she know s that since she passed the GED, she can pass their test, to o .” Tammy is helping Karen study for h e r driver’s license so that she w o n ’t have to depend entirely on h e r husband o r friends for transportation. “K aren’s goals are realistic,” Tammy said. “She’d like to go to college, and she has the

brains to go. She has some obstacles, though, and w hen she gets h er driver’s license sh e’ll be over one of th em .” Tammy, a native of Lincoln County, looked for a teaching job for three years after graduating from Eastern K entucky University w ith a degree in secondary education. She assumed that sh e’d be w orking in a regular classroom, but now says that she m uch prefers w orking in adult educa tion. “I really like w orking w ith people one on o n e,” Tammy said. “And I like the freedom and traveling.” Tammy sees about tw enty students in their hom es, and has an additional fifteen in night classes at Garrard County Middle School and E.D. Bullard, a factory in Stanford. “The class at E.D. Bullard was started for employees, but now it’s open to family and friends,” Tammy said. More and m ore em ployers are requiring high school or GED, Tammy said, so K aren’s prepara tion puts h er in a good position to en ter the w ork force.

If you are a CAP donor, or are considering becoming one, you may be eligible to double your gift through your past employer's matching gift program. Many companies today match monetary support to non-profit community service organizations that are sup ported by their past and present employees. Please write for your bro chure "Double Your Dollars," which lists participating companies and instructions. Send correspondence to Teresa McAnly, CAP, 322 Crab Orchard Road, Lancaster, KY 40446.

TallTale?

Becky W oods, w h o coordinates CAP’S used clothing store in Berea, told this story recently: One snow y day in D ecem ber w e w aited to see w h o w ould brave the cold. W e’d been w aiting a w hile w h en a tw o-ton green farm truck pulled in. W e w ere surprised w hen a tiny gentlem an in his 90s, about five feet tall, stepped out, in a coat that dragged the ground. He cam e in, asked for a cup of coffee and said his nam e w as William Abney. “I’ve got this trouble. This coat is too heavy and big. Could I sw ap it?” I show ed him the m en ’s jackets and he selected a light-weight coat. “Your coat is w orth m ore,” I said, “Take a couple of w arm sw eaters to o .”

Thefolks involved in CAP’S elderly programs in Lincoln, Jackson, southern Madison and Rockcastle counties gathered to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at the Family Life Recreation Center. They enjoyed lunch, bingo and visiting until each other and with CAP’S volunteers.

W hen our sw apping w as done I asked if he w as satisfied. “I’m still getting ch eated ,” Mr. Abney said, “but I’d rather you cheat m e as anyone.”

The M ountain Spirit

around the project. . . continued CHAP Talks Safety in Kindergarten Brenda W irem an’s days are usually filled w ith adm inistration of th e Christian A ppalachian Project’s Com m unity Health Advocates program , b u t recently she got to return to h er days of prim ary school teaching.

hit w ith it, and they knew it w ouldn’t break anything. Finally, a little boy said that if you left it on th e stairs, som eone could trip over it. So w e talked about how im portant it w as to take your toys off th e stairs.”

“Sister Kristen called from O ur Lady o f th e M ountains School to ask about a school presentation for h e r fifth graders, but w h en she found out that I had taught second grade and kindergarten, I got dem oted!” Brenda said.

Brenda said that m ost of the children had brothers and sisters at hom e, and could relate well to safety as it pertained to protecting younger children. “They related to taking care of som eone they care ab o u t.”

Brenda spent almost tw o w eeks w ith h er kindergarten class, talking about safety. “W e talked about good touches and w h en it’s okay to kiss people. W e talked about strangers, and about safety in the hom e.

Activity time w as called “Wiggle Tim e,” Brenda said, and she enjoyed the variation that the Catholic school children had on a familiar children’s game. “Instead o f playing ‘Duck, Duck, G oose,’ they played ‘W elcome, W elcome, Jesus Loves Y ou.’ W hoever was ‘It’ w en t around the circle saying, ‘W elcom e, w elcom e, welcom e, w elcom e, and w hoever he told ‘J esus loves you’ got to run around.”

“For exam ple, I took a bag to class, filled w ith things they might find at hom e. O ne by one, I took them out o f th e bag and asked them h o w it m ight be dangerous. Well, they d id n ’t have any trouble w ith th e m ouse trap o r the aspirin or the glass cleaner, but they seem ed stum ped w hen I took a soft ball out o f th e bag. Not a softball that you play ball w ith, but a soft, spongy ball. They knew that it w o u ld n ’t h urt if you w ere

Brenda said that she enjoys giving school presentations to kindergarten students because they have no pre-conceived ideas, and few discipline problem s. “Everything you do is new , and they enjoy it so m uch.”

CAP a n d A sg ro tv D is tr ib u te S eed Tilings are bloom ing in eastern Kentucky, and throughout Appalachia, thanks to the Chris tian Appalachian Project garden program . CAP’S outreach w orkers distributed seed, seed potatoes and fertilizer to over tw o thou sand p eople in th e eleven coun ties CAP serves w ith outreach, and to fifteen churches and com m unity action agencies for distribution to families in oth er areas. Many o f th e recipient of seed and seed potatoes also

M ay-June 1995

participate in CAP’S hum an developm ent grant program . Asgrow donated three tractortrailer loads of seed, and four loads of seed potatoes to the program this year, for distribution through O peration Sharing. O peration Sharing also received seed potatoes from the Society of St. Andrew, a non-profit groups, w hich gleans fields of potatoes for distribution to groups that operate garden programs.

What You Don't Know About Wills Can Hurt Your H eirs.. . Find Out Why. Request Your Free Copy.

Much ofwhatyou know about wills may be misinformation that has been floating around for years. If you think, for example, that wills are primarily for rich people, or the elderly, you may be the victim of a common misconcep tion. The helpful booklet offered here will explain how your will can save your heirs from costly delays and confusion. Send for your copy today.

Clip and Mail

Christian Appalachian Project 322 Crab Orchard Road Lancaster, Kentucky 40446 Please send without obligation, your booklet, "37 Things People 'Know' About Wills That Aren't Really So." N a m e _____________________________ Address __________________________ C it y ________________________________ State________________ Z I P ___________

----------------around the project. . . continued -----------

Attic-on-Wheels Delivers Clothing in Appalachia The “Attic-on-Wheels” m oved from Renee C arrier’s w ish list to th e road recently. Renee, w ho m anages the Christian Appala chian Project Attic program , has been w orking to provide used clothing in areas w hich are not served by a CAP used clothing store. Employees and volunteers w ho w ork in th e Attic w arehouse all participated in the developm ent of th e new Attic concept, accord ing to J.C. Adams, w ho has done initial groundw ork on th e project. “W e’ve been in touch w ith people

in seven counties, w ith Chambers o f Com m erce and o ther groups, asking the best ways to get things to people w ho need th em ,” J.C. said. “In Powell County, for exam ple, the Cham ber suggested that w e contact Kentucky River Foothills [a developm ent agency], because they deal w ith all the agencies in the county.” Through the public schoolbased Family Resource Centers and ministerial associations, the Attic is providing clothing to

organizations that serve at least 25 families. Some of the organiza tions are giving clothing away, others are selling it at nominal prices, as CAP does. “In Hindman w e m et w ith 24 people w ho represented 17 organizations,” J.C. said. “They all knew people that needed clothing because of a burnout or family break-up.” Contact has been m ade w ith organizations that have had contact w ith CAP in the past, Renee said, through O peration Sharing o r hum an developm ent grants. “And w e ’ve had great response from the Family Re source C enter,” she said. “T hey’ll stay open through the sum m er even w h en the schools are closed, so w e ’ll still be involved w ith th em .” Renee said that the biggest problem she has currently is a drop in donations of used cloth ing. “W e’re getting w in ter clothes, w hich w e ’ll need eventually, but w hat I really need right now is children’s sum m er clothes. It’s being taken out as fast as w e can sort it right n o w .”

businesses in town, according to manager Renee Carrier. In addition to the stores CAP operates, the Attic has recently started delivering clothing to other agencies in eastern Kentucky.

Adult Ed Uses Computerized Assessment Tool The adult education program in Floyd County recently purchased a “P ow erpath” test, said m anager Shari Pesce. The com puter operated test determ ines learning difficulties in adults. “It’s been around for about 25 years, but it’s new to u s,” she said. The test gives vision and hearing tests, and assesses m otor skills, coordination, reading and thinking skills. “Essentially, the

com puter tells us how best to teach this student,” Shari said. “It’s really cool.” The literacy students have been the first to use the technology, but eventually all of the adult educa tion students will be evaluated w ith the tool.

Nearly 35 organizations are receiving clothing from the “Attic on W heels,” Renee said, and they w ould like to be able to accom m o date as many groups as they can. Used clothing can be sent to the CAP Attic W arehouse, U.S. 25 South, Appalachian Village, Berea, KY 40403.

Christian Appalachian Project is a participating agency in the Combined Federal Campaign. Federal and military employees can contribute to CAP by

Shari hopes to share “P ow erpath” w ith other adult education program s in the region.

designating #0898 on the CFC pledge card.

T h e M o u n ta in S p ir it

around the project. . . continued becom e m ore assertive and m ore A d u lt E d u c a tio n P r o g r a m s able to speak th eir m inds.” P r o v id e JOBS T ra in in g Both o f th e Christian Appala chian P roject’s Adult Learning program s are sponsoring class room s for JOBS (Job O pportunity and Basic Skills) participants to increase educational levels. “They’re all w elfare recipients w h o are m andated to attend. They also receive transportation and child care,” said Adult Learning C enter m anager Lisa Bosley. In Lawrence County, th ere are enough JOBS participants for tw o classes, according to Shari Pesce, w ho manages th e adult education program s in Floyd, K nott and Lawrence counties. “We have them involved w ith com puter training, too; w e w ere lucky to have a com p u ter d o n ated ,” Shari said.

Bill Belcher, a counselor w ith Family Life Counseling Service, conducts a support group once a w eek for the JOBS participants in Rockcastle County. Using conver sation, group discussion and videos, “We focus on self-esteem and setting and achieving goals,” Bill said. Taking a “personality inventory” w as popular, Bill said, because group m em bers w ere able to assess th eir ow n strengths and weaknesses. “Initially the group w as reserved until they could test the w ater, but o u r last three or four sessions have been really dynamic. I’ve w atched them reach some of their em otional goals,” Bill said. “They

Job training is an im portant com ponent o f th e program , often m ore difficult because o f the scarcity o f jobs in th e area. “In the Big Sandy region the largest percentage o f people take LPN training [licensed practical nurse],” said Shari. “And th ere are LPN jobs. People w h o go into secretarial fields have a harder tim e finding jobs. And th ere aren ’t a lot of jobs that m en will take.” Shari said that th ere are open ings for security guards, b ut m ost ask for experience or training. She hopes to be able to create a curriculum to train security guards that CAP could offer. “W e’re still in th e talking stages, but it could create m ore jobs.”

Looking for an Adventure? V o lu n teer w ith th e C h ristian A ppalach ian P roject CAP volunteers assist the people of Appalachia through such programs as child development, elderly outreach, adult education, home repair, and emergency assistance, while focusing on a life of prayer, community and service. Volunteer Opportunities: 21 years of age or older; one year (renewable); room and board; health insurance; monthly stipend. College loan deferment information available. Short term volunteers: 18 years of age or older. Three weeks to three months. Room and board. Applications accepted year-round. Contact CAP Volunteer Program, 235 Lexington Street, Lancaster, KY 40444, (606) 792-2219, (800) 755-5322, Fax (606) 792-6625. May-June 1995

Walking with the People Story and photos ♦ by Margaret Gabriel ♦ — -----------

Sister Marge Eilertnan, the pastoral associate o f Holy Family Church in Booneville, Kentucky, received The Mountain Spirit Award in 1994 fo r her work in spiritial enrichment.

A t the tim e o f the Second Vatican Council Pope Jo h n XXIII m ade a ground breaking request that continues to influence society 30 years later. The p o p e asked religious com m unities to consider sending ten p ercen t of th eir m em bers to a foreign country. W e d o n ’t often think of things th at h ap p en at th e Vatican as influencing A ppalachia, but th e p o p e ’s attention to th e m issions continues to influence a small chu rch in eastern Kentucky b ecause o f th e p resence o f Sr. Marge Eilerman, a Sister o f St. Francis of Tiffin, Ohio. Sr. Marge began h e r m ission w ork in th e early seventies, in Chiapas, Mexico, w h ere she w orked w ith priests and sisters, traveling from village to village, teaching rudim entary lessons in health and sanita tion, as w ell as th e elem ents o f Christian ity. “O ne o f the priests had seven churches under his pastorate and 22 villages, so w e w ere trying to form leaders in each one of those g roups.” Sr. Marge continues to form leaders, no w in Appalachia. After w orking in Mexico for four years, Sr. Marge w as elected to a leadership position in h er com m unity. During h er tim e at th e m otherhouse, the com m unity received a letter from Father Wilfred Fraenzle, pastor o f several parishes in eastern K entucky at th at time. “He w rote to all th e m otherhouses east o f the Mississippi, looking for som eone to staff the parish at McKee [Jackson C ounty]. It appealed to me, so I cam e for an inter view, and I fell in love w ith the place. W hen I first w en t to McKee, th ere w ere tw o sisters and tw o young lay w om en w orking there. I really liked th e con cep t of church I found there. I w anted to w ork in an area that w as im poverished, and I w anted to w ork w ithin th e church structu re.” The co n cep t o f mission that Sr. Marge found in McKee is the co n cep t that she carried to Booneville seven years later, and has been advancing for tw elve years. Owsley County is one of th e m ost dis tressed counties in eastern Kentucky, w ith a poverty rate that som e groups estim ate at over 50 p ercent. “You m inister to the needs of the people in the com m unity, w h eth e r they need gas o r food, and it’s all part o f th e w ork o f th e ch u rch .”

May - June 1995

Through h er w ork to m eet the physical needs of the people of Booneville, Sr. Marge has also m et many spiritual needs. H er w ork is evident, considering that w hen she began h er w ork in Booneville there w as only one Catholic. “Today w e ’re a viable faith com m unity w ith sixteen households. By and large they are local people w h o have joined the church, but som e have moved in from o th er areas.” People know that they can go to Sr. Marge for help w hatever th eir religion, or lack of religion. “Sometimes they call for help, som etim es they call just to talk. I find that frequently the thing that they com e to the door and ask for has nothing to do w ith w hat they’re really searching for.”

Knowing that the greatest need in the area was increased employment, Sr. Marge became involved in starting a factory in the summer of 1993- “The factory started as a venture of a group of men from Pittston, New York, who come here every year for a work retreat experience. They decided that what they could do to help us was put together a business plan, which was lots and lots of the groundwork.” The factory creates adirondack chairs, w hich are m ade from recycled plastic milk jugs. “No, w e d o n ’t drag the creeks for our milk jugs. The materials com e like lum ber in tw o by fours and one by fives. W e’re taking steps tow ard getting our ow n extruder, though, so w e can gather the jugs here and get the jugs out of the creeks. W e’re looking at a grant for the Appala chian Region Commission —the extruder will cost about $200,000.” Sr. Marge doesn’t look tow ard moving on, know ing that Booneville is hom e, and will remain hom e. “T here’s som ething in ministry —and maybe m ore so in Appala chia than in o ther areas —that calls us to be present to people and to have a perm a nence there. Because of the nature of the Appalachian people, you m ight w alk w ith them and be w ith them during th e day, but at night everyone goes hom e to their family, and you’re not a part of that. It takes a long tim e to becom e a part of the people, I think it’s especially im portant here to stay and to walk w ith the people and give a sense that you’re going to be h ere.” ft

Training Leaders for Tomorrow A T

Y oung p e o p le p articip atin g in a n a tio n a l h u n g er aw aren ess program sp e n t fou r m o n th s in M adison C ounty lea rn in g about p o v erty in rural areas. + Story and photos + by Beth D otson 26

I n the church parking lot, volunteers unloaded a van filled w ith boxes and bags of food. They p u t them on a scale to w eigh them , adding to th e tally o f food already collected. Canned soup and fruit, boxed macaroni, jars o f peanut b u tter —the pounds they m ade w ere adding up to tons. A steady stream o f vehicles piled w ith food pulled in, w eighed, unloaded into the church basem ent, th en w en t off to pick up another load. In the basem ent, m ore volunteers sorted the donations. The small food pantry was being turned into a storehouse that looked like its supply w ould never end. The five tons of food collected w as one result of the food drive at the end of H unger Awareness W eek in Berea. Berea College students participated in a hunger banquet w here representatives of the econom ically w ealthy dressed up and feasted at fancy tables. M embers of th e less

The M ountain Spirit

econom ically developed countries sat barefoot on th e floor eating rice. There w ere also videos on hunger and a dem on stration th at show ed th e am ount of food w aste in th e United States, and m ore specifically, th e w aste on the Berea College cam pus. A pproxim ately 30 million Americans are hungry, m ore than 10 p ercen t of the U.S. population, according to the Bread for the W orld Institute. In th e 1980s, m ore than 150,000 food pantries and soup kitchens opened in the United States w hile the governm ent cut funds for social welfare program s. The food pantries and soup kitchens distribute b etw een $3 and $4 billion w o rth o f food to hungry people each year, relying heavily on volunteers and donations from the public. Melissa Zook and Jim Stipe w ere among the volunteers w ho w ere com ing and going as th e Berea food pantry filled. These Mickey Leland Congressional H unger Fellows spent th e last four m onths of 1994 in Madison County w orking on hunger issues. The Pennsylvania and W isconsin natives w ere participating in a program that com bines resources from Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) and the Congressional H unger C enter in W ashing ton, D.C, sending hunger fellows to various locations around the United States. After four m onths o f direct service w ork, the 17 fellows w en t to D.C. in January to w ork for eight m onths w ith organizations concerned about addressing hunger on a national and global scale. “O ur m ission is to train the future leaders o f th e anti-hunger m ovem ent,” said Max Finberg of the Congressional Hunger Center. He explained that the problem som e hunger leaders saw w as that the people w ho ladled out soup and filled food pantries d idn’t have tim e to w o n d er w hat caused people to frequently return for services. In W ashington, th e people w ho w ere looking at policies related to hunger didn’t know th e faces and stories of poverty. The fellows program attem pts to com bine th e tw o for its participants. “W hen I saw this opportunity, I thought that it sounded like I cou ld n ’t have w ritten a b etter job description for myself for next year,” said Melissa, w h o graduated from

M ay-June 1995

David Sawyer, director o f Students fo r Appalachia, gives a short “pep talk”to a group o f Berea College students before they take o ff on a day-longfood drive.

Gettysburg College in May, 1994. She w anted to build on h er college experience of organizing people to learn about and take action on issues such as hunger and violence. Those organizational skills w ere as im portant as h er concern about hunger and h er desire to learn w hile in Madison County. Both of these hunger fellows realized that collecting food w asn ’t enough. They had to study the area and its unique problem and needs before they could suggest solutions. Because these solutions often com e from com m unities, com m unity m em bers had to be educated, too. That need for education is w hy Melissa and Jim w orked w ith Natalie Shull, an AmeriCorps volunteer, and o ther m em bers of Students for Appalachia to organize Hunger Awareness Week. W hen planning the event, Natalie said, they realized that hunger will persist until people becom e aware of the enorm ity of the problem . It seem ed natural to organize aw areness raising events to lead up to the collection for the food drive. “We definitely reached a lot of people visually,” Natalie said. She saw that the strongest reaction came from taking w aste out of garbage containers and piling it up to show how m uch students w asted in just one day.

addition, he said: “I w anted to understand better the differences betw een rural and urban poverty.” During his four m onths, Jim began to understand som e differences. “In a rural setting, one of the biggest obstacles to overcom e is the sense of isolation that people have.” W hen people are spread out, Jim said, it is m ore difficult to draw them together for com m unity organizing and to offer services. On the positive side, Jim said, there is m ore land ow nership, w hich allows people to garden and grow som e of th eir ow n food. Melissa Zook and Jim Stipe, Mickey Leland Congressional Hunger Fellows.

For Natalie and others w ho w orked w ith the Congressional H unger Fellows, it w as a learning experience. “I learned different skills from each of th em ,” she said. Natalie described Melissa as a realist w ho was good w ith deadlines and keeping on task. Al though she always knew how im portant it w as to keep on task, Natalie said, Melissa helped h er see how to do it. “Jim was really creative w ith ideas,” Natalie said. He w orked well w ith the college students and show ed Natalie how to evaluate events and program s. “Both of them brought hum or and enthusiasm .” W hile Jim and Melissa brought many talents to the region, both said they came to learn. And learn they did. They lived in rural Jackson County w ith a Christian Appalachian Project volunteer com m unity and w orked w ith people from various backgrounds. “Personally, I w anted to walk away w ith an understanding of eastern Kentucky m ore than anything else. Four m onths isn’t a very long tim e to get m uch done, but for me, I w anted to be able to go to W ashington w ith an understanding o f w hat the people need here. You can ’t go about trying to change a com m unity if you d o n ’t know w hat people n eed .” Jim, w ho had w orked in urban soup kitchens, had goals similar to Melissa’s. In

Although Jim and Melissa could see the possibilities of im proving lives in Appalachia, they also expressed frustration that some people have been just getting by for so many generations that they d o n ’t see ho w to, or are not interested in im proving their lives beyond that. Yet, just getting by can be destructive for people w ho suffer from ill health because of po o r housing conditions, malnutrition, and possibly lack of medical care. “I never get over feeling like it’s never enough. W hat can I do?” Melissa said. But Jim and Melissa w ere also able to see beyond the images of poverty that have stereotyped the region. “It’s a land of contrast. T here’s a house th a t’s really nice, then a house that doesn’t even have indoor plum bing,” Melissa said. “It’s just not w hat it appears on the surface. You know on the surface you may see a lot of poverty. W hen you dig into it, it is just so rich and diverse,”

The M ountain Spirit

Before the sorting began, volunteers weighed the food, in order to keep track o f how much they collected. Under the direction o f Jim and Melissa, volunteers collectedfive tons offood.

there are things that can be done about hunger here. It will take a lot of tim e and a lot of w orking together on the part of the people w ho live here, but I think in tim e things can be b etter.”

Melissa said. She thinks it unfortunate that th e culture has been unexplored and underappreciated by the rest of th e country. W hen Jim m used about talking w ith friends about his experience, he said: “I think one o f th e first things I’m probably going to do is defend K entucky because I know a lot o f people are going to m ake fun o f it. They will bring up all o f the stereotypes and I w ant to say there is some tru th to that, but for the m ost part it’s just not that way. You have to go see it for yourself. ” “I think w hat I will say is how m uch I enjoyed Kentucky. I really like the people a lot. It’s a great place to live. Also to say that

Volunteers sort the food that was collected during the food drive in Berea.

May-June 1995

According to 1991 figures from the C enter on Hunger, Poverty, and N utrition Policy at Tufts University, 15.8 p ercent of K entucky’s population is hungry. Overall, the southern region of the United States has the highest percentage of people w ho are hungry — 13-43 percent. Jim feels torn w hen thinking about ho w to best address hunger problem s. Although for things to change perm anently, they m ust be dealt w ith by addressing the long-term problem s, there are people w ho have to be fed now. Melissa and Jim have both run into frustra tions in W ashington, D.C. They arrived in W ashington w hile Congress w as w orking on fast forw ard to eliminate federal spending on som e program s that try to reduce poverty and hunger. They moved from an environ m ent in Kentucky w here they could set goals and reach them —like organizing H unger Awareness W eek —to an environm ent w here, Melissa said, it’s hard to see beyond the beltway politics to the big picture. Melissa’s job in D.C. is to w ork w ith the office of governm ent affairs for the March of Dimes. She followed legislation relating to Medicaid and the W om en Infants and Children (WIC) program . She helped introduce legislation to increase education about the vital role folic acid plays in reduc ing birth defects. Her w ork and personal interest led h er to follow the w ork of the new Congress in an

of m oney that goes into these kinds o f program s. “Clearly if they cut th e food and nutrition program s in the United States it w o n ’t m ake a dent in the deficit,” Jim said. It w as disappointing to Jim that there w asn ’t m ore of a public outcry against these kinds of cuts. G overnm ent w orks tw o ways. W hen the people are not participating, the door is open for politicians to act w ithout regard to the effects o f their w ork on the citizens. Jim ’s w ork at Bread for the World gave him an opportunity Melissa directs volunteers to divide into small groups and load into vans. Each group went to to w ork on projects that can individual houses to collectfood fo r the community. help educate the public about hunger issues so they m ight be m ore likely to speak out. He is w riting and editing papers and o ther attem pt to understand how governm ent docum ents th e institute publishes to operates. But Melissa found it m addening educate the public and encourage citizens to sit in on a session w h ere she saw to make their voices heard w ith their elected officials bickering as they changed legislators. legislation. She perceived them as m uch m ore willing to gamble w ith the welfare of Although being in D.C. can be frustrat children than she is. ing, Melissa said, “It’s good to see ho w the political process w orks; I’ll be a b etter Jim also w anted to caution Congress citizen w hen I leave h e re .” ft about the cuts they w ere discussing. “They are Deing very snort-signtea on the im pact this will have on the future, especially related to children,” Jim said. Programs Congress w anted to cut, like school lunches, w ere created w hen the country recognized the link betw een food and a child’s developm ent. Cutting program s related to food and nutrition, Jim said, basically takes away the opportunity for children to learn and develop as well as they can. “W e need to say these things cannot be to u ch ed ,” Jim said, suggesting that Congress needs to make priorities and give serious consideration and p rotection to essential items. Jim also felt there was a m isperception about the am ount

pantries in Madison, Rockcastle and Powell counties.

The M ountain Spirit

A Little Boost to a New Life Linda, a CAP outreach caseworker, calls Sherry "a true success story. I watched her mature from a scared young girl into a confident young woman." A mother of three, Sherry was left with no skills and no resources after she divorced her abusive husband. She wasn't one to let life get the better of her, though. She just needed a little boost to start making her life over. Knowing that it was important to provide stability and education for her children, Sherry enrolled them in CAP'S Family Life Child Development Center, and became one of their most active moms, often riding along as "bus mother" and volunteering to help staff however she could. Next, Sherry decided to go to CAP'S Adult Learning Center to work on her GED. She had dropped out of high school only months before graduation and had never earned her diploma. Sherry passed all her tests the first time, with one of the highest scores ever made at the Learning Center. Encouraged by her success with the GED test and deter mined to pull herself out of the trap of welfare, Sherry started looking into the opportuni ties open to her with her new diploma. Sherry is outgoing, a "people" person who doesn't panic easily, interested in medicine, so she enrolled in a Emergency Medical Technician program. Through the Department of Social Insurance, Sherry received funds for a baby sitter and transportation to school; all she needed was tuition and book money. She applied for a grant from CAP's Adult Learning Center, received it, and was on her way! Sherry graduated in January of 1995, in the top 5 percent of her class, and now works for the Rockcastle Ambulance Service. She works mostly weekends, so she is one of the first people Linda calls when she needs help with Christmas baskets or seed packing. Sherry has come far with just a little help from caring people and a lot of determina tion of her own. It's easy to hear the pride in Linda's voice when she talks about the wonderful changes that Sherry has made in her own life. But it's your support of the Family Life Child Development, the Adult Education Center and outreach that has made so much possible for Sherry. Your gift of $25, $40 (whatever you're able to send) for use where it's needed most, will enable more people like Sherry to help themselves begin a happy and helping life.

Is this child hungry because she's poor or poor because she's hungry? •

Undernutrition, along with

environmental factors associated with poverty, can permanently retard physical growth, brain development, and cognitive functioning. •

Poor children who attend school hungry perform significantly

below non-hungry low income peers on standardized test scores. •

Almost 59% of the children living in CAP's direct service area

are eligible to receive free or reduced-price school lunches.

•

In one county that CAP serves, over 90 percent of the children

are eligible. Source: Kentucky Department of Education; Tufts University Center on Hunger; Poverty and Nutrition Policy Shaded area indicates the boundaries of the Appalachian region

CHRISTIAN APPALACHIAN PROJECT 322 CRAB ORCHARD ROAD LANCASTER, KY 40446 The Mountain Spirit

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIO U.S. POSTAGE PAID Christian Appalachian Projecl

Address Correction Requested

CAROLYN SU E MARKS 4 4 3 0 KY. HWY 6 4 3 WAYNESBURG KY 4 0 4 8 9