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M ountain S pirit The Magazine o f the C H R IS T IA N A P P A L A C H IA N P R O JE C T JULY

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The Gift Of Time by Sandy Spaulding, M.A.

Giving Gifts They Have: The Little Flower Clinic JobStart, page four by Margaret Gabriel

Knott County: 1 A Heritage In Education

Dr. Kimsey, page sixteen

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Judy Yates: She Can Do Anything by Margaret Gabriel

On the cover: JobStart participants complete computer assignments in Mount Vernon, Kentucky. Learning to operate a keyboard is one o f the first tasks presented to JobStart students. Judy Yates, page twenty-four

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A ro u n d the P roject

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Published by the Christian Appalachian Project E d it o r

M arg aret G ab riel G r a p h ic D e s ig n

K aren F ran ces S p iv ey C ir c u la tio n

D ebbie M orris

O f all the accomplish ments to which the Christian Appalachian Project can point, I believe some of the most Mike Sanders, .~ , CAP President significant are those that have been achieved in adult education. Human services vice president Moe Mercier dates the origins of adult education to the days when boys in the CAP Group Home spent five nights a week studying to pass the GED. He and the staff of the home found that when a boy had such tangible proof of success as a high school equivalency diploma he had taken the first giant step needed to turn his life around. Sandy Spaulding, a CAP JobStart teacher, will tell you the same thing. Although folks come to JobStart classes to discover ways to enter or re-enter the workforce, one of the first and most important steps many take is to pass the GED test. Students know that it will open the door to them, but many lack the selfconfidence to even try. Through sadness and tragedy, CAP employee Judy Yates learned that she could do anything she set her mind to, and thanks to that determination she has a high school diploma today. Finally, we’d like to introduce you to a woman who settled in Appala chia and is making a difference because of a dramatic career change. Dr. Karen Kimsey’s story is on page 16. Adult education, we’ve learned, is the key to open doors for people throughout Eastern Kentucky.

A d v is o r y B o a r d :

F ath e r R alp h W. B eitin g , Mike Sanders, Ben Prewitt, Becky Kana

Enjoy!

The Mountain Spirit is published six times a year. The annual subscription price is $8.00. Subscriptions and other correspondence should be sent to The Mountain Spirit, Christian Appalachian Project, 322 Crab Orchard Street, Lancaster, KY 40446. Copyright, 2001, 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. The Christian Appalachian Project is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and is qualified to receive tax deductible contributions.

Mike Sanders CAP President

A summary of the registration and financial documents filed by this organization can be obtained by contacting: in Maryland, for the cost of copies and postage, the Secretary of State, State House, Annapolis, MD 21401; in Virginia, State Division of Consumer Affairs, P.O. Box 1163, Richmond, VA 23209; in Washington, residents can call the Secretary of State toll-free within the state at 800-3324483; in Mississippi, by calling the Secretary of State’s office at 888-236-6167; IN NEW YORK, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, CHARITIES BUREAU, 120 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NY 10271; IN NEW JERSEY, THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY CALLING 973-504-6215; IN PENNSYLVANIA, DEPARTMENT OF STATE BY CALLING TOLL-FREE WITHIN THE STATE, 800732-0999; IN WEST VIRGINIA, SECRETARY OF STATE, STATE CAPITOL, CHARLESTON, WV 25305; IN FLORIDA, THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALL TOLL-FREE WITHIN THE STATE AT 800-435-7352; IN NORTH CAROLINA, FINANCIAL INFORMATION AND A COPY OF THE LICENSE ARE AVAILABLE FROM THE STATE SOLICITATION LICENSING BRANCH WITHIN THE STATE AT 1-888-830-4989 OR OUTSIDE THE STATE AT 919-807-2214; or by writing to Christian Appalachian Project, 322 Crab Orchard Street, Lancaster, KY 40446. Our license number in Michigan is MICS 9933. Registration with any of the above government agencies does not imply endorsement by the state.

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ducation can mean “knowl edge or skills obtained.” Many CAP programs (Adult Education/ School on Wheels, JobStart, Out reach, Elderly Services) deal with adults and their needs. Helping adults obtain knowledge or skills to help themselves is one of the most important aspects of the services we provide at CAP. In adult education we help students obtain the skills and knowledge they need to pass the GED (general equivalency diploma) test or receive a high school diploma through the NEDP (National External Diploma Program). Either enables an adult to complete a rite of passage missed when dropping out of school. Once the adult receives the diploma he or she has the opportu nity to participate in graduation exercises. The graduation ceremony is complete with cap and gown, guest speakers, entertainment and recep tion. It rewards students for effort, hard work, hours of study, and achievement. Adult education involves helping students obtain knowledge and skills in three broad areas of study: reading, mathematics, and writing. Reading, on a GED level, can be broken down into three categories: literature and arts, science, and social studies. Regardless of whether the student is studying literacy, Adult Basic Education, GED or NEDP, the student must move from “point A to point B.” Demonstrating skills and proving he or she has obtained the knowledge and skills needed to pass the GED test or receive the NEDP diploma accomplish this move. The diploma, proof that the student has achieved the knowledge or skill level of a high school gradu ate, opens doors of opportunity for the graduate. Further educational and employment opportunities will enable

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B v B ill T ussey the person to become a “life-long learner,’’continuing to obtain the knowledge and skills to become financially independent and selfsufficient. Students, some of whom have never held a job in the past, have been interviewed and hired because of the skills and knowledge obtained. Some students have enrolled in colleges and vocational schools after receiving the GED or NEDP, resulting in pay raises and better benefit packages. Some businesses have received more handing from local and state government because all employees now have a GED or high school diploma. Adult education students who obtain a GED or NEDP diploma are eligible to apply for a scholarship though CAP’S adult education program. The scholarships are awarded based on need and avail ability of existing funds. Students are also asked to apply for financial aid. Students are eligible to reapply by providing a copy of grades and GPA and by providing receipts showing how the money was used to meet expenses. This is just one of the indirect benefits of the Adult Education/School on Wheels program. Another important reason for adult education concerns students who have dropped out of school. Adult education service providers across the state are discovering that many of the students they serve suffer from a learning disability or difficulty. (There is a difference: Disability means the person has been diagnosed. Difficulty means they haven’t been diagnosed but the teachers know there is a problem.) Adult education often provides the one-on-one instruction the student needed to begin with. The CAP adult education program uses PowerPath, a program created and designed by Dr. Laura Weisel, to determine whether a struggling student has a

learning difficulty. The program then suggests strategies for the student and teacher to use in overcoming the difficulty. Not all providers use the program, but many teachers in the field educate themselves about such problems as dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and use different methods and strategies in teaching the students. For many, adult education programs throughout the state and here at CAP are the students’ last attempt to obtain that GED or high school diploma. Regardless of the arguments that address whether public schools are doing their job, the fact remains that students are dropping out of Kentucky schools. Regardless of the reasons students drop out, adult education programs provide the opportunity for adults, young and old, to accomplish a goal that seemed impossible or out of reach at some point in their lives. Adult students are given individual attention, are made to feel they are the most important people in the world. Such attention, we have found, builds self-esteem, academic skills, job skills, and life skills. Programs address the whole person — mentally, physically, spiritually, socially and academically. Adult education programs assist students in fitting together the pieces of the puzzle that seemed forgotten or lost in the vacuum cleaner of life. Adult education renews hope in the importance of education and instills an excitement that leads to desire for life-long learning. Adult education benefits the person, the community, the county, and the state by leading that person to a point where he or she serves self, others, and a higher power in the spectrum of life. •

Bill Tussey manages CAP adult education programs in the Hagerhill region.

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The news stunned us. In April 2001, we learned that Kentucky Governor Paul Patton planned to cut all funding to welfare-to-work programs, using those monies to cover a shortfall in the state budget. Early in 2001, there were 34,000 families on welfare in this state and only a small percentage had a parent enrolled in job readiness programs. The “success rate” did not allow him tp justify this use of public funds. His comment was not prudent. “These people aren’t motivated.”

Two years ago Patton put $2 million in start-up grants for the most innovative plans for helping poor people to go to work. The Christian Appalachian Project’s JobStart received the largest block of funds. The governor intended to test the most promising answers and implement the best of them through out the state. We thought we had time — time needed for expertise to surface, materials to be written, methods hewed, community trust to take hold. Teachers brought hope, passion and talent to unemployed people and local job sites in small towns all over the mountains. Now, suddenly it’s over. Hope silenced. Materials boxed up, and the 4,000 “unmoti vated” turned away. After all, students would say, it’s not the first time. Outsiders have started programs before, only to shut down a year later, mumbling, “These people don’t want to change,” throwing pages of promised goals in the paper shredder. Christian Appalachian Project started 37 years ago. And stayed. That was our model. JobStart did not shut down. In just two years we had started four schools for less money than it took others to start only one. When state funds stopped, CAP picked up the program and gave it the gift of time. By the third year JobStart programs were yielding gifts, finding a way and impacting lives. Connect ing employees and employer needs, we implemented months of curricu lum research and design. As we begin our fourth year, JobStart enjoys a reputation as a leader in the field of transition education (poverty to self-sustain ing wage), adding even another site without raising our costs. We can package JobStart in a box. With seven “breadboxes,” some school supplies, a few Windows 95 computers and a teacher who is into awakening minds, JobStart can be up and running anywhere in

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Author Sandy Spaulding and director o f human services Tom Conner.

Appalachia in a month. A sign near my desk reads, “We learn our way out of poverty.” I look about our classroom. Not motivated? I smile. From my first day as a JobStart teacher, I have watched the last student leave at 3:00 each day, and have sunk into my chair with a cup of coffee and good, gratifying exhaustion. I see motivation. It looks like a flock of hungry pigeons at a scattering of wild birdseed. We offer students nourishment, stimulation, information and esteem. They show up. They work hard. And they want more. The mind hungers just as the body and spirit. They enthusiasti cally embrace JobStart because it’s

made of these longings. Not theory. Not rhetoric. Not outdated irrelevant materials. No classes that bore. JobStart is simply designed to do what works. Their way. If it doesn’t work, we fix it. Together. This is the pragmatism Jesus taught. Honor human nature with friends, achievement, dignity and vision and they will come. We are a “one-room school house,” familiar to people in the county. Our students come from third-grade to college-level, ages 16 to 60, mature and immature, half on welfare, half not. Some are shy, some have an eagerness that needs propriety. Some lives are such that they can come early every day.

The JobStart curriculum combines lecture time with individual hands-on experience.

Some struggle with illness, childcare, isolation and domestic oppression to get there most of the time. A few are abused for this. Some want to go to college. Some just want to get off welfare, un aware of any choices. Some come to class needing food first. Some need clothing to attend without embar rassment. For all the differences, their common denominator is hope. From past experience with education they expect little, but they want every crumb of learning we have to give them. They are eager to take on over 200 modules of learning in the 12 weeks ahead of them — six periods a day of computation, communication, computer technology, career skills and confidence training. They learn to come on time every day. We aren’t the first program to design good things to learn but the first with accountability. Our students must pass a post-test with a grade of 75 percent to graduate from JobStart, and proudly they do this. They can earn certificates in five areas — one in keyboarding at 40WPM. We found that the more we challenge students, the more they

want to do. If we demanded less, they would be less focused to produce or even participate. The easy way wouldn’t tell students what they long to know about themselves: What am I capable of doing? Nor would just showing up and warming a seat tell an employer anything about a student. Curriculum accountability means there are documented performance levels behind that diploma. A letter of reference from JobStart means you earned it. At JobStart no one fails. It’s a rule. Students simply stay with a topic, with help and encouragement, until they succeed. When they first come, we find that students believe the myth that says the world thinks they are “dumb and ignorant hillbillies,” a collective shame CAP’s adult education program is built to erase. In four years JobStart has yet to meet one of those “myths.” This school begins where the student’s need begins. We have never found a person who cannot learn. And they feel good about themselves when they do. JobStart has a core strength: We meet the fundamental criteria for a student’s successful transition to self-sustaining wage and a meaning

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ful contribution. Early on we learned that hope is what they came for and what they stayed for. At their graduations we hear the sentence over and over again: “JobStart staff believed I could do it and that made all the difference.” For 37 years CAP has honored the nature of human beings to rise above, grow around, and overcome adversity with the right kind of support. This is a given. We pay attention to what’s right with people, and very little to what’s wrong. What gets focused energy gets bigger. What’s wrong tends to fall away from lack of attention. When an energized hope makes it into a mind set through a kind and steady climate it ignites a sense of personal worth, inherent value worthy of fulfillment and success. What emerges is raw, simple entitlement to education and work and choice and growth and change. Until then the only thing many felt entitled to was a welfare check, babies, a roof and food stamps. The participant’s sense of entitlement is sometimes seen as a threat to an unemployed or insecure partner. Her (99 percent of our students are women) usual tolerance for abuse, oppression, control, and obsolete traditions that discourage passion and pursuit of education begins to dissolve. Putdowns for wanting a self-sustaining income, for dreams to happen, for talent to be acknowledged, for buried intelligence to breathe alive are met with new intent. The passive voice around a culture’s worst dysfunc tion begins to fall away. The women want more. They want better for their children. They want their own needs considered. They begin to say so. And choose so. Because marketable job skills for one member can destabilize an unhealthy fragile family system, it is not unusual for dysfunctional home systems to erupt into crisis. Poor relationships don’t make it, because change can ignite violence. Some

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students are forced to leave their homes, or leave school too soon, or quit the new job, threatened with severe abuse or abandonment if they don’t “know their place.” For some, adult education is high-risk behavior. To combat this dilemma, we offer weekly group counseling with CAP Family Life Counseling services to dialogue about the fears and changes. Students experience moving toward the edge of change. Poverty is no longer a given. “Nowhere” is no longer a destination. Not any more. They can’t put self-awareness, love of learning or new confidence back under a bushel once the fire bums bright. Education changes minds. When that happens nothing is the same. After hope, students tell us they need skills to meet the needs they can now name and negotiate. Everyone needs self-esteem, significance, self-reliance and self-determination, support, safety and some one who cares. They are where they are because Many JobStart students are apprehensive about beginning to work on a computer. For that they’ve had poor skills, reason, students begin learning keyboard skills on their first day in the program. obsolete skills, inadequate skills, often self-destmctive, students help with a wide range of don’t even look for work if they sometimes even dangerous skills to daily tasks around the office. They don’t feel good enough about get what they’ve needed. We teach assist new participants with comput themselves. Lessons don’t do it. them to honor normal needs and ers, tutor them in math, help Praise alone doesn’t do it. Wishes meet them in healthy ways that teachers prepare materials. “Teach for the future don’t do it. allow them to work, love and choose ing Assistant” looks good on their We have learned that most are wisely and effectively in their world. resumes. Eventually people outgrow ashamed not to have a high school Employers need them to have JobStart like the Sunday Maryjanes diploma — nearly 35 percent of skills in technology, academics and they wore when they were kids. Kentucky adults don’t have one. So self-management — social and They’re ready to move on. we established a policy of instant emotional intelligence (IQ they enrollment in GED classes for all With hope and skill, students have!). They need to show up, need to feel good about themselves. students who lack this vital asset. focus, produce and be ready to If they don’t, 46 percent quit their It’s not a choice. It’s a “Go!” They leam, ever more with the changing jobs the first month. But even more tell us they appreciate the “leg up” needs of business in a global alarming, 50 percent of those who over the fear of failure. economy. come out of job readiness programs Then we explored where anyone In their third month at JobStart,

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gets self-esteem. Kids learn about their worth from how people speak to them, treat them, what is said about them. They believe the big and the loud people. Most of our participants have had their selfworth damaged. In many cases, too much has been done for them, teaching them they can’t be selfreliant. Mates have “put them in their place.” Too many have been disciplined with belts, switches and hollered belittlement. Efforts to read, achieve, create were dismissed with indifference. Or shamed for imper fections. Initiative bothered others. Opinions and needs were dis counted. Attention went to family members who were sick or in trouble. They come to us certain of their inadequacy and unimportance, fearing failure and disgrace. All this goes inside the skin like bacteria — toxic and resistant, taking an over-riding assault to heal. JobStart provides that assault in an oasis of Christ consciousness. It’s a three-month, non-stop assault. Like a negotiated peace in a war, we break down the overwhelm ing problem of “seeing myself as a dirt clod” with a steady stream of evidence of something else: capability, good thinking, durability, resilience. The brain will override the negative with constant, consistent, and strong new evidence to the contrary. Emerging self-esteem comes from accumulated evidence with the clear recognition they can learn, master, produce. We pay them a fair wage for that work. “JobStart dollars” are earned for assignments done correctly. We give access to Operation Sharing goods in a bi-weekly auction, where they can buy things for themselves and their families. It feels good to earn your pay and spend it for your children’s needs — and your own. We give them bonus “dollars” for coming on time. And for taking initiative, for helping other students, for great attitude. All are good work habits that make them a cut above

on ajob. Be generous with genuine praise. Have time to listen to their stories of what they’ve survived, and what they can do now. The truth of their worth, ability and potential on a job, in a school, in life is evident. They learn to repair and maintain self esteem by anticipating conse quences, by choices they make, thinking twice before they compro mise that hard-earned quality. Armed with hope, skill, self esteem, they still need a route. You can be all packed, know how to drive, feeling good, ready to go to that job, that college, that goal, but without a route, success is risky at best. JobStart’s T-shirt reads,

It’s a three-month, non stop assault. Like a negotiated peace in a war, we break down the overwhelming problem of “seeing myself as a dirt clod” with a steady stream of evidence of something else: capability, good thinking, durability, resilience. “Where dreams get real.” Dreams feel good. Sound good. But gradu ates need a planned, well-under stood, clear route — an itinerary of specifics, in sound sequence. They need to be able to anticipate consequences and set down the best choices before they begin. Someone once said, “The yellow brick road is brick by brick by brick...” We are available for guidance and grace when they need a course correction. Our program has itineraries for college entrance, getting hired, career pursuits, and starting your own business. These tracks give control and focus, and minimize fear. The experts told us, as the fiveyear lifetime limit on welfare closed in, we would see the most resistant coming in to prepare for work.

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Among them was an unanticipated group: Some of the brightest we have seen in five years. Many of the “resistant” are highly intelligent folks who chose not to work because they don’t want the jobs waiting for them in factories and fast food. They are not “low-lifers” and they are not lazy. They’re just not challenged and they won’t settle for unhappiness. They know they have good minds, but they don’t know the route to a happy, fulfilled and useful life. They are resisting a life of meaninglessness, and muted stimulation, not work. Some now are bound for college with ACT college entrance exam training; some will start businesses in entrepreneurial programs. Still others accept and arrange to drive the distance to work they like, work with a future. It’s fun to satisfy their appetites to learn. With hope, skills, self-esteem and an itinerary, they must go out into the work world with a relationship with God. Prayer is a necessary job skill. Many students have made choices in their past and present that weigh them down with shame, disappointment, regret, or the powerlessness of domestic oppres sion. The knowledge that we have a relationship with God affirms an identity of worth, of grace, that moves us away from mistakes to embrace lesson and laughter. In Christ we can trust a fresh start, knowing God knows more about this than we do. The compounding evidence of a loving God experi enced in the character of CAP’s caring transforms fear and insignifi cance. So now students have hope, skill, self-esteem, routes and relationship with God to count on. The last thing they need is a place to come home to. Our Family/Alumni Fun Nights are designed to give that “home,” a place one can come for applause, support, stories, laughter, news and inspiration. To the students who follow the graduates, those who hear their success, they are hope in a new pair of jeans.

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Letters to the Editor E] E] E] El El IEI E] E] E3 E] E] El

Reading 77ze Mountain Spirit is a joy. I look forward to finding out the latest news from CAP and the communities it serves. Margaret Gabriel does a beautiful and creative job with the copy and Karen Spivey’s layout is interesting and well organized. Thank you for bringing me that much closer to your world and work through this great magazine. May God bless all your future endeavors. Best regards, Sheila Smith Drapeau Armonk, N. Y.

I read every story in The Moun tain Spirit. It is a bargain at its subscription rate and I enjoy reading it far more than most of the magazines I subscribe to. I truly get a close feeling for the people being written about and for those who help them. I hope The Mountain Spirit will have a long publishing life. Dorothy Haggerty Rochester, N. Y.

When I read The Mountain Spirit it helps me to refocus my perspec tive on the importance of helping The generosity of your staff and my brothers and sisters who need volunteers touches my soul to my help. Your work truly is a remind me that I can always do a reflection of Jesus working with his little, which adds to the many. May brothers and sisters. God continue to bless your callings. Henry Fardella Eugene E. Beasley Salem, N.H. Battle Creek, Mich.

I cannot say enough for the great work you all are doing! What a blessing Father Beiting and all the volunteers and staff are. God bless you all. Helen Zudrell Pompano Beach, Fla. P.S. I love the whole magazine, but the best stories are of people who “pull themselves up by their boot straps” (with your help) and support themselves, especially the aban doned, abused women. I was one, but now I’m 70 and self-supporting and a lot more! Thank you, God.

Thank you so much for your unfailing assistance to the people of Appalachia, and for The Mountain Spirit which brings it all home for me. Sherry Myers Virginia Beach, Va.

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Thank you for your continued work with the less fortunate (financially) of our people. Your help and prayers assure they are not less fortunate spiritually, I’m sure. God be with you as you bring hope and happiness to so many of them. I hope my small contributions assist you in your endeavors, and you are all in my daily prayers. Jeannene A. Moore Carmichael, Calif.

I enjoy reading your magazine and commend your worthwhile stories, which are truly heart warming. I greatly admire the work you do so unselfishly and wish I could contribute more. Keep up the good work and telling about it so touchingly in your magazine. Jean Atcheson Princeton Junction, N.J.

It is truly inspirational to read about so many people of different faiths and walks of life coming together for the greater glory of God. Mr. Frank Delong Las Vegas, Nev. I love The Mountain Spirit, some of the stories make me sad but others make me laugh. I sure wish I could be of more help but prices keep going up, it’s crazy. I remember when I was making $ 1.00 an hour I was never broke. Now that I am retired on more than I was making, I’m always broke. It doesn’t make sense. Barbara Casanova Lakeside Marblehead, Ohio

Your work in Eastern Kentucky is to be commended. The people of Eastern Kentucky are proud, resilient people - good people they are. To help people that are in need is doing the work of our Lord. I’m a native Kentuckian raised in the Eastern Kentucky coalfields and I know what being in need feels like. As a child, times were hard. Keep up the good work and I enjoy your magazine. God bless, Mrs. Myrtle Sulaski West Liberty, Ky. I enjoy all the stories and articles and pictures, and greatly admire all the work you do and accomplish. Blessings on you all. Gretchen A. Votruba Traverse City, Mich. 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 C h ristian A p p a la c h ia n P ro ject 3 2 2 C rab O rc h a rd S tre e t L a n c a ster, K Y 40446 o r e -m a il capin fo @ ch risa p p . o rg

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CAP Awards Diplomas to 75 Graduates in Rockcastle “This is one of the proudest moments of my life,” said Reverend Mike Carroll, a graduate of the Christian Appalachian Project’s Adult Education Program. Mike, along with 75 other men and women, were recently honored in a recognition and awards ceremony held at the Rockcastle Middle School. An audience of over 100 family members and friends applauded those in attendance as they accepted diplomas and were recognized for various achieve ments. Four students shared reflections and revealed dramatic accounts of their journeys in obtaining an education. Their stories were inspirational and encouraging to even the most seasoned bystander. Student speakers included Darrell Alcorn, Kimberly Doan, Mallissa Mills and Christina Lear. Four siblings who completed their GED diplomas together were recognized. Brothers Jon McKinney and Jack McKinney and their sisters Vicki Graves and

Tammy Nickle were among the graduates. “The McKinneys were really dedicated and stuck with it, as they’d often work and study together as a group,” said Doris Grant, CAP staff teacher of adult education. “For two hours, twice a week, they came into the center and Tammy Nickle, Vicki Graves and Jack McKinney graduate studied, each encouraging the from a CAP Adult Education program. CAP’s adult education program other.” leads the efforts in the state of Jean Barnes, CAP assistant director of human services, gave the Kentucky to raise the overall education level. Since its inception in graduation address and paralleled the early 1980s, the program has the uphill battles of Abraham helped well over 1000 adults obtain Lincoln and Babe Ruth to illustrate high school equivalency diplomas. the struggle that led to the eventual Many have continued with college or success of each graduate. Students trade school. Others have simply recognized for first and second been satisfied to achieve a goal set highest GED scores were Dusty many years earlier. Burdette and James Miller.

James Still, 94, Dies in Hazard

James Still, Kentucky poet laureate.

James Still, former poet laureate of Kentucky, died on April 28, 2001, at the age of 94 at the Appalachian Regional Hospital in Hazard. Mr. Still’s “exquisitely crafted prose and poetry and sensitive portrayals of mountain life led many to regard him as an Appalachian literary artist,” according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. See Mr. Still’s poem, Heritage, page 21. A native of Alabama, Mr. Still moved to Knott County in 1931 after receiving a Master of Arts from Vanderbilt University and a library science degree from the University of Illinois. He served as librarian of the Hindman

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Settlement School, where, as part of his duties, he ran a library-on-foot delivering books to one-room schools from a carton he carried on his back. Sixty years later, the settlement school added the James Still Learning Center, a tutorial program that serves children with dyslexic characteristics. In 1939 he moved into a log house located on a branch of Little CanCreek intending to stay long enough to write his novel, River o f Earth, which today is considered an American - and Appalachian — classic. His poems, stories and novels reflect his observations, everyday experiences and the speech of southeastern Kentuckians.

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CAP Director to Assume New Position Rose Price, director of Christian stewardship of and accountability Appalachian Project human services for all of the resources entrusted to programs, is taking a new position us.” CAP believes that making as assistant director of the depart grants to organizations that provide ment of human services grant services in places outside its program. With the assistance of immediate service area demon Teresa Perry, Rose will strates good steward expand the administration of ship by reaching the program to full time. groups that are firmly “I’ll spend about half of my established in direct time developing coalitions service programs. with other programs,” Rose When Rose said. assumes her new The growth in the program position she hopes follows CAP’s tradition of that funding grants Rose Price sharing resources with other will be increased, groups and organizations that serve which will also allow CAP to Eastern Kentucky. For over 20 years, increase the number of groups CAP has accepted grant applica receiving assistance. tions to assist churches, schools By devoting more time to the and grass roots organizations. In program, Rose will be able to visit Fiscal Year 2000 CAP distributed groups with whom CAP has had $250,000 to 96 groups that provide relationships for many years as well education and other services to as new groups. “We look forward to children, elderly people and those getting lots of new applications. with disabilities. Rose hopes to make larger grants One of CAP’s guiding principles to organizations like homes for requires that the organization children with disabilities and free “practice and encourage good clinics. Groups that are more firmly

established have more specific needs, and CAP can have more influence on the use of its grant. “Then we can make smaller grants to small food pantries and outreach groups. Those are real grass roots organizations, and they can really do a lot with $ 1000,” Rose said. Rose is investigating renewing CAP’s Peace Award and scholarship program. In the past, CAP awarded scholarships to graduating seniors who performed extraordinary community service during their high school years. Rose is researching the idea of awarding fewer scholarships for greater amounts of money and basing the award on need as well as service. “And we’d like to begin Christ mas grants in the Hagerhill area, similar to the ones that are given out ofBerea.” A native of Floyd County who has worked as a service professional for many years, Rose says she eagerly anticipates meeting new people and groups in service to the Appalachian people.

Christian Appalachian Project Transitions Human Services Programs to Local Leadership The Christian Appalachian Project recently announced plans for its transition and three-year plan that will include taking a sharper focus on more distressed areas of Kentucky. Essentially, the organiza tion has taken a hard and serious look at the areas of Madison and Garrard counties and examined the tax base, financial stability, growth, industry and improvement the communities have experienced in the previous ten years. As a result of progressive and substantial change, the two counties have moved out of distressed status, according to Appalachian Regional Commission guidelines. As part of a three-year plan, CAP

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will be transitioning human services programs to community leaders in Madison and Garrard counties. According to Mike Sanders, CAP president, the organization has every confidence that local leaders will ensure that community-based programs will continue to provide the same types of services CAP has offered. Through transitions in the past, CAP has seen community leaders actually enhance and expand services far beyond CAP’s expecta tions or ability. Although human services programs are being transitioned in Garrard County, several departments will be maintaining a presence within

the community. Such departments as planned giving and direct response need to remain in close proximity to major highways and airports for ease in shipping and receiving. Several of the programs that are moving out of Garrard and Madison counties will re-locate in nearby Rockcastle County, providing approximately 20 new positions to the community. CAP hopes residents will con tinue to take advantage of services in the Rockcastle community. Those services presently include counsel ing, respite care, a spouse abuse shelter, child and family develop ment center, housing, and adult education, including JobStart.

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Camp Andrew Jackson’s Outdoor Education Hosts Over Five Hundred Area School Children As the buds and blossoms extending until the end of the school year in May. awaken in the valleys and hillsides In one of the outdoor activities, of Appalachia, area school children students wear blindfolds and rely on touch, sniff, observe and awaken their senses at Camp Andrew Jackson. Camp AJ has extended an invitation to school systems in Jackson and Rockcastle counties to participate in their Outdoor Education program. The program combines activities with wildlife, vegetation and water and presents a holistic view of the environment and responsibility to care for it. The program is designed from several sources and curricula, in an effort to enforce the Ken tucky Education Reform Act goals in an outdoor setting. Lessons are designed for every grade level and each year’s lesson builds on the lesson from the year before. Over five Children in the ourdoor education program hundred students participated, at Camp A J involve all their senses in experiencing nature. beginning the early spring and

their senses of touch, hearing and smell to experience such things as trees, leaves, moss and bark. Observations are made around the lake that surrounds the camp to identify wildlife and habitat in a more advanced activity. Older students identify environmental problems and explore how human activities alter ecosystems. The program takes advantage of the landscape surrounding Camp AJ, utilizing the hiking trails, lake and natural wonders at every turn. “Because it’s a hands-on experience, students are able to recall more from ‘active learning’, as experience is the best teacher,” said Angela Miller, a third grade teacher from Sand Gap Elementary, who brought her class to take part in the education adventure. “Our goal is to be consistent year after year and they’ll keep coming back,” said Ali Lien, a volunteer at Camp AJ.

plore nature w ith a group o f eager ten-yearolds at sum m er cam p, *7"onstruct a hom e for a deserving ^ fam ily o f six, or

jfold the hand o f a lon ely elderly w om an w h o just needs som eone to listen. All this and more are available i f i f in volunteer opportunities at the Christian Appalachian \ \ \ Project. Call us today!

l (800) 755-5322

Christian Appalachian Project

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CAPRICE Helps With Inclusion, Advocacy assistance is not commonly Several weeks ago, Christian to the family to decipher a maze of services that are often difficult to available. For that reason, people Appalachian Project workers received a call from the grandmother who work in CAP’s programs that understand or access. Many times, lend support to people with of a young woman with a disability families do not realize that children disabilities and their families are who was graduating from high with disabilities have the same right investigating the need for extending to an education that typical children school. The grandmother was quite services to school age children. concerned that her granddaughter have. CAP operates Parents Are was not prepared to exit school and Gloria would like to see CAP fill a Teachers, which supports the enter the work force. void in services with a worker who parents of children with disabilities “This girl wanted to get into is assigned to a family as the child is in several counties. CAPRICE daycare and all she had been doing exiting Parents Are Teachers, CAP’s was babysitting during the course of provides life skills training and early intervention program. the school day,” “The key concept said Gloria Jordan, is that the worker will who manages two be available to programs for families to teach people with advocacy,” Gloria disabilities for the said. “We can teach Christian Appala that family how to chian Project. The conduct itself in future graduate meetings, how to had mild mental begin futures retardation, Gloria planning at an early said, and was age. By the time the terrified to leave student is 14 years school, innately old, the family has knowing she was had enough exposure not prepared to to the system to graduate. She had understand the CAPRICE provides a supported employment program fo r people with not been prepared disabilities. Business fin d CAPRICE workers to be skilled and reliable. process that is with training in involved in advocacy CPR, first aid and other knowledge supported employment for people and know how they want their son she needed to provide high quality with disabilities that are over the or daughter to move along. Then child care. age of 16. Although many young when they’re old enough, the people with disabilities are eligible “Her mom, too, had some retarda students can speak for themselves.” tion, so that’s why the grandmother to participate in programs that are Gloria recognized the gulf in was involved,” Gloria said. Workers part of the public school system, services as a serious problem when with CAPRICE (Christian Appala many families find it difficult to take she began to manage both Parents chian Project Resources for Indepen full advantage of those programs, Are Teachers and CAPRICE several dence and Community Employment) according to Gloria. years ago. Recently, she participated met with the family and helped them “A lot of people with disabilities in a think tank with workers from the lack inclusion in the community,” to map an avenue of action and Developmental Disabilities Council, coached them in the ways they Gloria said. “Often, they’re not Vocational Rehabilitation Services needed to take action. active members of the community.” and several school systems and “The important thing is that we’re Frequently, when a person with a heard similar concerns. not going to do the work,” Gloria disability graduates, he or she is “People were particularly con said. “We’ll tell people which older than a typical student, Gloria cerned about the lack of futures directions to go, and where to look said. When individuals try to enter planning, and the lack of parental for assistance, but they have to do the work force they are trying to input in that planning.” CAP has all the work themselves.” undo years of being told that encouraged and enabled futures Christian Appalachian Project they’re not capable. Although the planning for a number of years, both school system provides the service programs have traditionally through CAPRICE and through the dedicated themselves to areas where education services needed, it is up Rainbow Respite Care Center.

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CAP Hosts Women’s Retreat in Floyd County dressed the importance of exercise and women who come to Camp Shawnee Outreach workers in the Hagerhill are there for more of a vacation than a physical activity. region of the Christian Appalachian Marilyn Payson, CAP director of time of serious learning.” Project service area incorporated a economic development, addressed the Planning for the retreat began in few changes in an event women of topic of beginning a small business on the Big Sandy Region look forward to early February when outreach Tuesday. That day, the women explored caseworkers would gather periodi each year. In 1992 CAP workers developed a cally to plan activities for the week of the topic “Using Your Resources.” The group addressed the issue of May 15. Under the direction of leadership conference that was budgeting and meal planning with a talk outreach manager Russ Taylor, designed to empower women of the different workers took responsibility by Teresa Scott with the local extension region and help them acquire the skills they needed to make whatever for such aspects as food, transporta office entitled “More Bags for Your Bucks.” But they explored more than tion and crafts. changes or enhancement they just financial resources, Jackie said, and Knott County caseworker Jackie believed were needed in their lives. Johnson was responsible for speakers also discussed environmental and Although the attendance has emotional issues. increased every year, several women for the week. Each day was given a In addition to speakers, the women mini-topic. “We decided to call the have attended the event every year. week ‘Rest, Relaxation and Renewal,’ enjoyed entertainment from gospel For some it is the only time in the singers, and participated in craft so every day we focused on a entire year when they get a break activities every day. from on-going cooking, cleaning and different aspect of those things,” Over 100 women were registered to Jackie said. family care. On Monday, the women discussed attend the event at Camp Shawnee. In 2001, caseworkers decided to make a small shift in the emphasis of the different components of physical Nearly thirty stayed overnight during health such as nutrition and exercise. the week and were able to enjoy the the event, said human services beauty of the camp as they relaxed with director Rose Price. “We’re calling it a Dr. Mary Fox, a retired public health friends in the mornings and talked far physician, one of the women’s retreat this year, rather than a into the night favorite speakers in the past, ad leadership conference. Most of the Please detach and mail to the address below:

During this time of year workers in CAP’S outreach program begin the work necessary to provide Christmas baskets of toys, gifts and food to folks we serve. If you would like to participate: . Let us know the size family you would like to sponsor (gifts for each person in the family should cost between $15 and $25). We’ll send you information about your family, including first names, ages, sizes and a few gift suggestions; . We’ll also include family code stickers and a guideline letter with the correct address to send your gift box; . Wrap and label your gifts with the name of each person; . Mail your boxes to CAP by or before November 21, 2001 Please adhere to our deadlines, so we can make sure gifts are given to your family; If you have any questions, please call Brenda Watts at (859) 985-7091. That’s all there is to it! Your Appalachian family will have a Christmas they’ll never forget and you’ll know that you’ve contributed to the real meaning of the birth of Christ. We look forward to hearing from you!, I would like to sponsor: _Small family (1-2 children and parents) Large family (5-6 children and parents)

_M ediu m family (3-4 children and parents) Extra large family (8 or more children & parents or 2 medium size families.)

Total number of fam ilies sponsored Name Address

Sponsor gifts bring smiles o f joy-

□ / am not able to shop for a needy family, but I have included a contribution that will enable you to provide gifts forafamily. ($75.00 provides gifts for a family of three. $30.00 will provide a Christmas food voucher for a family o f three. Any amount you choose will help us share the jo y of Christ’s birth in Appalachia.

Make checks payable to CAP and return to:

City, State, Zip_

CAP Christmas Basket Program

Phone (please include area code)

322 Crab Orchard St., Lancaster, KY 40446

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Rejoice Respite Plans To Expand Services In the eight months Richard Davis has been the manager of Rejoice Respite, the program’s four employees, two volunteers and one community volunteer have increased the number of program participants from 100 to 120. Richard believes, though, that the greater variety in ages of the participants is even more significant. “Because we started as a program that was a spin off of elderly services, we had almost all elderly participants. But that’s changing now. Our youngest participant now is one year old. And the oldest is 97 or 98.” The majority of Rejoice Participants in Rejoice Respite enjoy the company o f CAP workers who help them with household tasks, Respite’s participants are meal preparation and personal care. people who depend on networking and resources they need. others for their mobility, Richard said; few have mental disabilities. Sometimes they just need to know A handsomely framed document someone cares. They don’t have the on the wall of Richard’s office states disability, but look at the pressure the Rejoice Respite mission: “To and stress of providing care for a provide in-home respite, emotional loved one, 24 hours a day.” support and resources information CAP is discussing the possibility to families with individuals who of opening a residential center for require 24-hour aid, focusing on Rejoice Respite similar to Rainbow supplying the caregiver with rest Respite Care Center, which operates and professional consultation and in Rockcastle County. A center could the participant with quality care, also allow the program to access a meaningful socialization and wheel-chair accessible van, which Christian fellowship.” would allow Rejoice Respite Each of the caseworkers in workers to take participants on trips Rejoice Respite provides care for 15 and outings, Richard said. to 16 participants, people who are Rejoice Respite workers are usually in the care of a son, daugh “living the Gospel,” said Richard, a ter or parent. native of Paintsville, Ky., and a “Our focus, really, is on the graduate of Morehead State Univer caregiver,” Richard said. “While we sity. “I see [the Gospel] take a part in want to give the utmost care to their people’s lives. Not everyone gets family member, we want to give the that privilege, that blessing.” caregiver the social support,

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M E M B E R OF

Charities CAP joins America’s Charities If your employer supports a workplace payroll deduction program, you can now choose to contribute to CAP through America’s Charities. CAP has become a member of America’s Charities, a nation wide federation that provides critically needed human services, reaching millions of Americans in thousands of communities. Through America’s Charities workplace giving campaigns, employees can choose to support their favorite charitable causes from over 100 nationally known non-profit organizations. If you are a military or civilian federal employee, you can choose to contribute to CAP through American’s Charities during the Fall 2001 Combined Federal Campaign.

CAP’S member number is # 0428 . For more information, please contact: Teresa McAnly Christian Appalachian Project 322 Crab Orchard Street Lancaster, KY 40446

- Story and photos by Margaret Gabriel «

A driver traveling to Hindman, Ky., follows Troublesome Creek through town. Bridges scattered along the road cross the creek, giving access to various businesses and government offices in the county seat of Knott County. Just before the road leads out of town, a bridge crosses over to the June Buchanan Clinic, a medical office that is part of the Appalachian Regional Health Care system, which provides not-for-profit medical ser vices in Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. You wouldn’t notice it unless you were looking for it, but next door to the clinic’s main entrance is a door with a hand-painted sign reading “Little Flower Free Clinic.”

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“That’s a problem with free six months before she graduated. It’s only the fourth Monday that clinics,” she explains. “Continuity of A native of California, Karen the Little Flower Free Clinic has care.” Unspoken, though, is the could have practiced rural medicine been in operation in Hindman, but reality that discontinuity in care already the staff is scheduled to see closer to home in California, where beats no care at all, which is the her parents still live, in Oklahoma 15 patients that evening, the option of the patients in Little where she had her first experience maximum number they feel they can Flower’s waiting room. with rural medicine, or even in see in two hours, still giving each As a medical student, Karen remote but glamorous Alaska. “I the attention they need. A county resident calls and learns that the researched the need for a free clinic love the mountains,” she says in Hazard, Kentucky. Her research next available appointment is three simply. “I love the people and I love indicated an overwhelming need for my church. I couldn’t be happier.” weeks away; signs posted in the care that would be available to Although Karen’s shift at June waiting room ask people to cancel Buchanan ends at 5:00 and her work people who were without insurance. appointments they can’t keep so Most of those who needed health at Little Flower begins officially at that other patients can be seen. A care were working, she learned, but large table in the center of the room 6:00, there is a considerable amount at jobs that provided no benefits. of dashing between the clinics in holds crayons and coloring books The need for care and Karen’s that hour. that invite children to amuse themselves while waiting with their desire to serve launched the For one patient she orders blood parents. work. Another needs x-rays. She concept of a free clinic. Its name looks at a chart for a patient who is At 4:00 people begin to gather, the Little Flower Free Clinic being treated for hypertension and patiently waiting to see the doctor. honors St. Theresa Lisieux, who was sees that the medication she ordered known as the Little Flower of Jesus. Dr. Karen Kimsey bursts through A Carmelite nun, St. Theresa several weeks before has been the door that connects the Little changed by another doctor who Flower Clinic to the June Buchanan dedicated her life to performing Clinic. small tasks with great love. Little volunteers at the clinic. “I’m not Just two years ago, Karen Flower Clinic follows a similar happy,” she says to no one in particular. philosophy. completed her residency at the University of Kentucky’s Rural Health Family Practice. As a medical student at Oral Roberts University, Karen had the opportu nity to work in a rural rotation in McAllister, Oklahoma. The experience of working in a free clinic in a rural setting fascinated her and she decided to attend medical school at the University of Kentucky because it offers a specialty in rural medicine. The June Buchanan Clinic offered her a Karen Kimsey, right, and Our Mother o f Good Counsel pastoral associate Pat Reistenburg. Karen position as a credits Patfo r the successful start o f Little Flower Clinic. family practitioner

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The staffat the Little Flower Clinic schedules timefor twentypatients each night they are open. The clinic treats both chronic and acute illnesses. Good intentions and a giving spirit are essential to such an operation, but Karen credits Father Mike Chowning, pastor of Our Mother of Good Counsel Catholic Church in Hazard, with providing the practical needs of the clinic. Father Chowning offered Karen use of the basement of the church for office space; pastoral associate Pat Reistenburg devoted countless hours securing donations for many of the materials needed for opera tion. Volunteers with the Appala chian Service Project renovated the church basement, adding examining rooms, a small lab and a space — not much larger than a closet - to dispense medications. All was ready to receive patients. “That first night we had fourteen

volunteers and two patients,” Karen remembers. Both were patients from June Buchanan Clinic. Within six weeks, though, word of the free clinic had gotten around, and by the end of February the clinic in Hazard was seeing a full schedule of patients every Tuesday evening. Currently, the clinic is open on Wednesdays as well as Tuesdays and has to turn patients away both nights. “That’s the hardest thing to do,” Karen says and tells of patients who travel to Hazard from seven counties and drive as long as an hour and a half for medical care. Most of the patients at Little Flower Clinic in Hazard are from Perry County, but the next greatest number come from nearby Knott County. A little over a year after the

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Hazard clinic began operation in January 2000, Karen and clinic manager Dina Adams conducted a community-wide meeting in Knott County to determine the amount of community support they could expect if they opened a clinic in the county seat, Hindman. The meeting was well attended, support was pledged and within a matter of a few weeks, the free clinic in Hindman opened. Space made available by Appalachian Regional Health Care enables the clinic to open on Mondays and there is talk of opening on a second night. Barb Taylor, a registered nurse for 26 years, attended that first meeting and today serves as the manager of the Hindman clinic. In their first four weeks of operation, she had more

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volunteer assistance than she could income is less than $35,300 for a Ryan s Hope and All My Children. count, although they are still in need family of four. For such a family, the “On All My Children, I played of volunteer assistance from cost of private insurance is $618 per Nurse Collins,” Karen recalls. “I physicians, physician’s assistants month, or even more. usually only had one line at a time: and nurse practitioners. In the Hazard clinic on a recent ‘Yes, Doctor.’” As the volunteers come into the evening, Karen began her evening’s Karen found success but little Hindman clinic, they register and work by spending a few minutes fulfillment in acting. “I felt the need receive instruction from Barb or with Joseph and Denise, a young to give back to the community and Dina. Some are assigned to as couple who clean apartments for a to God and started going back to semble charts; others register living. Both have high blood church.” patients or take vital signs. pressure and other Some of the volunteers who chronic ailments. serve in the clinic are also Karen and Joseph patients, grateful to be able discuss his blood sugar to give back and help others. level. Since Karen began Just before Karen begins to treat him, Joseph has to see her patients at 6:00, been paying closer Dina invites nearly a dozen attention to diet and volunteers and the folks in nutrition. That attention, the waiting room to join in combined with the prayer. There are a few medication he receives, is announcements and a local helping to lower his minister who is volunteering blood sugar level. that evening leads the Denise describes her invocation. shortness of breath, a Karen goes about her result, she says of the work intent on providing the cleaning agents she has highest quality of medical been using. With care care. She mixes that profes and compassion, Karen sionalism with a joy inherent listens to the stories of in providing for people who their work and their otherwise could not receive struggle to make ends care. One might assume meet. Such stories are Karen is fulfilling a life-long Karen Kimsey, a native o f California, has found a home in typical of the patients Hazard, Ky. dream. Not so. As an that come to the Little undergraduate at the Flower Clinic. Karen University of California at Los prescribes the needed medications, By this time, Karen was in her Angeles, Karen studied political 30s, and beginning to think that a and orders lab work and x-rays. The science. She always had a passing career change - much less going medications dispensed are samples interest in medicine, she says, but into medicine — was out of the Karen and other area physicians didn’t consider herself smart receive in the course of their private question. “I said to a friend once, ‘I enough for medical school. really want to do this, but by the or group practices. Volunteers give “I’ve always loved to write, then time I’m a doctor, I’ll be in my 40s.’ patients a small supply of samples, just for fun I took some acting and then enroll them in prescription “You’ll be 40 regardless of what classes,” Karen says. She “fell in you do,” Karen’s friend mused. assistance programs that are love with acting” and achieved a sponsored by pharmaceutical “That did it,” she says. “I went to degree of both proficiency and medical school, with the intention of companies. Completing the heavy success. She downplays her paperwork involved with accessing going into missionary work.” accomplishments, but compared to free medications for low income While working in rural medicine most people who try to make a living as a student, Karen realized that people is one the chief tasks of Little at acting, she was wildly successful. missionary work doesn’t necessarily Flower volunteers. She worked in off-off-Broadway Lab and x-ray work are provided mean going overseas. The clinics in theatre (“Way off-Broadway. Like in Hindman and Hazard suit her desire at a discounted rate by local New Jersey,” she says.) and landed providers, for which the clinic is for mission, as she serves patients roles in such daytime dramas as billed. Funds to pay those bills are who have no insurance and whose

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people with sore throats, not people with diabetes and hypertension. But we’ve seen people who haven’t seen a doctor in 15 years, and diabetes and hyper tension top the list of things we see.” In addition to treating chronic illnesses that are so prevalent in the region, nurses at the clinic conduct education sessions that help people to manage their own care. “People are really good about going to Karen sees few children at the free clinic because o f a Kentucky program that provides insurance class,” Karen says. coverage fo r children from low-income families. “They just need an opportunity to care for themselves.” raised through private donations and not come from the medical From her mother, Marilyn, Karen community. “In universal health grants. Operation Sharing, the care, physicians would have to take says, she received a heart for mission Christian Appalachian Project inwork, and from her father, Lloyd, the a drastic cut in pay, and that’s just kind donation distribution program, not going to happen. I hear people gift of persistence. recently delivered a load of office “I was never really that good, but supplies to the Hindman clinic. Even talk about the flaws in the systems when I was a kid, I was pretty athletic a free clinic must keep good records. in Canada and Great Britain, but and was on the track team,” she Dina, who ran a franchise for a large there certainly are flaws in this recalls. “I went to a little school, and system, too. optical company before becoming won just about every race I entered. “I was watching a Sunday Little Flower’s only employee, is morning news program a few weeks One time, when I was in a race grateful that the clinic is not against people who went to much ago, and heard the host talk about involved in the intricacies of billing. bigger schools, Mom and Dad came how great our health care system “Because we’re on all the mailing to watch me. I got about halfway is. I just couldn’t believe how lists for medical clinics, I get mail all around the track and was so far uninformed someone in that the time that promotes billing position could be about the lack of behind, I just said, ‘To heck with it,’ software or insurance that will and quit. I was so upset I was crying protect a practice from billing errors. insurance and number of people and I remember my dad telling me ‘It who are underinsured. Our health But we just have to take care of doesn’t matter if you win, but it does care system is great for the very patients,” Dina says. rich and the very poor, but there’s a matter if you finish. ’” “There are 20 free clinics in this Karen often remembers that advice. state” Karen says. “Every one of us huge group of people in the middle The realities of repaying college who are just trapped.” wants to be able to shut down loans prevent Karen serving full time Health care advocates echo this because of universal health care. Someone shouldn’t have to sell their reality and underscore the fact that in the free clinic, but she says that much of the camaraderie of the regardless of the work of free furniture to be able to buy medi workers in the clinic stems from the clinics, such providers cannot cine,” she says, describing the fact that all are volunteers. “And possibly meet the need for care situation of a family she met during we’re all exhausted,” Karen says. that should be met in Appalachia the early days of the clinic. “We’ve all been given gifts and as and throughout the nation. Karen is unsure what it would we’re working, we’re just giving back Despite the experience she had take to implement universal health the gifts that we’ve been given. No during medical school, the clinic care intheU.S. matter what we’re doing, we all give has held some surprises for Karen. “I won’t see it in my lifetime,” she what we can.” “I thought I would be seeing admits and says that support will

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area was a product of the education he received in Knott County: grade schools, Hindman High School and Alice Lloyd College, known then as Caney Junior College. Because of the decrease in population of Eastern Kentucky noted by the 1990 census, the 7th f \ ir itv fa O L District of Kentucky was combined with the 5th District and today is the seventh district of Kentucky, and represented by Republican Harold When Alice Spenser Geddes Lloyd moved from her native Boston was an advocate of adult education, D. Rogers. scholarships, work study and student in 1916 to teach children in Appala Total population of Knott County loans. Perkins’ influence in the area of is 18,414. Ten percent of the chia, she began her work in Knott job training and adult education County, Kentucky. Before long, population is over the according to the archives of age of 65. Forty-five Alice Lloyd College, Miss percent of the people in Geddes realized that she was Knott County are high teaching some of the brightest, school graduates and most inquisitive children she had eight percent are college ever met. Since the early days of graduates. The per the 20th century, Knott County capita income is $ 11,361. has had a wealth of quality In his autobiography, education with the presence of Kentucky poet laureate Alice Lloyd College, the June James Still described Buchanan School, and the Hindman: “Hindman Hindman Settlement School, was a village of some where the late James Still, noted Students from Alice Lloyd College. two hundred souls with author and poet laureate of a single blacktop road continued even after his death, Kentucky, served as librarian for leading from Hazard in Perry County many years. Knott County was evidenced by the passage and and terminating abruptly in midtown signing of the Carl D. Perkins formed in 1884 as Kentucky’s 118th at the creek bank where a bridge had Vocational and Applied Technology county of 120, formed from Floyd washed out. Until another bridge Education Act of 1990 which funds and Letcher counties. was in place, a body had to walk a The county was named for James cooperative programs and plank during low-water or resort to a Proctor Knott, who was governor of agreements between secondary jumping-pole when there was a schools and community colleges. Kentucky at that time. ‘tide.’ You could cash a check at Perkins’ innovative thinking in this 4:00 a.m., the cashier an early riser, Hindman, the seat of Knott County, is a small town at and call for mail at the forks of Troublesome midnight, the postmaster -HeritageCreek. A post office an insomniac. I was By James Still opened on the site in 1874 assigned Box 13. Nobody I shall not leave these prisoning hills and named the small town else would have it.” Though they topple their barren heads to level earth McPherson. As the town Those who live and work And the forests slide uprooted out o f the sky. grew, the name was in Knott County smile Though the waters o f Troublesome, o f Trace Fork, changed to Hindman in knowingly when they read O f Sand Lick rise in a single body to glean the valleys, 1884 when the county was Still’s description. To drown lush pennyroyal, to unravel rail fences; formed and named for then In honor of the inaugura Though the sun-ball breaks the ridges into dust Lieutenant Governor James tion of Paul Patton as And burns its strength into blistered rock P. Hindman. The popula I cannot leave. I cannot go away. governor of Kentucky in Being o f these hills, being one with thefo x tion in 1990 was 798. 1995, James Still wrote Stealing into the shadows, one with the new-born foal, Hindman is also the Heritage, a poem honoring The lumbering ox drawing green beech logs to mill, birthplace of Carl D. Patton’s Appalachian home One with the destinedfeet o f man climbing and descending, Perkins, congressman from as well as the his own ties And one with death rising to bloom again, I cannot go. Kentucky from 1949 to to Knott County. Being o f these hills I cannot pass beyond. 1984. Perkins represented

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native of Knott County, his service work in his home county gives Ken a unique perspective on both the problems of the area and the solutions being devised to combat those problems. Floyd County, he said, has had an increase in the resources people need to fight the poverty and low education levels in the county. Knott and Magoffin, though, are still struggling to take advantage of those resources. Like many of the counties in the eastern part of the state, Knott County suffers from a high unem ployment rate and few employment opportunities. Ken travels from his home in Knott County to the Operation Sharing warehouse in Johnson County. All of his family members work outside of Knott County, he said. Before beginning his work with CAP, Ken worked for 15 years in a union coal mine. With the exception of a couple of non-union mines, he said, those jobs are no longer available. “I was laid off and unemployed for ten months, then saw an advertisement for a CAP caseworker.” Ken has a couple of years of college experience and had taken and passed the test to become a caseworker for the state. The passing grade on the test gave Ken the confidence that he would be suited for the CAP job, so he applied and got the position. His work in Operation Sharing is quite different from casework, he said, but he is pleased with the contribu tions the program makes to his home county. In 2001 thus far, there have been 650 organizations that have received goods from the Hagerhill warehouse. Ken estimates that they have added a hundred groups

When the Christian Appalachian Project opened its Operation Sharing warehouse in Hagerhill, in-kind donations received from hundreds of individuals and corporations became more readily accessible to counties in the Big Sandy region of Eastern Kentucky. Among them was Knott County. Not long after the Christian Appalachian Project began service programs in the Floyd County area in the early 1980s, the organization recognized a need for services in adjacent Knott County. In addition to the direct services CAP provides in Knott County, warehouse manager Ken Slone estimates that 25 organizations in the county receive items from Operation Sharing. Programs that operate under the auspices of the local community action agency, churches, and schools on all levels receive items intended to advance missions of many descriptions. One of Kentucky’s most famous settlement schools, Alice Lloyd College, receives a variety of material through Operation Sharing, Ken said, including toys which are distributed through its Christmas program. The June Buchanan School, with grades kindergarten through twelve, is located on the same Pippa Passes campus in Knott County. As with other private and public schools in the county, the school has access to everything from “clothing to candy,” Ken said. “All together, the groups that get things from Opera tion Sharing probably serve 3500 people in the county.” Ken has worked in Operation Sharing for two years, after serving for nearly eight years as an outreach caseworker in Floyd, Magoffin and Knott counties. As a

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in the past year and he sees signs that they will enroll another hundred in the coming year. The 3500 people that Operation Sharing in Knott County touched are a portion of the 1.5 million people through the 13-state Appala chian region that were served overall by the program during the year. That is in addition to the $4 million worth of Operation Sharing goods that were used in CAP direct service programs. “We feel really good about that,” Ken said. “That’s triple what they used last year.” Although the warehouse in Hagerhill is a bit smaller than its counterpart in Corbin, its activity level is “hectic, sometimes,” Ken said. “Four or five big truckloads fill the place up, but we don’t let things sit for very long.” Non-profit organizations from throughout the Appalachian region are encouraged to register to receive items from both the Corbin and Hagerhill warehouses. They are invited to call frequently to leam what is available from Operation Sharing. A recent call to Hagerhill revealed that they had a wide variety of items, including paper cups, Christian literature, plastic, office supplies, picture frames and over-the-counter cough syrup. Operation Sharing has a policy of accepting only items that will advance CAP’S mission or that of the grass roots organizations that

Operation Sharing in Hagerhill has nearly 3,000 square feet o f warehouse space. The office is in Johnson County, Ky.

serve the people of Appalachia. Because those missions are so broad and so inclusive, there are very few things Operation Sharing cannot accept and distribute throughout the region. Storage space for frozen food presents a particular problem, Ken said. But with enough advance notice, the warehouse workers can make the needed contacts to have the food distributed as soon as it is delivered. “I’d hate to see anything wasted,” Ken said. “And it hasn’t happened yet.” When Operation Sharing receives specialized deliveries, Ken makes the effort to call the organizations that can make the best use of them, he said. Safety equipment, for example, is distributed to volunteer fire departments, rescue squads and emergency medical technical units.

After the recent Martin County coal slurry spill, fresh water was distributed throughout the Big Sandy region through Operation Sharing.

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Such donations enable public service providers to stretch their resources, especially in counties where resources are scarce. When resources and time allow, Operation Sharing truck driver Brownie Meade will transport a load of materials to a remote location and distribute the materials from the truck, rather than requiring recipients to travel to Hagerhill. “When we can do that, it’s a big help to people,” Ken said. Through contributions from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Utah, Operation Sharing stocks many used clothing stores throughout the region, and enables direct service groups to help families who have experienced home burnouts. Ken sees growth and improvement in Knott County, particularly in programs and services for youth and teens. “It’s hard to attract industry, but there’s been a rumor going around that some of the mines are going to start working again.” Recent volatility concerning power and energy sources in the United States gives validity to the rumors about a resurgence of the coal industry. Ken said that such a resurgence would have a good effect on the employment and economic standing of Knott County. A youthful laugh contradicted Ken’s claim: “I’m too old to go back the mines. Sometimes I miss the guys that I worked with, but I like what I’m doing now, and I like why I’m doing it.”

Judy Yates is a hard worker. Just about anyone who has ever worked with her will tell you that. She’ll even tell you that herself. She’s not bragging, but saying that despite her reputation as a hard worker, she knew she could go only so far. The fourth of nine children, Judy grew up in Pike County, Kentucky, where her father worked as a coal miner. When she was seven years old, Judy’s father was disabled in a mining accident, “and all of us kids had to pick up the slack,” she said. Judy has happy memories of her childhood and remains close to her family, but work and survival rather than books and education bound the family together. After her sophomore year in high school, Judy left her family in Pike County and moved to an aunt’s home in Newport, Tennessee. Her uncle lied about Judy’s age, adding two years to her 16 so she could work as a machine operator making bedposts in a woodtuming factory.

by Margaret Gabriel Photos courtesy o f Judy Yates

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“Then when I was 17,1 got married. My age was in the paper and my boss saw it. He told me he would forget he saw I wasn’t 18, because he loved my work.” When she married Donald, Judy’s life took the path she assumed it would take, the path that most girls who grew up in the mountains during those years saw their mothers travel. The assumption was often unspoken, but most girls assumed they would spend their lives caring for a home and a family. Men would take the few good jobs. Women, if they worked outside the home at all, worked in factories or service jobs that didn’t pay very well, but required little or no education. Judy says she always felt a little ashamed that she hadn’t finished high school, but compen sated by becoming a very hard worker. Judy wants to be a part of CAP

The years went by. In 1977, Judy and Donald had their first daughter, Loretta; two years later Letisha was bom. The family moved back to Kentucky where Donald went to work in the coal mines. Judy decided not to go back to work, and stayed home to care for their daughters. A slowdown in the mines in 1984 pushed Judy back into the work force in the deli of a local grocery, and the thought of returning to school to get a high school equiva lency diploma was less and less possible. “As I’d help the girls with their homework, I said all the time that I didn’t ever want them to quit. I told them I’d do anything to get them into college. I’d been out of school for 20 years, so by the time they got into high school, they passed me they were way above my range. Tish was taking calculus and I hadn’t even taken algebra. Donald could help her some, but I told them after I got them raised I going back to school. I tried to go a couple of times when I was raising them, but with working and taking care of a

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Letisha Yates.

family, it was just too much.” A member of the Prestonsburg Church of God, Judy became acquainted with the Christian Appalachian Project when her pastor was a CAP employee. “He told us he had tmcks that needed to be unloaded at Christmas time, and I came to help. I could see that CAP was a good place to work and volunteering made me want to be a part of it,” Judy said. Although CAP today requires a high school diploma of all its employees, an opening for a custodian had no such requirement at that time. “And that’s how I got my foot in the door,” Judy said.

Judy loves to clean, so custodial work suited her. The ability to request any cleaning supply her heart desired was “a dream,” she said. “I’d just leave a list of what I needed, and in the morning I would have it. It was great.” After an injury on the job, Judy was re-assigned as a receptionist. In that job she filed much of the paperwork for the human resources department and began to see the large number of jobs that CAP had. She noted that every one of them required a high school graduate. “I knew I had the potential to do most of those jobs, but I didn’t have the diploma.”

In 1993, Judy applied to work in a program that CAP was just starting: Rejoice Respite. The program had spun off the elderly services program and was designed to give relief to people who provide roundthe-clock care to family members. As a young girl, Judy had helped both her mother and her aunt provide care to both her grandmothers. “I loved it,” she remembers, “and even then I knew that’s what I wanted to do with my life.” But Judy’s dream withered because of the lack of a high school diploma. “I submitted the only in-house application they got for that job, and still I was denied.”

big party.’” Finally Judy gives credit to Vanessa Tackett, a CAP adult education teacher. “I had been in education programs before, but nobody could get it in my head like Vanessa could. I had a terrible time with math, especially fractions. We would go over them and over them one week, then the next week we’d

“You always make things seem harder”

Judy’s girls did exceptionally well in high school. Both worked hard, got good grades, participated in many activities and prepared for college. And just a few months ago, like she promised them, Judy received her high school diploma. “I’ll tell you what motivated me to try. One day, Tish said, ‘Come here, Mom, I’m going to show you how to get on the computer.’ She sat me down and told me what to do and said, ‘See? It’s easy. Mom, listen, you always make things seem harder than they are.’” One month later, Tish was killed in an automobile accident. “Even that night she was killed, I could hear her say ‘You always make things seem harder than they are.’ And I knew then that I could get through anything, even losing a child.” Judy gives three people credit for her success in achieving her goal of obtaining a diploma. “First is Letisha. The second one is Rose Price [CAP director of human services]. Rose kept telling me how important it was to get that piece of paper. She said, ‘You can do it, and when you do we’re gonna have a

have to start all over again. But she just knew what to do to get into my brain. Anybody else would have sent me back to the house.” Judy earns an NEDP

Judy’s degree is not the GED, but an actual high school diploma, which she achieved through the National External Diploma Pro gram. The program, designed by the state of New York and the Syracuse Research Corporation, grew out of a study that was designed to identify reasons why many adults don’t earn high school equivalency through GED testing.The study found that people over age 21 are reluctant to enroll in GED programs for many reasons. Many were anxious about

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taking the test, having failed in such skills in the past. They believed that the skills and content of the lessons had no application to their current experience. Most of all, the study determined that adults want to be valued for their life achievements rather than be labeled as “drop outs.” The NEDP answers these traditional problems by highlighting the accomplish ments of people who have entered the work force and are raising a family, and encourag ing students to adopt their own learning styles. The NEDP is an assessment program rather than an instructional program that consists of two phases. The first is a diagnostic phase, which evaluates skills in reading, writing, mathematics and entry level job skills. After completing the phase, the applicant receives a prescriptive analysis of skills that need to be upgraded and makes suggestions concerning community resources that can be accessed to acquire instruction or training. When the applicant believes that the needed upgrade has been met, he or she returns for re assessment. In the second stage, the assessment phase requires the completion of 65 competencies that are embedded in tasks that include communication, computation, selfawareness, social awareness, consumer awareness and scientific awareness. One task, for example, might deal with goal planning, said Vanessa. “They would have to decide on a job that they’d like to get and research how to get that job. They’d look in the newspaper, and then design a cover letter, a resume and an application. They’d have to do a self-evaluation and determine what they have to offer an employer.” Each task involves gathering, analyzing, manipulating and applying data and reaching a

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L-R, Judy s daughters, Loretta and Letisha; Letisha s fiancé, Stephen Hunter, Judy.

conclusion. As one of her tasks, Vanessa recalls that Judy studied an atlas and decided on a country that she would like to visit. “She selected England and then had to research the aspects of its culture and ex plain why she wanted to visit,” Vanessa said. The task required Judy to both write a paper and give an oral presentation on her research at the Carl D. Perkins Center, the NEDP assessment site in the region. CAP works in conjunction with the center to help students that are working toward an external diploma. Vanessa, a native of Floyd County, Kentucky, and a graduate of Alice Lloyd College and Morehead State University, began working in CAP adult education after teaching children and adults with mental retardation. “When I started here, I prayed for the knowledge and wisdom to do the job,” Vanessa said. “I don’t know how anyone else works, but

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this is my home. The people I teach are my family, my neighbors, the people I go to church with. I knew I could teach them if I could convince them that they could do it. And that’s the hardest part of my job. In the past they may have had a bad experience with education. They drop out, thinking they’re just not cut out for school, but I’ve never met anyone who couldn’t learn.” Half of Vanessa students are working on a GED, and half are working on the NEDP, she said. After they graduate, most of the younger people in the program go on to Prestonsburg Community College or the Mayo Technical School. Vanessa has learned, however, that after they finish whatever level of education they choose, many have a hard time entering the work force. “I suspect it’s because they don’t have the support of family and friends, and I’d like to see CAP work toward providing that support.

I’d like to continue working with people until they get into a struc ture,” Vanessa said. CAP provided great support to Judy as she was working on her NEDP, allowing her to study during the day and make up the hours in the evening. “And they let me work here in the conference room,” Judy recalled. “I couldn’t work at home. If I did, I’d stop studying and start cleaning.” One of the competencies Judy completed in the communication task was a persuasive paragraph. Vanessa Tackett teaches thirty students in the CAP Adult Educa tion Center in Wayland, Kentucky, and reads pages and pages of their work every week. She recalls, though, being moved by the paragraph that Judy wrote. “It addressed why she decided to go back to school and get her high school diploma. She realized that she could do more for her family, and that her daughter had always wanted her to get it.”

Letisha and Loretta pose before a dance recital.

“For women in the work force, it’s a must.” When Judy called Vanessa for assistance obtaining her diploma, although both worked for the Christian Appalachian Project, they had met only a few times. “But I knew who she was,” Vanessa said. “I knew that she was having a hard time after the death of her daughter.” When they started working together, Judy often belittled herself, telling Vanessa, “You’ll think I’m the dumbest person in the world - I’ll never be able to get this math.” Later she confided that she had tried several times to work on her high school diploma, but had failed. This time, though, Vanessa could see that she was determined. “After she realized ‘I can do this,’ she just sailed through,” Vanessa said. “Even as good a worker as I am, I was never content without that diploma,” Judy said. “It haunted me. Every time I applied for a job, I got to the page that asked about education and I’d feel like an ant.” The only job that Judy had ever failed to get was the one she really wanted - the job in Rejoice Respite. In factory work in the 1970s and 1980s, the lack of a diploma wasn’t an issue. “But that was then, and

this is now,” she said. “Now to go to Dairy Queen and flip a burger, you have to have diploma. For women in the work force, it’s a must.” When Judy was working on her NEDP, a job came open in Rejoice Respite. She applied and received the job - the only job she ever really wanted. It has been two years since Letisha was killed. Judy and Donald frequently visit the farm they purchased in Tennessee where they buried their daughter. Judy is closer

than ever to Loretta and particularly treasures their time together. While sorting through papers and stories that Letisha daughters wrote when she was in school, Judy said, “I can see the seeds that I planted in her. She used different characters, but I can see myself in them, and I can see Donald. We’re all role models for our children. Whether we think we are or not, it comes out in our children. “When we were working on homework years ago, she’d tell me something was hard, but I’d say, ‘You can do it.’ Then she gave that right back to me.”

Loretta, Stephen, Letisha and Donald at Tish s graduation at Fort Leonard. Letisha was a member o f the Army National Guard.

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Moe Mercier T he

Only a few years after the Christian Appalachian Project had been incorporated - and many years before it would look the way it looks today - founder Father Ralph Beiting received a letter from La Salette Brother Maurice Mercier, who had been working for a number of years to establish a family retreat program at the La Salette Center for Christian Living in Attleboro, Massachusetts. “I had been looking for an outside experience to help us grow in our work with families, and after I got a letter from Fr. Beiting, I contacted him,” Moe said. The summer of2001 marks the

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30th anniversary of Moe Mercier’s involvement with CAP, involvement that began with a summer Bible School. Today, Moe serves as CAP’s vice-president of human services and is responsible for leadership of the most crucial aspect of the organization: its service to the people of Appalachia. In 1971, the volunteers from the Center for Christian Living had been working together for over a year on a family retreat program. Moe recalls that he had been looking for a growth experience both for himself as the director of the family retreat program and for his volunteers. “I was trying to give a spiritual

focus to this group,” Moe says. “We had created a bond, but I wanted to expand our experience in justice work so we could see what needs existed and what we could do to respond beyond ourselves.” The summer volunteer experience led Moe to create “Operation Can Do.” Upon returning to Massachu setts, the volunteers at the Center for Christian Living worked to gather canned food, clothing and shoes for distribution through the Christian Appalachian Project. For several years at Thanksgiving, Moe and other workers would drive trucks to Berea, Ky., and unload the goods they had collected. The early to mid-1970s were times of turbulence in the Catholic Church, particularly within religious orders of men and women. Moe found himself caught up in the great “avalanche,” he calls it, of people asking to be dispensed from their vows. “I couldn’t see vowing to a life a poverty when, really, I wasn’t poor,” Moe says. “I had everything I wanted and I really began to question those vows.” After receiving a year’s leave of absence, Moe contacted Fr. Beiting and asked to serve in Appalachia for that year, a year that indeed deter mined a new direction for his life. Assigned to work in Berea, Ky., Moe was responsible for transport ing children to the child develop ment center that CAP was establish ing through the efforts of Ellen Burke and for a teen group. As head volunteer, Moe was also responsible for what little administration CAP needed at that time and for adminis trative tasks of St. Clare’s Catholic

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Church, one of the four churches that Father Beiting served as pastor. At the end of the year, Moe became a CAP employee, one of just a handful at that time. With Bob Weick, another CAP volunteer-tumed-employee, Moe began working on renovations on Cliffview Lodge, with the intention of opening a group home for boys. “Before I finalized my decision, I had talked to Fr. Beiting about opening a group Left, Moe s wife Stephanie Mercier; right, CAPfounder Father Ralph Beiting. home,” Moe says. “I wanted to begin a program that would give one last opportunity to week. That education program, Moe prompted by the Spirit. Those ideas boys ages 16 to 18 who had been in and programs were really Godsaid, was the origin of CAP’s trouble and wanted to change their driven. A lot of wonderful people present-day adult education lives. I wanted to help them catch have created CAP and Father program, which now offers support that one special moment that would Beiting has trusted them to let those to students throughout Eastern make a difference for them.” programs emerge,” Moe says. Kentucky. A court injunction from the “That’s Gospel, and that’s why I Moe’s success with the program neighbors on Bryant’s Camp Road came and settled here.” resulted in an offer to work for prevented the group home opening Moe believes that same spirit Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Town in at Cliffview Lodge, but on August drives the changes CAP is currently Nebraska. 12,1975, the home opened at nearby making. “I’ll be moving my office to “I wasn’t interested,” Moe Camp Nelson. Hagerhill and Steph and I are recalls. “I wanted to work with the By the time the group home thinking about moving over there, poor and a lot of our boys came opened, Moe had married Stephanie too.” from poor families in Appalachia.” Theriault and the young couple Moe and Steph’s youngest son, Moe managed the group home for lived in an apartment above the almost nine years and was invited to Christopher, finished high school in group home until shortly before the spring 2001, so the couple is join CAP’s first management team birth of their third son. The presence in the early 1980s. In that position, experiencing the new freedom of of a stable, committed family in the “empty nesters.” A nurse practioner, Moe was involved in making the group home had a tremendous Steph is interested in investigating difficult decision to close the group influence on the boys. ways to serve the health care needs home in 1988. “Most of the boys “But it went beyond Steph and in the Big Sandy region, Moe says. the state was asking us to serve me,” Moe says. “I believe our family were from Louisville and other Because he was looking for ways extended to include Mrs. Kidney to live Gospel, Moe Mercier began more urban areas in Kentucky,” [the GED coordinator at the Group to investigate the work of the Moe says. When it became more Home] and the entire staff. The Christian Appalachian Project and and more difficult to hire and retain whole atmosphere was important for the needed staff, Moe could see that has come to believe that CAP is the change.” The CAP Group Home was donors’ dollars could be more Gospel in action. enormously successful and had a “CAP didn’t emerge from a effectively spent in ways that would recidivism rate of only 58 percent. business plan. It emerged out of reach out to the Appalachian boys The boys worked with Mrs. Harriet God’s grace, by human beings he desired to serve. Kidney and two other teachers in an coming together and trying to follow “I really believe that the pro education program five nights a God’s will.” grams that have emerged were

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A Hug and A Cup Of Coffee Waiting The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 did, indeed, change welfare as we know it. And in response to those changes, the Christian Appalachian Project established JobStart. The program started slowly, at first, as a pilot pro gram in Berea, Ky. The program was building successfully in areas where there was a need for welfare-to-work transition programs. Although much of the start-up funding for JobStart was received from a state grant, workers recently learned that those state funds would no longer be available. For some groups that would have spelled the end of the program. But not for CAP. “When state funding stopped, CAP picked up the program and gave it the gift of time,” said JobStart teacher Sandy Spaulding. “In its third year of operation, JobStart programs were yielding gifts, find a way and im pacting lives. JobStart programs operate in Rockcastle and Magoffin counties of Kentucky and recently an office was opened in the small Floyd County com munity of Wayland. The twelve-week curriculum offers students what they need most: hope, skills, self-esteem, a relationship with God and finally, a place to come home to. JobStart teachers know it’s a tough world out there and no matter how successful students are, they need to know there’s always a hug and a cup of coffee waiting when things get tough. JobStart workers and students know whom to thank for that reassur ance. Thanks go to CAP’S donors, people who believe not only in JobStart, but in its students. Your donation of $50, $75, $125 - more if you’re able - to JobStart, or where it’s needed most will assure that people in need will always have help helping themselves.

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• The 1997 Kentucky Adult Literacy Survey revealed that 40 percent of the state’s working-age population had modest, minimal or no functional literacy skills. • Throughout the state of Kentucky, 35 percent of the adults have not completed high school. • In some areas served by CAP, that number is as high as 50 percent. • In Fiscal Year 2000, CAP expended nearly 29 percent of its total revenue on educa tion programs

Shaded area indicates the boundaries of the Appalachia region