For 12 years, The Rev. Dr. Cathy Deats of St. James Episcopal Church has been spending a summer’s week in Appalachia. There she joins other volunteers on work crews that are fixing houses so that the poor in that depressed area can be warmer, drier, and safer. The program is called the Episcopal Appalachian Ministries. It is an outreach of the Episcopal Church, specifically ten Dioceses which are located in the Appalachian region, from Central Pennsylvania to East Tennessee. Deats admits that what first drew her to the program were the chance to meet people in a different part of the country and the chance to do the repair work (which she loves). However, over time her perspective has changed and what now draws her there is the spirit of the people of Appalachia. This summer Deats again went to work in the area and traveling with her were both some "seasoned" St. James’ volunteers and a newcomer who not only helped repair homes but got a feel for the Appalachian culture.
The five people from St. Jame’s who made the trip were : Deats, Bill Critchley, Brian Nolan, Sylvia Okoye, and Russ Worthington. Joe Hill, a parishioner from St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Englewood, joined them. Years of experience working on the house crews ranged from Deat’s 12 years to 0; it was Okoye’s first time there.
The group left St. James’ on July 28th and traveled to Roanoke, Virginia. After spending the night there, the group attended worship at Christ Episcopal Church in town and then they were back on the road. Their destination was a work camp, Grace House On the Mountain, in St. Paul, Virginia.
"Our accommodations [at Grace House] were bunkhouses where men shared one and women another. Each bunkhouse holds 12-14 people who sleep in bunkbeds and share a bathroom. We were introduced to the "Appalachian shower" - a limit of five minutes due to water and septic issues on the mountain," said Deats.
The people in the area survive on meager means. For example, in one town unemployment is at 90%. Deats explained that with the change to mechanization in the mining industry, men are no longer needed for the mines in that area; so, the jobs are gone. Those jobs that do exist are in areas such as low end retail. There’s also a lot of retired miners with black lung disease. Most people are on fixed incomes.
The work projects took the volunteers to Clintwood, Dante, and Coeburn, Virginia. There were four worksites. On one site, the crew was involved building a 30-foot ramp to accommodate a resident in a wheelchair.
"Lots of time is spent replacing rotted flooring, re-siding trailers and repairing inside damage from previous leaks (after a roof is repaired)," said Deats.
One flooring project introduced the New Jerseyans to the Appalachian "language".
"The flooring project was for a trailer which had damage due to a plumbing problem. The entire floor was replaced from sub-floor up to tile, which in Appalachia is known as "rug." This created some confusion as we thought the homeowner was speaking of carpet instead of linoleum or vinyl," said Deats.
While staying at the work camp, the volunteers listened to "stories through song". These were presentations by local musicians and storytellers which varied from gospel songs to stories of the mines to comical folktales. They also were visited by a geologist for the mining industry who explained how surface and deep coal mining are done in the region.
An important part of the program was visiting and talking with the families that they were helping: the people first, then comes the work. Families in Appalachia are close-knit with generations living close to each other.
On the day they returned from their trip, a Sunday, the St. James’ people shared their favorite work camp stories at worship.
Among those shared was Nolan explaining about the difference between "rug" and "carpet" in Appalachia.
First-timer Okoye shared many things. She enjoyed hearing the family stories of the homeowner where she worked. (The woman had pictures all over of the children she raised as an informal foster mom.) Okoye also shared about learning how to use power tools. And, she liked the trip to a state park in Kentucky (which was nearby) where there was an icy pool with a waterfall where the St . James’ volunteers took a swim.
Looking at her work camp experiences over the years, Deats repeated that the initial draw was that she loved the work and loved meeting families that live in a different culture.
Deats said that now her impetus for going on the trips is because she wants the adults and teens of her church to have the experience of meeting these people and seeing their lifestyle. Today people have gotten to a point where they feel they can’t live unless they have the non-essentials of life (like i-pods, etc.). That attachment to material goods is not there in Appalachia the way it is in other parts of society. They put people before things.
Simply put, Deats said," if they have and see you need it, it’s yours."
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