Are you called to the mountains?

The Christian Appalachian Project Volunteer Office is a flurry of activity these days as we review some outstanding applications for summer camp and long-term volunteering. But if you’re worried about missing one of our application deadlines, don’t be! We are continuing to accept applications for this summer and fall, and we look forward to receiving yours. We are currently seeking volunteers for the following opportunities:

Summer Camp: We are in need of camp counselors, lifeguards, and medical staff (RNs, LPNs, and EMTs) for Camp Shawnee (June 2-July 26) and Camp AJ (June 17-August 2). Minimum three-week commitment for counselors and lifeguards; minimum one-week commitment for medical staff. Individuals accepted for a commitment of 7-8 weeks may be eligible to serve as AmeriCorps Members and could receive a $1,175 Education Award for student loans or tuition. Our summer camps serve children ages 6-15, most of whom come from low-income families. Watch our video to learn more.

Short-term: In addition to summer camp volunteers, we also need volunteers for our home repair programs and in our thrift store this summer. Minimum three-week commitment.

Long-term: Are you seeking a commitment of one year to full-time Service, intentional Community, and Spirituality or personal reflection? Our next long-term volunteer class will begin their service August 1-September 21, and we will be interviewing candidates throughout the summer. See available positions.

Apply today to join our mission this summer or fall. Questions? Email Daniel Landesman or call us at 606-256-0973 or 800-755-5322.

For Week 3 of YouthFest this year, we were visited by the freshman class of St. Anne’s-Belfield School. What follows is a blog post from their trip:

We are the “Pink” group for the week, 14 strong, and we are working at a trailer which is located at the end of a hollow in Eastern Kentucky. Our participant lives next door to her daughter and three of her great-grandchildren. Our goal is to rebuild two decks, one on the front and one on the back, and to build two wheelchair ramps for ease of access.

Our first day was spent demolishing the old decks, preparing the pickets for the new decks, and building deck boxes. Students quickly learned how to measure square corners and dig holes using a digging bar and post hole digger. Hammers and the sledge hammer were also much-used tools our first day, and the demolition was completed fairly quickly. The only thing more satisfying than tearing something down is to see what is built in its place, which is what we’ve been focusing on since midday Monday. By the end of the day Tuesday, the back deck and ramp was nearly complete. A lot of progress was also made on the front deck, but given its larger size and higher elevation, there is still more work to be done.

It’s been fun to see how quickly everyone has become comfortable with taking measurements and marking boards. They also now handle all the tools like seasoned pros. Everyone took turns with the various tasks, whether using a level, digging holes and setting posts, or nailing deck boards and installing railings. The pickets that students had readied on Monday were put up, and it was exciting to see the transformation from a small, rickety back deck to a large, sturdy deck with wheelchair ramp. Though tired and sweaty, we were all satisfied by what we achieved, and we are looking forward to all that we will accomplish tomorrow.

To celebrate our hard work, we went to the local Dairy Queen when we returned to Martin and had a pre-dinner treat. We then enjoyed a great night of bluegrass music with the band “Five Miles From Nowhere.” There was square dancing, lots of foot-stomping and hand-clapping, along with students playing with the band. We are loving our time here in Kentucky, and as one student noted after writing in our journals, “Appalachia is beautiful.”

Click here for a PDF of this issue

CAP employees and volunteers who helped in the renovation gather for the ribbon cutting at the Foley Mission Center.

CAP celebrates new Foley Mission Center

A dream came true for CAP in February when the Louis T. Foley Mission Center was dedicated in Floyd County. This state-of-the art facility can house 120 volunteers for short-term service experiences, such as WorkFest and YouthFest. And this is just one of its many uses.

Harold Underwood, CAP Volunteer Life and Group Manager for the Sandy Valley Region, is especially pleased to see the fruition of this two-year project that had been envisioned even before that. “It is giving us a very safe, comfortable, accommodating place to house many short-term volunteers,” he says. “We were so limited before with how many volunteers we can take.”

It’s the “comfortable” that Volunteer Program Director Kathleen Leavell is especially excited about. She recalls that in CAP’s earlier days, volunteers would sometimes ask Father Beiting why they should sleep in such a nice bed when the people they served didn’t have that luxury. Kathleen remembers Father Beiting saying, “I don’t want you worrying about meeting your own needs here. I want you focused on serving others.”

“I think it’s wonderful to be able to give these volunteers what Father wanted to allow them to really serve,” she says.

Volunteers benefit CAP in more ways than the service they provide. “The more volunteers who come and get to know the families and what they’re truly like, the more we will hopefully dispel any stereotypes that are still out there,” she says, acknowledging the still national lack of understanding of the Appalachian region. “Volunteers often come thinking they are bringing a strong and healing Christ to those who are hurting and they are shocked and humbled at the strength and faith of the people they meet.”

Sharing their stories at home make volunteers ambassadors not only for CAP, but for the entire Appalachian region. The center will provide a meeting place for CAP and community organization gatherings. Harold says the facility will also be a location for larger CAP gatherings as well as for use by community and nonprofit groups. In addition, the natural disasters of the past few years have pointed to the need for a larger facility that might temporarily serve as a shelter, if required.

Volunteer Jim Osterlund coordinated the renovation.

Long-term volunteer Jim Osterlund is also forward-thinking when it comes to uses of the center. Jim has been the primary person coordinating the renovation of the new mission center, formerly the Mountain Christian Academy.

“I think we really need to stretch ourselves and see how it can be used,” he says. “It needs to be a true community center to support a variety of activities.” He sees that leading to more people in eastern Kentucky knowing about CAP’s work.

Besides providing those uses, the building also serves as an example of how a building can be “repurposed” to serve a local need. Although CAP did hire a few contractors, Jim coordinated the renovation primarily using volunteers. He also put to use donated materials, such as boxes of tile. He says his biggest reward has been seeing the entire project come together.

WorkFest volunteers were the first to use the center. Then Harold prepared for the arrival of a church and school group that planned to bring 120 volunteers for YouthFest.

Much of the thanks for the center goes to the two largest donors for the project, The James Graham Brown Foundation and Louis T. Foley, a regular CAP donor who remembered CAP generously in his estate.

The dream is a reality that many have taken part in and will continue to use as CAP’s mission moves forward.

CAP Quicks

The winter volunteer orientation welcomed nine new long-term volunteers.

The Volunteer Office has moved to the former Healing Rain building, which some alumni remember as the Mt. Vernon House. Stop by and say hello if you’re in town.

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WorkFest crews served in two new locations this year: Laurel Lake Baptist Camp in Whitley County, from where volunteers completed eight projects in McCreary County, and the Foley Mission Center in Floyd County, from where crews worked on projects in Johnson, Floyd, Lawrence and Knott Counties. Thirty-six colleges and 62 alumni participated.

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YouthFest was held at the Foley Mission Center with 10 high school groups and 27 alumni participating.

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The Volunteer Program has a new volunteer recruiter, second-year volunteer Daniel Landesman. Daniel, who previously served in the Housing program, began his service in the Volunteer Office in January. He’ll be visiting colleges and speaking with prospective volunteers through December, 2013. Daniel joins four other long-term volunteers who “serve those who serve” as volunteer group hosts and in administrative roles in the Volunteer Program. You can expect to hear from Daniel this spring and fall if you have volunteered to attend recruiting events on behalf of CAP.

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Summer Camp 2013 will be held at Camp Shawnee from June 3 to July 26 and at Camp Andrew Jackson from June 17 to August 2. Summer camp counselors, lifeguards, and RNs and LPNs are still needed, so spread the word to candidates through Facebook, a Tweet, or with a bulletin announcement. See website for details.

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In January, the Family Life Abuse Center (FLAC) and Sandy Valley Abuse Center (SVAC) participated in the annual Shop & Share initiative through Kroger, Food City stores or both. The initiative took place in 11 of the 13 counties CAP serves. The shelters received more than $10,000 in supplies (paper towels, shampoo, soap, food items, etc.) and nearly $3,000 in gift cards and cash. The Shop & Share program was initiated by Kentucky First Lady, Jane Beshear, in partnership with the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association, to promote community support for domestic violence shelters across the Commonwealth.

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Have your 2015 calendar yet? Note that a volunteer reunion will be held that summer in conjunction with 50th anniversary of CAP.

Kathy and Steve Peterson back in the day

Where They are Now: Steve and Kathy Peterson

When Steve Peterson, ’91-’93, reflects back on his service with CAP, he says, “That was a very defining moment that really changed the trajectory in my life.”

One of the reasons for that was the experience of living and working in a strong spiritual community. Steve served in Outreach Services for Lincoln and Casey Counties and worked alongside CAP employee Wanda Penman. “Those were insanely fun times. She had such a great rapport with the people,” he says.

While Steve’s base was Lincoln County, Kathy Tomsho Peterson, ’91 – ’93, lived in Rockcastle County and Lincoln County and served with the School on Wheels program. After completing their volunteer time, Steve and Kathy married and lived and worked in Harlan for four years before moving to Elkhart, Ind., Steve’s hometown. He’s now the Assistant Director of Bands for Concord High School, his alma mater. The couple has two children, 11-year-old Adam and 8-year-old Jacob.

Kathy is working with an organization that Steve describes as very “CAPesque.” She’s Mentor Coordinator/Trainer, Career Counselor & Getting Ahead Facilitator for Church Community Services in Elkhart which has multiple programs, like CAP. Kathy works specifically with Soup of Success (SOS). It’s a job skills program for women that helps them gain the skills and work experience they need to move out of poverty.

Kathy and Steve today, with their sons Jacob and Adam

Steve and Kathy continue to give back and serve in ways that are rooted in their volunteer experience. Steve says, “That was such a unique collection of people.” Today, he still calls them his best friends.

At least once a year, Steve likes to share with his students the story of his volunteer days. Recently, one student, Johnathan Hylkema, was so impressed with the story that he asked for more information about CAP. Today, Johnathan is a home repair volunteer with CAP.

If you would like to suggest future interviewees for this feature, please send their names to Amy Schill at aschill@chrisapp.org.

(click any photo to see full size)

1990s

John Keane, ’92-’93, married Angela (Dobbs) in January in Louisville’s Cathedral of the Assumption. Many CAP friends joined them for the celebration, including: (Front row) Erin Lennon, ’97-’99, Scott and Sharon Gould ’94-’95, Trish Salchert, ’92-’93, AnnMarie Stuber, ’92-’93 and Anna Brannen, ’98-’00; (second row) Gerry Faust, ’92-’93, Ken Stuber, ’90-’92, Mary McNamara, ’94-’96, Bridget Cohee-Nevin, ’92-’94, Beth Healander, ’93-’94, Dan Lennon, ’97-’99, and Joe Brannen, ’99-’00; (third row) Matt Rossman, ’96, Casey Sterr, ’86-’87, Jeff Healander, ’93-’94, Ursula Rossman, ’96-’97, Chris Almond, ’92-’93, John Lennon, ’92-’94, Mike, ’92-’93 and Kate McNamara; and in the last row, Joe Salchert. Many CAP children also joined their families.

Sister Marguerite Blackburn, SSJ, ’96-’97 was recently recognized by Green Mountain Foster Grandparent Program for her 15 years of service working as a library assistant at Christ the King School in Rutland, Vermont. She has been working with Vermont children for 61 years.

Becky (Bordner) Perotti ’97-’00 and her husband, Matt, celebrated Christmas with their daughter Julianna Grace, born March 31, 2012. They live in Butler, Pa., where they are resident managers in a transitional housing facility for homeless families. Becky is a part-time, self-employed contractor for the facility, using the home repair skills she first learned from Lloyd Rice in her time at CAP.

2000s

CAP friends Caitlin Elsik, ’09-’11, Mark Anderson, ’09-’10, Bridget Gaffney, ’08-’09, Kristen Kniepkamp, Camp Shawnee ’07-’09, and Shannon Hoffman, ’08-’09 got together for a weekend reunion in St. Louis in November. The group enjoyed reminiscing about good times at Camp Shawnee and couldn’t resist some trampoline dodge ball.

CAP Connection is published three times a year by the CAP Volunteer Program. If you have news to share or story ideas to suggest, please send them to one of the following:

Beth Dotson Brown, ’90 – ’91
Contributing Editor

Amy Schill, ’03-’05
Manager of Admissions and Recruitment

Kathy Kluesener, ’73 – ’80
Admissions Coordinator

Kathleen Leavell, ’76 – ’78
Director of Volunteers/Christian Partners

volunteer@chrisapp.org
1-800-755-5322
606-256-0973
fax 606-256-5942
www.christianapp.org/vol/alumni
www.facebook.com/groups/capalums

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

John 12:24

“Die to self; Live for Christ.” That was our theme for WorkFest 2013, Christian Appalachian Project’s college alternative spring break program. College students live extremely busy lives, and making time for service to others–when the pressures of academics and planning for the future are a daily reality–can seem impossible. But when you make that sacrifice and when you consciously choose to live for Christ and put the needs of others before your own, that sacrifice produces great fruit for people in need. And when your service teams up with the service of hundreds of other students, that fruit multiplies.

This March, students from more than 30 colleges and universities spent their spring break in service to others. They gave up their much-deserved break from school, but they gained so much more from their week in the mountains than ever imagined. WorkFest was held at two sites: Laurel Lake Baptist Camp in Whitley County, Ky, and The Louis T. Foley Mission Center in Floyd County, Ky. Students worked on sixteen projects in McCreary, Johnson, Floyd, Knott, and Lawrence counties.

Participating schools
Colleges that participated in WorkFest 2013.

WorkFest blog
Follow the WorkFest experience of long-term CAP Volunteer Jake Porter.

Pictures and project details
Before and after and volunteer pictures from our jobsites. Out of respect for participant privacy, we identify projects by crew color rather than by participant name. More pictures from the Foley Mission Center site coming soon!

WorkFest 2014
WorkFest would not be possible without the college groups who volunteer and the highly-skilled short-term volunteers who serve as crew leaders and assistant crew leaders. If you would like to learn more about how you can participate in WorkFest 2014, please contact us at volunteer@chrisapp.org or 606-256-0973.

Each January, CAP welcomes a new class of volunteers. This supplements our larger September class with those who prefer to start at a later date, such as college students who graduate in December. We’re happy to have nine new volunteers who chose to spend 2013 dedicating their lives to service in Appalachia.

This year, we held our Commissioning at the newly dedicated Louis T. Foley Mission Center. At our Commissioning Service, volunteers hear reflections on the Volunteer Program’s core values of Service, Community, and Spirituality, and then sign a covenant symbolizing their commitment to those values. Commissioning also serves as a chance for the CAP community to formally welcome our new members.

Take a minute to learn more about some of our new volunteers below. If you would like to join them in service to Appalachia, consider applying for our next orientation in September.

Johnathan H.

Johnathan came to CAP from Indiana thanks to the recommendation of his high school band teacher, a former CAP Volunteer.  Johnathan will be living in the Johnson Volunteer House and serving in the Housing program. He will be spending the year “meeting new people and getting closer to God.”

Lainie P.

Lainie came to CAP after getting her degree in Animal Science from Washington State University and working at an environmental education center. She will be serving in the Elderly Housing program and living at the Rockcastle Volunteer House. She came to CAP because she “would like to live a life of service.” Lainie was referred to CAP by her mother, a CAP donor.

Andrew C.

Andrew came to CAP from Northern California. After graduating from Sierra College, he was “living life, working, hanging out with friends and more or less passing the time.” He chose to come to CAP for the new experiences. Andrew found CAP through the Catholic Volunteer Network. He lives in the Floyd Volunteer House and volunteers in the Housing program.

Ron D.

Ron came to CAP after spending time as a member of the Capuchin Franciscan Order and serving in the Capuchin Volunteer Corps. A graduate of John Carroll University, Ron is volunteering with CAP because he has “a desire to serve and help the vulnerable.” Ron found CAP through the Catholic Volunteer Network. He lives in the Floyd Volunteer House and volunteers in the Housing program.

Beth H.

Beth came to CAP after working for 30 years in the medical office field in Lexington. She is hoping to learn “how to be an ‘active’ servant in helping show Christ’s love and compassion to those in need.” She learned about CAP at a festival booth. Beth is serving at the Grateful Threadz thrift store and lives independently with her husband Steve.

Steve H.

Steve came to CAP from Lexington, where he worked full-time and was a “board member, home group leader, usher and toilet bowl cleaner” for his church. He is volunteering with CAP because he likes “the fact that you (CAP) minister to people’s practical needs as well as spiritual and that we can do both.” Steve is serving at the Grateful Bread Food Pantry and lives independently with his wife Beth (who also told him about CAP).

Erika A.

Erika came to CAP from Illinois. She hopes to learn “how to serve others and become people-oriented.” Erika will be serving in the Housing program and lives at the Mt. Vernon Volunteer House. Erika found CAP through an internet search.

Jake P.

Jake came to CAP from Iowa. He came to CAP as a short-term volunteer in September and decided to serve for a full year. Jake lives in the Jackson House and will be serving in the Housing program. Jake found out about CAP from United Methodist Volunteers in Mission.

It’s been a slow week in Appalachia. And that’s saying something. In a place where going to the store for groceries requires 30-mile round trip drive, rain interrupts the Internet, and chatting for at least 15 minutes about who knows whom precedes all work meetings…slow really means something.

Photo: Christina Amenta, CAP Volunteer '07-'08

Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr. day and though the kids had no school (and thus the Child and Family Development Center where I serve had no kids), there I was at work, 8 a.m. ready for whatever the day would bring. Days like this are slow, but you learn to appreciate them as a chance to plan and clean up or do the minor work for your program that can get missed in the mess of seeing kids all day. There is always a motivation for the day: the next day will bring smiling faces and loud voices and messy hands, and it will be suddenly clear why I left home, my friends, my own sky behind.

Then an announcement: automated phone messages, school website messages, gossip – NO SCHOOL TUESDAY DUE TO FLU; CLASSES RESUME ON WEDNESDAY. Ugh, fine! I was not pleased; a few days last week were canceled because of weather, and it’d been days since I’d seen these kids who I’ve come to love. I used the day to handle some personal health business, seeing the day off as an opportunity from God to engage in some vital self-care. That’s the thing about volunteer life: you get so attached to your program, and you feel so responsible for house duties and rituals, that finding time for self-care without feeling selfish can be a big task.

I’m resting on the couch when my housemate breaks the bad news. School will stay closed tomorrow because of flu. Sigh. Another day spent sitting, cleaning, organizing, thinking, waiting, sighing. When I get home, I realize I should just check the school webpage myself. Nothing seems to be going as planned, and right now, this week seems a total wash. And there is it: SCHOOL WILL BE CLOSED THE REST OF THE WEEK. There is ice coming in on Friday, too, and my coworkers already express that they likely won’t be coming to work on Friday. So there’ll be no kids, and no co-workers. More cleaning, organizing. More thinking, sighing. This, my friends, is service work.

What does it mean to serve? When you make the commitment to volunteer, usually you are focused on DOING, on RESULTS, on EFFECTS. You can build a porch and make a kid smile and visit the elderly. That’s service, right? A long-term service experience definitely knocks that notion of service out of your head. Service is so. much. more. Service is being present. It is saying, Yes, Lord, I trust You. Yes, Jesus, I’ll do this in Your name. Service requires we let go of the end result and instead learn to focus on our presence, along with God’s presence, in the very present moment – even if that moment is sitting quietly in an office on an icy Friday. It is a sacrifice, and one that only you and God might see. No one else might get it. People back home might wonder what good you’re doing (and heck, you probably will wonder the same).

But there’s a reason why service is extolled as an ideal path toward God: it mirrors faith. You cannot see the results. The tangible stuff ends up not being the vital stuff. Service requires trust and hope in a big way. “The poor you will always have with you,” says Jesus. Where is the end? Will I see good come of this? Maybe. Maybe not. But acting in true service means we humble ourselves, with great trust in our hearts, knowing that every moment is an opportunity to build the kingdom of God. So it’s been a slow week in Appalachia, but a very holy one indeed.

Kate B. is a long-term CAP Volunteer in CAP’s Child and Family Development program. She is a member of the McCreary Volunteer Community.

Want to do something meaningful this summer? Christian Appalachian Project is currently accepting applications for volunteer summer camp counselors, lifeguards, office helpers, nurses and arts & crafts instructors. Our camps are nestled in the beautiful Appalachian mountains of Eastern Kentucky, and our campers come from some of the poorest communities in the nation. Summer camp volunteers have the opportunity to give children from low-income families a week to have fun, learn respect for themselves and others, and encounter Christ through the faith in action of our volunteers. If you have 3-9 weeks to give this summer, you can make a difference in the life of a child and meet other people of faith from across the country.

Apply by April 19 for priority consideration!

Contact us if you have any questions. We’d love to hear from you!

My summer camp volunteer experience was truly life-changing. I went into the summer with an open mind, ready to learn and work with the kids and I left feeling like a completely new person. I now feel the spirit of God in so many things that before this experience, I may have taken for granted. 

- Zach Day, Camp Andrew Jackson Volunteer, 2012

One of my new responsibilities this school year is teaching the Gifted and Talented (GT) students at Sand Gap. This means coming up with creative, hands-on ways to keep the “smart kids” interested in school and excited about learning by embellishing on the topics they’re already being taught. Most of last semester was spent on Colonial America, so Molly (my fellow camp volunteer) and I got to delve into the exciting world of colonial cooking and crafts.

Mondays are our planning days and we usually ended up spending a large portion of them coming up with something fun for the GT kids to do and then testing it out to make sure the activity actually worked the way the internet said it would. There were so many times on Mondays when Molly and I would just look at each other and say “Can you believe this is our job?”

We made candles using only wax and string; we ground our own cornmeal; we churned butter in a mason jar; and we made Jacob’s ladders (cool little colonial toys made out of ribbon and blocks of wood). Most of our experiments were pretty successful – we only had to cheat a little with the cornmeal by grinding up the popcorn kernels with an electric coffee grinder. (It turns out that hitting the kernels with a rubber mallet just sends them flying across the room.)

And then there was the day we made paper. We looked online and found several different ways to make it, all of them using either newspaper or old pieces of fabric. We decided that it would be much more authentic to use the fabric, since that was what they used in colonial times (and it seemed kind of silly to make paper out of paper.) We cut up the random pieces of cotton and felt that we found in the arts and crafts building at camp and then put them in the blender to turn them into pulp. Unfortunately, the blender was no match for the quality of cloth, and after a few minutes and a green spark of death, the blender was shot. Still determined to use only cloth and no newspaper, we put the fabric in bowls with water and began using a potato masher to try to break up the fibers. This proved to be a lot of effort to very little effect, so we decided to boil the whole mess, adding some dryer lint for good measure (in colonial times, the scraps of cloth were placed in boiling water to break them down.) After several hours of our weird soup boiling on the stove, we went back to the potato mashers. We then made a sample piece of paper with the cloth mixture and realized, much to our dismay, that it looked a lot more like pieces of cloth stuck together than an actual piece of paper. At this point, we gave in and added shredded newspaper to the mix. After more mashing we made another sample piece of paper, which turned out much better than the first one. All in all, we spent about six hours trying to turn the cloth into pulp in order to make “authentic” colonial paper. It was worth it though, because the kids LOVED making paper. One of the first grade teachers said her students just couldn’t stop talking about it. After the ridiculous day we had preparing the pulp for the paper, I’m so happy the students actually appreciated the end result.

Even though that particular day was kind of frustrating (six hours is a LONG time to be mashing and boiling and ripping), it’s days like that Monday that make me incredibly grateful for my volunteer job. Who else gets to spend their days making paper the colonial way or throwing ornaments at a Christmas tree to test out a Family Fun Night game? Camp is definitely a special place, and not just in the summer.

“You have to go on and be crazy. Craziness is like heaven.” – Jimi Hendrix

Erin C. is a long-term CAP Volunteer in Educational and Recreational Programming. She is a member of the Jackson Volunteer Community.

Camp AJ is, in my opinion, one of the most special places in the world. It’s not fancy; we don’t have horses or zip lines. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, there is a certain “AJ magic” that infects campers and counselors alike. Camp brings out the best in everyone. The counselors are extraordinary because they exist in this rare period of time when they don’t think about themselves for weeks on end. They focus their entire being on ensuring that the campers have an amazing week, and on helping them to realize that they are beautiful people. Watching the counselors open up and perform radical feats of love is equally as moving as seeing the campers open up and see that they are lovable.

Camp is a whirlwind of personalities you must welcome and try to understand while you have the opportunity. When I think about camp, glimpses of dozens of children come to my mind… the way Sierra expertly crouched to catch a crawdad with her bare hands, Blake’s sneaky smile as he plays a trick on one of the counselors, Dalton’s triumphant dance to “Eye of the Tiger” at the talent show, the concern in Michael’s eyes when we asked him to set a frog free, and smiles and smiles and smiles. I see kids opening up, trying new things, overcoming fears, and having so much fun all the while.

All these small moments will stick with me for years, and remind me of what it is to be a kid, free from any struggles at home, free to live. They have taught me that God exists in every human being, and that every person can shine so brightly if given the chance. I’ve given camp part of myself: my energy, my enthusiasm, my love. It’s not so impressive or different from the legacy of counselors that have served with me and before me, but it’s where I learned to sing myself hoarse, soothe homesick kids, and work long, exhausting days on very little sleep. What I’ve gained from camp is priceless, which is the knowledge of God’s love that thrives in a $10-a-week, volunteer-run summer camp in Appalachian Kentucky.

Molly initially volunteered at Camp AJ in 2008, then returned in 2012. She is now a long-term volunteer in Educational and Recreational Programming our of Camp AJ. She is a member of the Jackson Volunteer Community. She would love to see you at Summer Camp 2013.

My new year’s resolution should probably be to write more. It’s been almost four months since I’ve completed a blog post – basically since I started teaching again and settled into my new community. I blame this on both being incredibly busy with work and having amazing housemates to spend time with. This has been my struggle since arriving at CAP almost a year and a half ago: balancing all the different aspects of volunteer life.

The other night, our community’s devotion was about love languages – the different ways that people express love and receive love from others. Every single person in my community rated quality time as their dominant love language. This is perfectly reflected in how we typically spend our time: together. This means lots of fun, laughs, and adventures, but not a lot of time to do things like write.

As I look back on 2012, I’m proud of everything I’ve accomplished and grateful for all the relationships I’ve formed. In just the last four months I’ve met and taught hundreds of children, helped write a brand new curriculum, attended two weddings of former housemates, went on vacation with my family, and visited old friends around the country. I’ve gotten to know my new housemates while staying in touch with the old ones and started coaching the Academic Team at one of the county’s elementary schools. Life has been insanely busy, but I like it like that.

Around New Year’s last year, one of my housemates challenged us to pick a word for the year, rather than make a resolution. The idea is that when you pick one specific word to focus on, you’re going to make more progress in more areas of your life than if you make a resolution that you’re likely to break within the first month. My word for 2012 was determination, and I think I did a good job of living out a year of being determined. I ran a half marathon, studied for the GRE, applied for grad school, and transitioned into a new community. I made a lot of decisions and stuck with them, which is something I’ve always had trouble with.

To follow up the year of decision-making and determining what I want for the future, my word for 2013 is patience. Patience in waiting to hear from grad school and making decisions about the future. Patience in the uncertainty of leaving CAP and for taking the time to do the little things that are important to me, like writing. So as I embark on my year of patience, I ask for your patience as I do my best to keep up with my blog.

“The keys to patience are acceptance and faith. Accept things as they are, and look realistically at the world around you. Have faith in yourself and in the direction you have chosen.” – Ralph Marston

Erin C. is a second-year long-term CAP Volunteer serving in Educational and Recreational Programming at CAP’s Camp AJ. She is a member of the Jackson Volunteer Community.