Christian Appalachian Project’s Volunteer Alumni Reunion, held this past summer in Mount Vernon, KY, was a significant milestone in the history of the organization. With over 440 people attending, including about 275 alumni and their families, many people were able to reconnect with old friends and visit places they hadn’t seen in years. CAP board members, current volunteers, employees, and retirees also participated in the event.
Father Beiting Memorial Day of Service
The first day opened with a brief time of prayer that led into a day of service in memory of CAP’s founder, Rev. Beiting. Under the supervision of CAP’s Housing Programs, teams of past and present volunteers, employees, and CAP board members worked on housing repair projects throughout the area. Other volunteer alumni devoted their time in service to CAP’s Grateful Threadz thrift store and by providing repairs to other CAP facilities.
The day culminated in a group hike to the top of the Pinnacles in Berea, KY, a perennial pastime for volunteers during their time of service.
CAP Volunteer Alumni from the 1960s and 1970s
Reunion Picnic and Prayer Service
The centerpiece of the entire weekend was Saturday’s Volunteer Alumni Reunion Picnic and Prayer Service. Volunteers, whose times of service span more than a half century, gathered for a day filled with opportunities to reminisce with long-lost friends, to meet volunteers from other eras, and to celebrate the legacy of CAP’s Volunteer Program. Children darted through the crowds of alumni, taking advantage of the wide array of activities available, from a dunking booth to large inflatable slides and even cotton candy and snow cone machines.
From every direction one could overhear the recollections of 50 years’ worth of memories, from stories of home repair projects to adventures with fellow volunteers. Throughout the day, volunteers were given the opportunity to commit their stories to video. These testimonials piece together to form a patchwork oral history of the CAP Volunteer Program. Though serving in different capacities across distinct eras in CAP’s history, these individuals from all corners of the country are bound by the singular mission upon which the organization was founded.
Later in the afternoon, Mike Loiacono, CAP’s Director of Human Services in the Cumberland Valley Region, and his band, “Mixed Nuts,” provided the soundtrack for those volunteer alumni who wanted to revisit the time-honored volunteer tradition of Contra line dancing. Volunteers of all generations promenaded and do-si-doed circles through the intricate patterns of the dance, casting a sort of kaleidoscopic vision of the dynamic volunteer community whose work and presence in Appalachia has transformed the landscape of poverty.
The day’s activities concluded with the Prayer Service, which provided a time to gather and reflect, share the core values of the volunteer program, and honor deceased volunteers. Several former volunteers joined together to lead the music, their voices blending with the crowd to form a communion of song lifting out of the valley. Later, all sat in silence as the voice of Rev. Beiting (via an old audio recording) enveloped the congregation as he mused on the importance of volunteers to the work and mission of CAP.
CAP Volunteer Alumni from the 2010s
Sunday Worship
On Sunday, CAP volunteers came together one last time for a morning of worship led by the Rev. Ed Riley. Currently serving in Boston, Riley was a CAP volunteer during the early 1990’s. Visitors of all denominations joined together in the spirit of unity, celebrating the diversity of shared faith that has always been a cornerstone of CAP’s Volunteer Program. The day, like the weekend as a whole, was infused with and informed by the theme of “many parts, one body.”
For many of the returning volunteers, the opportunity to reconnect with old friends and reflect on CAP’s past, present, and future was the greatest gift of the weekend. It was a time to meditate on their service, the people of Appalachia, CAP’s current work, and visions of the Volunteer Program of tomorrow. For those who hadn’t been back to eastern Kentucky for many years, it was reassuring to witness that even as CAP has grown, it has maintained the same spirit they knew years ago. When the multitude of volunteer alumni dispersed back out into the world at the close of the weekend, they did so as they have done so often before — having made their mark on eastern Kentucky and vice versa.
