This issue also available as a PDF.

Children of CAP alumni follow in their footsteps

Nathaniel Fouch, Kerry LeBrun and Sarah LeBrun, three children of CAP alums, served this summer at Camp AJ.

Nathaniel Fouch has no doubt about that. His parents, Mike Fouch, ’85-’90, and Jenny Gray, ’89-’90, met when they volunteered with CAP. Twenty-two years ago, they married in Old Hickory at Camp Andrew Jackson. This summer, their oldest child, Nathaniel, served as a summer camp counselor at AJ. “I’ve been coming here a very long time,” Nathaniel says. He first arrived as a camper when he was nine. His mother says the first time he went to camp, he never got homesick. She’s seen him “come of age” during his summer camp experiences. Now, Nathaniel is a Berea College junior, studying political science and economics, who has been serving at summer camp since 2009 when he was a junior counselor. Mike and Jenny passed on to Nathaniel a dedication to service and love for CAP. What Nathaniel has found so rewarding at camp is that it’s a place where campers can be themselves. “I like seeing the kids who come here and open up,” he says. “Our main goal is to help them be themselves and if we do that I think we’ve succeeded. . . We come here for them (the campers) and it’s that single-minded goal that makes it the way it is.” “We are so happy that he had this opportunity be a part of the CAP community,” Jenny says. “He found his niche.” A number of other alumni children are also serving this summer at AJ and Shawnee: Vivienne Harden (granddaughter of Elizabeth Harden, ‘87), Moe Kluesener (daughter of Kathy, ‘73-‘80, and Tony, ‘72-’73) and Sam Lunt (son of Dianne (White) and Greg, both ’84-‘85). Two others are Kerry and Sarah LeBrun. Like Nathaniel, Sarah sees the campers becoming themselves at camp. “The counselors don’t just have fun with them. We’re helping them be themselves because they see us being goofy and being ourselves,” she says. Watching positive change in the campers is one of her biggest rewards. Sarah’s parents, Steve, ’86-’88 and Julie (Williams) LeBrun, ’86-’87, were also volunteers who met and married through their CAP experience. Sarah and her siblings, including twin Kerry who is also serving this summer, grew up around a lot of family friends who were former CAP Volunteers. She heard positive things about CAP from her parents and friends, then later from sisters Kristen and Stephanie who served at camp. When Sarah served last summer for the first time, she found it to be an awesome experience. “It’s great to see the spirit of camp,” Sarah says. “You feel this great vibe.” Part of that feeling comes from getting away from the daily routine of the world with the campers and with other volunteers who are there “out of the goodness of their hearts.” Sarah describes the experience as a little piece of heaven. The piece of heaven extends to the young camper. When Nathaniel was a camper, he liked the experience because of the counselors. They were fun. As a counselor himself, he understands there’s more to it than just acting silly and friendly. “You don’t realize as a camper what hard work it is for the counselors. You see the goofy, fun person but that person also has to discipline, be sure everyone is there, etc. You have to be very versatile.” Jenny Gray volunteered this summer, leaving her job with Hospice on Mondays when she went to AJ as a nurse. “When I go back there, I feel so young again,” she says. It energizes her for the rest of the week. Camps Shawnee and AJ are also energizing a new generation of CAP Volunteers. Regardless of where they go next, they will be rooted in that CAP experience of sharing their talents and love of God through service.

CAP Quicks

Camp Shawnee welcomed this new caretaker’s house.

Another Summer Camp season is in the books! We had 40 alumni serving as volunteers between the two camps. Camp Shawnee had a new look for 2013, including a new caretakers’ house (pictured) and a new volunteer dorm.

*

In April, The Sandy Valley Abuse Center hosted a community mini-conference in Martin County that focused on intimate partner violence. Twenty-eight people attended this training that was co-sponsored by Martin County’s Department of Protection and Permanency.

*

Like many CAP facilities, the building at “495 Williams Street” has had different functions over the years, including offices for Family Advocacy and Counseling, the Rockcastle Teen Center and as the first location of the Grateful Bread food pantry and Grateful Threadz thrift store. The building now serves as a center for week-long groups that will assist the Housing and Elderly Housing programs in Rockcastle County, and provide meeting space for CAP. One of the first events held at the new group house was the Elderly Services Spring Dinner.

*

The new Foley Mission Center (FMC) received positive reviews from WorkFest students, especially from those who have stayed at Camp Caleb! Since WorkFest, FMC has hosted the CAP Day of Prayer, an orientation for Teach for America-Appalachia, and several CAP volunteer groups.

*

The Family Life Child and Family Development Center will begin the new school year in its new home in Renfro Valley: the former Jerry O’Daniel Community Center. In its new location, the center will expand to two classrooms and have additional office space for staff.

*

The Alumni Reunion will be the summer of 2015 to close out our year-long celebration of CAP’s 50th anniversary. Dates to be announced.

Where They are Now: Greg and Julie Pimlott

Greg and Julie Pimlott live with their two sons in Indiana.

When a story begins with, “I can’t remember who noticed the odor first . . .” you know the odor isn’t going to be from a bed of roses. Yet, even when telling the Lancaster Volunteer House skunk story, Greg Pimlott is able to recall an unforgettable time in his service with CAP. Greg began serving with CAP in January, 2000 after teaching English at a language school in Lumumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo. He served in Garrard County Housing for his first volunteer year then spent eight months with Elderly Services in Clay County. Julie Pimlott arrived to CAP in October, 1999 as Julie Aenis, a recent graduate of Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mich. Julie volunteered until December 2000 then became a CAP Outreach Program employee in Garrard County for 15 months, beginning in January 2001. The Pimlotts married and now live in Indiana where they have two sons. Julie graduated from seminary in 2012 and would eventually like to become ordained and pursue ministry as a hospital chaplain. Greg is a United Methodist minister. “I'm enjoying the challenges of ministry almost as much as I'm enjoying being a husband and dad,” he says. When he thinks about CAP, Greg also thinks of the challenge of those skunks. He says that when they figured out the skunk family had moved into the basement of the volunteer house, “At first we all made jokes about it, but the jokes faded as the smell continued to grow. Somebody from maintenance came and boarded up the hole the skunks were getting into, but they accidentally boarded them in instead of out, which made the skunks mad and started them spraying. It's unbelievable how much smell a family of angry skunks can make!” Julie’s memory smells like fresh paint. One evening, the volunteers decided one room in the house needed to be repainted. “I don't remember who suggested this, but somehow we decided that the room needed more ‘character’. So we ended up tracing our silhouettes at various heights and in various poses on the freshly painted white walls. Then each painted our own image in sky blue paint!” Julie says. “Needless to say, community life was one of the best parts of CAP for me.” Today, this family not only serves; they also entertain with CAP memories and stories.

(click any photo to see full size)

Joan Pederson, June Widman, Keith and Mary Kay (Wright) Gilbertson reunited and caught up after 20 years.

1980s Keith, ‘83, and Mary Kay (Wright) Gilbertson, ‘83-‘86, recently celebrated the wedding of their son. The next day they joined with two CAP alums, Joan Pederson, ’83, and June Widman, ’80-‘83. Mary Kay reported that the four of them enjoyed catching up after 20 years apart. Their time together was filled with great memories and lots of laughter. 1990s and 2000s Lindsey Gasperic Wilson, ‘06-’07, and Beth Dotson Brown, ‘90-‘91, worked together on a short story writing unit for Lindsey’s sixth-grade students at Jackson County Middle School in McKee, Ky. Lindsey is in her third year teaching

Lindsey Wilson and Beth Dotson Brown at Jackson County Middle.

at the school. Beth works as a freelance writer and editor and serves as an artist-in residence with the Berea College Promise Neighborhood Program. Even though they hadn’t met until the project, having CAP as a common experience immediately united Lindsey and Beth in their work. Stacie West, ’03-’04, is now a Community Planner for the Washington, D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation. Her main projects are managing renovations of parks and playgrounds. She writes: “It's a great excuse to have fun at work!” Mike, Summer Camp ’04-’11 and Laura (Wright) Kelly, Summer Camp ’05-‘11 who met at Camp Shawnee, weren’t able to volunteer during summer camp this year because they’re the parents of one-year-old Elijah. They describe their son as a high-energy boy who loves the outdoors. Another camp volunteer in the making, perhaps. Paul Stage, ’08-’09, completed his second year as campus minister at the Newman Center at UNC-Chapel Hill. He also attended WorkFest for the ninth time this year as a leader for UNC. Jordan Pierce, ’08-’10, earned her MSW from the University of Denver in 2012. She’s following her love for older people, first developed in the CAP Elderly Services program, as a county social worker working in Adult Protective Services. Jordan lives in Sanford, N.C.

Maggie Zimmermann, Chris Ward, Meghan Rader and Jane Walters reununited in Washington, D.C.

2010s Former volunteers Maggie Zimmermann, ’10-’11, Chris Ward, ’11-’12, Meghan Rader, ’11-’12, and Jane Walters, ’10-’11, united in D.C. in April. They celebrated the fact that CAP friends are forever with fun at museums, Mexican food, and lots of catching up and reminiscing about good times! Kaye Anderson, ’11-’12, has a new job with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health as a Research Nurse at a Navajo Reservation in Chinle, Arizona. She’s working on a vaccine clinical trial for babies. In Memoriam Margaret Hope had a dream to bake bread for people in Appalachia. As a CAP Volunteer, Margaret not only baked bread but also served as group host. Harold Underwood, who worked closely with Margaret, still remembers the first of many lessons she taught him even before she signed on to serve. It was during their initial phone conversation. “She had just finished a PUSH meeting at her church that evening. I had never heard of PUSH before, it was then that I learned from her that PUSH was short for Pray Until Something Happens! It didn’t take me long to realize this was a normal thing for Margaret. She was a prayer warrior!” Margaret served from 2006-2010 and left when her health needed attention. She passed away February 2013 in N.C. We also extend our deepest sympathy to the family of Ruth Holt. Ruth served as a Community Volunteer for many years in the Johnson/Floyd county area. Mary Ann Dedenbach, ’92-‘93, writes that Ruth was a great friend to many who were part of CAP. Ruth will long be remembered for her beautiful quilts.

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 Recruitment, Admissions, and Alumni

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