I came to the realization a few days ago that I have been with CAP just shy of six months. The time span of six months to me has always signified the end to an incubation period of sorts. After six months somewhere you’ve generally developed a daily routine, learned the ins and outs of your job, or fostered close personal relationships. In fact it had been six months from the time I graduated from college until I received my CAP acceptance. I look back to the cold January afternoon I waved “see ya later” to the mountains of my Pennsylvania home and departed for the mountains of my new Kentucky home-away-from-home.
When I would explain my CAP plan to folks from home, the standard reaction became “Kentucky?” in the same half-incredulous guffaw you might come to hear at any seemingly poor life decision. I’m happy to say that CAP received me as part of a package deal. My lovely girlfriend of two years, Meghan (shout out) is a volunteer at the Eagle Child and Family Development Center in McCreary County. Actually, one of the first things we ever bonded over in the early days of our relationship was our mutual desire to do a year of service. I owe it to Meghan for getting me excited about CAP. We were both eager to learn as much as we could about the plight of many Appalachian people and we wanted to do whatever we could to help improve people’s lives.
I have a unique position as a volunteer within CAP in that I neither serve participants directly, nor do I spend the bulk of my working time actually in Kentucky. As a part of CAP’s Community Development Program, I work to spread the message of CAP to the people of Southern West Virginia. In a nutshell, Community Development provides capacity building to smaller, grassroots nonprofit organizations in 19 West Virginia counties. This entails providing educational and material support to organizations who might not have been operating for very long, or that may lack the know-how needed to properly sustain them financially.
I like to think of myself as the roving volunteer within Community Development. I spend a good deal of time traversing the back roads of West Virginia with a truckload of items ranging from office supplies to diapers. I love being on the road and visiting new places, but the most fulfilling aspect of my job so far has been seeing the spirit of excitement alive in these organizations. I’m always happy when I see a community coming together to help their own neighbors. I’ll attend Family Resource Network meetings in towns that may have a total population of about five hundred, but the enthusiasm around the prospect of a community holding their first farmer’s market or receiving a bus stop is absolutely electric.
I’ll suffer the cliché by saying my CAP experience so far has been one of self-discovery. Six months in and I’m starting to look at living and working here less and less as temporary. I caught myself offhandedly referring to the Johnson House as “home” the other day, and that’s really how I’ve come to view Kentucky as a whole. Living in a part of the country with such a vibrant sense of community and mutual accountability for one’s neighbors has not only been refreshing, but has helped me to shape how I view my place here in our wonderful organization.
Chris is a long-term volunteer in CAP's Commmunity Development program. He lives in Johnson Volunteer House.
