CAP is proud to recognize a woman who has been a friend of Christian Appalachian Project for more than a decade: Mrs. Julia Conner.
It was an honor to interview Julia, and I walked away feeling truly energized by her optimism. The first thing she said was that her prayers had been answered by my phone call. As we spoke, Julia shared the story of her childhood, which truly molded the woman she is today. After losing her father when she was a child, her mother moved the family into her grandparents’ home. When Julia was eight years old, her mother remarried an amazing man who passed away two years later during his service in the Army. Throughout all of their hardships, her mother would not even accept a handout. She worked in a factory and was able to provide for her children. “We were not rich, but we were comfortable,” said Julia. One of her fondest quotes from her mother was, “Nobody owes you a living. Work will not kill you. It’s up to you, what you are.”
When speaking of her adult life, Julia talks with admiration about her first husband and her three children. After her first husband passed away in 1992, she was fortunate enough to meet someone else, a Sunday school teacher to whom she has been happily married for 14 years. “God has blessed us. All of us!” she states. I asked Julia how she first learned of CAP and if she had any connections to Appalachia. Her response was, “I know no one in Appalachia. I had heard a lot about Appalachia and one time while traveling on vacation, we pulled off the interstate and drove through the Appalachian region. It was a very poor area, very heartbreaking. Not too long after that, I received a brochure about CAP and how I could help their mission. I have been giving ever since.”
Mrs. Julia Conner has been a CAP donor for 13 years, and along with monetary donations, she mails multiple boxes of new items to the families in Appalachia each week. When asked about her passion for Appalachia, Julia says she truly enjoys helping people. She refers to reading her Bible and remarks that Christ did not have a checking account or CDs. Her mother taught her that it is much better to be on the giving end than on the receiving end. Julia truly enjoys shopping for clothes and items that she can donate to CAP. She states that she is always up for a sale and only buys items that are 70%–90% off. “I enjoy it. CAP’s mission means so much to me. I spend a lot of money, but I worked for it and this makes me happy. To leave a store with three baskets full of clothes and to have someone ask me what they are for, I get to tell them about CAP. This is my ministry.” Sending boxes of new items to CAP brings Julia so much joy. She will tell you that she receives a calm peace when she prays over the boxes. Her husband joked with her mother once and said, “I would love to have a million dollars to give to your daughter and watch her give it away.
