This year two of our parishioners spent two weeks working with the Passionist Volunteers in Wyoming County, West Virginia. The volunteers were part of a larger group from all over the country, and the world. Wyoming County is located in the extreme southwest part of the state, and is primarily a coal mining and timbering area. Wyoming county has a population of about 20,000 people, with about 100 Catholics. Two churches and one priest provide the Catholic community with the sacraments, and help to maintain their faith life.
Click here for additional information on the Passionist Volunteers.
The first event any volunteer has is a commissioning by the Passionist Volunteer community. The person is anointed with oil, and the community prays the following prayer over the volunteer:Spirit of holy Wisdom and saving Power by your annointing may the hands and heart of ______be strengthened for the work that lies ahead, may she/he be compassionate to human need, tender and strong in her/his caring, genuine in friendship, and faithful to her/his commitment.
And the response from the community isBe anointed in the wisdom and power of the spirit of Jesus to go forth and carry the good news.
Normally, the volunteers work in the Wyoming County area. This year, however, there was a slight change. For two days, the entire group of volunteers moved to the capitol city of Charleston for a special project. A group of nuns are developing a spiritual life center, and needed some work on the building. The volunteers, all 24 of them, spent two days cleaning, painting, putting up sheetrock, and generally improving the property.
This gentleman was doing all the work at the sisters home before the volunteers arrived. A true labor of love, he has worked on the building for a couple of years alone. We were glad to be able to help
No, no Mary. The idea is to put paint on the wall, not on yourself. Oh well, as long as some of it makes the wall, it will be a step in the right direction.
Actually, she isn't painting the walls in a candy stripe pattern. She's really painting the ceiling. The wall will stay the same. Adds a little life to the room, don't you think?
If nothing else, this week was a study in contrasts. We started off by working on the sisters Spititual Life Center. A good Catholic work. When the group arrived back at the home base in Glen Fork, one of the assignments was painting this church.
Of course, this is a Baptist church. A small church with a congregation of about a dozen black ladies, all of whom belong to the Red Hat Society.
The inside of the church is well maintained, and a beautiful sanctuary.
This is some of the congregation, who were very appreciative of the effort that was going into helping maintain the church. In fact, the group that worked on this site always reported that they were very well fed. Fried chicken, spaghetti with meat sauce, etc. Some of these members are decendents of slaves, and the church was the first black church founded in the area.
Meanwhile, back inside the church, one of our younger workers dicsovered the piano. And he's a pretty good player, besides being a hard worker. The ladies of the church really enjoyed his playing.
And back outside, his mom was busy applying the last coat of paint to the side of the building. Helping out is the gentleman who works around the church as a custodian.
And while they were painting, dad was occupied at another site replacing a floor, and generally improving the home of a wonderful resident of the area. Here he is, checking the measurements, and ready to make the final cut. Let's see, measure twice, cut once. Is that right?
And once the floor is in, time to lay some new tile. Boy, what a difference this makes. The kitchen is bright and ready for living.
The outside of the house doesn't show all the work going on inside. New floors all around, new windows, new sink, new plumbing. And lots of volunteers giving freely of their time to help advance the Kingdom.
Can you see the expression of thanks on the face of the owner of the home? She could not say "Thank You" enough. And the work still continues. After this group of volunteers left for home, others arrive and pick up where they left off.
Not all homes require such extensive work. Some, like this one need something simple, like a new coat of paint. Of course, there is some prep work required. Like putting in a new drop ceiling. I guess nothing is ever as simple as it seems at first.
But once the ceiling is in, then it's time to apply the paint. You can't see it here, but the ceiling is going to be orange. Yup, orange, at the request of the owner. Seems he heats his home with coal, which results in a lot of coal dust everywhere. The orange color will not show the black dust as much as a white ceiling.
And, naturally, if the ceiling is going to be orange, then the walls should be too. A slightly darker orange, but still orange. And despite what you may think, it doesn't look bad. The finished product looked really good. No. really.
There is a food bank located in the town of Mullins. In addition to helping the local folk with food distribution every month, there is also a clothing section where people can pick out clothes for their family. Here some of the volunteers are sorting the clothes for distribution.
A new feature of the volunteer program is home visiting. Fridays are now reserved for visiting with some local families, either those whose home is being restored, or was restored in a previous year. This gentleman is quite the runner, winning a great many medals in the Special Olympics. But he won a place in the volunteers hearts with his generosity, and good humor.
Aandrew, a volunteer from Texas is spending the summer here. He had the chance to visit with one of the local folk, and brought along his guitar. A pretty good singer and guitar plucker, he brought a little light into the gentleman's life.
And who, you may ask, knows all about so many different types of repairs, and can keep so many different sites going at once. Well, Dan is one of the heros. He comes from Kansas, where he has a farm. And he spends nearly the entire summer in Wyoming County, West Virginia, helping to organize, guiding the work and the workers, and being a general good guy. His wife Lucy, and daughter Mary (Minus the paint) were with him for part of the time.
But don't think that it's all work and no play. We do get some time off. Here the whole group is hiking up a nearby mountain for a morning together. Nice view from the top, which made the hike worth while.
And for a more formal shot, every group of volunteers gets a shot of the whole group in the gym of the school where they stay. It's amazing how much work a small group of people like this can accomplish. Working on a wide variety of project, floors, painting kitchens, day care, visiting. All helping to advance the Kingdom.
They say that the roads in this part of West Virginia are very curvy, twisty, up and down. But this sign can give you some idea just how true that is. Imagine going north and south at the same time, on the same road.
The evening meal is always a community event. Someone volunteers to prepare the meal, others to clean up. It can be quite a challange to cook for anywhere from 25 to 40 people, all with different tastes. The meal is enjoyed at tables set up in the hall in the school that serves as home base. First a prayer of thanks, then, time to eat.
And sometimes, there is cause for celebration. This couple were celebrating their first anniversary as a married couple. So, of course, there was a cake, some singing, and lots of well wishes. Ccongratulations to Tricia and Dave, and a wish for many more.
The size of the group varies comsiderably from week to week. The first week had about 25 volunteers. The second week the group increased to about 40. The next week, it fell back to about 20, and was expected to go up to about 50 the following week. But all good friends by the end of the volunteer period.