Summer Is a Great Time for Volunteering

Summer makes me feel like I have tons of time and lots of energy. Maybe it’s the great weather or the extra time I have since I don’t have to go to lacrosse games.  Whatever it is, it makes me feel as though the summer is a great time to volunteer.

This summer my family and I will again spend a week in Appalachia to repair homes for the community in Preston County, West Virginia. Three years ago, the Youth Ministry group from joined with St. Patrick’s in Chatham for their annual service trip. St. Patrick’s has been going to Appalachia for 25 years and when they asked St. Vincent’s Youth Ministry to go with them, my two youngest children, my husband and myself saw it as an opportunity for us to volunteer together. The parishes sponsor the trip for the youth of the parish, but a certain number of adults need to attend as chaperones. It has become our “family vacation” and people ask us why we continue to go instead of choosing a “real” vacation. Here are some of my observations about why we go:

It’s certainly not for the accommodations

Forty to 50 people share the top floor of a VFW hall with blow up mattresses filling the floor. Showers are a block down the street.  While it doesn’t sound appealing, after spending a week in such close quarters, you learn to respect one another and realize that you need to put the needs of the group ahead of your own. We begin to appreciate a sense of community.

It is definitely the people you go with

We arrive in Appalachia as a group of 45 strangers from two different parishes. Some of the people I’d seen for years in Church or around town but never said hello to (why, I don’t know). I thought we’d never learn everyone’s names.  But after spending 24 hours a day with one another, making food, working on projects, sharing stories, it’s inevitable that you learn about one another. I heard about what motivated people to volunteer, what their dreams were, in essence, what made them tick. Teens and adults are equals on the trip. Each group has a dynamic–our first year was made up of a lot of very vocal teenagers–it was a fun, exciting trip with lots of energy. Last year was a calmer group–fewer people overall, quieter personalities, more opportunity to learn about one another.

It’s also the people you meet in Appalachia

We are broken into smaller groups with a combination of adults and teens and assigned to a project. Once at the job site, you are expected to do more than just complete the job. We’re not hired professionals; we’re more like friends who have come in from out of town. Last year, one of the families we helped had three young boys who were fascinated by the teenagers on the trip. Sometimes the boys were outside playing ball with the teens. But there were times when their grandmother wanted them inside. All they wanted to do was be with us and they would sit inside staring out the windows, making faces at us while we worked. Each day as we drove away, they would wave goodbye, patiently awaiting the next day when we would arrive. A friend of mine who went on the trip now exchanges Christmas cards with the family she worked with. My daughter tells of her first year and how much she enjoyed listening to stories that an older woman would tell her while she worked on spackling a wall.

It’s the work

The work is hard, there is no question about it. It’s hot, the work may be out of your comfort zone, but at the end of the day, as you share stories over dinner, you’re satisfied with what you’ve accomplished. Seeing a teen girl nervous about using a nail gun on day one and then by day three confidently wielding it like it’s an extension of her hand is fantastic. We had a man last year who wasn’t sure how to use a hammer at the beginning of the week and by the end of the week, he was swinging on ladders putting up siding like a monkey. One of the jobs my team had was to put up a 60 foot stretch of gutter. We reviewed the process at the hardware store, I called my father for advice and when we tested the gutter with water and it ran out the downspout it was as though we had launched the space shuttle–we were so proud of ourselves.

It’s the time away from your regular life

This for me, especially, is why I continue to go to Appalachia each year. The ability to take time away from the pressures of work and family and focus on something else and someone else is refreshing for me. For me, volunteering allows me to attend to the needs of others and not worry about myself. Each year I think I don’t have the time to go because there’s so much I should be working on–and yet when I return physically tired but emotionally refreshed, I realize how worthwhile the trip has been and how my “regular” world has functioned just fine without me.

After going to Appalachia, our family has been inspired to volunteer more throughout the year. We now find opportunities that are “easier” to do but still provide us with the chance to help the community. We’ve volunteered at church and school functions, participated in a health fair and helped with the food bank.  We come away from each experience knowing that we have made a small difference. It’s not always easy to find the time and I’m not implying that we’re volunteering day and night, but we are more eager to offer our time when the chance arises. I encourage you to start with something simple and see just how rewarding it can be.

If you’d like to learn more about the Appalachia Help Week click here or email me at drallison@adamsdentalnj.com. Donations may be sent directly to St. Vincent Martyr Church Youth Ministry.