Village Voice - August,
2005
Appalachian
Experiences
My first mission trip
was in the summer of 2003 with ten other members of Village. We started our day with a hot breakfast at a
local church, prepared by some of the members.
We then reported to the Appalachian Outreach Center for about an
hour
where we performed various tasks. Then it
was off to another church to work with school-aged children that are in
the
free lunch program. We played, put on
puppet shows, and made crafts with the children, then helped with
providing
lunch and cleaning up afterwards. Then
it was our turn to have lunch at the Samaritan House.
We spent the rest of the afternoon working in
the basement painting some of the rooms or assisting at the Outreach Center
until 4:00 p.m. Dinner was served at 5:00 at the same church where we ate
breakfast
with a worship time immediately following.
I left Tennessee
feeling so rewarded that I knew I would want to go on another mission
trip.
When the opportunity
came to go back to Tennessee,
it was a no-brainer for me. This time
our group was only three, and much to our surprise, we were the only
church
group volunteering the week of July 3rd.
It seems the 4th of July is a popular time for
vacations! We had our meals at the
Samaritan House, just the ten of us, Randy, the acting Outreach
Manager, six
summer missionaries and us Villagers.
Marion spent his time at the
old hospital, operating on donated computers, while Audry and I worked
at the Outreach
Center.
There’s a drop-off area for donations and the center is blessed
daily
with many generous contributions. The
donated clothes and household items are brought to the sorting room
where they
are piled to the ceiling, literally to the top of the ceiling! Audry and I spent most of Monday opening
large garbage bags full of clothes. We
checked each item for stains and tears and made sure it wasn’t totally
out of
style. Many of the items are then baled
and shipped to North Carolina,
where they are re-sorted. They may end
up in other needy countries, or perhaps burned and used a supplement
for
asphalt. The items that are not baled
are divided into categories of men’s, ladies and children’s clothing,
toys and
household items.
The next step is to get the clothing
onto the
Outreach Store racks. We used one of the
buggies (shopping carts) and filled it with one of the categories of
clothing. Then we got the appropriate
hangers together, and we were in business.
Audry and I teamed up on our last day and set a goal to empty
out the
children’s clothes bin. We’d take a
buggy full of clothes out to the store floor.
Audry put the clothes onto the hangers and I hung the clothes on
the
rack, and as I went along I straightened and gathered other empty
hangers. I
did my best to get all the clothes on each rack to hang in the same
direction….must have been all those years of retail experience that
helped me
along wanting to keep things organized. I also spent one afternoon
color
grouping the ladies’ shoes. We exceeded
our goal of emptying the children’s bin, and were able to empty the
men’s bin
as well.
It’s very important to keep the racks
full,
because the families can only come to the center once a month. They are
allowed
ten items of clothing, including shoes, per family member. Each child
is
allowed to fill one bag with toys. Each family can take one bag of
household
items and two articles of linens. And they can have as many books as
they would
like! This is also when those from Jefferson County
can receive their
two bags of pantry food. They are allowed three items of furniture per
year,
but they have to get them at the same time.
Appalachian Outreach offers these
poverty relief
ministries: Appalachian Outreach Home Repair; Samaritan House (homeless
shelter); Clothing, food, furniture distribution; Computer and GED
training; Hispanic
ministry; Second Source Thrift Store. In
2002-2003 86 homes were repaired, 123 people were given shelter, 14,530
hot
meals were served at Samaritan House, 1,736 items of furniture were
given out,
3,354 baskets of food were given out, and 49 people received
computer/GED
training.
My inspiration to take
part in a mission trip came
from Mathew 25:35-40. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to
eat, I was
thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you
invited Me
in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked
after Me,
I was in prison and you came to visit.
Then the righteous will answer Him, Lord when did we do these things
for You?
The King will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the
least of
these brothers of mine, you did for Me.
-- Michele Miles