OPERATION NEW HOPE/WORKFEST PREPARES FOR MARCH KICKOFF
For more than a decade, the Christian Appalachian Project has sponsored Operation New Hope, a special program designed to meet the most basic housing needs of impoverished families struggling to survive in Appalachia.
When you live in poverty and rarely have money for incidentals, even the most basic housing repairs are virtually impossible.After working with the destitute families of Appalachia for many years and seeing their living conditions – no plumbing, cardboard patches over windows, rotted floors, unsafe methods of heating – CAP staff and volunteers launched Operation New Hope.Through the New Hope Program, we repaired and rebuilt some of the most dilapidated, broken-down homes you could imagine.
For the first few years, only a handful of houses could be repaired.But even in its infancy, we observed an interesting and unexpected side effect of Operation New Hope. Once their homes were repaired, the families we’d helped showed such incredible pride, their lives were literally transformed.
Today, we’ve helped thousands of people through Operation New Hope.We have volunteers who work year-round helping to repair and rebuild homes.We have groups that visit throughout the year from schools and churches.They stay for a week, repair a home, get to know the family, and can’t help but come back the next year.
And, we have WorkFest, our annual alternative Spring-break where hundreds of college students spend their vacation hammering nails, hanging drywall, painting trim and repairing roofs.
Volunteers provide the labor and friends like you across America provide the funding for building materials.Working together, thousands of families have been saved. And, everyone – from the students who drive nails to the kind neighbors thousands of miles away who help pay for building supplies – shares in the joy.
Last year – during 2006’s Operation New Hope/WorkFest -- our volunteer teams were supported by thousands of generous friends across American to help repair 97 homes and complete 340 Outreach Projects.
You can share in the joy of helping support the 2007 Operation New Hope/WorkFest program by clicking on one of our giving links and making your contribution today.
May God richly bless your life.
New Volunteers Commissioned
back row: Don Schaeffer (Housing), Kevin DeMaria (Housing), Liz Berling (Outreach Services), Jennifer Luoma (Elderly Services), Bruce Silva (Housing), T.J. Sellner (Adult Education) front row: Amy Nee (Adult Education), Helen Zudrell (Substance Abuse Recovery), Lindsey Gasperic (Camp Andrew Jackson), Katherine Grimmett (Housing), Jennie Tonkin (Child and Family Development),Danae Silva (Child and Family Development)
In September, CAP commissioned twelve new long-term volunteers. These volunteers, who have made a commitment to serve 9 months or more in Appalachia, represent eight different states.
Jennifer Luoma, a 2006 graduate of Boston College, knew she wanted to make a commitment to long-term service after graduation. "I wanted to volunteer a year after college to give that time to God," Jennifer said. Jennifer chose CAP because she wanted a "Christ-centered" program where she could work with the elderly to discern whether a career in geriatrics is in her future. Kentucky native Kevin DeMaria's decision to come to CAP was influenced by a mission trip to Guatemala. "My experience there inspired me to give back to others less fortunate than myself," he said.
The volunteers spent a week of orientation at Camp Shawnee getting to know each other and learning about CAP. Orientation concluded with a commissioning service to officially begin the volunteers' ministry in Appalachia.
Margaret, one of our Outreach Services participants, lived and raised a family in her home for over 40 years. Although it wasn’t much, it held countless happy memories. The house, however, had deteriorated over the years, and had become unsafe for Margaret, 81, to live in. At her age and with her limited income, purchasing a brand new home just wasn’t an option. All she could afford was a humble, used mobile home that was in need of some remodeling.
The Christian Appalachian Project is an interdenominational, non-profit Christian organization committed to serving people in need in Appalachia by providing physical, spiritual and emotional support through a wide variety of programs and services.
An interdenominational, Christian faith-based mission helping to better the quality of life of children, families, and elderly individuals struggling in poverty throughout Appalachia.
“I have shown you all things, how that your laboring ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of our Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Do you have a friend who might be interested in CAP's ministry in Appalachia?
If so, please click here to fill out and submit a request and we will send them one of CAP's inspirational books as an introduction to our work in serving those in need in Appalachia. The book is our gift and comes without any cost or obligation. The book is of life in Appalachia, of those that suffer in the remote hills and valleys of central Appalachia in severe conditions of poverty, and how a grass-root organization like CAP can help people overcome nearly impossible odds.
CAP’s Prescription Assistance Program helps struggling families receive the medication they so desperately need. At no cost! The money they save can be used to feed their hungry children and provide adequate shelter.
It sounds unbelievable, but your 7 cents can help provide A FULL DOLLARS worth of lifesaving medicine.
A supporting chapter for Kentucky Self - Advocates For Freedom, Inc. A statewide organization directed by Kentuckians with disabilities committed to working in partnership with all interested parties to promote equal right, inclusion, self-advocacy, support and education in all realms of life.
