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Merry Christmas from the Appalachian Catholic Worker!!!
I hope this finds you happy and healthy, preparing to spend good times with loved ones over the holidays. Will you be doing something extra for those without as much, and getting enough peace and quiet in there somewhere to experience an actual “Silent Night?” I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know the dogs are successfully deterring our resident pack of coyotes, the batch of Spring chicks are now grown and laying eggs and my one-eyed, deaf-as-a-post, gimp-of-a-cat is still catching the occasional mouse at age 20! But, on this dreary December day, with Spring so far off, all of Spencer and everyone here on Orchard Run is missing the echoes of student groups laughing, working and learning in these ancient hills.
Each Spring, early Summer and Fall, my calendar is booked with groups of students on break from their classes. Their service projects in our community, learning about Mountaintop Removal and immersion into the Appalachian culture bring much needed help, hope and positive energy to this area. Depending on when the holidays fall, I host between 6 and 11 groups annually. This year, 54 students worked on 24 service projects and 2013 promises 82 students for 40 sites. That makes for hundreds of happy and very grateful locals. I also continue to get good feedback from students even years after their visit saying how much they miss West Virginia and its people and what a life-changing experience the trip was for them. Many have switched majors, altered career tracts or drastically modified their lifestyles due to the profound impact the program had on them. A few have returned on their own to visit and all of them are spreading the word. And, that’s far, considering it travels from here all the way to California, Washington, Minnesota, Ohio, Georgia, New Jersey and New York!
In the “off season” ACW continues the Works of Mercy, advocating for the poor and championing the environment. I fill in the gaps when other avenues for help run dry. For example, much of my time this year has been spent managing two local land trusts as the president-by-default for each of their Boards: 1) Sunny Bank Farm Charitable Trust, where I used to host groups, is finally getting off the ground with its mission of housing women in-need and fostering children with disabilities; and, 2) The Regional Land Trust of West Virginia offers land for the landless, promotes the ecological use of it, and protects it from extractive industries in perpetuity. This past Spring, some of my resources were used for the memorial service and burial of Sako, the elderly, reclusive artist I visited on occasion. Since Sako’s death in March, I’ve worked with his brother to get his 63 acres annexed into the RLTWV and have been fixing up his house. In addition, I'm excited to be collaborating with other land trusts from WV to TN to establish an Appalachian Regional Land Trust Association in the coming year. These types of activities, along with speaking engagements, retreats and service-learning groups, are considered my E.C.O. ministries (Education, Contemplation and Outreach) and they’ve been keeping me busier than ever.
As festive and newsy as I want this letter to be, it is also a plea for your help. I hope you feel that the programs and services ACW provides are worth just a few of your hard-earned bucks. My part-time job for Catholic Committee of Appalachia with a salary of $11,000 a year has sustained the ACW thus far. But to ensure it survives and to make it thrive with a goal of becoming financially self-sustaining, I need help from more of you. Currently, out of 400 names on the mailing list, 3 give monthly and 4 others give annually for an average of $246/month. For almost 13 years, ACW has operated without 501(c)3 non-profit status. This means I rely on the support of several small donations, rather than a few large donations or grants from corporate sponsors. You have always shared what you can afford from the goodness of your hearts without a write off and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I believe the personal relationships that result from this kind of sharing constitute the type of society the Creator intended.
However, I am not naïve. When funding was hard to come by in the beginning, I was on a 30 day silent retreat to discern if this work was really what I was supposed to be doing. The answer I got, finally, after the third week, came in two words: “For Now.” Since then my gift has been that “For Now” has lasted this long, and my wish is that I can be open to the possibility of a “New Now.”
Of course, giving to my or any charity is not getting at the root of the problem. The only way to do that would be to eliminate poverty and save the environment by changing the systems we’ve set in place and our habitual, addictive lifestyles that cause and perpetuate these issues. If we all did that then my services would no longer be needed and closing the ACW would be a celebratory event! But there’s more work for us to do. So, I trust you’re pulling your weight by doing the types of things I’m always babbling about to students: living more simply, shopping less, recycling, turning off the lights and finding a cause for which you feel passionate and doing something about it. Together, bit by bit, we’ll get there.
As the New Year unfolds, please consider giving what you can to the ACW as often as you’re able. Your regular support of $5, $10 or $20 a month can save the only Catholic Worker in central Appalachia. Whatever it is will be enough until it’s time for me to close the doors. I trust what St. Ignatius said, “Work as though everything depends on you; pray as though everything depends on God.” After all, whenever I’ve had to give up all I have and all I know with that kind of faith, I’ve received 1,000 fold in return.
You have been part of that return. May you, too, receive 1,000 fold this Christmas and beyond.
In Joyful Hope,
Jeannie
www.acwfarm.com
Please CLICK HERE to tell me how much you can give, and consider adding ACW to your auto-bill-pay for monthly donations.
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