Spring Break in Kentucky

Eleanor Harte

Feature Paper

April 22, 2013

A small group of college students stands in a circle around a pile of lumber, fitting construction helmets on their heads and pulling on work gloves as they listen to a man holding a saw give instructions. A few of the students shiver as a cold wind rips through the group, but they continue to listen intently. As the man finishes talking, they break apart and begin to pick up tools: a drill, a hammer, a ladder. They get to work, and suddenly it’s hard to hear anything over the roar of the saw and the sound of nails being hammered into wood.

The students were in eastern Kentucky, spending their spring break repairing homes and building new ones for families in need. A group of 15 UMass Amherst students in the Newman Students Association chose to go on the alternative spring break trip to Appalachia in March.

They worked with a nondenominational Christian organization, the Christian Appalachian Project, which provides physical, spiritual, and emotional support to people in need living in Appalachia. They participated in Workfest 2013, which allows CAP to finish projects on a much quicker schedule than they would be able to do with their regular long-term volunteers.

NSA traditionally does a service trip over spring break, but planning this one proved to be exceptionally tricky. In fact, it almost didn’t happen. Emily Crain, a junior psychology and women’s gender and sexuality studies major, is the president of NSA and had the responsibility of planning the trip, but found herself without much help.

“We had talked about the trip in the fall, but no one really did anything about it. The responsibility was left to me,” said Crain. “In early February I walked into the room with all the priests and told them we didn’t have time to pull it off so we couldn’t do it. And they said, ‘No, we’re doing it,’” said Crain. “They said, ‘You need to start fundraising now or you’re not going to have enough money.’ So I started immediately, and I was just planning fundraisers and hoping people would come.”

Her efforts were a success, and the students only ended up having to pay $50 each for the trip. “Everything is about knowing people,” she said, explaining how she managed to get the vans for a cheap price. The students appreciated her efforts, especially as Crain had prior vacation plans and wasn’t even able to go on the trip.

Lindsey Russo, a junior public health science major, said she was inspired to participate in alternative spring break because of her history with community service. “I went on a trip to Neon, Ky. in high school and I really liked it,” Russo said enthusiastically. “It was the best experience I had in high school. I went to Catholic school and I felt it was the best way to live out my faith in action. Alternative spring break has allowed me to discover the true meaning of Christ in my daily life, doing what he would have done for others.”

Russo’s team built a porch and added a bedroom onto a house for a man awaiting a heart transplant, braving a thunderstorm one afternoon to continue the work. “Working in tough conditions showed me how much we rely on God and each other. Material things start to lose their value,” she said.

Students worked in teams with students from other schools, building porches, additions to houses, and repairing roofs. Mireille O’Connor, a sophomore journalism major, was on a team that added siding and outside insulation to the home of an older couple who had built their home over 30 years ago, but now found themselves with a leaky roof and a home that was cold in the winter.

“The family’s reactions were really touching. The couple’s children and grandchildren were so thankful that we were helping them,” O’Connor said, smiling as she described the family, who she grew to really care for over the week.

“One of the best parts was when the family hugged us and how they really cared for us. They cooked us chili hot dogs and vegetable pizza, macaroni salad, even butterscotch cake and cupcakes,” O’Connor said. “They were so nice. I didn’t want to leave them. I wish we could be there to see the end of the project.”

The project should be finished in the next few months. Even though she won’t be there to help finish the project in person, O’Connor is thankful she got the chance to work on it. “The other type of volunteer work I usually do is fundraising for things, and I never really get to see what the hard work is going toward.”

Alec Bergweiler, a junior mechanical engineering major, went on the trip because his friend had a good experience on a similar trip with the NSA last year. “I wanted something else to do for spring break other than sitting at home doing homework,” said Bergweiler.

He worked on the home of an older couple plagued with medical problems – first, the husband had three heart attacks, and then the wife was diagnosed with leukemia. “She’s in remission now, but their medical bills were really high,” said Bergweiler, explaining the events which caused the couple to spend the money they planned to use for home repairs on medical treatment. CAP stepped in to help the family with the repairs.

O’Connor called the trip her best UMass memory. “I think learning to work together with all different types of people throughout the trip and getting to know them while helping the family at the same time was the best part.” The diversity of the volunteers was an aspect she appreciated as well. “It was really cool how all the helpers came from different walks of life – different majors, hometowns, backgrounds – but had the same common goal of wanting to help the family and really worked together to achieve that.”

Bergweiler did things in Kentucky that he had never done before. “I got up on the roof, knocked down a chimney with crowbars, added siding to the house, and put a metal roof over the existing shingle roof.”

Seeing eastern Kentucky was also a highlight for Bergweiler. “We went to the original KFC restaurant, and Cumberland Falls, which was cool because I don’t see waterfalls very often.” Cumberland Falls is known as the “Niagara of the South,” and is located close to the camp where the group stayed.

“My favorite part was how friendly the people we were helping were. They were very down to earth, and getting to know them was nice. The husband talked to me about how he was a firefighter and flew planes – he had a really full and interesting life.” Students often talked to the homeowners while working and on lunch breaks. They shared stories of faith and life at college and learned about life in Kentucky.

Bergweiler says he would definitely go on a similar trip again. “We improved the homeowners’ lives through direct impact, which was great.”

Lynn Pham, a junior psychology major, found out about the trip through a friend. “It was a great bonding experience. I made a lot of new friends from UMass, who I never would have met otherwise. One of my favorite parts was playing games, like Taboo, a group word game, kind of like charades where people shout things out – it was a lot of fun.”

Pham has participated in a number of service projects before, but none made as big of an impact on her as Workfest 2013. “I’ve done food pantries, given donations, and worked at nursing homes. But I wanted to see my actual volunteer time being given to needy people as well as see the impact that I was making.”