Faith in Action
Volunteers reach out to poor in Appalachia
By Chris Donahue
Staff Writer
A desire to plant seeds of hope outside the Garden State led about 50 members of the diocese to travel 600 miles to assist the poor of rural West Virginia for a week in June.
The volunteers — parishioners from St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Bridgewater, and Immaculate Conception, Somerville, and students and alumni from Immaculata High School, also Somerville — used hammers, saws and lumber to help improve the living conditions of families as part of the Wayne County Work Camp.
The camp is coordinated by the Diocese of Wheeling and Cabwaylingo Presbyterian Church in Wayne County. The Metuchen diocesan volunteers were among more than 100 from around the country who helped repair or build roofs, floors, doors and porches, said Deacon Gerry Sims of St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish.
“Faith is a verb, not just a noun,” Deacon Sims said. “God calls us. The second great commandment is, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ We have to pursue that goal and this is certainly a worthy cause.”
Wayne County has a population of about 43,000, according to the 2000 Census. The median household income in the county is about $27,000 compared to the national average of $42,000, according to the Census.
“It’s like going back 75 years in time in many ways,” said Jeanine Cavanagh, coordinator of social ministry at Immaculate Conception Parish.
Enriching experience
Cavanagh was a freshman at Seton Hall University, South Orange, when she made her first trip to the work camp. She now helps lead students from Immaculata to the site.
“What greater gift can we give than to meet Jesus face-to-face and hold his hand?” Cavanagh said. “We are there to glorify God. It becomes about serving him and forming relationships.”
Cavanagh said the rewards of volunteering are the effect you have on others, not just repairing their home. “The theme of the camp is, ‘Sowing seeds of hope.’ Sometimes we get to see the Lord’s plans and other times we don’t know where they grow,” she said.
And despite the poverty in Wayne County, Cavanagh said an observation by one of her sons led to a profound realization. “We were talking about poverty and serving God and how we love God and how richness can be seen in different ways,” she said. “He said he saw 68 pictures in one house. The message was, ‘They value people.’”
Family ties
Volunteering at the camp has also been an annual tradition for Helen Sanford, campus minister at Immaculata High School, and her husband, Art, who organized the group from St. Bernard of Clairvaux.
“We got an awareness of the incredible poverty in this part of the country and the students became aware of the social justice teachings the church calls us to and to put our faith into action,” Helen Sanford said.
“You do get a lot of satisfaction in saying I made this house a little safer or a little warmer because you insulated it or it is drier because you put on a roof,” Art Sanford said. “Everybody deserves basic human needs: shelter, food and clothing. Often the people we are doing this for don’t have them.”
Immaculate Conception Parish also donates money to pay for the students’ lodging at Cabwaylingo State Forest, as well as construction materials, food and gas, Helen Sanford said. Each night there is an interfaith prayer service and on the final night, service awards are given and the volunteers share their experiences.
The camp also provides a venue to build bridges with people of other faiths. “We find what we have in common and celebrate that,” Art Sanford said.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law