Check out Blog Post for West Virginia Part I
Click here for West Virginia Part III
I miss West Virginia, SALS, and my incredible Rutgers Alternative Spring Break group. So, let me share some of my experiences through the following photo log. Photo credits to everyone in my alternative break group.
Where We Stayed - Beards Fork, West Virginia at an old church. It was a modest church with two rooms with a couple of bunk beds in each, a living room, two bathrooms, and a kitchen. Outside of the church, there was a stream in the back (how often does a person get to wake up to the peaceful sound of a stream?) and a hiking trail nearby. The church is very close to the SALS community building where they have offices and afterschool program.
Reflection - I hold this place very close to my heart. No technology, cell phone service, compulsive email checking... I was retreated from everything I was familiar with back in NJ. There I met some of the friendliest and warm people in the hollow (holler?) who I enjoyed chatting with, exchanging stories, getting to know. The scenery is beautiful, in a quiet, unimposing way. I learned a lot about myself when I was living there.
What Work We Accomplished - So you're not going to see pictures of a house built in one week by unskilled college students. We weren't there to accomplish anything huge or grandiose. But we did our best to learn new construction skills and to support our nonprofit partner, SALS, and its current projects. And in that week, we were transformed.
Project #1 - Building a Wheelchair Ramp for a house in the local neighborhood.
(Not too bad for a bunch of people who had never hammered a nail, used an electric saw, cut planks of wood, used a screwdriver. Best of all, we soon taught each other the skills we learned.)
Project #2 - Fixing up the inside of a house
In one week, we could not see an end result for this project. We painted; we learned how to do a popcorn ceiling finish!; we cleaned. We did what we could to refurnish this house.
(To be continued in a future post!)
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