By Mo Scarpelli

When several men from Woodruff Road Community Church in Greenville, North Carolina arrived at a house in Gary, West Virginia last week to repair a water-damaged room, they expected several days of hard work.

What they didn’t expect were two smiling little girls to keep them company throughout the project.

“We were looking for somewhere to put our nails and Kaleigh brought us a little princess box,” said Todd Gleason, Experience Mission Construction Manager. “She kept coming back in the room and saying, ‘It’s so beautiful, it’s so beautiful,’ even though it was still under construction.”

Kaleigh, 4, and Brooke, 2, live with grandparents Beth and Ronnie several miles from historic downtown Welch, West Virginia.

The family applied to the local nonprofit organization, School for Life, Inc., two years ago for home repair. School for Life, Inc. partners with Experience Mission in home repair projects for those in need.

The small EM team spent last week laying drywall and spackling the cracks of the Finley’s back room, where their granddaughters will have their own rooms, for the very first time.

Beth and Ronnie Finley’s house troubles began in July of 2001, when a great flood struck southern West Virginia, leaving more than 1,500 families without homes.

The Finleys were nearly one of them. Their backyard washed away into the creek behind their house and part of their roof tore off in the relentless wind.

“It pulled apart from the beams and water started getting up under the roof, not just falling on it,” said 45-year-old Beth Finley. “That’s when the ceiling fell down.”

In the seven years since the flood, the Finley’s roof has never completely recovered, despite their best efforts to repair it.

“We bought plywood and rolled roofing (tar paper) and tried to fix it,” said Beth, who has been married to Ronnie Finley for eight years. “It got us through the winter, but started leaking in the spring again.”

After getting off work at the body shop, Ronnie Finley would hoist himself up on top of the house to patch the roof with scrap tin that he’d gotten from a friend. Beth calls it “our flannel shirt roof” because there are so many different colors.

Beth says she didn’t really mind the leaking too much until she adopted her granddaughter, Kaleigh. Ronnie put up a partition to block out the corner of the room where water damage was the worst, and Kaleigh occasionally slept in the front part of the room, though she was more comfortable in her grandparents’ bed.

With Experience Mission’s help, the rooms are now leak-safe, which Beth says is perfect timing for the Finley’s, considering they are in the process of obtaining full parental rights of their second grandchild, Brooke.

Brooke, now 2 years old, was born to a drug-addicted mother and soon after, her father, Beth’s son, was arrested for breaking and entering and sent to jail. Beth and Ronnie Finley have been fighting for custody of their grandchild for more than a year, as she bounced from foster care to her mother’s care to her other grandmother’s care in the meantime.

Beth says with paperwork and court dates out of the way, the family is finally achieving stability. Now that the children have permanent homes, Beth says EM house repair help will have a big impact on the girls’ quality of life.

“The girls are going to have their own rooms for the first time ever,” said Beth Finley. “We’ve been daydreaming – Kaleigh picked out sheets and wallpaper. She goes back there once in awhile to see where she wants to put her bed.”

To Gleason, home repair for the Finley’s wasn’t just about fixing a room. It was also about setting an example to the girls of how faith can lead to compassion and hard work.

“Beth couldn’t express enough how much it meant to her that there were young people interested in doing this work,” said Gleason. “All the young people around here that she knows are into messed up stuff.”

Beth says she often sees crack cocaine and methamphetamine use go undetected by police in her area.

McDowell County has the highest drug-related mortality rate in the state, according to a 2006 report by the West Virginia Prevention Resource Center. More than 30 percent of deaths involve drugs or other abused substances.

Beth worries about this, mostly because she saw her own son fall into a desperate drug addiction. She says five of her neighbors are also grandparents taking care of the children their kids’ couldn’t, due to drug problems.

“It’s real bad here. If they had more people like you –“she said, pointing at EM volunteers as they scraped joint compound on the ceilings, “then they wouldn’t want to get into drugs in the first place.”

The team of five – Earl Nadeau, David Gray, Steve Kinney, Sam Farley, and Gleason – finished in three days, though the rooms still need painting.

Kaleigh Finley says that part is her job.

“I’m going to paint my new room with my daddy and we’re going to make purple butterflies!” said Kaleigh, as she looked around the back corner room she claimed as her own.

EM continues to partner with School for Life, Inc. until the end of July, bringing hundreds more volunteers to assess the needs of McDowell County residents.

Experience Mission is offering Summer 2009 mission trips to West Virginia and other locations in the U.S. and abroad. Visit www.experiencemission.org or call 360-732-0986 to learn more.

By Mo Scarpelli

For many Americans, a heated house is a necessity. If that means installing a new heat pump, so be it. But to those in McDowell County, West Virginia, Jack Fultz says even basic home repair is not a given – it’s a luxury.

More than 24 percent of family households in McDowell County make less than $10,000 a year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“They have no options. Our people have just enough money to get by,” said Fultz, founder of the non-profit group School for Life in Gary, West Virginia. “They have just enough for food, gas, utilities, with no extra money for home repair.”

That explains Carlisa and Donald Merriweather’s story. Four years ago, Carlisa moved into the house her mother had grown up in. Her new home was actually a very old one, dating back to before the 20th century. She never had the option to turn on the heat in her home save for small kerosene heaters in several rooms.

“In the wintertime, Carlisa would come down and stay with us because it was cold,” said Carlisa’s mother, Olivia Bell. “It’s not good when you keep the kerosene on overnight, it’s expensive and you have to watch inhaling the fumes too much.”

The whole neighborhood, known as the Gary No. 11 camp, was built more than a hundred years ago by the U.S. Steel Company for mine workers and their families. The house foundations were constructed with only a couple of feet above the ground, making them too low to install electric heating pumps underneath.

Carl Bell, Carlisa’s father, says the family had two options: they could build an additional room on the house for the heating pump and pipes, or they could hire a contractor and crew to install all of it in the attic.

“If you hire a contractor, you might as well give them the house,” said Bell. “It’s that expensive.”

Bell and a few family members decided to add to the house themselves, but found it hard to acquire the funds and spare time. The new pump alone cost more than $600, and Carlisa’s husband had little time after work to help Bell.

This is where Jack Fultz and his wife, Brenda, came in.

“Carl is one of the first guys I met when we came out here,” said Fultz, who moved into the unused Old Gary School three years ago to start his nonprofit company. “Carl and his brother would help us out at the school, they’d unload trucks and do other things.”

The school’s upstairs classrooms have been converted into living quarters for volunteers that want to help Fultz chip away at a seemingly endless list of residents like the Merriweathers in need of home repair. Experience Mission arrived at the school in early June and their first teams of volunteers, one from Greenville, North Carolina and another from Pennsylvania’s Panther Valley area, found their way through the misty mountains to the school a week later.

The teams then split up to take on different projects: some stayed at the school to teach and play with local children during a bible school program called Kid’s Club; some helped Brenda Fultz sort through cluttered classrooms in the school; and others set off to tackle construction projects. This included a team of five EM volunteers that arrived at Carlisa’s house, eager to finish what her father had started.

“It makes you feel helpful,” said 17-year-old volunteer Brandon Hefferfinger while on a break from laying drywall with his father and friends. “It’s not an off-the-wall, different thing to do, the jobs are very possible for anyone. These people just need help.”

EM has helped, by spending more than $300 on materials and by recruiting volunteers like 18-year-old Joe Folk, who believes that the quality of life for people of West Virginia is just as important as anywhere else.

“We considered going out of the States to do mission work,” said Folk. “But then we decided to help one of our own.”

Merriweather says she is grateful for that, as she was dreading another cold winter with her 7-month-old son. Jack added her house to the his list of repairs almost two years ago, and with the help of EM, finally got enough hands to do the job.

Having EM crews work comforts Merriweather, who says she prefers EM because she can trust the crew.

“You don’t have to worry about ‘em out here fussin’ and cussin’ and fightin’ or taking anything,” Merriweather said. “I was glad when they came, relieved.”

Jack Fultz and EM volunteers try to spread the message of Christianity through
this kind of help all summer long in McDowell County, one of the poorest counties in the country.

“Most Christians just go to church,” said Fultz. “The Bible says, ‘Ye shall know them by their fruits,’ and this is just some of the fruit we can provide, by giving time and hard work. Others will notice because these houses beautify the community.”

Experience Mission is offering Summer 2009 mission trips to West Virginia and other locations in the U.S. and abroad. Visit www.experiencemission.org or call  360-732-0986  to learn more.

Delays and unforeseen problems seem to like to find their way into our first day’s schedule here in West Virginia, as we have seen this happen every week and thus have almost come to expect problems. Wesleyan Chapel United Methodist Church brought 31 members, and it was our largest single group yet. This group of 31 was full of spunk and already seemed quite unified and just happy to be together, which made for an easy-going and fun environment. The first night was off with a boom when Jackie Colenda and Elliot Malpass led worship in our group time on keyboard and guitar.

As I talked about earlier, Monday morning had a slow start when construction coordinator Todd got sick, which put him out of commission for our first day of work. So Emily and I scrambled to get scaffolding and ladders to two different painting sites, to find the right paint colors, to give out directions to a project 30 minutes away, and to do it all with one vehicle and to make sure everyone was happy while it was all happening. So we got Todd some medicine and sent him off to bed and then had to share the van to deliver groups and their supplies to each work site in somewhat of a timely manner. When all groups and we thought, all the supplies were finally to their destinations the problems didn’t stop there. The wrong paint had been dropped off at the wrong location, and the scaffolding didn’t fit together and there weren’t enough ladders and the benches for painting were wet, and our community partners, Jack and Brenda were gone for the day, and there was only one van and two interns to fix it all. By the grace of God Emily and I didn’t crack under the pressure though, and we slowly but surely worked everything out to where each group was happy and working, at least for the morning.

The next couple days mellowed out a little, and once again God proved He had it all under control and apparently just wanted to make sure we knew it. Life in West Virginia is always an adventure, and never without struggle, but we have come to expect and look forward to each new day, not matter what it brings. The week ahead is sure to be productive and a learning experience for all!

Lovin’ the Lord in West Virginia,

Leanna

Sometimes the hardest part about going on a missions trip is that you are only there for a week, and because of being there a short time you don’t always get to see the whole project finished or see the after-affects.

This past week, though, got to go against the norm, and saw projects finished and lives changed. In our last meeting together on Thursday night multiple people shared how wonderful it was to actually see a work project completed. “In past trips we’ve always had to kind of leave things half done for someone else, but it was so nice this week for us to see everything get done that we set out to do. It was especially good for the kids to see all their hard work come together at the end.” said Youth Leader Tina McGuffey.

The teams had three different large work projects this week, two of them being rebuilding porches. It was a great sight to see them get done by the last day, and to see the happiness and thankfulness of the families who we worked for. At one of the project sites we built it and left them with the stain and paint brushes to finish the porch. We were skeptical as to whether or not they would actually put the stain on or just let it sit as most people do in this area. We ended up being able to see the family that night and to our surprise they had painted it that afternoon! This was especially exciting for the kids who really got to know the family because it says that they are taking care of something on their home, and that’s a trait that’s not very common in this area.

The third worksite was at a house that is being renovated for a family, and our job was to paint about five rooms and two hallways of the house, and to attack the three ft. tall grass in the small but overwhelming yard. By the end of the week they had completed all the painting and got about half of the yard whacked down. It was really exciting for the family and for the team that had got to know them while they worked together all week.

All in all I would say this week could not have gone better, projects were completed, kids lives were changed, and most importantly God showed up in all of it.

Lovin’ the Lord in West Virginia,

Leanna

Yet again the oddness of West Virginia weather kicked in, and kicked us out of a morning of work on Tuesday, and for part of the afternoon on Wednesday. Rain is usually our biggest problem because so many of our work projects are outside, but luckily we do always have the fall back of working inside at the school, and there is never a shortage of work to be done around here.

This determined group of 26 from Maryland was not prepared to let a little rain stop them though, and thought they saw a break enough in the clouds to take smaller groups out to the work sites and try to get as much work done as they could. So the groups packed up and headed out, and you know the saying that science only goes so far and then comes God?

Well, our weather forecast could only go so far that day because the prediction was rain, but when the two teams got to their outdoor work sites, the rains stopped and left only a cool breeze behind. The sun was soon to follow, and the day turned out to be a success! Then it didn’t start raining again until after the teams were done for the day. God is so good, and I know His plan will be completed no matter what; He always makes a way.

Tuesday was not the end though, God has much more in store for this particular week. I love seeing the unique relationships that are being cultivated at kids club, and with the families at each work site.

The youth leaders from this team have a real focus on teaching the kids in practical ways, whether it is how to use a saw or how to minister to troubled youth. Each person has brought something different to the table, and I look forward to see how the Lord is going to use each and every one of those things.

Thank you for all your support! All your thoughts and prayers and such a blessing!

Lovin’ the Lord in West Virginia,

Leanna

This week has had a different, but good, atmosphere, as this is our first week with only one group at a time. They traveled all the way from Maryland, and despite wrong turns, tornado-like wind and rain and the treacherous mountain roads of West Virginia, they made it!

They came prepared with knowledge, skill and tools to take on some pretty big projects, and that’s just what we had planned for them. Monday morning got off to a slow start with divvying up just where everyone was going to work, but after all that was sorted the groups took off in a blur of excitement.

The devotional lesson the night prior had been about seeing others around us through God’s eyes, and respecting and loving them just as they are because that’s exactly how God made them. I encouraged the group to get to know the people, and as these past few days have progressed, I have seen that happening even more than I was expecting.

I noticed relationships forming in kids club, which has been smaller than usual but the group from Our Savior Lutheran Church has taken it all in stride and has used this to their advantage. “There have been some really awesome individual connections made between the kids and my group,” said leader Natasha Bowlds when asked how she thought kids club was going. “Ya know, we may not have as long of a story or song time, but we’re playing with the kids, and spending time with them, and that’s what they’ll remember when we leave; that someone took time to care about them, and to really want to spend time with them, and that’s what we’re doing out there.”

I also got a chance to visit the work sites today, and was in awe of what I saw when I arrived at the second one. I walked up the road to the old broken down house where the group has been building a needed new porch for a small and broken family. As I got to the front yard I noticed two of the girls sitting up on the finished portion of the porch talking with and getting to know the daughter and mother in family. They were dirty, and one could tell they had not washed for days. It is also well known that the daughter is a prostitute and crack dealer. None of this held back the two high school girls from Maryland though, they all sat together playing with the dogs, talking, and sharing their lives with one another. I could see the love of God flowing out of them as these may be some of the only people this family meets, especially the younger daughter that are showing them true affection and not asking for anything in return.

Needless to say, these first few days have already been exciting and that makes me more excited for the remainder of the week! God is definitely at work here! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Lovin’ the Lord in West Virginia,

Leanna

We now come to the end of our first mission trip and I cannot believe it is over! It has flown by and I know I can speak for all three interns in saying it was one we certainly learned a lot from and will never forget. Both groups completed more tasks than we had planned and we had to find new projects throughout the week for them to complete. This is a good thing though, and such a blessing to everyone who got help from them.

Both houses that had rooms being finished were completed by the afternoon on Thursday, and the projects around the school made a huge improvement as well. The families whose houses had been either finished or painted were generous and friendly all week long, and hopefully quite unforgettable to the teams who worked there. Those families even made lunch for the men working there everyday. This lunch meal sometimes turned out to be coincidentally the same meal as dinner that night a couple times, but that made for laughs and memories on both sides.

The last day of Kid’s Club was just as enthusiastic and elaborate as the rest of the week. The kids were sent home with bags filled with crafts, snacks and prizes, and with hearts filled with seeds planted about the word of God. There is one older woman in the community who brings many kids each day and is very familiar with the kids that live around Gary. “

I’ve been here a lot of years and seen many groups put things like this on, and if I don’t like it the first day I never being the kids back, but this group has really got something special,” she said when asked about this week’s group. “I like when groups teach the kids not only about the Lord but teach them character traits as well, and this group does that. You can tell they really care about the children and take time with each one of them, no matter if the kids are difficult or not. It’s really great to see.”

After all the morning and afternoon work the groups got to spend their last night here up on Miracle Mountain for some time to relax. We grilled burgers and the kids played football and horseshoes. The wooded mountainous view was beautiful and it seemed the perfect place to close out a great week. We had a time of worship and short devotional about living for the Lord whether you are on a mission trip, just coming home from one, or have never set foot on the mission field at all.

We are truly grateful for the teams coming here and we cannot thank them enough for all the hard work they put into every project everyday, for the friendships they extended us and for blessing us in such large ways! At the same time, we look forward to the rest of the summer and what the Lord has in store for us next! Thank you for all your prayer and support!

Lovin’ the Lord in West Virginia!

Leanna

Our first mission trip has finally begun, and it is one we have been waiting, praying and working towards for weeks. Both churches arrived Sunday evening after long van rides through winding mountainous roads and were happy to unload and stretch their legs. The two eager groups dove right in with setting up home and helping prepare and clean up meals. Our first night of barbeque chicken would have never tasted so good without the help of Louise Riffle and Carolyn Cruitt from Woodruff Road Christian Church in the kitchen, and we were also blessed by Earl Nadeau leading worship for our evening session.

On Monday both groups put their best foot forward with construction projects, cleaning and kids club. Some of the men from both Pennsylvania and Woodruff Road Christian Church, along with intern Todd, were sent out to two different houses to begin sheet rock projects for families that are not able to do it all themselves. The work was somewhat slow as the experienced taught the beginners but they all proved to be very hard workers and by the time they returned for dinner both teams had accomplished more than expected for the day. The other part of Woodruff Road Christian Church’s group stayed at the school and hosted an elaborate Kids Club for children from the community. The group of children was on the smaller side, but they had interactive games, songs, crafts and Bible stories that the children learned form and loved.

By the end of the day we were already ahead of schedule and both teams were getting a taste of the community and atmosphere, and with that seemed to be connecting with the people and opening up to God’s work being done here.

Our Monday night concluded with an evening session of debriefing, worship and a devotional. During the debrief time Sam Farley from Woodruff Road Christian Church shared a little about his first day out at a construction site.

“Beth seemed to be so thankful that people would come to help her and her husband, though he has the ability to do a lot of the work we are doing, he doesn’t have the adequate time or help,” he said. “She was just so thankful that other people would take the time to come and help them, and she was so insistent to fix lunch for us even though I knew they didn’t have the money to spare, and that reflects the mountain culture of hospitality and graciousness to visitors.”

The family they are working for has two small children taken care of by their grandparents, who are trying to legally adopt them.

All of the work being done during this mission trip is not only making a tremendous physical impact, but a spiritual one as well. We are working to build up the kingdom of God in all we do, and we appreciate your prayers and support.

All for Him,

Leanna Malkowski