Short-term missions yield long-term collaboration

You don’t have to fly around the world for cross-cultural experiences. You don’t have to leave North America. In fact, you don’t have to travel far from campus at all.

Inez, Kentucky is just 225 miles from Mount Vernon, Ohio, but the cultural differences are staggering. Martin County, Kentucky, has a population of 11,140 people with a median household income of $40,826. The poverty rate there is 40.5 percent. Knox County, Ohio, boasts a population of 62,897 with a median household income of $64,439. The poverty rate here is 12.5%. The national poverty rate is 11.6 percent.

Dwayne Mills (’96), Executive Director of Appalachia Reach Out (ARO), headquartered in Inez, can tell you even more about the disparity of wealth in Martin County and how the opioid crisis has further devastated the area that was ground zero for President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 War on Poverty. ARO is working to break the cycle of poverty and addiction.

“I can drop you into the head of a holler that’s four or five miles deep, and you would think you’re in a third-world country,” he said. “Families without electricity, without running water, without indoor plumbing. Those are the folks God has called us to serve. We do it willingly and cheerfully, but it is a challenge.”

One of the ways Mills takes on the challenge is to collaborate with partners to bring in teams for short-term missions. Don’t be fooled by “short-term.” He’s looking for long-term commitments through true partnerships that continue to contribute to their mission and find new ways to minister to and educate the people of Martin County.

The work at ARO is so important to the effectiveness of the organization’s mission that Mills is hesitant to bring in just any group looking for a quick spiritual check mark.

“We’re looking for long-lasting, deep, rich relationships — teams that are coming now, and returning teams that want that partnership and want that connectivity.”

MVNU’s six-year partnership with ARO started with a simple connection between siblings.

“Christa McNichols, our administrative assistant, is Dwayne’s sister. She was our first contact, and then Warren Neal worked with Dwayne for our first trip,” said Karla Adu, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, Associate Professor of Nursing and Department Chair.

The relationship quickly grew from there. This spring break marked the fifth trip for the Nursing Department, which is now on an every-other-year cycle to ARO.

“It is really important for students to see the world beyond MVNU. Traveling to Kentucky gives students the opportunity to interact with and learn from people with diverse backgrounds. They come back with a better understanding of poverty and addiction, which helps to reduce the stigma that surrounds poverty and addiction,” said Adu.

Nursing students not only can practice the skills they have been learning in the classroom and labs, but they are also exposed to a culture and social problems they may not have experienced before.

“Students provide health education to women in addiction recovery who are pregnant or who have just had babies,” said Adu. “In return, students hear the life stories of these women, which helps students to better understand addiction and how it affects people. Students also provide health education to kids in the local schools, which also gives students a first-hand view of how poverty affects kids and families.” www.appalachiareachout.com

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The collaboration between MVNU and ARO has developed to include Criminal Justice and Speech Language Pathology and Audiology (CSD) programs.

During the 2021 spring semester, the Criminal Justice Special Topics Course, CIA: Crisis in Appalachia was offered. This course prepared nine students to engage in a hands-on, applied research opportunity with the ACT NOW federal initiative of reimagining communities and police reform. As a Collaboratory project through the Center for Global Engagement, these students were equipped to facilitate, transcribe, and analyze several “Listening and Learning Sessions” of Martin and surrounding counties, as well as produce a summary of findings report.

“The listening sessions permitted an interactive dialogue with community citizens to learn about their community’s strengths, stakeholders, challenges, sense of safety, their relationship with law enforcement, and possible strategies for effective change,” said Dr. Christina Jones, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice.

This data captured the specific needs of the Martin County pilot site, as well as a vision towards developing better approaches to protecting and serving their community from the perspective of its community members. Due to the extensive work produced by this collaboration between MVNU and ACT NOW, Dr. Jones was appointed as the ACT NOW national consultant for the Eastern Kentucky region and the Center for Global Engagement secured a sub-contract grant from the national initiative to support the work.

The result of the collaboration was a 60-page document that outlines the important information discovered through the Listening and Learning Sessions.

“We now have a comprehensive plan on how to address major issues of working together with schools, local governments, the churches, religious organizations, and civic agencies to really tackle issues that impact us,” Mills said.

“This is just one extraordinary example of MVNU tangibly living out its motto, ‘To seek to learn is to seek to serve,’” said Jones.

The Speech Pathology and Audiology (CSD) program first partnered with ARO at just the right time, or on God’s timing, according to Dr. Florence Hardjono, Assistant Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

“The school district in Inez just received the 21st Century grant when Dr. Jones and I were visiting. They needed help to execute the literacy camp to fulfill the grant,” Hardjono said.

In response, they developed “Camp in the Box,” an alternative to an on-site camp because of the 2020 global pandemic. In 2021, Hardjono took six students to run the in-person literacy camp.

“We helped them plan and execute the literacy camp serving the elementary kids for a week. During that week, the kids came and visited us in the library where we set up several literacy sections that they went through. We taught decoding skills, practice reading fluency, and comprehension.”

For Mills, another layer to the depth of short-term mission trips between MVNU and ARO is the prayer that students might find God’s purpose for them beyond college is in Inez, Kentucky.

“They can come in and feel like, maybe I don’t feel a call to go overseas as a missionary, but I could see myself coming to a very isolated, secluded, underserved area in my vocational calling or training,” Mills said. “We really challenge college students as soon as they get here. Is your heart in it? If not, let’s pray about it because I want you to be so open and receptive for what God could do here.”

Go ahead, talk about us behind our backs!

You love MVNU so tell the students in your life why. Then, tell us who would be a good fit.

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