CAP
Volunteer Alumni Newsletter • Fall 2021
2. . . . . . . . Employee Feature
Kathy Kluesener
Field Notes
from Amy Schill, 2003-05, assistant director for volunteers and AmeriCorps
4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Updates
years of volunteer and employee service, Kathy is now enjoying a well-deserved retirement. We’re hoping to see her around the office sometimes as a Community Volunteer (pending application approval, of course).
Volunteer Program
5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discernment Practice Makes Perfect
7. . . . . . . . . . . . August Cohort 8. . . . . . . . Volunteer Prayers
Christian Appalachian Project
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AP volunteers know all about change and transition. We transition communities after a new volunteer orientation, we meet new staff on return volunteer trips, and we adjust to life back home after a year of service, a summer of camp magic, or a week or two of the “thin place” that is WorkFest and YouthFest. Here at CAP, we are in a time of transition as well. Some of that change is joyous, like welcoming new volunteers and opening new programs, which you’ll learn about in this issue. But we’re also learning how to be an organization and a Volunteer Program without Kathy Kluesener, 1973-80, teaching and inspiring us every day. After 48
You’ll read Kathy’s reflection on her time here at CAP in this issue, along with the second part of a discernment series from Casey Sterr, 1986-87. You’ll also meet our August 2021 Orientation Cohort. We trust that you will pray with us and with them during the first few weeks of transition, and that their service be a time of transformation. The CAP Connection is transforming too! If you have not specifically requested a print edition, this will be the final issue you’ll receive via postal mail. Contact us at volunteer@chrisapp.org to request a print version, or to ensure we have your correct email. Now recruiting One-Year Volunteers. For more information, visit: christianapp.org/volunteer!
EMPLOYEE FEATURE
Kathy Kluesener Faithful Servant
K
athy Kluesener stands in the kitchen during Volunteer Corps orientation fondly looking over the volunteers. “It’s the anniversary of Father Beiting’s death,” she says. “I can’t help but think how proud he would be.” This is the last crop of volunteers that Kathy, who is retiring, will usher in at CAP and it marks a milestone in our organization’s history. We have benefitted from her presence since 1972 both as a volunteer and then an employee. She has served as a touchstone for those who want to learn CAP’s history and has encouraged and mentored hundreds of employees and volunteers along the way. She will be profoundly missed.
If you ask anyone at CAP to identify someone who embodies the spirit
of our mission, they will quickly
mention Kathy. It’s not simply her longevity that has inspired so many, but it is the care and attention that she gives everyone she meets that has made such an indelible mark. Kathy is known for her ability to remember almost everyone who has walked through our doors and can provide a copious amount of details about each person she has met. A highlight of the Volunteer Program’s recent retirement party was a game of “stump Kathy” during which she was shown random photos of past volunteers and asked to identify them. She didn’t miss a single one.
“I feel that CAP allowed me to grow and brought people into my life to nurture that seed that was planted many years ago.”
When she first arrived in Appalachia she thought that she would be here for six months. She has stayed for nearly 50 years. “I didn’t realize what God had in store for me,” Kathy explains.
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CAP CONNECTION • FALL 2021
Kathy Kluesener and Kathleen (Ford) Leavell, 1976-78, serving at CAP’s Sunshine Center in the late 1970s (top left). Kathleen and Kathy today (bottom left). Kathy and her husband, Tony (top right). Volunteer Program teammates Maria Hartz, 2017, Bridget McCormack-Finley, 2010-11, Amy Schill, 2003-05, Jenny King, 2008-10, and Kathy (bottom right).
When she first arrived in Appalachia she thought that she would be here for six months. She has stayed for nearly 50 years. “I didn’t realize what God had in store for me,” Kathy explains. “I grew up hearing about President Johnson’s war on poverty and I thought I was going to be a “do-gooder” but I realized that I was receiving so much. I didn’t expect that. I didn’t expect that the people that I was coming to serve were going to give me life.” She notes that her ideas about faith, service, and compassion were something her family valued, but her experiences at CAP really refined
those beliefs. I feel that CAP allowed me to grow and brought people into my life to nurture that seed that was planted many years ago.”
capacity and have gone on to have service-oriented careers in education and medicine. Kathy’s oldest son recently shared that, “There’s something sad about you When asked what she is proudest not being at CAP after you retire, about during her career Kathy mom. CAP has been your life, it’s falls silent. After thinking for a what you’re about.” She told him while she responds, “I’m probably that he’s right, that her life will proudest that my kids got it. They look very different. It will be an just got it.” During her 40+ year adjustment for us too. While we marriage to Tony, 1972-73, will miss her daily presence, we they have tried to provide their know that we have her continued children with opportunities that support through prayer, encouragereflect CAP’s values of faith, ment, and maybe even a little compassion, and service. All five of community volunteering from her children have served in some time to time. CAP CONNECTION • FALL 2021
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V olunteer
PROGRAM UPDATES
CAP WELCOMES NEW EMPLOYEES AND BIDS A FOND FAREWELL TO FAVORITES
record number of Teen Leaders in Training, two of which have become members of our One-Year Volunteer Corps.
Kathy Kluesener, 1973-80, is retiring after 48 years at CAP along with Brenda Thorton who has been here for 36 years. What a tremendous accomplishment! We are so thankful for everything that they have contributed. They will be incredibly missed.
SUMMER CAMP SUCCESS Camp Shawnee and Camp AJ staff, including a crew of summer AmeriCorps members, have served over 2,000 children this summer. This includes Camp In a Box, day camps, and summer programming.
Ruth Davis, 2018-21, and Emma Estep, 2020-21, have transitioned from volunteers to full-time staff members. Ruth is a caseworker in Elderly Services and Emma is a Community Educator at Camp Shawnee.
NEW FOOD PANTRY REDUCES PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL HUNGER Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) celebrated the grand opening and ribbon cutting of CAP’s third food pantry on June 28. Eagle Food Pantry will fight hunger and feed hope for children, families, and seniors in Parkers Lake, McCreary County. Since beginning distributions in May, 88 households, 220 individuals, and 42 seniors have signed up for the pantry’s services, with more being added each week. “CAP always looks to meet the needs of the communities we serve,” said Joseph Beaudoin, pantry manager. “We want to listen to the people we serve, take their ideas, and find programming that best suits their needs. We listened to our community, and we saw that another pantry was needed.”
Nick Hites has accepted the Sandy Valley Volunteer Life Coordinator position. He has jumped right into the thick of things with fall volunteer orientation. It feels like he’s been part of the team for years. Margaret Murray is the new Volunteer Admissions Advisor. We are excited to have her join our team! Bryan Byrd has been promoted to Assistant Director of Housing and Jamie Conley has been promoted to manager of Sandy Valley Housing. They have been integral members of the Housing Program for years and we are lucky to continue to benefit from their expertise and dedication. SUMMER AMERICORPS MEMBERS For the first time, this past summer, we were able to offer a living allowance to AmeriCorps members serving at CAP in a variety of programs. We were excited to welcome a 4
CAP CONNECTION • FALL 2021
JUNETEENTH Juneteenth (June 19th) has been added to the holidays CAP officially observes. Juneteenth, which officially became a federal holiday earlier this year, honors the end of slavery in the U.S. The date is significant because it is the anniversary of the day that General Order No. 3 was announced by Union Army General Gordon Granger, in Texas, the last state of the Confederacy with institutional slavery.
d i s cernment
part t w o of a t w o - part s erie s
practice makes perfect What elements are necessary to help one discern their path? How can we frame the process in a way that allows us to grow? In this second installment of the discernment series, Alumnus Casey Sterr speaks to the process he uses when contemplating change. *Part one can be found at: bit.ly/DiscernmentSeriesPart1 An Ever-Evolving Understanding and Practice ▶ From doing to being. Often we hear and read about discernment in the context of vocation or what we do. But I believe the deeper reality is that discernment
is inviting us to more fully understand our being, our nature, and in so doing, to let that Spirit within us come alive. ▶ Vulnerability, humility, and authenticity. Our culture values strength and winning. We have come to place vulnerability and humility in the weakness column. But discernment invites vulnerability. In the end, it is actually a sign of maturity in the spiritual life! Oscar Romero, a person I have come to respect and honor for his life and journey speaks to me of this ongoing conversion. In a biography, the
authors note: “Romero’s spirituality – his life, his prophetic clarity, even his confusion – reminds us that spirituality is less an effort than a gift, less an individual accomplishment than a discovery of grace in our personal and social lives, less a seeking of ‘saints’ than an unfolding of our own vulnerability and authenticity where the mystery of God pulls us forward.” ▶ Engaging a sense of awe, wonder, mystery, and the unknown. I know that I can also want to have things figured out, defined, and planned. There is a place for this for sure, CAP CONNECTION • FALL 2021
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but I do think that I must remain open to mystery! Can I sit in awe and wonder or enlarge my heart and being just to simply embrace the questions and the unknown? I know that one great practice in this –Casey Sterr, for me is reading poetry and gazing Volunteer Alumnus up at the night sky.
“Discernment invites vulnerability. In the end, it is actually a sign of maturity in the spiritual life!”
above. The most important piece is opening up to the movement of the Spirit in our lives.
▶ Scripture - I invite you to sit with passages others have passed on to me regarding discernment. Jeremiah 1:5-7; I Samuel 3:1-10, especially verse 10; Isaiah 30:15, 21; I Kings ▶ Companions on the journey. And 19:9-13, especially verses 12 and 13; for me a very important part of dis- and, Luke 1:26-38, especially verses cernment is that we have people 37 and 38. walking with us. Most assuredly this is having close friends who we ▶ Writing - Simply the act of putcan share our hopes, dreams, fail- ting things on paper has always ures, joys, and disappointments been a way for me to go deeper. I with. And there have been many especially marvel at the times when occasions in my life where I have what I write just flows and reveals sought out wise persons – mentors, something deeper – that no amount spiritual directors – to help walk of thought could have gotten me to that same place. beside me. ▶ It’s truly about the journey, the process, and not the destination. I can be drawn, again, to figuring things out. That thinking that once I get “there,” all will be good. But life, and discernment’s place in it, wants me to engage in the journey, in the steps along the way. What is stirring as I walk? Practices - It has helped me to adopt some practices that aid in discernment – to give some form. Not to get too locked in to any one way, but to have some sense of a way to engage the elements I note
Casey Sterr volunteered at CAP in 1986-87, living in the Berea House and serving in Jackson County. He lives on his 10-acre homestead near Frankfort, KY.
*You can find “Discernment Part One” in the previous newsletter or online bit.ly/DiscernmentSeriesPart1.
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CAP CONNECTION • FALL 2021
FALL 2021 Volunteer Cohort
We Welcome Our New Volunteer Corps: One-Year and AmeriCorps Members!
CARTER BROWNROBIE Lexington, KY Housing
CULLEN NEALE Charlotte, NC Housing
DOM RIVERA-WERNER Wheelwright, KY Elderly Housing
ELIZABETH VOYTKO New Castle, PA Grateful Bread
EMILY SCHAPER Wildwood, MO Youth Empowerment Services
EMMA KRALL Charlottesville, VA Youth Empowerment Services
JIM FERGUSON Woodbridge, VA Elderly Housing
NOAH GARCIA Miami, FL Housing
OLIVIA GORDON Stuart, FL Youth Empowerment Services
PATRICK CAHILL Peabody, MA Grateful Bread
TAYLOR Kirby Phoenix, AZ Child and Family Development Ctr.
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V olunteer prayer s
Please join us in praying these volunteer prayers throughout the year
Each orientation, we invite our new volunteers to write a prayer for their time with CAP. We invite you to pray with them.
Eternal Father, We request your continued blessings on us, your humble servants. Please make us wise so that we may discern your will. Please make us strong so that we may work hard in support of CAP. Watch over our families, friends, and everyone who prays for our success. Keep their bodies healthy and their minds at peace. Also bless the CAP participants. Give them hope and empower them to improve their lives so they might worship and serve you who are all holy. We ask all of these things in the name of your son and our Lord: Jesus Christ. Amen. Dear Lord, After learning lessons from your words and parables all my life, I thank you for leading me to this service opportunity with CAP to act out my responsibility as a Christian. I pray that the food I will be helping to distribute will allow t he people we ser ve to grow st rong in body, mind, and witness to Christ. Please keep all the volunteers, CAP staff and alumni, safe and healthy this year. Grant us your peace and strength to carry on with our daily responsibilities. Amen
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CAP CONNECTION • FALL 2021
Dear God, I pray to you in hopes you watch over everyone and take care of them as you take care of me. Watch over all the people who volunteer their lives to CAP and all the places they work at. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me and the world we live in. Dear God, I pray that you lift up those who are struggling, and let them know they can find a home in CAP. I pray that you bless the volunteers, employees, and participants, as we continue into another year of serving you and Appalachia. I pray that I can find comfort and growth here, and that this year helps me find my way in life. Thank you for all the amazing people you have given me and continue to give me. Amen. Dear Lord, Whose almighty and ever-loving will brought us to your heart: Bless this cohort that we may execute your mission well. Some of us may be nervous or anxious, I know I am, calm these nerves, I humbly pray. Help us to draw all those we meet and serve
d h o u d
, . , r n r e e
o e r y e
closer to You and help us to see You in all those we meet and serve. Bless the staff, that they may guide this cohort toward a successful mission, closer to each other, and closer to Your heart. I pray that this year is fruitful and fulfilling. I ask You to allow Your Mother to pour out her motherly love us as we go throughout this year and beyond as we pray: Hail Mary, full of Grace the Lord is with thee, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death: St. Joseph the Worker...Pray for us St. Michael the Archangel...Defend us in Battle St. Dymphna, patron of the anxious...Pray for Us.
loved ones as they are continuing on their own paths. Watch over the members of our nation’s military and their families as they navigate their own difficulties. Thank you for the lessons, for the new friendships and opportunities this next year will open for each of us. Thank you for allowing us to learn from each other. Most of all, thank you for giving all of us an opportunity to not just talk about change but to be change. In Jesus’ precious holy name, Amen.
O Lord, Help us so that we can do the most with our actions here to brighten our lives and the lives of those we help.
Lord, Help us this year to truly abandon everything to You so that we will be able to give to our fullest ability. May we bring Your love to all those we encounter and see You in them. May we be receptive to whatever You want to teach us, and grow in great love of You. We thank you so deeply for this opportunity, and we do all our work for For the sake of his sorrowful passion have mercy on us and the whole world. Amen Your glory. Amen. Father God, I thank you for the trials and tribulations this next year holds. As I begin another chapter of my life, I ask that you continue to guide me on the path you have set out for me. Father, I give all the things that weigh on my mind and heart… every moment of sadness, anxiety, and fear to you because I know that you will never give me more than I can handle. I ask you to watch over my fellow CAP members, alumni, and staff as we continue to serve you during the ever-changing moments of our everyday lives. Please watch over friends and
Almighty God, My loving Father in Heaven, Sovereign Ruler and Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, I thank you for all your many blessings, and most of all for my salvation and your indwelling presences of your Holy Spirit. Thank you for not giving up on me and bringing me to such a time and place as this. Help me be the man you want me to be. Thank you for this opportunity. I wish to learn about the community and be accepted for my good and bad. CAP CONNECTION • FALL 2021
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VOLUNTEER LIFE
Volunteers gather to retreat, recommit, and recalibrate
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here are very few places on discussing house covenants, plantearth that are as beautiful ing bulbs that will bloom in the as Appalachia on a fall day. spring, sharing a meal, and hiking to the top of Natural Bridge. UnexVolunteers from all across CAP’s pected joy was found in the leaves programs recently gathered at one that had fallen nearby. of Kentucky’s State Parks to prayerfully consider their time of service. Moments like this bring the members of our volunteer community Many activities were planned closer together and allow them including envisioning community to take the time to consider the through prayer station journals, importance of their service.
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You Can Help Us Reach More People! We make it easy! You can start by sharing social media posts with your family, friends, and churches. We have everything you need from bulletin inserts and presentation materials to recruiters that can meet with your group. Call or email Ashley for more information.
JO JOIN U US
Christian Appalachian Project
Contact Ashley to begin your ambassador journey! 606.392.4679 (o) | 606.308.2329 (c) aellis@chrisapp.org
Address Service Requested
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Christian Appalachian Project
310 Beiting Lane Mount Vernon, KY 40456 alumni@chrisapp.org 1.800.755.5322 (toll free) 606.256.0973 (o)
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