Community of Care

BY BRIANNA STEPHENS

In small Appalachian communities, people look out for each other and neighbors become more like family. A unique part of Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) is that several employees live in the same communities they serve. They not only see the needs of their neighbors, but they are also part of the community of care supporting one another.

“When someone is in need, we all help them,” said Jeff Carpenter, a crew leader in CAP’s Home Repair program. “Our community looks out for each other and always sees that everyone is safe and has what they need. It’s beautiful to see people come together to support each other.”

Tony Smith is a person known for taking care of people in his community. Carpenter grew up three miles away from him and has known Smith his whole life. It wasn’t a proper family gathering or celebration without Smith there telling a story.

Anyone who visits Smith will quickly find he is a storyteller. A lifelong resident of Eastern Kentucky, he has many stories of what it was like growing up in the mountains. He credits CAP with helping him discover his passion for storytelling.

Smith was a participant in CAP’s Adult Education program, a program that served from 1981 to 2009 and provided Adult Basic Education, GED preparation and testing, Kentucky Competency-Based Adult Education instruction, computer literacy, job readiness, college preparation, and tutoring. Instruction was given in group and individual settings at CAP’s education centers as well as homes through the School on Wheels, a school bus converted into a mobile classroom.

While pursuing his GED, Smith worked with Adult Education teacher Keith Gilbertson, who was impressed by the stories he shared. After listening to him, Gilbertson helped Smith turn his stories into books. Smith would write his stories down on paper and give them to Gilbertson during their weekly meetings for him to type up on a computer. From their collaboration, Smith published two books.

“I had a lot of stories from my life. What better way to preserve them than to put them in a book?” Smith said. “Keith helped bring out the storyteller in me. A lot of people didn’t know that side of me. If it hadn’t been for him, I would have never published my books,” he added.

Just as Gilbertson made an impact on Smith’s life, Carpenter hopes he has been able to do the same through his work. Carpenter helped lead home repair projects to make a safe, warm, and dry home for Smith and his wife.

“This was a heartfelt project for me to be a part of,” Carpenter said. “I want to help him like he has helped others. He is a good person and like family to me. He deserves to be helped too.”

Work on the home included installing insulation underneath the floors and adding underpinning, installing new flooring, repairing gables, adding a ramp and new stairs to the front porch, installing new plumbing, and replacing the doors and windows.

“It means a lot to me that Jeff is making the repairs on my home,” Smith said. “Jeff is a hard worker and takes care of a lot of people.”

Smith is thankful for the services he has received from CAP. Like our employees and volunteers are embedded in the communities we serve, Smith said CAP supporters are as much a part of the community because of the impact they make.

“What the donors are doing is a great thing. Their gifts are going toward helping our neighbors who are in need,” Smith said. “They are making a difference for people in Eastern Kentucky.”