Lifelong Service

Virginia Black and Terri Pennington from Kentucky. Dennis Bertram from Minnesota. Jay and Sandra Dresser from Georgia. They come from around the nation, but their hearts are bound together through their love and service to Christian Appalachian Project (CAP). All of them are over the age of 65, and all volunteer their time in fulfilling CAP’s mission of building hope, transforming lives, and sharing Christ’s love through service in Appalachia.

Black and Pennington drive 60 miles round trip every week to sort donated items that arrive in packages from other states at CAP’s Grateful Threadz Thrift Store. The long-time friends then spend their day steam cleaning clothes so that they are ready for customers. The staff at the store work diligently to give customers a great shopping experience where people can keep their pride and dignity.

Black is 80 years old. She first encountered CAP at the doctor’s office where she worked. Now as a retiree, she volunteers in order to give back to the community. She’s in good health and wants to keep active. Volunteering is a way to achieve that, plus help a cause, like CAP, that she believes in while also helping people receive services that impact their lives. Black sees it as a win-win all the way around.

“It’s so uplifting,” she said. “We work in the back doing a little bit of everything and we go out into the store to talk to people. Nothing feels like a job. It’s so easy. When you’re willing to do something, and it’s interesting, it’s not a job. And, they let you work at your own pace. Older people work at their own pace, and as long as you’re dependable I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

Pennington, who retired from her greenhouse business, especially enjoys helping women search for a particular item that they need. “It’s a blessing to serve the community; It’s my biggest pleasure. God wants you to have a mission, and I think this is a purpose, especially for the volunteers.”

Sherri Barnett, manager of Grateful Threadz, appreciates the dedication of community volunteers like Black and Pennington. “If it were not for our community volunteers we would not be able to operate Threadz with such high standards for our customer experience. Virginia and Terri are such uplifting and encouraging ladies. They are a blessing to our staff, other volunteers, and our customers. They help us in so many ways – with sorting, steaming, and regular duties that have to be done – in order to keep the store running efficiently and effectively.”

Dennis “Bert” Bertram had been a long-time CAP financial supporter. He knew the mission. He knew the ministry. He knew the needs. “We all have different life experiences that set the tone for what the Holy Spirit is leading you to do. My whole family was farmers. I remember when a neighbor broke his leg and my dad dropped everything to help him put his crop in – even before he put in his own crop. As kids we didn’t understand that, but I look back and I see what the Holy Spirit was telling me.” Although he had been volunteering his carpentry skills in other places, he felt the Holy Spirit was calling him specifically to work in Appalachia.

This year he traveled from Minnesota to volunteer onsite with CAP for the first time during WorkFest, CAP’s alternative spring break service opportunity for college students. But when he arrived in Eastern Kentucky, an unexpected snow storm left worksites closed for a full day. “It was a bummer that we couldn’t work, but it seemed to me that it drew people closer together. I’ll remember this trip for a long time and I’m sure that the kids will too.”

Bertram and his team worked on the home of a widow who supports her teenage nephew and herself by driving a mail delivery truck. She lives in the home that once belonged to her parents and economizes in the winter on her electric bill by heating with a coal stove. Volunteers helped this family by building a roof over the deteriorated porch, replacing a window in the living room, and repairing the floor and walls in her kitchen.

Mike Wallace, housing manager for Rockcastle, McCreary and Jackson Counties, depends on volunteers like Bertram to help repair or rebuild the more than 350 homes of seniors living in poverty. Throughout the year, their homes are relentlessly assaulted by the sun’s melting heat, winter’s gripping cold, and the rain, snow, sleet, ice, and wind. Wallace and his team of crew leaders multiply the number of families they can assist when volunteers like Bert come to Eastern Kentucky to serve.

“Bert’s energy level matches the students and he serves as a positive example for our younger volunteers,” Wallace said. “He is very open about how his life has taken a higher road due to his faith in God. We appreciate his flexibility and how conscientious he is about doing things right. We need more volunteers like Bert who are willing to share their construction skills in order to make homes for elderly participants safe, warm, and dry.”

Bertram agreed that serving at CAP impacted him and that others should consider volunteering as well in order “to help someone who needs help, who is living in a home that isn’t warm, dry, and safe. I think it’s a good idea for anyone to volunteer.”

Like Bertram, Jay Dresser and his wife, Sandra, also started out as donors. They owned a retail shop and donated clothing to CAP during the holidays for Christmas distribution to families in need. The Dressers have been volunteering with CAP since they retired in 2000, including WorkFest and YouthFest, CAP’s alternative spring break service opportunities for college and high school students and short time volunteer projects ever since.

“The Lord calls us to volunteer. End of discussion,” said Jay, who has served as a crew leader at WorkFest for 18 years. “I’m serious as a heartbeat! I’ve got time and I figured it out the other day, and I’ve worked at WorkFest for 72 weeks.”

Jay especially enjoys working with youth and has built long-lasting relationships with many of them that have been a part of his work crews. “I enjoy teaching them, more than anything. And showing them a lifestyle of service. I had a youngster at YouthFest this year that had worked with me last year. He understood me and he told all the kids ‘Jay is going to make you work, but if you work, he’ll love you to death.’”

Over the years, he has had both long-term and short -term Americorp members and volunteers continue to regularly correspond with him by email where they can share updates about their lives with each other.

Sandra, Jay’s wife, brings her own passions and gifts to her role as a volunteer with CAP. “I really enjoy cooking, especially cooking for groups. They’re just so enthusiastic and appreciative of having a good meal,” she said. “I’m not a carpenter so there’s no way that I’d even be competent enough to work on Jay’s crew! Keeping involved in helping other people is rewarding in itself, and there is no end to what older folks can learn to do.”

She added, “We volunteer because we get rewards just from the interactions and knowing that we are sharing our gifts. We get so many blessings. It’s not the reason why we volunteer, but it’s a byproduct that’s very near and dear to our hearts; knowing we can make a difference in someone’s life with our skills and our attitudes.”

Older volunteers like Virginia, Terri, Bert, Jay, and Sandra are an integral part of the CAP community. They have found their own way to serve people in need in Appalachia through monthly service as community volunteers, short-term and long-term volunteer opportunities on construction sites or the kitchen crew. They steam clothes, cook and serve food, share wisdom, repair homes. They build hope and transform lives.

Jay’s devotion closes each WorkFest orientation, and he quotes from James 2:14-17, “Faith without works is dead.” But he also leaves them with these words of wisdom that resonate with the heart of a volunteer, no matter what your age. “You’re going to go home and when you look back, you’re going to have more blessings than you left behind.”

CAP President/CEO Guy Adams talks with Dennis “Bert” Bertram, a donor and volunteer, about CAP’s mission.