Volunteer Class of 2011

It is not unusual for long-term volunteers to find a permanent home at CAP as employees after their time of service has ended. The organization has always been strengthened by the significant number of volunteer alumni within CAP’s permanent workforce. Five graduates of the Volunteer Program’s 2011 class currently work for CAP full-time. These former volunteers offered to share reflections on their service experience, the Volunteer Program, the transition to permanent staff positions, and more.

What led you to become a volunteer at CAP?

Erin: I graduated from college with degrees in English and Psychology – not degrees you can do a lot with unless you go to grad school. I decided to do a year of service because I wasn’t ready to go back to school, and I wanted to do something meaningful while I figured out my next step. I ultimately decided on CAP because I had been to Appalachia on a college service trip and I loved the people here and the feel of the place. I wanted to work with kids, and CAP’s summer camp and in-school program sounded like a great fit. When I came down for my interview, I felt such a sense of calm and peace that I knew I had found the right volunteer program.

Kelsey: I’ve been involved with mission work and service my whole life – I grew up in a very service-oriented church in New Jersey. When I was a senior in college in 2011, I went on a service/mission trip to Nicaragua. Something just clicked with me on that trip and I felt called to devote a year to service after I graduated. At the time had no idea what that would look like. As graduation approached, I did some research into different organizations that offered long-term positions for volunteers. I found CAP in the annual RESPONSE book that is published by Catholic Volunteer Network. From the moment I started the interview process with Kathy Kluesener, I felt at home and knew that CAP was the right fit for me.

Sarah: Throughout college, studying Psychology and Sociocultural Studies, all I wanted was to be able to serve and actually help people. After college, I was brainstorming with a friend about what to do next. Niether of us were quite ready to enter into the “real world”. She found CAP online, and I took interest in it. I already had a love for the region through the two summer mission trips to Beattyville, Ky., with my church’s youth group. After learning that at CAP I could serve with the Elderly Program, I knew this was my next step.

Julianna: I first came to CAP for a six-week commitment as a camp counselor at Camp AJ. I was still in college at the time and had lots of plans and goals for my life that did not involve Kentucky. However, at the end of that summer, I was totally hooked on being a part of CAP’s work and the beauty of the mountains. The community of volunteers in which I served that first summer was the truest example of unconditional love I have ever experienced. One of my last days that first summer, Kathy Kluesener told me, “I hope you’ll be back!” I did come back two years later – and I’ve never left!

Jimmy: During college, I decided/felt called to do a year of service when I completed my degree. I wanted to put my values into practice by living simply, serving others, and engaging in community. I applied to two volunteer service organizations and CAP was the one that was the right fit.

What is one thing during your time of service that has stuck with you?

Erin: I think the confidence I gained during my years of service has stuck with me the most. In college, I was the student who had to plan out exactly what I was going to say before I raised my hand to contribute to a class discussion and I was always a little hesitant to do something I thought would make me look silly. Through teaching with our in-school program, I had to learn to think on my feet, because you really never know what a child might ask you. As a camp counselor, I had to constantly live outside my comfort zone and trust that when I yelled, “This is a repeat after me song,” someone was going to repeat after me. Now, I lead groups in devotion without having to have every word written out and I get up in front of 80 people during WorkFest and lead goofy morning stretches.

Jimmy: I learned that community, service, and spirituality are not just pillars for a year of volunteer life -- they are the pillars for a meaningful Christian life beyond CAP. I also formed some very important relationships at CAP (I met my wife here and found some of the best friends I could ask for); learned carpentry and leadership skills; and found that on a worksite, investing in someone’s life is just as important as (if not more than) the tangible work that gets accomplished.

Sarah: When I look back on my volunteer experience, the part that I’m reminded of most is who I became while at CAP. CAP brought me out of my shell and created my best self. I became confident in my goofiness, character, friendships, and my faith. My service placements and volunteer community taught me about the importance of sharing my story, for the sake of sharing and also for

What about your time of service inspired you to seek out a career with CAP?

Kelsey: Honestly, when I was a volunteer, I never thought I would be coming back to CAP as an employee. After my two years as a volunteer, I was moving out of Kentucky and I didn’t see myself coming back. Nothing bad – I adored my time with CAP as a volunteer and was very sad to be leaving, but I just considered that season of my life over. God had other plans, however, and I feel so incredibly blessed that I was led first to my husband (fellow Class of 2011 alumnus, Jimmy), and now back to CAP as an employee. I couldn’t be happier to be back in the same program in which I served as a volunteer.

Sarah: While I was volunteering at CAP, short and sweet, I fell in love with it. The people here, all with hearts to serve, are unparalleled.

Erin: I was inspired by the people. After leaving my volunteer service, I started working at a school in Ohio, which is where I’m from. On paper, the job sounded exactly like what I was doing at CAP – working with students and helping them in areas where they needed a little extra help. The reality, however, was very different. At CAP, I was a part of a team – I was valued and supported, and everyone worked together to serve our participants. It was not like that at the school. I knew that I wanted to come back to CAP because everyone here cares so much about the work we’re doing.

participants. I had my life changed by CAP and wanted to see that continue to happen in the lives of others. Like most two-year volunteers, I left CAP with some angst about injustice and poverty, about nonprofits, and about CAP. And I had some ideas about how CAP could be better – coming back as an employee gives me the opportunity to learn and be challenged and put a few new ideas into practice.

How has CAP employment been different than being a volunteer at CAP? Or, does your past volunteerism affect the way you view your new role?

Erin: I think that my time as a volunteer impacts my current role because it reminds me of why I’m here. I work in the Volunteer Program, so I’m constantly interacting with people who are volunteers – whether they’re serving for a year or a week. I think all volunteers, no matter their age or background, have a love of service in common, and that core belief in serving others can do a lot to bond you to people that you might not otherwise have any way to relate to.

Julianna: Employment at CAP is more of a long-term investment. You’re more aware of struggles, problems, and imperfections that exist. But you get the benefit of feeling “all in.” When you’re committed to the mission, it gets underneath your skin and in your heart and you can’t get rid of it. I don’t want to get rid of it. It’s something that’s incredibly challenging but you can’t help wanting to devote your whole life to it.

Jimmy: As a Volunteer Life Manager, I am constantly referring back to my experience as a long-term volunteer. Having that experience helps me make decisions based not only on the impact volunteers have on a program, but also the impact CAP has on its volunteers. One of the greatest unseen results of CAP’s work is its network of volunteer alumni continuing to do incredible work in Appalachia, across the United States, and even internationally – alumni whose lives have been transformed by their time with CAP.

Kelsey: In a way it feels totally different, and yet totally the same. There is certainly more responsibility and I see things through a different lens than I did as a volunteer. But I think CAP does a good job of treating volunteers as full members of the staff team, so it mostly has felt like coming home.

What did the Volunteer Program pillars of service, community, and spirituality mean to you during your service time?

Jimmy: Service meant serving the needs of our participants daily, whatever those needs might be. In my first year, that meant education. In my second, it meant ramps, roofs, windows, and floors. Throughout it all, service meant a listening ear and an affirming/ encouraging word for those who needed it.

Community meant dinner and devotions four nights a week. It meant having some of my closest friends right down the hall, and it also meant spending time and investing in people who weren’t always easy to get along with (and from whom I couldn’t get away, because we lived together!). It meant sharing myself and being open, even when that was hard to do. And it meant being there for each other whether I wanted to be or not. It was beautiful, personal, challenging, rewarding, and transforming. I like to say intentional community is kind of like being married to 8 people you didn’t get to choose all at once.

Spirituality meant allowing the Holy Spirit to weave through everything else I experienced – whether that was talking to a participant, listening to a fellow Floyd House member as they talked about their faith, having fun with other volunteers at retreat, or sitting around the dinner table talking about it all. It meant being open to the Holy Spirit in all those new experiences.

Julianna: I’ll just pick one, because it would take a book for me to write about all three. For me, community has always been the most impactful. The volunteer community is so diverse and I love the challenge of getting to know so many new and different people. There’s also something incredibly soul-fulfilling about being a part of a team of people who have all committed to selflessness and giving to others.

Beyond the volunteer community, there’s the greater CAP community and the community we share with our participants. I teared up the other day watching a volunteer who is a recent high school grad working with her much older crew leader to carry something into the barn. They’ve worked together for a year now and she’s renewed for a second year. Where else are these deep intergenerational relationships being formed? We have so much to learn and share with each other. CAP facilitates these relationships through our shared purpose.

Kelsey: From the beginning, these three pillars showed me that CAP genuinely cared about its long-term volunteers. Not only did they want us to focus on our service (our everyday jobs), but they wanted us to put just as much time and effort into our intentional communities and our individual spiritualties.

Sarah: Evenings at the volunteer house are a good image of what the pillars meant to me. We all came home exhausted after a day of service, yet we cooked for each other. As we sat around the table enjoying a delicious dish made by one of our own, we discussed our days of service. Many of us worked in different positions, so the housing folks would talk about what they built; the caseworkers, a story of their elderly participants; camp volunteers, something they taught the kids, etc. During devotion, we would share the different ways in which we sought God and would bear each other’s burdens through prayer. The pillars of service, community, and spirituality added so much depth and beauty to the volunteer experience.

Erin: Service was the reason I came to CAP – it meant showing love and patience to the kids with whom I was working and believing that I was impacting their lives even if I didn’t get to see it. Community meant the crazy, wonderful, beautiful people with whom I was living. It was people who loved me unconditionally for being myself, who were able to make everything into an adventure, and who supported me when difficult things happened in my life. Spirituality was what tied it all together. I learned about what others believed and how they prayed, and, as a result, I grew in my relationship with God.

What words of wisdom or advice would you offer to someone considering long-term volunteerism with CAP?

Julianna: Do it! No seriously, if it feels right in your gut you should take the leap. You will not regret serving others. There is nothing more rewarding. And after a brief time at CAP you will have no doubt that the people here are truly in need and that the work of CAP volunteers is transformative for many lives (including their own)!

Sarah: Pray about it and then come serve with us! It is an amazing experience that’ll positively change your life forever!

Kelsey: Just. Do. It. If you’re on the fence about it, God is already whispering in your ear that this opportunity is probably for you. Listen. It’s going to be hard work and it will challenge you – but I promise you that it is so, so worth it.

Jimmy: Do it. That’s all. Because you won’t regret it. And you’ll never be the same.