Now is the Time to Reserve Space at Next Summer's Appalachian Ministries Work Camp

For the first time, Episcopal Appalachian Ministries held both summer work camps back-to-back at Grace House on the Mountain, a learning/training center sponsored by the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, in St. Paul, Virginia, July 22-28 and July 29-August 4.

The twenty-three participants in the first week came from nine congregations in eight dioceses. They began the work of adding a bathroom and a new front porch to a trailer, redoing a porch and steps at another trailer, and rebuilding a local community church. The highlight of the week for most of the work campers was getting to meet and work with the 62-year-old preacher of the church, Vileta Winebarger. Winebarger’s humility and faith, plus her work ethic and sense of humor, made her a role model for all of us. She also served as cook, giving us a taste of southern Appalachian dishes new to most of us.

The group of twenty who worked during the second week continued the work that the first group began, giving EAM an opportunity to undertake larger projects than usually are done at work camp. This group represented eight congregations in seven dioceses.

EAM work camps are based on the philosophy that as important as the work is, it is secondary to the relationships formed between the work campers and their host families and among the work campers themselves. The work is done in the context of Christian community, worship and reflection.

One favorite activity was finding a quote of the day to report back to the group during evening reflection time. These ranged from the funny to the profound and were collected into a book to be passed along to other work campers. The quotes included:

From the seventy-four-year-old man who owned one of the trailers: “Me and my wife have been married 51 years now. She startin’ to be like family.”

From an eight-year-old boy with a crush on one of the work campers: “I didn’t throw a salamander on her. I threw a rock lizard, and there is a difference.”

From Winebarger: “I can’t tell you how much we appreciate you all coming and working here. God answers prayers and you are one of the answers.”

Vickieanne Dotten, Director of Grace House, served as community liaison for the work camps which were directed by the Rev. Bude van Dyke, Chaplain at St. Andrews-Sewanee School in Tennessee.

Next year’s work camps, which are open to small groups from any congregation and individuals who are at least rising tenth graders, will be held July 28-August 3 and August 4-10 at Grace House.

To reserve a space or to obtain additional information, please contact Sandy Elledge:

eMail: Episappalmin@aol.com
phone: 800.956.2776

Episcopal Appalachian Ministries
P.O. Box 51931
Knoxville, TN 37950-1931

EAM member dioceses are: Bethlehem, Central Pennsylvania, East Tennessee, North Carolina, Southern Ohio, Southwestern Virginia, Tennessee and West Virginia.