During Cabrini’s Spring Break, Mary Laver, coordinator of community outreach and partnerships, launched Project Appalachia. She, along with 14 students, journeyed toward Raleigh County, WV to help those in need.
The planning for Project Appalachia only began after Christmas break. This only gave Laver about two or three months to plan the trip.
“Next year, I want to try and get some help. We are trying to bring in a group of people from an organization called Breakaway. I think the students will benefit from this because they will be working with people from their own age group,” Laver said.
The concept of Project Appalachia is to help the less fortunate in whatever way possible, in getting them back on their feet.
“It was good to work with the people in the area. People work in community, and through dedication, created a network to help each other out by making the best of their land,” Laver said.
Laver and the students contributed in the building of a dam for a small community that was no bigger than the size of Cabrini’s “Commons” ground area. They were to repair the damage to the land and housing caused by all of the flooding.
“It’s about making a difference for these poorer people. They are down on money and with awful luck because of the bad floods, so we help them by doing a little bit of work for no cost,” junior Josh Dzielak said.
The group of students and Laver were supervised by a lady by the name of Marge Booth and guided in service by Sister Anne Marie. These two individuals proved to be a great asset to the team-building process and in bringing everyone together, without making them feel left out.
“It was an honor for Sister Anne Marie to honor and preach about Cabrini. And Marge pushed us like a good coach or a teacher. It was like we really haven’t come what we came to do, if we didn’t work to our limit,” Laver said.
The economic and social strains in the town are things that are not normally thought of in being Americans. The United States is known to be a rich country and poor people are not heard of.
“In being trapped in a neighborhood by Radnor, you would not be aware of what goes on elsewhere. By going on Project Appalachia, you are able to break down the barriers we live in,” senior Josh Taggart said.
Traveling to West Virginia has proved to be a great experience for Cabrini students of all ages and all are encouraged to go, at least once during their college career.
“A lot of people that don’t have much are grateful for what they have down there. We are so used to having all of these things and we don’t have an appreciation for them. It is good to be socially aware of everything,” junior Melissa Banker said.
*Side note: Campus ministry is in the process of editing and loading a video onto the computer so that students passing by may be able to see what happened during Project Appalachia. Laver says to stay tuned for that.
