The Appalachian Service Project Offers a Great Way to Make a Difference in Appalachia

The older we get, the more we tend to look back--even on a life well lived--and think to ourselves: I should have done more. Ironically, the best times in our lives to give back are when we are young, full of vim and vigor, and still firmly sure that we will change the world.

Whatever your age, if you'd still like to give back to an area that has been less prosperous than the rest of the country and to a people who are thankful but often too proud to ask for anything, a great way is by volunteering with the Appalachian Service Project.

Here is some information about it:

"Appalachia Service Project (ASP) provides one of the most rewarding structured service opportunities in the nation -- bringing thousands of volunteers from around the country to rural Central Appalachia to repair homes for low-income families. But ASP is more than just a building program. Yes, Appalachia's poorest families urgently need your help, but they can help change your life, too. Because when you change the lives of others, they have a way of changing you.

After a few days of hard work repairing homes with ASP, your hands will grow a little tougher, your arms a little stronger, and your relationship with God a whole lot deeper. You'll return home to your community with a passion for service, a renewed compassion for other people, and a fresh appreciation for your place and purpose in this world. Best of all, you'll discover first-hand that regardless of geography, education, or economic class, we are all equal members of the family of God.

We like to say that our goal is to make homes "warmer, safer and drier" for needy families. And for more than 40 years, we've done exactly that for thousands of families. Yet for all that, we are only able to serve one in ten families who apply to us for help. We need many, many more volunteers to make a lasting dent in Appalachian poverty.

In other words, we need you.

So come on and join us. Sure, you'll install insulation. Repair porches. Reinforce foundations. But even more importantly, you'll build a whole new you."

Our Polluted Appalachian Mountain Home

Mountaintop removal is a technique used by coal-mining companies that involves blasting away the tops of mountains and hills to get to the coal seams beneath.

Back when I was a reporter for the Bristol Herald Courier in the mid 1980s, I toured some of the largest (and ugliest) strip mining and mountaintop removal mining sites from a small plane with an environmental group. Back then, I realized that what the environmentalists were saying about the future consequences of such mining on the environment might be true to a certain extent, but the money from coal has long been the lifeblood of those who live there. Even today, as beautiful as the Appalachian mountains are, they offer few ways to earn a decent wage beyond tourism, timber and coal.

If you love the Appalachian region, I recommend reading a very interesting op-ed piece titled "My Polluted Kentucky Home" from The New York Times to learn more about how this type of mining has affected the heart of Appalachia and the people who call it home.

And here's another article, EPA Study Confirms Damage From Strip Mining, that offers even more sobering evidence of the toll it has and is taking.

And here is an example of what mountaintop removal mining looks like: