Appalachia Trip

 “Where are you going over break?”  For some, the answer to this perennial pre-winter break question was “Nowhere,” or maybe an exciting “Hawaii.” But for Presentation’s principal Ms. Miller, CI Chair Ms. Russo and eight Presentation students, the answer was “Appalachia.” 

For many of us, Appalachia conjures up ideas of a mountain range, but probably nothing more.  Embarrassing as it may be, that is all the majority of us know about a region within our own country that encompasses fragments of 13 states and actually has very little to do with a mountain range.

Appalachia is an eastern region that weaves through multiple states, including all of West Virginia and parts of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.  Although named for the mountain range, the counties from each state that are declared a part of the Appalachian region are done so by economic indicators rather than certain geographical features.  Among these “indicators” are an unusually high number of people living in poor health, high poverty and minimal education.

Although the government has identified this region for the purpose of relieving those suffering from the poverty which persists there, a huge percentage of the population in Appalachia continues to struggle, even since the Johnson’s Administration’s creation of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC).  The ARC has been devoted to increasing job opportunities, increasing Appalachia’s participation in the global economy and alleviating Appalachia’s isolated nature with an improved highway system. 

Still, despite the intentions of the ARC, a multitude of people in the Appalachian region continue to live in terrible poverty, with poverty rates in some areas as high as 24% as of 2009, according to the ARC.  With effort, it might be possible to improve the deteriorating conditions of Appalachia, but the problems at the root of the poverty have a cyclical nature, making them hard to escape.

In Appalachia, one economic idea is prominent. “Coal is king” said senior Cassie Brown and Ms. Miller.  However, it’s a double edged sword. Coal is responsible for the vast majority of poverty in Appalachians, yet it paradoxically also keeps them alive.

Approximately eight to ten years ago, coal industries began using a technique called “mountaintop removal” for coal mining.  With this practice, all of the forestation on mountaintops is swept off and obliterated so that the coal can be taken from the top.  In doing so, not only is the scenic beauty of the nature destroyed, but the environment is destroyed for the people living there.  Toxins and wastes flow down from these destroyed mountains, carrying pollutants such as arsenic into the water.  In addition, the lack of forestation on mountaintops results in flooding for those living in the valleys, ruining the already poor towns in which they live according to Ms. Miller.

At the same time, coal is the Appalachian people’s main livelihood; it is the industry that provides the majority of the jobs and opportunities in the poverty-stricken area.  What sustains the people of Appalachia kills them.  As the participants of the Appalachia trip explained, those living in Appalachia are stuck in a cycle which they cannot escape and which is ignored by the indifferent coal industries.

It is this desensitization and ignorance to a large division of our country that Presentation’s service trip was fighting.  According to Ms. Miller, “the purpose of the trip was essentially through service to be educated.”  The students were visiting “an area with third-world conditions that was located in our wealthy, industrialized nation,” said Brown.  In visiting this region, the hope was that the participants of the trip could apply the mission they became so adamant about during the trip to the area in which we live, where poverty is also present.

Silicon Valley residents cannot even begin to grasp experiences such as one described by senior Allison Tella in which they were serving at a food shelter but could no longer provide food for people one day.  Having to turn people away, even when their request was as simple as a loaf of bread, was not easy to do, especially for this group of girls so devoted to service that they were willing to dedicate their entire break to it.  Tella said, “It was just heartbreaking.”

Throughout the trip, the girls visited numerous organizations in which they were able to truly formulate a vivid picture of the conditions in Appalachia.  Among these many organizations were the Catholic Community Center, the Wheeling Soup Kitchen and the YMCA.  During each of their various experiences, the service trip participants were exposed to a multitude of people, each with their own stories and personalities to share.  There was Larry, a group favorite on the trip, present in anecdotes shared by many of the participants.  Although immersed in desperately poverty-stricken conditions, Larry still had his own personality accompanied by his positive attitude and a hat filled with cheerful trinkets collected in his poverty.  He, like any other person, had his own advice and views to share.  “He taught me to take my time in everything I do because so many people in today’s world rush through every day without thinking about what they are really doing,” said Brown. 

Then there was Rose, from Appalachian Outreach.  Although she herself had been struck by unfortunate circumstances that left her in an unhealthy state and with forced retirement from her job, she still devoted herself and her life to helping others.  “She’s got this spirit that is just so beautiful,” said Ms. Miller, who went on to compare her to a more locally known figure, Louise Benson, who founded Sacred Heart with a similar call for justice and respect of humanity and its needs.

It was this “spirit” that the participants of the trip seemed to find in many of the people they met on the trip.  Everyone they met seemed to have their own story and life.  Just like all of us at Presentation, they had friends, they had family, and they have a history.  The fact is simply that unfortunate circumstances befell them. 

Still, one thing Ms. Miller was so impressed with in the trip was the way that the Presentation students matched the vivid, hard-working spirit of the people.  “They went right through their fear!” she said.  In spending a week fighting injustice and essentially humanizing as well as personalizing the condition, this group of Presentation members has become moved in their cause, a fight against poverty and injustice.  Now that they have returned to Presentation, the fight returns to us within the community.