Service at a Social Distance

BY OWEN PERRY

Debbie Wright and her mission group of 19 from Wyoming Presbyterian Church, in Millburn, New Jersey, were excited about coming to Eastern Kentucky to serve at Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) during Mission Groups season 2020 and were devastated that they had to postpone their trip. When Maria Hartz, CAP’s group admissions coordinator, notified them about the postponement, they wondered how they could serve from home. The mask-making initiative was a creative, at-home, socially-distanced solution. Wright was excited that she and her mission group could still help in a tangible way by providing masks for families in Kentucky who were unable to get them.

“CAP let us know that they were trying to keep some of their essential programs, like the food pantry up and running,” Wright recalled. “CAP needed masks for staff to be able to provide essential services and many of their medically fragile participants. Several people from our team jumped at the chance to help.”

Wright’s church was not the only group that decided to provide masks to CAP. Securing personal protective equipment has been a challenge for many in Appalachia as it has been in the rest of the country. Simple things like buying a mask can create an economic hardship for some who are struggling financially.

“These masks provide an opportunity for CAP to serve our participants in a way that is greatly needed right now,” Hartz added. “With COVID-19 spreading at a high rate and masks being required in Kentucky, it is incredible to be able to answer another need that has arisen for participants.”

Although Wright’s group was disappointed this year, they have already scheduled their trip for 2021. “Many groups travel to other countries to serve, but we wanted to focus our efforts on the United States where there are so many communities in dire need,” Wright added. “When we heard that Eastern Kentucky was home to some of the poorest counties in the country, we wanted to help. CAP provided an incredible organization to partner. Volunteers sewed masks themselves. Others purchased masks after raising money for essential workers, and others recruited grandmas to help sew a batch.”

The response has been overwhelming. Thanks to this effort, CAP has received more than 300 masks so far. These have been distributed to staff and participants through the Grateful Bread Food Pantry, as well as the Housing and Elderly Services Programs.

“It was a feeling of overwhelming gratitude to start getting packages in the mail from across the country from people who took their free time to make beautiful masks to send to CAP,” Hartz recalled. “So many were sent with handwritten notes about how they got started making the masks, and what it meant to be able to send them to us and help from home. It is truly a ministry in its own right to have people use their gifts to help CAP.”

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