Appalachia Building Project

Since 1986, the Youth Group at St. Thomas More has made an annual trip to Appalachia to build a home for a needy family. Sister Nancy Sutton of the Good Shepherd Mission in Whitley City, McCreary County, Kentucky, provides the Parish with the name of a family in need.

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Testimonials

Steve Summerton - My Kentucky Experience. In 1994, the first time I went to Whitley City, Kentucky, I was a junior in high school. I knew we were going to build a house for a family that desperately needed one. After this experience, I appreciated much more the opportunities I had been given, and was thankful to be able to help improve someone else’s life. I decided to volunteer again during my senior year in high school.

My second year, we visited the family we had helped the previous summer. I noticed a great change in their lives! Instead of an old trailer, they now lived in a three-bedroom house. The children looked healthier and happier, and the parents were very proud of their home.

Most of the families we have helped lived in old trailers, which were rebuilt after suffering severe damage, such as fire or fallen trees. For example, one year, one of the children invited me to tour their home. I first noticed the damp air and smell of mold. This trailer was in such poor shape if a truck pulled it, it would fall apart. During winter, the trailers were hard to heat because the cold drafts would seep through the repaired walls and floors. Visitors were warned where to step so they wouldn’t fall through the rotted floor boards.

The families we have helped know when we will return to build another house. They look forward to our visits. Last year, a family invited all of us over for a barbeque. They were thankful for their new home and wanted to show us their appreciation. We all had a great time. This is my twelfth year (tenth consecutive) year joining St. Thomas More’s Appalachia Outreach Project. I have been very blessed over the past years to be able to help others. It is a great experience to visit families after a year and see how our work has changed their lives.

Jamie Sullivan. When I think back on my trips to Whitley City, Kentucky, there are many people and impressions that stand out in my mind, but above everything I experienced, I realize that the sisters of the Good Shepherd mission are the true heroes of Whitley City. These highly intelligent women, left their comfortable homes in well-to-do suburbs over 30 years ago to come to one of the poorest regions in our County to give their lives to help others. The work Saint Thomas More does, while meaningful, is only a small part of what these women have already and continue to accomplish. They give hope to the community and help lift these impoverished families out to the squalor they live in.

Matthew Banke. One of my most rewarding summer experiences that has truly transformed me as an individual happens once a year and I have actually done it only twice. However, I think out of all the other activities I do, it is probably the most meaningful. This activity is my yearly trip to Kentucky with my church's Youth Group. On this trip, we go to a town that is impoverished and spend a week there building a house for a family that does not have a home of their own. Although the work is extremely rigorous, the hotels are not so clean, and the heat is unbearable, it all becomes worthwhile when I can look back at the work I have done at the end o the week. Even better is the feeling I get when I return next year to see the house completely finished and the family now lives inside of it. The fact that I know I have changed someone’s life is very moving and makes me proud of the work I did. It also makes me realize how blessed I am. By thinking about how happy the lives of the family must be with a new house, it is easy to forget the hard days of work in the heat.