Service project helps Appalachian residents

It was a choice between paying the electricity and one of the most basic human needs – food – and an Appalachian woman chose the former, opting to only eat fish from a pond near her home.
So go the heart-wrenching tales that St. Virgilius Deacon Joseph Campisi brings back with him from Kentucky – along with a sense of fulfillment in knowing that he has affected change in the lives of some of the country’s poorest people.
Campisi, of Howard Beach, who has been making the 17-hour trip for 13 years, went this year with friend James Majorana from Saturday, August 22 through Saturday, August 29.
Armed with about $3,500 – thanks to donations from the generous people of St. Virgilius and of Howard Beach – strong hands and good will, Campisi and Majorana volunteered once again through the Christian Appalachian Project (CAP).
“You feel so good when you come back,” said Majorana.
The pair, along with seven Seminary students from Chicago, helped to install roofs, windows, front doors, paneling, even a deck for a woman whose previous one blew away in a storm.
But the most touching story was that of the 100-pound woman with no food, said Joseph’s wife, Gloria.
“This woman was the reason he went this year,” she said of her husband. “I told him, ‘You make sure she has food, or else we’ll send her a check every month.’”
Aside from putting food on her table, CAP also paid her electricity and made sure she had her oxygen machine.
The Campisis, who paid the costs of travel and lodging, explained that life in Appalachia is extremely difficult for the elderly and infirm, but said that they are grateful that CAP’s efforts are bringing awareness to the plight of the Kentucky poor.
“I’m so grateful that people are becoming aware,” said Gloria. “I really feel that in the years he’s gone there he’s made it known that there are people who need help.”
In fact, the couple’s eight grandchildren – the youngest of which is just three years old – even donated some of their allowances.
“It’s not us helping them,” said Gloria. “It’s you, with your donations.”
“I wasn’t going to go anymore,” said Joseph. “But I think I will go back. It grabs you because it’s a lot of satisfaction.”
To learn more about how you too can help, visit www.christianapp.org.