Well, here I am in the blog world again. I created and maintained a blog a few summers ago while I was participating in the Semester of Service program at the University of Dayton. Once some weird stalkerish guy made a comment on my blog though I shut it down. Now that I am embarking on a new venture in my life - a year of service at Nazareth Farm in West Virginia, I have decided to once again start up a blog in hopes that it will help others to keep up with whats going on in my life. The only drawback is that its a one-way sharing session... you can log on here, read my posts, check out any pictures or videos I put up, etc. but I'm not going to know what's going on in your life in return, sadly. So maybe I'm putting the ball in your court here... but made sure to leave comments, send me mail/ e-mail, and call me :). OK OK, its a two-way street, but I'm making the effort, right?
I hope to make a post on here once a week, most likely sometime on Sunday. But that is tentative since I have not moved in at Nazareth Farm and am going to need some time to get adjusted/ learn the ropes. In case, by some odd chance, you did not receive my letter, here is some information about Nazareth Farm. Enjoy and look forward to more posts soon (I move in in about a week!).
Nazareth Farm is a small non-profit founded upon the gospels and Catholic social teaching. The mission of the farm is to eliminate sub-standard housing in the surrounding Appalachian area of Doddridge County, West Virginia. Twenty-six weeks out of the year the staff community welcomes volunteer groups from high schools and colleges across the United States to engage in the farm’s pillars of service, prayer, community and simplicity. During these week-long immersions, volunteers collaborate as one community, praying together each morning and evening, sharing meals, and engaging in hands-on home repair with one another. Throughout these experiences volunteers not only establish relationships with one another, but with the residents of the surrounding community as well. Luke Champlin, a volunteer in the winter of 2006, stated in an article on Colgate University’s website that “the trip gave [12 members of the Newman Community] an opportunity to live out the ideals of the Gospel in an environment that helped to foster genuine bonds with the people we were working with and for.”
As a community, the staff focuses on serving the needs of the surrounding residents, as well as these volunteers. Each staff member has their own respective position and duties in order to keep the farm running smoothly. When not leading volunteers, the staff engages with one another through daily prayer, shared meals, and home-repair sites throughout the county. The staff community lives a simple lifestyle, sharing a house on the property of Nazareth Farm, and is provided with room and board, as well as medical insurance, and a small monthly stipend as income. It is a primary focus of the staff to provide any visitors and volunteers with a sustainable service experience focused on the gospels and Catholic Tradition.
No comments:
Post a Comment