First Week Recap

Monday - Jenny and I drove an hour to Jackson County (one of our neighboring counties) to prepare backpacks for school readiness. The caseworker for Jackson is having some surgery done, so we were just helping get things ready while she was gone. A family from Pennsylvania donated a ton of school supplies and helped us stuff backpacks. We also made hygiene bags to include.

Tuesday - We drove back to Jackson Co again and continued to stuff backpacks with the help of the Pennsylvanians. By the time they left, right before lunch, we were all done with backpacks for both Jackson and Owsley County. For the rest of the workday, we sorted through donated clothing to be given away during the school readiness distribution. That week the Jackson Co CAP center was hosting a youth group from Ohio while they were doing some housing repairs with CAP. Sr. Robbie, who is in charge of Christian Partners, was on vacation, so Jenny was filling in for her, explaining to the group how they can help CAP when they go back to Ohio. For dinner we cooked Pizza Casserole (a delicious CAP classic) for the group. Needless to say, we didn't get back to Rockcastle County until 8pm, putting me at 11.5 hours worked! (with 30 mins for lunch)

Wednesday - This was the first day I actually stayed in Rockcastle County for the whole day. Robyn, my program manager, had me fill out a lot of the necessary paperwork. Jenny took a prospective volunteer on a house visit. Meanwhile, Robyn showed me how to do a vehicle check (I now know how to check all the fluid levels under the hood!) and I got to drive her CAP truck around town a little bit. It was my first time ever to drive a truck! I was so nervous, but very proud of myself. When Jenny and the prospective got back, we all went to a nice little Mexican restaurant in Mt Vernon (not quite as delicious as El Bracero, but I'll always be biased). That afternoon, I folded and stuffed letters about the school readiness distribution - just like working as a student ambassador!

Thursday - I can't remember too much of what happened on Thursday. I do remember that Jenny drove me around the county and a lot of the backroads after we delivered a bed to a family. We probably drove around for 3 or 4 hours. We stopped at this little store outside of Livingstone called the Rock Castle Trading Co. The Carloftises, the family that owns it, are pretty prosperous and prominent in the community and they live next to the store. One of the son's is a professional (and apparently highly sought after) landscaper, so they have all these beautiful gardens behind the shop. Also in the backyard is the river. It's very lovely, and anyone driving through should check it out. Although we didn't buy anything, Mrs. Carloftis welcomed us, asked us where we were from, and offered us cookies and lemonade. She also encouraged us to walk over to her house and see their gardens. Unfortunately I forgot my camera in Manitou, so I don't have any pictures, but hopefully I'll get to visit again and take some pictures to post. You can learn a little more about the store and gardens here.

Friday - The highlight of the day was going on a home visit out near Lake Linville. The elderly couple are participants of the food pantry, and Nancy, one of my housemates who works in the pantry, felt that they could be served through our Emergency Home Improvements (EHI). The trailer sits on the side of steep hill, covered by a huge garden which attract butterflies. The front door of the trailer faces out toward the lake, so you have to walk down the hill and around the trailer to get to the front steps. The wooden stairs were steep. Lose your balance and you would fall off the steps and most likely roll down the bumpy hill. The man's health is declining and he would like a ramp. The toilet in the bathroom is about to fall through the floor because the trailer's underpinnings have gone bad. The whole living room was filled with a quilting machine. The woman is an avid quilter. She showed us all the quilt tops she had made within the past few weeks. She had dozens! Probably 40 or 50. She said she just sews and sews when she's mad (and currently she and her husband are refusing to speak to each other). So Jenny talked with the husband while the wife showed me her sewing room. I told her about my quilt and she told me to come over any time of the day or night and she would help me. The funniest thing about the situation was that both the man and woman are very hard of hearing, so we all had to yell at each other to be understood. Before we left, the woman pulled two gallon sized ice cream tubs full of blackberries out of the freezer. They were huge! She said she picked them herself from the garden. She poured them into two plastic bags for Jenny and me to take home. That afternoon, I had my official driving test with Robyn and I passed. So I can now drive my CAP truck!

Saturday - Some of the housemates from both Rockcastle House and Mt Vernon House (across the street) drove an hour and a half to Natural Bridge State Park. Although I've lived in KY for over 22 years, I'd never been to the Natural Bridge. We hiked around - up to the bridge and over it, and then to a few other look out points. Some members of the Johnson House (on the east side) joined us. Once again, I didn't have my camera, but I stole some pictures from my housemate Mandy.

Sunday - Carl, from Mt Vernon house, came over and said that there had been significant flooding in Pike County and that Disaster Relief was assembling. The phone was ringing off the hook and everyone was rushing around getting ready to leave or trying to help people get ready to leave. Two of my housemates and two people from Mt Vernon went with Disaster Relief. It was also a busy day because we got two new housemates who are both staying for a month. One is my roommate and she is from Pennsylvania. So now our house contains 11 people! I got to see Rainbow Respite (the center for adults with special needs) since one of the new girls is volunteering there. Olivia made blackberry cobbler (actually, 3 of them!) with all the blackberries I brought back (and there are still more left over!) and we watched a movie.

And today? Well, today Jenny and I did some office stuff, and I drove us to Op Share (Operation Sharing - a big warehouse with a lot of donations, especially corporate donations) in Corbin. We were picking up some more school readiness supplies. I've never dealt with so many boxes of crayons in my life!

So things have been busy here to put it lightly!

PS. Tonight I got to go down to FLAC (domestic abuse shelter) with Olivia and Mandy and play with some of the kids before watching the Bachelorette over at the Mt Vernon House!