Chelsea Carson and Bill Mehle stand on the roof of a trailer, attaching new roof tin with a nail gun. They are taking part in HOPE, a week-long trip to repair homes in rural Clay County.
WALLBACK, W.Va. -- It's not a typical sight deep in the hollows of Clay County -- several high school students perched on a trailer roof, while others hammer underpinning around its base.
WALLBACK, W.Va. -- It's not a typical sight deep in the hollows of Clay County -- several high school students perched on a trailer roof, while others hammer underpinning around its base.
They're with Charleston Catholic High School, where for the past five years students and adult volunteers have been picking up their power tools as part of the Housing Outreach Project Express, or HOPE.
On a recent morning, project coordinator Bill Mehle watched a crew working on a trailer outside Wallback. Teenagers sawed two-by-fours on the ground and began the arduous process of replacing the roof.
The major projects at this site include the roof, foundation and underpinning. Plus, the crew plans to put rails around the porch and replace the windows.
Mehle, who's a theology teacher at Charleston Catholic, said the crew found more work to be done on this trailer than they had anticipated. But that's not unusual.
"We've already discovered in the first morning some extra steps that we're going to have to take in order to make the foundation solid and put the new roof on," he said.
Similar projects have gone on across West Virginia for decades, as groups from outside the state fix sagging porches and replace leaky roofs.
It's an old idea -- poor Appalachians need outsiders to help them.
But these students worked on houses within an hour's drive of their community. They say it proves West Virginians can help themselves.
"Well, it's a really good opportunity to help people locally who are in serious need of the simplest amenities that we take for granted, like a safe dry home," said Adele Willis, a senior at Charleston Catholic.
"There are people who go all over the world for a service project, and we drive an hour down the road and there are people who need help," she said.
Chelsea Carson is a junior at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. This is her fourth year working on HOPE -- several college students continue to participate after graduating from Charleston Catholic.
"I think a really big part of this project is kind of putting the family first and getting to know them," she said.
"I think the relationship you build with the family is more important than just learning how to put on a roof or learning how to put framing underneath the house."
For this crew, the family is Tammy and her husband. Tammy asked to be identified only by her first name.
Tammy looked over to the swing set, where three of her four young grandchildren were playing.
She said their 1969-model trailer was definitely in need of repairs -- especially for the kids' sake.
"There were some improvements that needed done for it to pass code, and we was getting one thing done at a time, not nowhere near everything," she said. "Truthfully, without these people's help ... without their help, it wouldn't be done."
Recently, the children were placed in the state's custody, and then sent to live with Tammy and her husband. Now, they're back with Tammy's daughter -- but they spend a lot of time with their grandparents.
WALLBACK, W.Va. -- It's not a typical sight deep in the hollows of Clay County -- several high school students perched on a trailer roof, while others hammer underpinning around its base.
They're with Charleston Catholic High School, where for the past five years students and adult volunteers have been picking up their power tools as part of the Housing Outreach Project Express, or HOPE.
On a recent morning, project coordinator Bill Mehle watched a crew working on a trailer outside Wallback. Teenagers sawed two-by-fours on the ground and began the arduous process of replacing the roof.
The major projects at this site include the roof, foundation and underpinning. Plus, the crew plans to put rails around the porch and replace the windows.
Mehle, who's a theology teacher at Charleston Catholic, said the crew found more work to be done on this trailer than they had anticipated. But that's not unusual.
"We've already discovered in the first morning some extra steps that we're going to have to take in order to make the foundation solid and put the new roof on," he said.
Similar projects have gone on across West Virginia for decades, as groups from outside the state fix sagging porches and replace leaky roofs.
It's an old idea -- poor Appalachians need outsiders to help them.
But these students worked on houses within an hour's drive of their community. They say it proves West Virginians can help themselves.
"Well, it's a really good opportunity to help people locally who are in serious need of the simplest amenities that we take for granted, like a safe dry home," said Adele Willis, a senior at Charleston Catholic.
"There are people who go all over the world for a service project, and we drive an hour down the road and there are people who need help," she said.
Chelsea Carson is a junior at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. This is her fourth year working on HOPE -- several college students continue to participate after graduating from Charleston Catholic.
"I think a really big part of this project is kind of putting the family first and getting to know them," she said.
"I think the relationship you build with the family is more important than just learning how to put on a roof or learning how to put framing underneath the house."
For this crew, the family is Tammy and her husband. Tammy asked to be identified only by her first name.
Tammy looked over to the swing set, where three of her four young grandchildren were playing.
She said their 1969-model trailer was definitely in need of repairs -- especially for the kids' sake.
"There were some improvements that needed done for it to pass code, and we was getting one thing done at a time, not nowhere near everything," she said. "Truthfully, without these people's help ... without their help, it wouldn't be done."
Recently, the children were placed in the state's custody, and then sent to live with Tammy and her husband. Now, they're back with Tammy's daughter -- but they spend a lot of time with their grandparents.
Tammy wants the house fixed up so that if she ever needs to take her grandkids in again, the state will approve her and her husband as foster parents.
"If it weren't for these people we probably couldn't get through with any of this stuff," she said.
"Until now I haven't had any reason to try to get any help with anything like that. But if I get this done and something happens, then I'll be ready for [my grandchildren]."
This year, the group is working on 14 houses across the county. Some of the houses will be finished in a day, some in a week.
On the opposite end of the county, another group was digging holes. Rena Priddy, 87, sat on her porch, watching the progress.
She's small with a long jet-black ponytail, a sign of the Cherokee blood in her genes, she said.
The crew on her house is building a ramp, because Priddy's had become too shaky for her to make her way up and down her rickety porch steps.
Sitting in her small trailer, Priddy pointed out her art pieces around the room, many inspired by her Cherokee heritage.
She read a poem, written about her family's hardscrabble history.
"Now the Brady family was very poor but she never asked for any more," she said. "They went to the table three times a day and a blessing they would always say. Just molasses and cornbread we felt was well-fed."
The work done by the crews will make it easer to leave the house and visit her daughter next door. She said she's prayed for such a miracle.
"Oh, they're doing wonders for me. It's the answers to my prayers," she said.
By Friday morning, most of the projects were completed. Priddy's ramp was done, and Tammy had a new roof, windows and underpinning.
The students are changed, too. Their week of work -- for many their first close-up experience with poverty -- and the connections they've built with the families have given them a new perspective.
"I mean it's a different outlook," said Adam Buscher, a senior at Charleston Catholic. "I think sometimes I take for granted what I have. You know, these people, some of them just don't have very much, but they're good with what they do have."
Erin Casey, also a senior, agreed.
"It really opens your eyes, because you can hear something on the news or read about it, but coming here and experiencing, seeing someone else's life like this, it really makes you appreciate what you have and puts things in perspective," she said.
Most the students say they'll be back for more next summer.
@tag:This story is part of a collaboration between the Sunday Gazette-Mail and West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
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Providing assistance to these folks is like providing an alcoholic with a free case of bourbon.
To truly instill a valuable lesson to these students and their classmates, take lots of pictures of folks such as this and the miserable life they lead. Then, create posters that demonstrate the consequences of poor decisions.
Bravo!