WorkFest 2014
It’s not an overstatement to say that going on WorkFest 2014 changed my outlook on service entirely. I am fortunate enough to have gone on service immersion trips to the Eastern Kentucky portion of the Appalachian region five times before this WorkFest experience. These trips were part of my youth group and my parents always had a big hand in my ‘decision’ to attend. I grew up in the Louisville area as a member of a Catholic community that is highly involved in service with Hand in Hand Ministries, and this organization is where I racked up my five previous experiences. Those experiences were just that though, something to rack up or collect, and something to check off my summer to-do list.
Shamefully, I was going into WorkFest with the same kind of attitude. It was another trip, where I would have the most fun away from the site and wouldn’t sleep well in the large bunkroom. While it was entirely my choice to go on this trip, I was a little worried that it was going to be just the same old same old. My parents were worried that I wouldn’t get anything out of the trip because it wasn’t religiously sponsored. WorkFest was something I had to check off of my Spring Semester to-do list. My attitude quickly changed as soon as I met some of the people from UC who were going on the trip as well. For the first time everyone was excited about the trip because of the potential that the trip had, and no one was dreading it because their parents forced them to go. Another point of shame for me is that I was cocky about my knowledge about Appalachia from my other trips and because Kentucky is my home state. I knew that I knew more than anyone else going on this trip. I didn’t disregard anyone else’s opinion or knowledge; I just knew that I knew more and had more experience.
Fortunately, I am able to say that I was taken off of my high horse very shortly into the trip. It is really fortunate that there was a major change in organization, because if I had gone again with Hand in Hand there is no way I would have learned anything. While I had been on service trips before they were with Hand in Hand Ministries as a religious group not with Christian Appalachia Project (the organization that puts on WorkFest) as a secular group and as soon as we got to Camp Andrew Jackson I was just as lost and inexperienced as everyone else. Then on the site, where I thought I knew exactly what I was doing and exactly what to expect, I embarrassed myself beyond belief by throwing a temper tantrum over a puppy that chewed through my shoe lace. Of course this resulted in a never-ending barrage of teasing from my fellow crew members, and helped me realize that this is just one week out of my life and that I should enjoy it and not be cocky and make friends.
After that I really started to notice the beauty and uniqueness that is a WorkFest opportunity, the beauty that is the Eastern Kentucky region, and the beauty that is the people I met and had the pleasure of working alongside. Purple crew was unique in that our participants did not live at the house we were working on, but because of that our crew became so much closer, and when the family did come to visit we were able to welcome all of them with the open arms of a well-gelled group.
We didn’t realize how close we had gotten as a group until the end of the week. As we were driving to the end of the week dinner, someone brought up how someone from their university had asked them what radio stations we had listened to on the way to and from the site, we realized that we simply didn’t listen to radio, but we talked instead. The ability to talk with complete strangers is something that is so lost in this time. We are all so great at communicating through technology and behind screens, but really suffer when put face-to-face with people we don’t know at all. I am pleased to announce that during WorkFest many of us were able to rekindle some of those interpersonal skills with the members of the Purple Crew. On our half hour drives to and from the site, as well as during our lunch, we were able to learn so much about one another and the regions of the US that we came from. Whether it was comparing amount of snowfall during the crazy 2014 winter, or feeling disgusted over Cincinnati chili and cheese curds, or saying ‘water’ and listening to how everyone says it differently; I really felt like I made some astonishingly close friends for how short the experience was.
Over the course of WorkFest I realized that service isn’t about hammering in nails (which I am a master at now) or finishing an addition on a trailer, service is unique to each person and to each task you preform. It doesn’t matter the quantity of work that you achieved that day. Service is the feeling at the end of the day knowing you made someone smile because of what you did that day. Service on WorkFest for me was laughing over my temper tantrum, watching a fellow crew member try to heel stretch on the new floor in an imitation of me, or seeing the look of pure joy on the faces of our leaders’ and the participant’s faces after our mere four days of work. Service on WorkFest is the feeling I gained, a sense of humble confidence to know that I can hold my own in construction and know that I can always learn more about a region and about service no matter how many trips to the Eastern Kentucky region I take.
Shamefully, I was going into WorkFest with the same kind of attitude. It was another trip, where I would have the most fun away from the site and wouldn’t sleep well in the large bunkroom. While it was entirely my choice to go on this trip, I was a little worried that it was going to be just the same old same old. My parents were worried that I wouldn’t get anything out of the trip because it wasn’t religiously sponsored. WorkFest was something I had to check off of my Spring Semester to-do list. My attitude quickly changed as soon as I met some of the people from UC who were going on the trip as well. For the first time everyone was excited about the trip because of the potential that the trip had, and no one was dreading it because their parents forced them to go. Another point of shame for me is that I was cocky about my knowledge about Appalachia from my other trips and because Kentucky is my home state. I knew that I knew more than anyone else going on this trip. I didn’t disregard anyone else’s opinion or knowledge; I just knew that I knew more and had more experience.
Fortunately, I am able to say that I was taken off of my high horse very shortly into the trip. It is really fortunate that there was a major change in organization, because if I had gone again with Hand in Hand there is no way I would have learned anything. While I had been on service trips before they were with Hand in Hand Ministries as a religious group not with Christian Appalachia Project (the organization that puts on WorkFest) as a secular group and as soon as we got to Camp Andrew Jackson I was just as lost and inexperienced as everyone else. Then on the site, where I thought I knew exactly what I was doing and exactly what to expect, I embarrassed myself beyond belief by throwing a temper tantrum over a puppy that chewed through my shoe lace. Of course this resulted in a never-ending barrage of teasing from my fellow crew members, and helped me realize that this is just one week out of my life and that I should enjoy it and not be cocky and make friends.
After that I really started to notice the beauty and uniqueness that is a WorkFest opportunity, the beauty that is the Eastern Kentucky region, and the beauty that is the people I met and had the pleasure of working alongside. Purple crew was unique in that our participants did not live at the house we were working on, but because of that our crew became so much closer, and when the family did come to visit we were able to welcome all of them with the open arms of a well-gelled group.
We didn’t realize how close we had gotten as a group until the end of the week. As we were driving to the end of the week dinner, someone brought up how someone from their university had asked them what radio stations we had listened to on the way to and from the site, we realized that we simply didn’t listen to radio, but we talked instead. The ability to talk with complete strangers is something that is so lost in this time. We are all so great at communicating through technology and behind screens, but really suffer when put face-to-face with people we don’t know at all. I am pleased to announce that during WorkFest many of us were able to rekindle some of those interpersonal skills with the members of the Purple Crew. On our half hour drives to and from the site, as well as during our lunch, we were able to learn so much about one another and the regions of the US that we came from. Whether it was comparing amount of snowfall during the crazy 2014 winter, or feeling disgusted over Cincinnati chili and cheese curds, or saying ‘water’ and listening to how everyone says it differently; I really felt like I made some astonishingly close friends for how short the experience was.
Over the course of WorkFest I realized that service isn’t about hammering in nails (which I am a master at now) or finishing an addition on a trailer, service is unique to each person and to each task you preform. It doesn’t matter the quantity of work that you achieved that day. Service is the feeling at the end of the day knowing you made someone smile because of what you did that day. Service on WorkFest for me was laughing over my temper tantrum, watching a fellow crew member try to heel stretch on the new floor in an imitation of me, or seeing the look of pure joy on the faces of our leaders’ and the participant’s faces after our mere four days of work. Service on WorkFest is the feeling I gained, a sense of humble confidence to know that I can hold my own in construction and know that I can always learn more about a region and about service no matter how many trips to the Eastern Kentucky region I take.