Each spring, students give up spring break to help Kentuckians repair their homes

All across Kentucky, Big Blue Nation is gearing up for March Madness. We debate about where we will be seeded this year, fill out our brackets religiously, and pray this year the team brings home its ninth NCAA Championship banner to hang from the rafters in Rupp.

But, in Eastern Kentucky, March brings a different kind of strive for excellence that starts with a heart of service. College students from around the country make their way to Appalachia for WorkFest to help our neighbors who struggle with home repairs too extensive and expensive to complete without help.

Students from Ohio State University, Michigan State, and the Scranton Center for Service and Social Justice join in this alternative spring break program to help Kentuckians like Krystal. She had a tarp for a roof, but when the storms came, it rained on the inside. She did her best to weigh down the tarp so it wouldn’t blow away, but she has an arthritic hip that needs to be replaced and her knee has a rod where she once broke her femur. In the past, she paid neighbors or anyone that would help to put stumps, bricks, or anything that might hold the tarp down.

According to the National Rural Housing Coalition, about 50 percent of Americans like Krystal, who are poor and rural, have housing expenses that exceed half of their incomes, and the Economic Research Service says since 2007 rural median income has averaged 20 percent lower than the urban median. Over 15 percent of all rural counties, or more than 300 across the country, are persistently poor with at least 20 percent of the population living in poverty for more than 30 years.

The level of substandard housing is so high where Christian Appalachian Project serves that some community members like Krystal have been on the waiting list for two years to get all the repairs done. COVID-19 caused additional delays. For the past two years, WorkFest had to be canceled or curtailed due to restrictions.

Krystal was looking forward to getting the work started in 2020, then COVID-19 protocols were put in place. The next year, before repairs could be scheduled, her home, where she has lived for nearly four decades, could not withstand the deluge that accompanied the historic spring floods in 2021. When the floods came, the floor in the kitchen just dropped down, and what remained of her makeshift kitchen sink was destroyed. This is not just Krystal’s story; substandard housing is a daily challenge for many families in Appalachia.

This year marks 30 years that college students have come to the mountains to repair homes like Krystal’s. Homes that need a new roof, windows, flooring, and insulation too. Each year volunteers serve together to make life a little easier in Eastern Kentucky.

Quality, affordable housing is difficult to come by in Appalachia. The service provided by these college students each year remind us that we can make a difference in the lives of individuals and families who need assistance. In a typical WorkFest season, we repair about 26 homes and about 230 annually through our Home Repair Program. It would not be possible without the compassion of students who choose a week of service when they could have chosen from a myriad of other more common spring break options.

And when these college students come to Kentucky, they leave behind school rivalries and beach vacations and instead choose to pick up a hammer, or a drill, or a saw, to make a lasting impact for years to come.

March Madness is coming. I can’t wait. I’d love to see our Cats bring home that crystal trophy. But my greater anticipation is to know when WorkFest is over this year, our fellow Kentuckians, like Krystal, can sleep peacefully knowing her home is safe, warm, and dry.

Guy Adams is President/CEO of the Christian Appalachian Project.

This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 10:32 AM.