The Appalachian Service Project is an important part of the summer activities for our church youth and adults who help needy families.

The 2009 Appalachia Service Project Trip was held on July 5 through 11. A group of 41 teens and adults from Princeton United Methodist Church returned recently from a week repairing homes in Claiborne County, Tennessee, through the Appalachia Service Project (ASP). Led by Audrey Hindes DiPalma, Director of Youth Ministries, 29 youth and 13 adults volunteered their service after a year-long preparation doing fund raisers and studying poverty issues, Appalachia history and culture, the meaning of service to others, and basic construction techniques.

Princeton United Methodist Church has been participating in the ASP program since the mid-70s, shortly after it was founded. Begun in 1969 as a Methodist program by a minister in Kentucky, but now an independent organization, ASP operates several centers throughout mountainous Central Appalachia where Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia meet. This area has poverty rates 3 times the national average, and 1 in 4 lives in poverty. Although the program is a Christian ministry, it is open to all, and 15,000 from all over the country volunteer during the 8-week Home Repair Ministries Summer Program, helping providing free home repair to low-income families to become “warmer, safer, drier.”

A posed photo of all the 2009 participants and some photos of one of the ASP teams have been placed in a Photo Gallery and may be viewed below. Please click on the green arrow to view them.  Enjoy!