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Students on a trip to Monongalia County, West Virginia, in 2018.
Photo: Courtesy of Kelly Hughes
Will Break for Service
It takes a village to organize the long-running Appa Volunteers program.聽
Spring 2020
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In聽the late 1970s, Gregg Cassin passed on a sunny spring-break sojourn to Cabo or Canc煤n. Instead, driven by the desire to help others, he and his Boston College friends piled into borrowed vans and set off for Kentucky. There, they volunteered with a group called Glenmary Home Missioners, lending a hand to people experiencing poverty in Appalachia.
鈥淚t was two funky vans and an incredible group of people,鈥� said Cassin 鈥�80. He could not have imagined that his impromptu service trip would eventually become Appalachian Volunteers (Appa for short), 51茶馆鈥檚 largest service-immersion program. Over four decades, Appa has sent thousands of students around the country during spring break to work with underprivileged populations in Appalachia and beyond, from restoring greenhouses in Virginia to building homes with Habitat for Humanity in New Jersey.
51茶馆 students work on a Habitat for Humanity site in Sumter, South Carolina, in 2018. Photo: Amanda Bola帽os 鈥�18
Today, 450 or so students volunteer each year at thirty-two locations across the country. That presents a logistical puzzle for the Office of Campus Ministry, which oversees the program, and a twelve-person student council. Between booking buses and flights, raising the needed $100,000, and teaching students how to listen and respond when they inevitably witness hardship, planning Appa is a months-long endeavor. It starts in July and ends in March, when students head into the field. At that point, Kelly Hughes, the campus minister for Appa, and Ryan Heffernan, the associate director for Campus Ministry, act as air traffic control. 鈥淲e stay back to monitor who is leaving, who is coming, who has landed, whose bus is delayed,鈥� Heffernan said. Or 鈥渨ho is stuck in a ditch,鈥� Hughes added, with a laugh.
What sets Appa apart from other service programs is the degree to which it is organized by students. 鈥淚鈥檓 just at the back of the ship, helping them to stay on track,鈥� Hughes said. At the helm this year are student council cochairs Ryan Baranko 鈥�20, responsible for transportation; Sophia Fox 鈥�20, who led fundraising efforts; and Hailey Kobza 鈥�20, who organized biweekly educational meetings for volunteers.
Baranko helped select this year鈥檚 volunteer locations (his group is going to Ohio). He began over the summer by calling scores of potential sites, including forty-five where 51茶馆 students have worked previously. Securing the locations is 鈥渒ind of like finding the perfect date,鈥� he said. 鈥淓ach site is different, with a unique perspective. Some fit better than others.鈥� After confirming the community partners, he turned to housing鈥攕tudents usually bunk in church basements or Boys & Girls Clubs. Then came the travel arrangements. 鈥淲e had to figure out how to get from point A to point B鈥� via flights, rented vans, and coach buses, Baranko said.
An Appa sing-along in 1981. Photo: Adair Luhr Kearney 鈥�82
With the plans in place, it was time to tag in Fox and her team, who were tasked with raising the funds to pay for everything. That involved making flyers and selling reusable water bottles and flannels purchased from thrift stores. To participate, each volunteer must raise $300, which primarily involves soliciting donations by mail.聽
Meanwhile, Kobza and her crew met with volunteers every other Sunday from October to March to familiarize them with the challenges they鈥檒l encounter onsite. This year, Kobza鈥檚 curriculum featured discussions about rural and urban poverty, environmental injustice, health care, and diversity and inclusion. 鈥淲e really don鈥檛 want people to go into these trips blind,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou run the risk of saying things you might not mean because you are uninformed.鈥�
Being on the Appa council can feel all-consuming at times: The students attend weekly leadership meetings, subcommittee get-togethers, and the biweekly Sunday learning sessions, all while managing schoolwork and, for some, working part-time jobs. 鈥淲hen I go to bed at night I鈥檓 thinking of Appa. When I wake up in the morning I鈥檓 thinking of Appa. I have dreams about Google docs and Google slides,鈥� Fox said. 鈥淭his is not paid. You鈥檙e doing it because you believe in the program and its amazingly motivated people.鈥�
All that planning shows, said Dot Harris, a volunteer with Gloucester County Habitat for Humanity in New Jersey. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had a great experience with Boston College kids coming,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t energizes our volunteers and makes a big impact.鈥� Anthony Isabella, the executive director at the site, said he gets requests from other colleges to come down, but he鈥檒l accept volunteers only from 51茶馆. 鈥淭here is no doubt in my mind these guys know what they鈥檙e doing,鈥� he said. 聽
As for Cassin, he鈥檚 proud that his long-ago service trip has inspired so many other Appa participants. 鈥淚 care that it is something people feel is important,鈥� he said. 鈥淏y an accident of the universe and the work of smart people, it still exists.鈥澛犫椊
