My name is Dan Chamberlain, I am currently a senior at Barnstable High School and I recently traveled to Wheeling, West Virginia on a mission trip with a group of students and adult chaperones from Christ the King Parish during April Break. This was my second trip to this area, as I went during my sophomore break as well. However, my experience this time was definitely more influential on how I see the world and the problems that our own country faces; I think that might have something to do with how much I’ve matured during the last two years. 
During my sophomore year I came home excited about the friends I had made and all of the work we did. While this time I came back excited, but also determined to go back and continue help in any way I can. On Sunday morning at around 3 AM we were headed off to West Virginia. After a thirteen hour, 660 mile ride in two stuffed vans we arrived at Wheeling Jesuit University to meet Tom, the man who helped coordinate our entire week. He took us on a tour of downtown Wheeling where we saw the city that was once debated as the most important city in America. The coal and steel industries that helped create the industrial revolution all started in Wheeling, but once natural coal resources were mostly used up it was abandoned. We saw the poverty in the city but also the potential that it has to make a comeback. After our tour we returned to Fresh Air Farms where we were staying and settled in for the night.
Service
Monday was our first day of service and I was assigned to clean apartments for the elderly and disabled. We had a small group there and we finished the apartments they needed us to clean and then washed all of the walls in the entire building. This group really bonded over hard work and talking about our favorite TV shows. We were off to a good start of service.
Then on Tuesday I was headed to the community gardens (a.k.a. Grow Ohio Valley) to work with an old friend Danny S. Danny sent me and three others to help him at the garden’s expansion greenhouses. This was by far the hardest day of work for me, but the amount we did in 9 hours was absurd. We fixed the irrigation system, laid and spread mulch, and created 4 rows of planting beds about 50 feet long and 5-6 feet wide. I really got to see the grit and toughness to power through an 85 degree day that was only intensified by the greenhouses. At the end of our day Danny offered me an internship with him this summer, and as badly I wanted to go I explained that I have college next year and needed to work to be able to afford my tuition. 
Wednesday I went to Appalachian Outreach Inc. where we made 1,738 “Christmas gifts” that were really just bare necessities and the things I take for granted in my daily life. For example, a toothbrush, washcloth, pack of tissues, etc. I know our group of 7 almost lost our minds making the same package so many times, but we finished strong and even shattered the previous record of 1000 gifts made.
Thursday was our final day of service and I returned to the apartments for the elderly and disabled, but this time at a different complex. I was in a team of 3 and we cleaned 4 apartments during our day. The difference in the apartments that we saw were heart-breaking. Our first one was a woman who lived in a hoarding situation for too long and later became unable to clean her own apartment. The second one was in pristine shape (We might have made it dirtier!), but the woman just wanted company. We talked to her for a while and really related on a human level. The third apartment was the toughest to get through emotionally. The woman was a smoker and told her us her story of a dual-lung transplant and the death of her husband in a coal mine. The fourth one was rather easy just cleaning windows and visiting again. Trying to clean someone’s apartment while hearing their story was difficult, but very rewarding.
The Damage Done
On Friday, Tom brought us on a tour of an eleven year old coal mine. We couldn’t go in, but it was 45 miles long from the entry point to the where the conveyor belt exited the ground. The picture to the left is what is left over from the coal mining industry. Toxic Waste. The liquid waste that looks like a large lake is called a “slurry pond” and the surrounding black material is a dam made from the solid waste made while processing the coal. Slurry water is toxic to the touch, the EPA recommend that you don’t drink it, brush with it, cook with it, wash yourself with it, or wash clothes in it even after boiling. One slurry pond broke a few years back and found its way into a drinking water well. Tom told us that 40 people in the town that drank from that well got cancer, and it never made national news. The beauty of this region can’t be stressed enough, without that slurry pond that is a beautiful hill side with a few homes and farms on the side of it. The coal mines and the United Mine Workers of America have been at war for their homes and families since 1890 and that theme continues today even with the industry fading.
My Takeaway
This trip really opened my eyes to the world in a sense that we have huge problems in our own country that have not been addressed for decades. Our group did a lot of work while having fun and I know that we all learned a lot while we were there. I also made great friends and we made up songs all week about West Virginia (Walking in a West Virginia Land). A little advice to anybody that’s interested in going to help anywhere: DO IT! Seriously, everything and anything you can do helps more than you know. To close this off I just want to give a huge thank you to all of the people that made this trip happen. Thank you to the students, adults, service site leaders, and everyone else at home for making this trip possible and a great time for me!
Students: Nathan, Kendall, Patrick, Jenn, Thomas, Kristin, Allison, Myranda, Matt, Olivia, Dan R, Dan B, Mike, Amelia, and Izzy
Adults: Dave, Cheryl, Beth, Denise, Nichole, Dave, Mike, and Dori
Service Site Leaders and Others: Tom, Joe, Georgia, Danny, Rose, Terry, Sister Maria, and the Appalachian Institute.
By: Dan Chamberlain
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