A beautiful time with 6 wonderful students who I feel so much closer to after a week of service in Kentucky. I’ll have a bunch of videos to share and some great stories from the road.
If you’ve ever been to Kentucky and particularly to Vanceburg you’d be hard-pressed to not have great memories about the beauty of the place and the sincerity of the people. You’d also remember the poverty that exists. Lewis County is one of the poorest counties in the Country with a poverty rate that is nearly twice the national average. Despite that sad fact, the people of Lewis County are incredibly happy and committed to their communities.
I wondered if the poverty in Vanceberg would be worse than what I witnessed in Nicaragua. The truth is that it wasn’t close. There is far more poverty in Managua. That said, poverty would be much easier to cure in the United States. There’s really not much of an excuse for poverty to exist in a country with the resources that we have.
The Glenmarians have made a commitment to working with the poor and in areas where there aren’t a lot of Catholics. Their dedication to ecumenism and to the people of Vanceberg was quite touching to me. The way the people have responded to them despite the differences in faiths shows that reaching out to other Christians indeed breaks down walls.
As the week goes on I will try to re-create the week for you to travel with us. We’ll have a cool music video as well. So stay tuned.