Christian Appalachian Project, a noble group who fights poverty

[JohnKleeb]

http://www.christianity.com/cap

Father Ralph Benning is the founder of the project.

Christian Appalachian Project - Father Ralph W. Beiting, a Roman Catholic priest born and raised in northern Kentucky began dreaming of helping the people of Appalachia help themselves out of poverty in 1946. As a seminarian, Father Beiting accompanied several priests as they went out to preach in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. The oldest of eleven children who grew up during the Great Depression, Father Beiting was no stranger to need, but the soul-shattering poverty he observed that summer planted the seeds of a vision that eventually became the Christian Appalachian Project.

After ordination in 1949, Father Beiting was assigned to work as an assistant pastor in a northern Kentucky parish and as a math teacher at Newport Catholic High School. He tells a story of a meeting with Bishop William Mulloy one year after he began his work.

"I had been working happily as an assistant pastor when the bishop asked to speak to me. Puzzled about the unusual circumstances of a lowly assistant pastor being asked to meet with the bishop, I was trying to make myself comfortable in his presence . . ."

Father Beiting learned that despite the fact that there were no churches, and no rectories, he had been selected to pastor a large portion of east central Kentucky. He was elated:

"On October 7, 1950, I found myself in Appalachia, pastor of a non-existent church in a parish the size of the state of Rhode Island. I thought to myself, 'This has got to be some mistake.' If it was, it was the happiest mistake of my life."

As a seminarian Father Beiting learned that all people -- not just Catholic people -- were part of his ministry and in Appalachia he quickly found that for many of his people the greatest need was not spiritual, but physical.

Discovering far more need than he could alleviate by himself, Father Beiting called on his family and friends in northern Kentucky for help. For several years he made frequent trips to pick up food, clothing and household goods that would ease the burden of needy people in eastern Kentucky. After a while he realized that these trips could go on indefinitely.

Father Beiting tells of a time in the mid-1950s when he was nearing his home in Berea, Kentucky, at the end of the latest of seemingly endless forays north. As he was driving, Father Beiting was struck with a sinking feeling that thus far his effort to help the poor had been essentially insignificant. He asked himself, "Do I want to be a truck driver the rest of my life?"

His sobering answer -- an emphatic "No!" -- caused him to think beyond short-term needs. What kind of help would be necessary to help people care for themselves? How could they become more personally independent and interdependent with others in their community?

Children were the starting point for Father Beiting. In 1957, he and his associate pastor, Father Herman Kamlage, pooled their small stipends and bought land on Herrington Lake in Garrard County, Kentucky, to start a summer camp for boys. Named Cliffview Lodge, it was integrated (during the days when segregation was an accepted, indeed expected, part of life in the South), and incorporated independently from the Catholic Diocese of Covington. Cliffview offered recreation and fellowship in a Christian atmosphere to boys from poor families in the counties where Father Beiting ministered.

By 1964 Father Beiting had named his fledgling organization the Christian Appalachian Project, saying "We would be a group that would roll up our sleeves and get the job done."

And we've been working ever since. In the years since Father Beiting founded the Christian Appalachian Project, some 75 programs have emerged to serve the needs of 50,000 people in eastern Kentucky. Community development programs which touch over 500,000 people per year are located throughout the 13 appalachian states as well as a few bordering states.

Long-term human development programs include child development centers; counseling services; tutoring for teenagers and adults working on high school equivalency certification; adult literacy instruction; teen and youth centers; a health advocacy program; life skills training and supported employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Programs designed to address short-terms needs include visitation of elderly people; emergency financial assistance; spouse abuse shelters; home repair; a gardening program; food and gifts baskets at Christmas; a respite facility for families with members who have disabilities; instruction for parents in teaching pre-schoolers with disabilities; and a family recreation complex. These human development programs have grown slowly and steadily over the last twenty years or so, meeting needs as they have manifested themselves. Many workers in CAP human development programs are recognized by other professionals as experts in their fields.

CAP's programs are primarily funded with money donated by individuals throughout the United States. A direct mail program has been developed which today raises over $16 million dollars each year. An active donor file of 750,000 grew from Father Beiting's initial list of donors which he assembled by gleaning Irish and Italian names (hopefully, generous Catholics) in the New York, Boston and Philadelphia telephone books.

From a young priest's determination that he would contribute more to an area than just the services of a truck driver has grown into one of the largest non-profit organizations in the eastern half of the United States. As the twenty-first century approaches and the problems in Appalachia continue to change, CAP pledges to adapt to meet those changes as it continues its mission of affording the Appalachian people the same opportunities as those available to the rest of the American public.
All I must say is god bless Fr Benning and his volunteers and the people they help. Thanks Father, if I hadnt chosen to do my research project on Applachia I'd never hear of you and your noble efforts. God has a special place for people like this, don't you guys agree?

[DemBones DemBones]

1. This is good news, John, especially in Advent.

Thanks for sharing it with us.

[JohnKleeb]

2. No problem, this research paper is gonna be hard but

there are so many good people out there like the Father.

[DemBones DemBones]

3. I looked at the website right after I saw this and

I'm going to give them some money. It seems to be a good long-term project in southeastern Kentucky and I know there's terrible poverty in KY. My father-in-law grew up near Lexington but he had stories of poverty seen on a visit to the mountains as a child.

[JohnKleeb]

6. You know that my own grandparents grew up in poverty themselves

[DemBones DemBones]

9. Yes, you had said that before; was your grandfather a miner?

My daughter and I have been talking about miners and poverty today.

[JohnKleeb]

10. no, his father was a miner though

My grandfather and grandmother moved down to Virginia in the 50's, my grandfather had tried working in the steel mills but he hated it, so he came down here and made his living until retirement which was when I was like hmm 3 as a bricklayer.

[Maeve]

4. This group has been on my list for several years

God bless the work (and the rest of us, donate if you can, bless you if you can't)

[JohnKleeb]

7. Thats good

They really are good people. Father Benning is a good guy aint he.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

5. Thanks for telling us about this, Kleeb...

My mom always sends money to people, and I'm going to tell her about this one.
Duckie

[JohnKleeb]

8. Sure Duckie

I learned about them in that research paper Ive told you about.