A Trip to Appalachia Service Project

1556 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of environmental factors on health

A Trip to Appalachia Service Project It was back in the summer of 2004 when all was calm. The trees filled w/ dry green leaves, the grass barely green as patches of yellowness overcame its dried burned look, dandelions arose in monstrous amounts as the white cotton-like blooms of a dandelion flutter in the midst of an arid breeze, and visions of heat waves could clearly be noticed along a paved street on a clear afternoon. Yep, this truly was mid summer. But I do prefer summer over winter any day of the year. Around the hottest time of the year, a.k.a. middle of July, my church travels on a mission trip over to the Appalachia Mountains to help people in poverty rebuild their homes. I, among 14 other youths and leaders enjoy this yearly mission trip. Only to leave one week after my birthday the ASP (Appalachia Service Project) crew fled the town of Glen Ellyn and headed east towards the mountainous Appalachia Mountains. The mission had not only been to help people in distress but to also give an insight on personal faith, life, love, friendship, and a better understanding on why we are really here and why we have chosen to come here, as certain personality traits that we possess are revealed throughout the trip. I do remember last year's trip very clearly, and we've had just a few major dilemmas, but this year just clearly out does last year in every way, shape and form. The drive to cross the Kentucky border had taken hours and hours of strenuous patience to finally arrive in another state. The view was by far country like as hints of cow manure could be smelled far from a distance. We drive through small towns, half the size of our hometown of Glen Ellyn had been the biggest town we've seen if not smaller. The scenery had overwhelmed us, as lumps of Earth from a great distance turned to perfectly molded hills, but as we got closer and closer to our destination the hills no longer were hills anymore, instead the hills had transformed to massive mountains of various sizes. These mountains surrounded our every view as if we had sunken into a great big deep hole of green pastures. Our path of direction was seen, as the trails of our road that had followed for numerous hours ended up winding up the mountainous mountains in a corkscrew dizzy-like matter.

Show More
Related

  • The Setting of Blood Meridian

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    By noon they had begun to climb toward the gap in the mountains. Riding up through the lavender or soapweed, under the Animas peaks. The shadow of an eagle that had set forth from the line of riders below and they looked up to mark it where it rode in that brittle blue and faultless void. In the evening they came out to upon a mesa that overlooked all the country to the north... The crumpled butcher paper mountains lay in sharp shadowfold under the long blue dusk and in the middle distance the glazed bed of a dry lake lay shimmering like the mare imbrium. (168)

    Read More

  • Life in Appalachia from a Pre and Post-Civil War Perspective

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    Communication among settlements was sparse, except for major upheavals such as the Civil War; interaction with the rest of the nation was limited. Isolation was common in the 19th into the 20th century.

    Read More

  • Appalachia Culture

    1512 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many people have different views on what Appalachia is, I grew up thinking that Appalachia meant people were dirty, poor, illiterate, inbreed and we also called them mountain people. As I grew up I realized that most of the things they went through and had a hard time with, I was dealing with the same problems. So what exactly is Appalachia? Well you will find out as you read on.

    Read More

  • Health Issues In Appalachian Culture

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Appalachian culture were born in the Appalachian mountain range and their family live in or near the Appalachia. “Appalachia comprises 420 counties in 13 states—Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania.” (Purnell, 2009, p. 88). Since the Appalachians comes from such a broad region, I choose to discuss the population residing in Kentucky. The Appalachians from the Kentucky regions suffers from many issues such as poverty and this can influence issues concerning their state of their health and environmental factors. As a public health and community health nurses, their focus is to identify problems

    Read More

  • Trip To Haiti

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    I spent every spring and summer in middle school doing mission work and community service. I loved the opportunity that it gave me to build relationships and share my beliefs with people I didn’t know. Little did I know that this would pave the way for a life-changing experience that I would encounter one day. Each spring my church would host a missionary event called “The Ignite Project.” I felt an urge to join the group, recognizing that it was a calling to profess my faith in Jesus. These mission trips helped me to go out

    Read More

  • Summary: The Prophet Of The Great Smoky Mountains

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many are not familiar with the area of the Great Smoky Mountains located in Tennessee, this novel provides a great sense of understanding of the area, and paints a clear image of the setting of this novel. The imagery the author uses is so in depth

    Read More

  • Analogies in The Mountain by Robert Frost

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    In lines 3-4 it says, “I noticed that I missed stars in the west, where its black body cut into the sky.” The mountain not only gave the town it is located in a different perspective of its surround...

    Read More

  • Descriptive Essay On Puerto Rico

    643 Words  | 2 Pages

    Driving through the streets of Puerto Rico, we saw buildings and shops bursting with colors. Music flowed out of shops and made my ears tingle with the words in the songs, words I could not understand but yearned to. Continuing our drive I looked out into the distance and saw nothing but towering mountains that seemed to be covered with nothing but thick dense trees. They overlooked the houses and building below and took my breath away, castings shadows onto the small village below them. The forests loomed over everything almost intimidating but gentle as it held nothing but wildlife and freedom.

    Read More

  • Figurative Language In John Bryson's Majesty Of The Appalachian Mountains

    244 Words  | 1 Pages

    Bryson creates figurative language in the form of personification to describe the majesty of the Appalachian Mountains and support his argument that nature is underappreciated. By personifying the formation of the continents, Bryson highlights the alluring geological cycles of the Appalachians. “The continents didn’t just move in and out…but spun in lazy circles, changed their orientation, went on cruises to the tropics and poles, made friends with smaller land masses and brought them home” (272). Bryson uses phrases like “spun in lazy circles,” “went on cruises,” and “made friends…and brought them home,” to make the process more relatable. These expressions are easily recognized and allow the reader to imagine this complex scene in simple

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: The Easiest Colony Of Jamestown

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    was time to get away from the town and they could start a new life out west. Helen always wanted to be a dairy farmer. She soon agreed and the next day, they packed their things and headed out. On the way they said goodbye to all of their friends and family and headed out. While on the trails, Helen noticed that it was mostly flat plains in the north. She thought this was perfect and this was their final destination. Steve told her they were only halfway there and they were about to come up to these really cool mountains. Stacy couldn’t figure out why they were so great. Steve said they were full of plateaus and intermountain basins. Stacy still didn’t think they were

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative Essay: A Walk At Highland Park

    776 Words  | 2 Pages

    My walk along Highland Park surrounded by with the water’s quiet flow that moves through the land, separating the two sides that were once connected. The waterfowl escape the heat of the sun by swimming happily with the current and in the process, diving to catch lunch. Trees are scattered all over the grass, soaring high above the ground creating homes for those who live by the sky. The dirt, leaves, bark, and water create the smell best classified as Earth, enriched by the uprooted trees from Mother Nature’s wrath. An old giant lay across the water connecting the two sides once again, similarly to the synthetic bridge conveniently located before the trees begin to hug the road.

    Read More

  • Animal Farm Persuasive Speech

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    The sun dried grass crunched under David’s feet as he reached the mailbox, sweat plastering his golden hair to his forehead. The rural landscape of Shark Bay is bone dry; the lingering heat wave serving as a slap in the face with the wind blowing what is left of his fields into whirlwinds of dirt. His was once a land of luscious green landscape, the soft air turned branches into wind chimes as the trees swayed. These same trees have been bleached by the heat ridden gusts carving tortured sculpture in their trunks. Some might now see this world as one of desolate wasteland but David grew up with the land, this land was a living, growing friend that he knew, loved, and cared for as much as he did his wife and children.

    Read More

  • Hurricane Harvey Analysis

    299 Words  | 1 Pages

    The beginning of the fall season was obscured by a catastrophic natural event, Hurricane Harvey. I started my college career by looking for organizations that promoted community service and student diversity while creating a friendly environment with others. I joined the Tzu Chi Collegiate Association and had the opportunity to collaborate with individuals that had the same enthusiasm to help others. After hurricane Harvey made landfall, thousands of families lost their home, belongings, and even someone significant to them. The response to these series of events was heartwarming, people from all around the world felt the need to help those who had lost everything. I also felt the same need and during my fall semester I volunteered to help

    Read More

  • Walking on the Narrow Path

    1288 Words  | 3 Pages

    As the two men hiked, they came upon many rugged trails and hills that were difficult to overcome, however they did it together and kept moving on. The view from the trail was beautiful with many places to stop and admire the view, but they couldn’t seem to get above the canopy of the trees to truly take in the whole view. The man that strove to see the beautiful scenery from an unobstructed viewpoint was trying in every way to get above what was around him to see the true beauty of the mountains.

    Read More

  • Cabin in the woods

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    Being invited to a friend’s house the other day, I began to get excited about the journey through the woods to their cabin. The cabin, nestled back in the woods overlooking a pond, is something that you would dream about. There is a winding trail that takes you back in the woods were their cabin sits. The cabin sits on top of a mountain raised up above everything, as if it was sitting on the clouds.

    Read More

More about A Trip to Appalachia Service Project

Open Document