Local Student Volunteers At 'The Farm'

Kaitlyn O'Leary works on a construction project for People's Self Help Housing.

Kaitlyn O'Leary, Garden City, a student at the University of Notre and a member of St. Joseph Parish, traveled to Vanceburg, Ky., the week of October 14, to volunteer at the Glenmary Farm, an immersion program of the Glenmary Home Missioners. Glenmary is a Catholic society of priests and brothers who, along with coworkers, is dedicated to serving the spiritual and material needs of the people throughout Appalachia and the rural South and Southwest.

Located in Lewis County, an Appalachian county in the northeastern region of Kentucky, The Farm raises not crops, but consciousness in the hundreds of young people who volunteer in the program each year. The program began in 1972 as an attempt to interest young men in joining Glenmary as priests or brothers. Although young men pursuing religious vocations through Glenmary have often participated in work at The Farm, the program today has an even broader mission. Each year hundreds of men and women come from all over the United States to experience rural, and specifically Appalachian, culture. For many, it is the first time they have experienced a simple, community lifestyle.

With other Notre Dame students, Kaitlyn worked on construction projects with People's Self Help Housing, and also participated in a "ministry of presence" as they visited a nursing home, a senior citizens' center and an adult day care program. It is through reaching out to those in need that the volunteers apply their Christian values and learn that there is more reward associated with giving than receiving.

Persons working with young men and women who would like to bring a group of volunteers to Eastern Kentucky should contact Joe Grosek, Glenmary Volunteer Program, PO Box 7, Vanceburg, KY 41179, (606) 796-3421; jgrosek@glenmary.org.