In 2021, Bay UMC sent 28 students and 13 adults to southeast Kentucky the week of Sunday June 13 to do emergency home repairs. Our group was divided into six teams, two adults and five students each. Their goal? To make existing homes “safer, dryer and warmer”. Although Bay UMC has been sending volunteers as part of the Appalachia Service Project since the mid 1970s, 2021 will be our 31st consecutive year of participation. 

In addition to our six teams, two of our members, both college students, are on staff at ASP. Staff members work for ASP the entire summer running a “center” in one of more than 25 counties. Each Sunday a new group of 75 volunteers arrive at the center, and the staff members are responsible for feeding the volunteers, securing projects, and providing materials so the projects can be completed. Jen Herz and Sean Gulley both previously volunteered with ASP, now they get to spend the summer in Appalachia helping to improve the lives of the people living there.