By Emily Mitchell
The high school youth group of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church invites you to a fundraiser on Tuesday, March 20, at Flatbread Company, 213 Burlington Road, Bedford, to support their upcoming summer service trip to West Virginia. Flatbread will donate a portion of the proceeds from all dinner sales—both eat-in and carry-out—to the youth group, to help with transportation and supplies for a week of hard work rehabilitating housing in an epicenter of rural poverty in America.
The event benefits St. Paul’s fourth youth mission trip to West Virginia with Appalachia Service Project (ASP). This year’s trip is the biggest so far, with thirty people—twenty-one youth and nine adults—making the journey to West Virginia at the beginning of July for a week of home repair, construction, and service for families and individuals living in extreme poverty. With other groups from around the country, the St. Paul’s team will help make a small but meaningful impact, working to help area residents stay warmer, safer, and drier throughout the year. The team will repair roofs, install insulation, build access ramps for disabled residents, and replace siding, while also forging a human connection with the families they serve.
From the first trip in 2013, with just four youths and two adults, interest within St. Paul’s in volunteering with ASP has skyrocketed. Bringing additional work crews means needing additional funds for van rentals and other transportation costs, so fundraisers like this one are critical for the success of the trip. The church has also donated tools, supplies, and cash in prior years; any surplus money received through fundraisers will be given to ASP to support its work throughout the year.
Appalachia Service Project is a Christian service organization, open to all people, that inspires hope and service through volunteer home repair in Central Appalachia. Adult and youth volunteers work in communities in five states—Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia—rehabilitating the trailers and small houses that many residents of these states call home. Central Appalachia is home to some of the worst and most persistent poverty in the United States. Poverty in the region is double the national average, and more than 1 in 4 persons lives below the poverty line. 62,500 homes are considered substandard, and 21,000 lack complete plumbing.
St. Paul’s is especially grateful to the owners and staff of Flatbread Company for their generous support of the youth group and the numerous other not-for-profit organizations that participate in its fundraiser program. Direct donations for the trip are welcome; checks should be made payable to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, with “ASP donation” noted in the memo, and mailed to St. Paul’s, 100 Pine Hill Road, Bedford, MA 01730.
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