Volunteers from St. Joseph Parish in Mantua once again participated in the Housing Repair Program in Clintwood, Virginia this past summer. Aaron Hluch, Bill Bash, Bill Curtin, Chris Rector, Dan & Seán Fejes, Ezra Bard, Hannah Mann, Mike Shilling, Nathan Bell, and Vince Festa made up the 11 participants in this parish outreach effort called Appalachian Experience.

This year St. Joe’s volunteers had two main jobs and multiple small ones. One of the groups’ jobs consisted of both “gooping” roofs and sealing decks for a few participating families. A white substance was able to be painted in a few layers on top roofs to seal them from water leakage. The cost is much lower than replacing the roof and it still does a really good job. On a few of these same sites participants sealed decks and porches with the Appalachian Experience’s classic honey gold stain. The dirtiest job was probably the renovation of a house’s back room and plumbing system. The group at that house had to completely rebuild the room’s floor, refortify that room’s back wall, place protective paneling on the lower side of the back of the house, and fix the leaky, backed-up plumbing. At these sites, volunteers were either taking preventative measures or ensuring the homes’ longevity and durability. The last job was actually many jobs. The group started with repairing a bathroom then once that was done moved to the gutters of another house. After that the group moved to a porch to stain it. Lastly, they washed a porch and then started to stain it, but it started to rain so that pretty much concluded the week.

Throughout the week there were a number of activities in the evenings so that the group could get the full experience of the Appalachian area in and around Clintwood, Virginia. The group talked with a coal miner, went to Breaks Interstate Park, drove to Birch Knob at the top of a mountain, went to Fourth World Movement, a non-profit organization, and much more. The experience was a huge part of the trip and the group learned a lot. The group had a good time this year and will enjoy this trip for years to come.