On Sunday, July 31, high schoolers from UUCC will be traveling together by car to southern West Virginia, where we will be staying and working with an organization called Big Creek People in Action (BCPIA). BCPIA is an anchor in its community; they provide job readiness training, a food pantry, after-school and literacy programming, housing rehab, and so much more. During our week with BCPIA, we will be assigned to worksites as part of BCPIA’s housing rehab program.
Our trip to West Virginia isn’t just about BCPIA or the buildings that we’ll be working on. The trip is also a chance for our youth to learn about collaboration and communal living and to meet people from a very different part of the world than what they are used to. Over the past several months, our youth have already been working together to raise money to fund the trip, develop menus for the week of the trip that accommodate everybody’s dietary restrictions, and learn about the culture, economics, and social landscape of rural Appalachia.
Here’s how you can support the youth on this trip:
- Help offset costs and expenses by making a donation. You can make a donation via check or on Realm — simply make a note in the memo line!
- Attend worship at OBIC on Sunday, July 31 and join the congregation in sending off the youth with blessings and prayers.
- Send a note of encouragement to the youth during the trip. You can write an email to valerie [at] uucolumbia.net and it will be shared with the youth, or you can write a letter to Big Creek People in Action at 17586 Rocket Boys Drive, War, WV 24892.
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