Sign up Now for Swarthmore’s Appalachian Service Trip

This year’s trip from the Wallingford-Swarthmore area to Appalachia has a few spaces open for young people and adults who want to work on making family homes in that region “warmer, safer, and drier.” Our group travels from Swarthmore to Chavies, Kentucky, from July 7 through 13 to help out people in this community in central Appalachia.

Working through the Appalachia Service Project (ASP) organization, which makes arrangements with the families who need home repairs, teams from across the U.S. will install insulation, repair roofs, construct entrance ramps, and make other improvements to houses in Appalachia. Swarthmore expects to send seven teams to Kentucky, with a total of 51 people. Each team consists of two adults and five young people between the ages of 14 and 21. Together the teams will engage with Chavies residents and others from Appalachia, learn about tool use and jobsite safety, and undertake fundraising.

Openings remain for about 10 young people and six adults to work together on the July trip. Construction experience is not a requirement, and teams are open to anyone in the community who would like to go. The cost of the trip is covered by the fundraising effort.

Those interested in learning more about ASP and about this summer’s trip are invited to attend an organizing meeting on Sunday, April 28, at 6 p.m. at Swarthmore United Methodist Church, 129 Park Avenue. Food will be provided. For more information contact the Swarthmore Presbyterian Church office at 610-543-4712 or parish@swarthmorepres.org, or the SUMC office at 610-543-2110 or office@swarthmoreumc.org.