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Students grow through! Kentucky trip
By Brian Carlson
Senior Reporter
CHAVIES, Ky. - At the base of
the steep, rocky Appalachian hill
where the Grigsby family makes its
home, spring arrived with brilliant
sunshine and a day so calm that even
the neighborhood dogs and cats
seemed lulled by the stillness.
Florence Grigsby pulled open her
front door, which never quite shuts,
and stood, hands on hips, on her front
porch. Her 4-year-old daughter, Amy,
would soon return on the bus from
Head Start, and Grigsby would walk
up the dirt road to her neighbor’s
house to wait for her.
The Grigsby home, amid the
rugged beauty of Appalachia in rural
Perry County, Ky., is less than pic
turesque. ,
Its walls need better foundation
support. The narrow strip of land
between the hill and the shady side of
the house is awash in mud. The yard is
littered with everything from dolls to
old milk cartons W bits of clothing.
A group of University of
Nebraska-Lincoln students spent
their spring break working on houses
like Grigsby’s during a trip sponsored
by Cornerstone, a United Ministries
in Higher Education campus ministry
atUNL. ' .■
Times can be tough in
Appalachia, where the rocky land
scape and economic and geographi
cal isolation have created one of the
poorest areas in the United States.
But seated in the shade under the
slightly jingling wind chimes of her
neighbor’s porch, Florence Grigsby
said she wouldn’t ever want to leave.
“I doubt if I ever will,” she said in
her Kentucky accent. “It’s the only
life we know, and we love it.”
Rugged individualism
Chavies is up the road from Hazard,
a small town where, alas, there was no
sign of the General Lee or Daisy Duke.
Hazard and Perry County were
named after the War of 1812’s Gen.
Oliver Hazard Perry, famous for the
one-liner, “We have met the enemy and
they are ours.” Chavies is named for a
girlfriend of Ferry’s.
Despite its poverty, Appalachia
retains milch of the raw beauty and
splendor that Daniel Boone and other
frontiersmen encountered 'more than
two centuries ago. »
But the same rugged terrain and
rural isolation that gave rise to the
rugged individualists has made eco
nomic development difficult, and the
region struggles with poverty and sub
standard housing.
“Basically, Appalachia has been iso
lated from the rest of the nation,” said
Bobby Ellard, a native pf Appalachia
and director of housing services in
Chavies for the Appalachia Service
Project. “People grow up in poverty and
never leave, it s nice oemg an lsiana in
the middle of America.”
The UNL group worked with ASP, a
nonprofit Christian organization which
provides free home repair and low-inter
est loans for new home construction to
low-income residents of Appalachia.
In the Kentucky River Area
Development District, which includes
the Chavies area, per capita income is
$6,845. In the region’s population of
123,495,38.5 percent of households are
classified as very low income.
But those familiar with the region
say residents seem to possess a set of
values often at odds with the high-tech,
high-energy modem American society.
Ellard said strong family ties and a
love of the land are characteristic of the
people of Appalachia.
“Money is not the motivating factor
here for many people,” he said.
Kyle Roberson, volunteer and com
munity coordinator for ASP in Chavies,
said the people of Appalachia, far from
being consumed by their economic dif
ficulties, find happiness in the simple
things in life.
Visitors to the region often wonder
when they see a satellite dish sitting out
side a house that needs a new roof,
Roberson said. But for many people,
making a monthly payment for satellite
service brings enjoyment and is easier
than making a large one-time invest
ment in home repair, he said.
Yards full of long-neglected trash
don’t symbolize laziness, he said.
Garbage services have only recently
begun in mountain areas and garbage
removal is expensive, he said. Low
income households with children are
bound to accumulate garbage, he said.
Many Appalachian families have
lived in the region for generations, forg
ing family closeness and an attachment
to the beauty and freedom of the land,
Roberson said.
“If they’re happy, they have more
than what money can buy,” he said.
A lifetime in Appalachia
Florence Grigsby appears to exem
plify the Appalachian ethic of which
Ellard and Roberson spoke.
She grew up in Lexington and
moved to Perry County when she mar
ried Warren Grigsby at age 19. Because
she had to take care of her mother, who
had lung problems and epilepsy, she
wasn’t able to attend high school.
Warren Grigsby works at a Hazard
grocery store. Florence Grigsby hopes
to earn her GED so she can go to work
in an area plastics factory.
Four sisters live near her in Perry
County, including one just across the
street who entertained a UNL work
crew one afternoon by singing
Kentucky folk hymns.
As the conversation turned to her
children, Grigsby beamed. She has high
hopes for her children, including a good
education and rewarding careers - and a
lifetime right here in Appalachia.
Her oldest daughter, Anna, is 15 and
wants to be a pediatrician. A straight-A
student, Anna has to keep the boys at
arm’s length so she can concentrate on
her studies and earn a college scholar
ship, Grigsby said.
Although she could make more as a
pediatrician outside Appalachia, Anna
wants to stay in the region because there
aren’t many doctors here.
Grigsby’s daughter Murray, 13,
wants to be a veterinarian, and gets to
Jennifer Walker/DN
spend plenty of time around animals
with the family’s several cats, dogs and
roosters that roam free on the hillside.
Warren, 14, wants to be a forest ranger.
Asked why she is so fond of the
region, Grigsby said, “Freedom.” Her
children are more free to play than in the
city and are free from influences such as
drugs, she said.
Grigsby said she wants her children
to achieve their dreams, but hopes those
dreams come true in Perry County.
“Maybe they can get to do the things
I didn’t get to do,” she said. “I really
don’t want them to leave. This is the
only life they’ve known.”
Growing spiritually
Participants in the UNL trip, after a
week of digging holes, hacking at rocks,
pouring concrete, painting and roofing,
said the trip was valuable in a number of
ways - from growing spiritually to mak
ing friends to learning to serve.
Mandy Johnson, a junior deaf edu
cation major, said she enjoyed taking a
break from the fast pace of college life
to view a more easygoing culture.
She said the trip helped her focus on
becoming closer to God and allowed her
to gain a better understanding of the way
of life in Appalachia.
“We stepped out of our comfort
zones,” she said. “Inside it gives you a
sense of accomplishment, yet it also
humbles you in a way.”
Matt Weber, a freshman music edu
cation major, said he was initially
shocked by the living conditions in
Appalachia. But as the week pro
gressed, he gained an appreciation for
the values he saw in the people.
“Even though they lived in bad con
ditions, it doesn’t seem to affect them as
much as you would think,” he said.
The Rev. Phil Owen, campus min
istry educator for Cornerstone, said the
trip was a way to serve, love others and
learn to refrain from judgment.
“I think one of the things we can
take back with us is an appreciation of
the humanness that we see when we put
a face on something like Appalachian
poverty,” he said. “It sets our internal
compass on what’s important, what’s of
value.”
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Chavies, Kentucky
UNL students traveled to Chavies, Ky, on a trip
sponsored by UMHE Cornerstone to participate
in the Appalachia Service Project. In this
region, 38.5 percent of households are
described as having “very low income.”
Source: ASP
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Drop in or call 472-2597 for more information
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