You in the woods, baby

The "State Maintenance Ends" sign marks the end of asphalt. Bouncing down a gravel road deep in Appalachia with my father, I wondered what I had gotten myself into. My father is a carpenter, mechanic, English teacher, Renaissance man and cynic. Each of the past four years, he has volunteered as an assistant crew leader at Work Fest, a three-week alternative spring break program where college students convene for five days at a time to address housing needs in eastern Kentucky. \nThe Christian Appalachian Project, the life's work of a Catholic priest named Ralph Beiting, organizes Work Fest. In 1950, Father Beiting was sent to far-eastern Kentucky. Once there, he realized the needs of the area were great and set about fighting the causes and symptoms of rural poverty.\nForty years later, CAP is one of the 100 largest charities in America, and it provides services for the rural poor in the 13 Appalachian states ranging from adult education to youth summer camps to home repair. \nBecause the vast majority of the students coming to Work Fest have never lifted a hammer, my father is one of numerous craftsmen who volunteer their time to teach and assist the full-time volunteer crew leaders in the completion of projects. Plans to tour with my band during spring break were put on hold, so I decided to spend my vacation with my dad and a hundred strangers in Kentucky. \nFor those who do not know, early settlers came west by one of two routes -- down the Ohio River or across the Cumberland Gap into what is now eastern Kentucky. The coal boom provided jobs, but the people of Appalachia were terrorized by the coal and steel barons who swindled them out of mineral rights, paid them in company scrip instead of dollars and used private militias to break up attempts to unionize.\nThe coal market went bust and now the fog-blanketed beauty of Appalachia is pocked with trash and decrepit trailer homes, and many of her people are jobless, living on federal aid and afflicted with the diseases of poverty. For four decades, CAP has fought the momentum of poor health, poor education and low wage work, and in certain counties, it has made headway. \nCAP has done great work and greatly improved many people's living conditions through Work Fest. However, the power of Work Fest is not limited to putting up new aluminum siding, adding insulation or replacing a roof. It is refreshing to be surrounded -- if even just for five days -- with people who are genuinely concerned with the state of the world. \nIt is inspiring to deck a roof with kids who have never pounded a nail and pin down a tarp in a windstorm with people you just met. It is overwhelming to see men cry in front of their families because strangers drove from all over the country to repair their house. It is amazing to see how much can be accomplished in so little time, and it is humbling to realize how much is out of our hands. We can help people stay dry and we can fill their stomachs, but undoing the damage of systemic exploitation and neglect is a job too large for any one of us. We do what we can do, and we have to let go of anything beyond that. \nI spent a week getting to know people who, in some way or another, will leave the world a better place than they found it. And for that I am thankful. \nErnest Hemingway said the world is a good place and worth fighting for. A week in Appalachia renewed belief in the truth of that statement, and I learned no matter how lonely that fight might seem, someone always has your back.