In First Person

Frank Rongone: An Eye Opening Experience

Reflecting back upon my chance to serve the Christian Appalachian Project with my co-workers this past June is a humbling opportunity that will not be forgotten.  Before even beginning the 10 hour journey to Kentucky, I did a little research to know what to expect about the area we would be traveling to.  I came to find that it one of the most economically depressed areas in the United States.  Many of the residents of the surrounding Appalachian communities suffer from various health problems, rarely complete a high school level education, and usually live below the level of poverty.  In order to survive, help from the government, volunteer workers (for example, from the CAP program that BBD served), and donations from the public are vital.

The trip began early on a Sunday morning as I made my way along Interstate 64 with my fellow co-worker, Cristi Tilden, and her husband, Pete.  I will admit that the scenery was extremely rural, but also very refreshing.  On the way down, we were hit with a huge surprise when we came by a mall in Charleston, West Virginia that housed a Starbucks coffee shop.  After we left, it was back to the rural hilly views until we arrived at the CAP house in Salyersville, Kentucky on Sunday night.  It was there that we met Anita, the volunteer that would be cooking dinner for us that week.  My expectations were not set high, but she blew them out of the water with some of her homemade recipes.

On Monday morning we got to work.  One of the full time CAP volunteers, Bob, had been working on a house for a needy couple since March.  This couple had been living in an extremely run down home with a leaky roof, boarded up windows, and no electricity.  They clearly did not have the means to make a better situation for themselves, and I was thrilled to be able to help them.  By the end of the week, our BBD team was able to complete a substantial amount of work on the house including the outdoor siding, a handicap ramp to the front door, and a prime and paint job to all of the interior walls.  The couple who we were building the house for personally thanked us throughout each day to let us know how much of a blessing we were to them.

On the way home, I was extremely thankful that I was afforded that opportunity.  Not only was I able to help others, but I also felt like it was an eye opening experience to appreciate how fortunate I am in my own life.  Everyday it is taken for granted when I have the electricity to flip a light switch on, the clean, running water to take a shower, and the means necessary for groceries in a refrigerator.  I never knew that there were so many people in this country without the necessities that most of us would find it so difficult to live without.  For these reasons, I look forward to the BBD service trip next year, and hopefully we will be able to have the same impact that we did this past year.

Sam Dillman: Grateful For the Life I Have

I had no idea what to expect when I signed up for our firm’s service trip to Appalachia, Kentucky.  I heard stories, and I knew the reputation the area had from the news.  I understood how my colleagues felt about the trip and whether they were interested or not.  I had never been there, so this would be a new experience for me.  I personally felt obligated to go.  I felt obligated to my firm to show my support and to show them that I want to do these things and I am that kind of person.  I didn’t know what to expect. All I had to go on were videos and other life experiences to guide me.  After my service to that community, I left Kentucky with a new grasp of reality and even more gratitude for what I have.

First of all, I love the outdoors. I am an outdoorsman kind of guy.  This is coming from a sportsaholic and a kid who went to day camp almost every summer of his life and had a job there as well. My family looks to me for help with the maintenance of their house.  If something needs fixing or attending to, I am the son they call.  I was not worried about the labor aspect of this trip.  I already knew I loved working outdoors. It was what I would be working on and the reason why I was working on it that bothered me.  The realization of why we were building is what struck me so hard.  We were building a whole new home for a couple who were living in a place which should have collapsed years ago. This family needed to get out just for safety reasons alone.  I do not know how it was really still standing.  When I saw their home for the first time, I did not know how to describe it.  Still, only one word comes to mind when I think back on it and that’s dangerous.  This house was just dangerous.  So, when I first saw what needed to be done, I had already begun to understand why we were there.

This also became apparent when I took my first drive from where we were staying to our worksite.  I was too busy to notice much the night before when we were trying to find the house where we were staying for the first time.  We were lost, and I wasn’t really paying attention to my surroundings except for street signs.  However, the first trip the next morning to our worksite was an eye opener. Some homes were very large and beautiful, and others are rundown and looked deserted. There were two extremes.  To be honest, there were many more low class homes.  It also seemed that the upper class homes were tucked away into the woods, so they would be more distant from the lower class dwellings.  This was an interesting observation.  I was just imagining what I would be doing on our project during the drive.  Was our project going to be similar to the homes I was seeing?  Would it be worse?  Would it be an average home we were fixing?  Our project was definitely the worst I had seen.

I loved what I did.  I loved what I was working on.  I knew why we were working, because I was staring at the reason all day.  All I needed to do was look up from the hammer and nail and see the reason why I was helping build this new home.  Yes, I was hot and sweating profusely all day, but I really did love what I was doing.  It was a break from the desk and numbers.  My hands felt alive again with blisters that turned into calluses.  Yes, even with gloves, I still had blisters.  I was able to spend time outside of the office with my coworkers with whom I always have a great time.  The main reason for this trip was to help a community in need and this community really needed the help.  It was also a trip for me.  It was a trip to explore and learn about other communities that I would never see at home.  I learned how far I can reach to actually help another in need.  I learned more things about work and everyone involved.  I already felt grateful for every opportunity so far in my life, especially when it comes to work. My firm provided me with a great opportunity. This trip made me consider how grateful I am for the life I have.

Nick Stever: The View From the Siding

BBD went back to Kentucky in early June this summer.  This was my first service trip with BBD so I really didn’t know what to expect.  I have heard all the stories about the previous two service trips the firm went on, but haven’t got to experience it for myself.  We made the trip on a Sunday morning and drove ten hours to Salyersville, KY.  Once we got close to the location we were staying at, I was very surprised at the range of types of homes.  There would be stretches of very nice gated homes, and then there would be stretches of poverty-stricken homes.  A representative from the Christian Appalachian Project explained the two extremes and said that this is very common but a large portion of the population was extremely poor.  We drove about a half hour to our job site each morning and the final turn to get to the house took us up a dirt road, which was interesting because it was lined with chicken coops.  My team was building/finishing an entire new home for a very nice couple.  Their house was in very bad condition and needed to be replaced.  So our team broke up into three groups for different jobs to be completed.  One team sanded and painted the inside of the house, one team build a deck and handicap ramp in the front of the house, and my team was responsible for hanging siding on the outside of the house.  After a quick crash course in how to hang siding, we (Mike Boyle, Frank Rongone, and I) went to work.  It took some time to get the hang of it, but by day two we were moving.  By the end of the week, our team became proficient in hanging siding.  Working on a 20 foot ladder while holding the siding up and trying to nail in the siding isn’t an easy task.  But it was all worth it knowing you are helping someone less fortunate.  I thought the manual labor was a nice change from the typical day in the office. 

Of course being from Philly, we had the Phillies on our mind.  On Monday night, the Phillies were playing on ESPN.  So when we got back from the job site that day, Frank and I decided to make it our mission to find a sports bar in the area to watch the game.  With the help of a neighbor’s WI-FI network, we were able to search and find the only sports bar in the entire area.  Everyone went out to the sports bar to watch the game and relax.  We met some nice local people and got to bond with co-workers over popcorn, a couple drinks, and the Phillies.  It proved to be a great trip.  We worked hard, helped people in need, and had a good time doing it. 

Rob Colby: My Experience In Kentucky

Going into the week I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew we were going to an area in need to help fix homes for folks out there. When we arrived there, we were put into teams for different projects. Our team consisted of a partner and his father, the hr director, a senior accountant, and myself. Our group built a wheelchair ramp for an elderly woman who recently broke her hip. It was a humbling experience to see how everyone lives in that area, and to see how blessed we all are at BBD. It was good to lend a hand to those who are less fortunate. They were so appreciative of our help that “It tickled them pink”.  Something that I didn’t expect going into the week was the opportunity to build relationships with others at the firm. I guess when you spend every hour of a week with others building ramps, eating meals, playing games back at the house, and joking around you’re bound to get to know everyone better. By the end of the week I was so thankful that I participated in the service project. It was humbling spending time in an impoverished area and it was great to help out. I was also thankful for the relationships that were strengthened within our firm. It is a week that I won’t forget and I’m sure it was a valuable experience to all who participated.

Rachel Toomey: "Drive a little further" to learn more

One of the first things we talked about in our car of five as we made our way to the job site was how different this part of Kentucky looked than what we had imagined.  There were nice houses and lawns and nice cars parked in driveways.  We were all commenting on how we were expecting much worse; the road was lined with homes that were comparable to that of the suburbs back in Philadelphia.

A few seconds later we realized we had all spoken too soon.

Our job site was in the middle of a trailer park, down a no-named street and on top of a steep hill.  Lining the street were other trailers that looked abandoned (which we soon found out was not the case). The elderly man living in our assigned trailer had been climbing down a rotted, unstable stairway connected to a deck that wasn’t far from the same condition.  He was in a wheelchair, connected to an oxygen tank, and although he had difficulty breathing he still managed to share his gratitude that we had come to help build him a new, safer route out of his home.

 This picture alone stands out in my head as the most significant moment of our trip.  It helped me realize that at first glance things can appear intact, but it’s when you “drive a little further” that you may find someone who could really use your help.  The fact that we, as a firm, made this venture together reassured me that I am not only fortunate to be where I am in my life, but to also have a job where they want you to feel that way too.