Lake Oconee Breeze
GREENSBORO —
In August, a mission team of 13 from Lake Oconee Presbyterian Church traveled some 500 miles and 60 years in time. Our travels took us from the newly-developed affluent Lake Oconee area to an older, poverty-inhabited community in Appalachia . Time appears to have stopped at about the 1950s.
We went to repair homes for the needy, take food and clothing to an Appalachian food bank, deliver back packs and school supplies to children served by the food bank, and to minister to those who gather at a local senior center to enjoy a hot meal each noon .
We chose to minister to people in Owsley County, Kentucky because it is one of the poorest in the nation and, unlike the Lake Oconee area, there are no affluent people or organizations to help. What we found were people who were poor in material wealth, but rich in spirit.
The approximately 5,000 pounds of food that we towed in the new Central Georgia Christian Food Bank trailer was welcomed. Only six cans of tuna remained in the
Owsley County Food Place , a non-profit emergency food source that served 647 families last year. Cans of stew, chicken 'n' noodles, and other hearty meats would provide much needed protein to diets that are high in less expensive carbohydrates.
Men, women and children lined up early in front of the clothing closet distribution center housed in the old county jail on Tuesday morning. Nearly 500 people came to the clothing closet last year.
On Tuesday afternoon, families came to the Food Bank to pick up boxes of food and to enjoy hotdogs, chips, baked beans and soft drinks that we provided. Also, they brought their children to pick up back packs and school supplies that had been donated from the Lake Oconee area
Part of our team spent time at the senior center while others prepared lunches for workers or traveled back and forth on winding mountain roads delivering building supplies and lunches for the construction teams which were working in oppressive heat. The heat was in the upper 90s, some 2 to 3 degrees higher each day than it was at Greensboro according to the National Weather Service. Frequent evening rains added to the humidity.
People at the senior center welcomed us and enjoyed our music and friendship. They joined us in devotions as we talked about "Hope" and how hope helps us through each day. We were told that some of them probably didn't have enough food to eat on weekends. But they loved the Lord and us.
Our construction teams worked on four homes. Two needed bathrooms replaced. Other repairs were chimneys, roofs, gutters, downspouts, rickety porches and steps, windows replaced, a new room air conditioner, electrical repairs, and other needs. A thermometer located in a storage room where construction was being done registered 110 degrees. The heat radiating off a tin roof caused dizziness in workers even early in the day. Bathrooms were so small that only one person could work at a time. However, there was joy, commitment and Christian love for the people they were helping that overcame the adverse working conditions.
The nearly hour round trip to and from the worksites on winding mountain roads provided time for planning and praying. Four workers stayed a day longer on the trip than planned because the tasks were more difficult than expected and took longer to complete. The teams worked as if they were doing it for the Lord, not for strangers. Their acts of mercy reflected how much they love God.
