Marquette University High School: Bro-tucky Oh Ten

From February 14-20, we had boys from Marquette University High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin come down to the Farm. Going from the all girls group to this testosterone fest was certainly a jarring juxtaposition. The guys were a lot of fun and brought a lot of energy to the week and never stopped having a good time.

The week certainly didn't start out as raucous as it ended. The boys were strangely silent during the tour and orientation. We were actually starting to get concerned that they wouldn't talk the entire time they were at the Farm, which would have made the week very difficult. Turns out this was only a clever ruse to lull us into a false sense of security.

The boys were also stuck on the Farm for a day as well. They were perfectly content to hang around the Farm and do some stuff to help us out. Much like the girls from Assumption had built the box for the sports equipment, the Marquette boys built a set of shelves for the T Shirt store. In the front of our house we have a few tables that hold the Glenmary shwag that the students can buy at the end of the week. With all the different merchandise, it's difficult to fit all of it onto the tables. So the boys went to work measuring and cutting wood for the shelf. In the end they were victims of the shoddy materials they had to work with. The end product was a little lopsided and prone to tipping. However, when Jamie saw it, she rightly pointed out that it was perfect. It was an odd sentiment seeing as how it looked about as vertically level as the Tower of Pisa (and less structurally sound). But she had a point. All it needed to do was hold some clothes and for that, it was perfect. It may not have looked flashy, but it got the job done.

Besides, the end product wasn't really the point. The point was all the work that had gone into the project. In this world of what-have-you-done-for-me-lately, we often lose sight of the journey while focusing on the end destination. There are a lot of upsides to focusing on the end product. It ensures that you produce something of worth. But I think an obsessive focus on demanding perfection out of the end result sometimes trivializes the effort it takes to get there. There is as much value in the process as there is in the product. In fact, when you think about it, the process is necessary for anything to be produced. Sometimes I think we forget that.

If you'll allow me a quick analogy (cue collective groan from my readership), I'd like to use one of my passions to illustrate the point: Sports. Specifically, I'd like to use the NHL playoffs. Those who know me know that I am a huge Pittsburgh Penguins fan. The Stanley Cup Playoffs, despite what Dane Cook and his atrocious THERE IS ONLY ONE OCTOBER ads may have to say, are widely recognized as some of the most grueling and meaningful weeks in all of sports. They produce some truly iconic moments that live on in the hearts and minds of fans everywhere. It was a thrilling ride watching the Pens as they fought their way to a third Stanley Cup during last years playoff run. Watching Mad Max Talbot Shush Philly, Marc Andre Fleury stonewall Ovi, and Malkin unleash his liquor-license-revoking backhand on Cam Ward was witnessing small moments of greatness. They culminated in Sidney Crosby becoming the youngest captain to hoist the Silver Chalice. But focusing only on that image of Crosby with the Cup is to ignore all the small moments that went into its achievement. When I see that picture I see all those moments of brilliance that happened along the way. Those little moments of triumph are reasons why tears well up in the eyes of players as they take their skate with the Cup.

In the same way, accomplishing a task and the feeling of satisfaction one gets from it is a culmination of all the hard work that goes into the task. Truly appreciating the journey is at the crux of lot of the things we do at the Farm. With volunteers working, sometimes the shelves don't come out level or the walls don't get an even coat of paint, but the real value is in the doing. That's why Jamie was so right when she said that the shelf was perfect. It was perfect because it showed the Marquette boys the value of the journey.

There was one other noteworthy event from the week. It happened late one afternoon while I was preparing dinner. A group was returning with Colleen from work site. I saw them pull in and begin to go around the roundabout. I went back to making dinner but became concerned when I didn't hear the cars pull into the parking area. I peeked out the window to see a partially obstructed view of the cars idling over by the bridge with a gaggle of boys milling about. I figured that the Snitch had gotten stuck in the snow so I went out to see what was up. As I got nearer to the scene, my jaw dropped in wonderment and I did a 37436363 take to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. It was not the Snitch that was in trouble, but BRT. And by trouble I mean that the front driver side tire was completely hanging off the concrete bridge leading into The Farm. I guess Colleen had misjudged the bridge with all the snow and BRT veered off the edge. It was being held up by the front axle, which was catching on the concrete. This made simply reversing BRT off of the bridge impossible. Thus we had the surreal scene of hooking up the chain to BRT and pulling it with The Snitch. As the Snitch is less than 4 wheel drive, it was tough going. But with some effort and a little cardboard for traction, we managed to rescue BRT.

Dramatic reenactment

Assumption High School: Snow Day Like Today!

From February 7-13, we welcomed the girls from Assumption High School in Louisville, KY. It's weird to think that this was our first group from Kentucky. It was also our first all girls group. I've been getting pretty used to being outnumbered when groups come down here but this was definitely the highest concentration of estrogen I've been around in a while.


Before the week began, Joe warned us that Assumption historically gets pretty crappy weather. Apparently Jack Frost has a heydey whenever these girls come to the Farm. This year was no exception. Early, early, early (I can't stress the early part enough) on Tuesday I was woken up by Colleen. I could tell something was wrong by the tone of her voice. She tells me, "The power is out". It takes a few seconds for this to sink in. Meanwhile I see light flooding into my room under the door...and through the cracks ...and over the top of the unfinished wall. Naturally my first question was, "If the power is out, how is the light on?" Colleen's reply was, "I'm using a flashlight" (again, I can't stress how early in the morning it was). I reluctantly got up and we tried to solve the problem. Turning the breakers on and off quickly revealed that the problem was one that the electric company would have to solve. A quick scan of the Farm Manager manual didn't do anything to help things since it just said to check the breakers. Looking back on it, I'm pretty sure that situation pretty much captured our three essences pretty well. Colleen was immediately jolted out of bed as soon as the power turned off and began to scurry around to fix things, Jamie also noticed that the power had gone out but realizing there wasn't much to do simply rolled back over, I meanwhile was completely oblivious to the whole situation.


In the end, after consulting with an extremely coherent and not-at-all asleep Jamie, we decided we could do nothing more than sit tight and wait for the electric company to take care of the situation. A few hours later we reconvened in the kitchen. By now it was getting late in the morning and we needed to wake up the students. However, the power was still off. Colleen,more out of frustration than anything else said "I really wish the electricity would come back on". And, because Colleen has been wearing Doc Brown's hat on a regular basis, as the final syllable was leaving her lips the house hummed to life.


While our immediate problem of having no electricity was solved, we still had to deal with the weather that caused it. There is a pretty steep and long hill on Lower Kinney Road coming out of the Farm to the right and 59 has to go up and over Vanceburg Hill if you venture to the left. The Farm has one car (BRT the Big Red Truck) that can handle both hills pretty well even in the snow. Unfortunately the Golden Snitch does not have that capability while you would have to be completely insane to even look at Biz Marquis if there's a hint of snow on the ground. The group, as most of the groups that come here do, had only minivans that would not make it up either hill safely. So unfortunately we were stuck.


As it turns out we were actually stuck on the Farm for a whole day and a half. Lewis County got hit with the biggest snow storm in 25 years. All told we probably got hit with 10 inches over those two days. For those reading from northern climes, that figure may not seem too impressive. But remember, places like Chicago, New York, and Boston are used to those kind of numbers (though even the Northeast was hit really hard this winter). Here in Kentucky, the winding roads and hollers make a snowfall like that a major pain. The infrastructure just isn't as smooth when it comes to dealing with snow and so things can come to a halt. Schools shut down because they aren't allowed to run if not all the students can get to class. Because the transportation to some of our sites (Licking Valley and Comprehend) is tied to the school system, when the school transportation is shut down, we lose some of our sites. So even if we do manage to get off the Farm, we don't necessarily have anything to do once we leave.


Knowing that we were going to be hanging tight for a little while, we had to scramble to come up with tasks for the students. The Farm has conditioned us to roll with the punches. Many times, the schedule that we make before the week looks different from the things we do on a day to day basis. Nevertheless, coming up with stuff on the spot when we can't leave the Farm was frustrating. We did end up coming up with tasks for the girls to do. We made Valentine's Day cards for all the people in the Nursing Home. We also added to the already hefty load of T Shirt Bags.


At reflection a few days later, we were asked where we saw God during the week. My answer was that I saw it in the snowstorm. It wasn't something where I saw God's hand in the beauty in the works of nature per se (though the Farm does offer you those kinds of experiences quite often). I saw God more in the timing of the storm. During the first night of reflection, the night before the storm, a lot of the girls mentioned that they were going to use this week to sit back and relax. They were so used to going all the time and being super busy that they all wanted some time to just sit and relax. They all noticed a shortcoming in themselves that didn't allow them to do that as often as they should.


There's an old adage that you should never ask for patience because then God will send you a situation to test it. This was certainly one of those situations. The girls wanted to sit around and relax huh? Ok, well then let's send a snowstorm their way and make them relax. Apparently my vision of God is more George Burns than Old Testament, but that's besides the point. The girls had trouble getting used to just sitting around. We could see them getting frustrated with being cooped up inside. It was a good reminder to the Farm Managers about how groups view the weeks. For us, each week is another week on the Farm. There's an ebb and flow that we track through the months. Some weeks we have plenty of work and other weeks we have to scramble to work. But stepping back, we can see all the work that gets done here. Groups that pass through, on the other hand, only have their one week here. They've also been looking forward to the week with such anticipation and have been talking it up for so long that anything less than working 24/7 feels like they're getting the short shrift. It comes from a place of legitimately wanting to do as much as they can for Lewis County. But sometimes that eagerness makes volunteers forget that while they've chosen to serve, they can't always choose how they get to serve. And oftentimes it's just what the Farm needs. Tasks like Valentine's Day cards and T Shirt bags often get shoved to the side in a normal week. So getting trapped actually allowed us to get to those oft-ignored jobs. It was a blessing in disguise but it was a disguise that certainly made it difficult to see the blessing. Seeing through the disguise and recognizing the blessing is often a hard lesson to learn and takes a lot of humility and patience.


So the girls struggled with being stuck on the Farm, which I think was a good thing. It's those challenging situations in life that promote growth. This was certainly a challenge for the girls as they tried to temper their enthusiasm for service and channel it toward what they were asked to do. But a funny thing happened; some of them began to really take the message of the Farm to heart and began to be in the moment and savor the opportunity to do service, no matter where they did it. The next day, instead ofworrying about whether they would be able to get off the Farm, the girls began to throw themselves into the tasks at hand. We had some of them build a box for the sports equipment and they were so psyched to work on it. There was a lot of planning, measuring,and cutting done with a lot of enthusiasm. Another group was working on fixing the couches in the volunteer kitchen. With 500 volunteers coming through here each year, those couches serve as the home to many backsides. This is addition to the second home that the short one serves for Jamie. At the end of it, you might as well be sitting on the ground. So this group spent time reinforcing those couches and extending their lifetime for more volunteers to enjoy. The other group spent some time in the staffhouse. We had been noticing that our tile floor was recently sarting to resemble a mosaic that seemed to grow by the day. We had the girls help take up the tile in the front and common rooms.


As the girls embraced focusing on the tasks at hand and really made strides in their awareness of the moment, the weather seemed to reflect their progress. Where the day before they had been clouded by their worries concerning the future, this day they were able to clear that out of their minds and see the value in what they were doing. The weather, having been convinced that the girls were learning, relented and broke, allowing the girls to take their new found appreciation of being present into the wider community. Watching the concordant progress of the girls and the storm was really special and an example to me of the presence of God in the week.


I would be remiss if, at this point, I didn't mention the actions of the 3 chaperones that came with AHS. We always have daily meetings with the leaders/ chaperones of the groups. These are partly to inform them of what's happening that particular day. More importantly, they are a forum for the leadres to voice any concerns they have with the week as it's running. When we met on that second morning, the leaders expressed that they were worried about the progression of the storm. They, too, had noticed some of the girls having trouble with being stuck and were bringing it to our attention. They wanted to know about how long we could be expect to be stuck on the Farm and listened as we explained the situation with the plows and the the hills. They brainstormed with us to come up with activities for the girls to do while they were here. It was fantastic. I say that with 100% sincerity. It was a perfect example of being proactive leaders. Too many times when we hear someone say that they welcome feedback and want to hear concerns we read into it and assume they are saying that only as a formality. They just want us to rubber stamp what they do, we think. Instead of offering constructive criticism, we stay silent, sompiling a mental checklist of all the shortcomings, which we reveal after the fact. Here, it's akin to having a smooth week only to find out, come evaluation time, that there were a lot of problems. It was so gratifying to hear these leaders bring their concerns to the forefront in a thoughtful, helpful manner. It didn't come across as an attack on the program or the 3 of us. Instead, we could see that they were legitimately concerned first for their students. The meeting made what could have been a stressful situation seem less like an obstacle and more like an opportunity.

Thanks to the proactivity of the leaders, the rest of the week went smoothly. The groups had fun at the clothing pantry finding all sorts of wacky outfits. They were also able to wrangle (get it??) up a figurine of a hermaphraditic cow (essentially a bull that for some reason, had udders). On a completely depressing note, they were able to make me feel super old. One of the girls found a small puffy orange vest. As she held it up I quipped, "Looks like Marty Mcfly's mom decided to donate his childhood wardrobe to Lewis County". Nothing. Completely blank stares. I said "C'mon, Back to the Future... Michael J Fox..." Someone said "Oh, the guy from the LFO song?" If you recall, the lyrical geniuses behind Summer Girls (that's right, this blog just linked an LFO song. And you wonder why I never post) tossed in this gem: "Fell deep in love,but now we ain't speaking/Michael J Fox was Alex P Keaton". I'm sure the man suffering with Parkinson's rests easy knowing that his legacy is as a footnote in a terrible pop song. I promptly blacked out. I don't know what the kids are learning in school these days but it's definitely not what they need to be learning. Unreal. Even more depressing was the fact that one of their chaperones, Angela, informed me that we are a mere 5 years away from the year that Marty McFly went into the Future in the second installment (2015). Ugh. Seeing as how my Back to the Future references are reaching critical mass, I better wrap this up.

Despite cosntant reminders of my rapidly dwindling youth, the week was a good one filled with challenges overcome, laughs, and a lot of service done. Oh, and snow. Lots and lots of snow.

St. Xavier: Prophets of a Future Not Our Own

From January 26-29 we had a group of boys come down to the Farm from Xavier High School in Cincinnati. It was the smallest group we have had, with only 6 boys and 2 chaperones so it was a nice change of pace. They were only here for a few days but they got a lot of work done in their short time here.

We got to work with Ricky's crew on the Town Branch site on Wednesday. It was pretty darn cold in the morning and there was a healthy layer of mud everywhere outside. We spent much of the day painting trim and laying down luon for the floor. Myself and two of the guys had to go outside and remove the wood protection from the cement walk out front. It was pretty rough work as the cold had frozen the wood to the concrete in some places and the wood pieces were often nailed together. To make matters worse, the mud was especially bad around the walkway so we all got nice mudpatches on our knees. But the guys never complained and we removed the protective border pretty quickly.

The thing that stuck out to me was the level of patience the construction guys had. Daryl in particular exhibited this. He was cutting the trim that we had painted and because of the way the outlets were arranged had to position himself in the front of the hallway. This meant that any time any of us had to go to the back rooms, we had to literally walk right over him. He never said a word or complained at all.

One of the things that stuck out to me the most from the week was the reflection from the last night. Specifically, it was their use of what is commonly known as The Romero Prayer. I'll put it here:

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the
magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.

Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection, no pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything,
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning,
a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

It's funny because this was acually the reflection that was used during my site leader training before I came down to the Farm for the first time a year ago with school. I hadn't really given it much thought since then but it was really interesting to come back to it after having been here for a few months.

The sentiment fits exactly into what we do here at the Farm. It applies to the work the volunteers do, the role of Farm managers and the role of the Farm in Lewis County. Many of the volunteers that come down to the Farm are frustrated because they can't often see the effects of their work. Sites like the clothing pantry, the food pantry, and construction aren't particularly conducive to seeing the results firsthand. We often see volunteers struggle to make the connection between what can be tedious tasks (putting food in boxes, folding clothes, painting etc.) and how they can affect people.

At the same time, we often start a lot of projects that don't end up getting finished right away. We have a pretty full schedule every week so we try and fit in projects whenever we can. Because of that, we can't always devote the time it takes to completely finish projects. So it's often start-stop-start with some of the things we do around here. Volunteers sometimes have trouble with that aspect. It's understandable, really. The volunteers come down to the Farm ready and willing to do work. They have a lot of enthusiasm and want to truly serve the people of Lewis County. While the Farm Managers are here week in and week out, the volunteers only have this one opportunity to serve. Naturally they want to get as much as they can done for the people here.

The Farm, though, is not about completing every task we're given. Sometimes we have to remember that it's not our place to finish the task at hand. Our role here is definitely the worker and not the master builder. One of the charisms of the Farm is that volunteers build on the work of those that come here before them. Sometimes our role is just to lay the foundation down for the people that come after us. It takes a lot of humility to realize this. It's the tendency to want recognition for our hard work and it's difficult to get that recognition if we don't get to finish the job. But putting others before yourself pervades everything we do here and so oftentimes we have to remember that we're planting seeds that will grow in the future.

It's something that even Farm Managers have to remember. While a year may seem significant, it's really hard to try and make real changes in a year's time. The Farm is not set up for systemic change here in lewis County. Glenmary certainly has done its part here in building up infrastructure. People's Self Help was started by a Glenmary brother (and coincidentally is run by a former Farm Manager) and the Primary Care Clinic also came partly from Glenmary's work among other things. But the Farm, as it's constructed right now, does not work in that capacity. We're here to work with and for the people the Lewis County. My buddy Matt said that while he really respects the work we do here, it's not something he could do because the frustrating element of never seeing large scale change. But here at the Farm it's something we embrace. It is that element of liberation that Romero writes about that comes when you realize that you can't do everything. Recognizing that allows us to accomplish the tasks we are given to our fullest without worrying about the grand scheme of things. I look at it not as a shirking of responsibility but as the recognition of our specific role. We do our part as the worker so that the master builder can see it through to the finish.

Fordham University Global Outreach: 10% of All Jokes are True

From January 10-16 we had a group from Fordham University's Global Outreach (GO!) program come down to the Farm. It was a little weird being back after almost a month away, but this group proved to be really well suited to reintroducing us to the Farm. They had a lot of energy for both fun and service and it really made for a great week.

The most defining characteristic of the group was the extremely strong community they had. This isn't necessarily unique when it comes to groups on the Farm. I am very often surprised at how close the groups grow during their time here. What was unique about this particular community was the fact that it was already strong before they arrived. This is due in large part to the nature of the GO! program at Fordham. They have been meeting at least once a week since October. In addition to their weekly group meetings, they have been staging fundraising bake sales and had to meet with another person from the group one-on-one at least once every week. Thus, by the time they came to the Farm they had already formed a strong bond with every one of their group members. A second factor played into how close the team was before the week. Joe and Christine, the two leaders of the group, went through a pretty extensive interview process to select the team members. It was very apparent during the week that they had really made a concerted effort to select people that were all different personalities and brought something different to the group. The drawn out process may seem like overkill to some people but it makes sense when you dissect the logic behind it. First, gauging the personalities of the would be team members is crucial to running a successful team. Second, the amount of time devoted by the team leading up to the week was a refleciton of the attitude that GO! takes when approaching things like this. I heard from many of the students that GO! insisted on using the label "project" when refrerring to the week, eschewing titles like "trip". Project implies a long term, lasting experience while trip connotes something that begins and ends with the week. To really promote that idea of permanence it's really actually necessary to have that applicaiton process and all those meetings beforehand. I thought it was a really unique way to look at coming down to the Farm and one that benefitted them as they spent their week here.

One of the advantages of having an already strong community was that they were really able to open up during reflection. They really explored a lot of different ideas and personal insights that would have been difficult to share had they not known each other so well. The knowledge that everyone in the room genuinely cared about each other and was there to support one another allowed each person to really put themselves out there. Thus the reflections were always really insightful and sincere. By all means I'm not saying that reflections by other groups are fake or cursory. However, it's hard for goups to really open up and get over that initial hesitancy if they're still trying to get used to each other. This group didn't have to go through that period of reticence. In fact, it took me a little by surprise at first. However, their willingness to be open was refreshing and helped me to in turn reflect openly about the week. It was evident in everything they did during the week that they really had a strong bond and support structure. They participated in the service at Mosby more than any other group we've had and even had the courage to ask to be prayed over. All this is possible because they knew they could count on their team members for support.

The group worked really hard while they were here. We spent one of the days at the Food Pantry packing the boxes for handout. We used a slightly different strategy for packing boxes this time around. Normally, when I've packed boxes before, we just set up 30 empty boxes on tables and assign each person a few items that they then place into each box. It's a process that is kind of cool to see because of the progression. Normally in the beginning, there's a lot of chaos as people are running into each other and dropping stuff and we have to repackage stuff because the boxes are unwieldy. But as it goes on people figure it out and it becomes a more organized chaos.

This time around though, George had set up a conveyor belt so instead we just slid each box down and put the items in one at a time. It was good for me because it pushed me out of my own comfort zone. I found myself getting frustrated as boxes began to pile up and my back began to hurt from lifting all of them. Old George also came by, as he usually does, to help out. Because it was a commodities week, the boxes were pretty heavy so there really wasn't much Old George could do in terms of helping. I could feel my impatience growing as he struggled to lift boxes and (as I saw it) slowed down the line. As this happened, though, I really derived some strength from the rest of the team. Jim, who was working right alongside of me, never once complained and did the work with such purpose that it was truly inspiring. At the other end I saw Christine working with such a smile on her face. She kept talking to Old George in a way that I could tell she was truly interested in what he had to say and wasn't just humoring him. Naturally, at reflection that night we talked about instances we had to use patience. It was thrown out that patience is often necessary in order to live in community. While that is certainly true, as I reflected I realized that community is where I derive my patience. It's especially true here at the Farm. Schedules are constantly changing and plans are always being modified. This would be difficult if it wasn't for the community that Colleen, Jamie and myself have here. We all lean on each other and when something changes we all just shrug and say "Welcome to the Farm". It's easy to endure when you have a support system behind you.

The group was also really full of energy for the whole week. There were more than a few spirited rounds of ninja played on the Farm that week. They also played a marathon session of Scattegories that had plenty of energy behind it... as well as a Collosseum-esque thumbs up/ thumbs down approval system.

Commodus is apparently a tough Scattegories judge

Normally we have to do some cajolling to get groups to dance at the Thurmans' but this group needed no such urging. This was in addition to all the signing and dancing that took place in the cars as it was. They had the chance to play some Charades at Comprehend, which both the clients and kids got a kick out of doing. Though somehow a "space race" and "mother" were the clues that were supposed to lead us to Terminator? The students also broke out the Puzz 3D during the week. There was also a lot of fun had assigning everyone roles from various TV shows and movies. All in all their sense of fun was contagious and made for a great week full of plenty of laughs.

Project Merry Christmas Part 2: It Feels Like Christmas

It was finally crunch time as we went through the final preparations for Project Merry Christmas and then finally Project itself on December 15th. It was a whirlwind of a week as people continued to come in and out of the Farm. It was pretty nonstop, filled with cookies, caroling and craziness. All in all it was a great time that left us completely exhausted but fulfilled.

The first group that came in was a young adult group from Cincinnati. Included in this group was my good buddy from school, Matt and his roomate (also from ND), Leah. It was really cool to see people I knew on the Farm. It was funny thinking about the odds that Matt and I would end up a few hours away from each other and that he would join a faith group that would make a trip to the place where I work. Crazy. We got to work right away with some of us cleaning up the clothes pantry (I feel like I've probably blogged more about that darn place more than anywhere else) while others went to go ring the bell for Salvation Army. Later that night we had more people from Cincinnati come down and a few from nearby Moorehead also arrived. The kitchen soon turned into a cookie making factory as we made an assembly line to bake and decorate cookies for pantry day. It lasted about 3 hours, during which we made over 200 cookies! There were all shapes, sizes and colors. By the end of it, we literally had no more room in the fridges as they were all filled with trays upon trays of cookies. The continuous cookie making clearly had an effect on Leah as she temporarily lost her mind and attempted to slather everyone with frosting.

So..many...cookies...

We went to mass the next morning and made some final firewood deliveries. As the people from Cincinnati were pulling out of the driveway, a group from Loyola University of Chicago (LUC) pulled in to the Farm. They've been coming to the Farm to help out with PMC for a few years now so they were pretty excited to be back at it. They showed up with a whole U Haul full of toys and food, which was awesome. We had to unload the toys and sort them into the different age groups in God's Time Room. We also sent some people out to shop for supplies that we were lacking. By the time we finished, you could barely walk through the room. It was really great to see all the generosity in physical form. After we had sorted the toys, we started to pack them into boxes and label them. Soon everything was completely packed and ready to be loaded into the UHaul.

On Monday a group of students and I went to the Christian Community Center to deliver the food that LUC had brought in the UHaul. There was something like 1000 pounds of food, which if you think it sounds like a lot... well it is. Some of it was sorted but a lot of it was not. So we had the job of unloading and then sorting all the cans into the different categories that Jan uses. It was kind of similar to a day at the food pantry in that it was pretty hectic in the beginning but by the end we were all clicking as a team and working together. It was pretty cool to see the controlled chaos as various cans whipped through the air and into their designated spots. I was surpised by how quickly the work went. We got the whole truck unpacked and sorted in a matter of hours! I guess that just highlights the power of working as a group.

That night we had to prepare the Vanceburg Lion's Club for Project the next morning. We set up a series of "rooms" within the building. They were really just groups of tables that had toys from the same age group. We had a room for infants, 3-5 yr olds, 6-8 yr olds, 9-12 year olds, teens, and adults. We had to wait for the weekly bingo game to finish before we could set up so it was close to midnight before we finally got done. I was put in charge of setting up the table with all the teddy bears. And when I say all the teddy bears, I mean the mountain of teddy bears that we received. I have never seen a collection of so many fluffy characters since the heyday of the Care Bears. Apparently some lady donated her entire collection so that we had bags upon bags of these things. There were Pooh bears, panda bears, polar bears, Paddington bears, black bears, white bears, small bears, tall bears, and even an appearance by Teddy Ruxpin (which reminded me of my all time favorite radio meltdown ever). I spent painstaking minutes arranging the various Ursidates (Linneaus FTW) so that they looked all pretty and had some semblance of order. After finsihing set up, we trooped back to the Farm to rest up before the madness began...

The day of project began bright and early (as witnessed by Jamie's willingness to simply sleep in the kitchen overnight to shorten her trip in the morning). We had to get there about an hour early to do some final setup so we were all a little groggy. We made a quick run to Dolla Dolla General to pick up Santa Hats and an extension cord to plug into the coffee machine so Jamie wouldn't straight up shank someone. When we got to the Lion's Club, there was already a line of people waiting to get inside. We each got assigned to a different room and prepared for the rush. I, of course, was asked to man the teddy bear table. The minsiters from the local churches were checking people in at the front. Once they determined how many people were in their family, each person was assigned one of us as a shopper. It was pretty non stop for about 3 hours and there was a lot of restocking on my part. While it was great to finally see the results of our efforts over the last few weeks, it was also quite a crazy atmosphere and really was over prettty quickly. It was weird because we spent so much time getting ready for Project but it flew by and it was over. But was good to see a lot of the people that we work with in the community come in and get some gifts. Watching the kids take each person around with so much attention and care was really wonderful to watch. They were so sincere in their desire to see that everyone got what they wanted for Christmas.

Team PMC 2009: Please note Bossman being extremely professional in the background

After we finished up with Project and got a little lunch, we headed to the Nursing Home to do some caroling. It was fun to do the caroling with so many people since it drowned out our voices to the point where we sounded somewhat decent. After doing that, we headed to Wal Mart to ring the Salvation Army bell. Now, there are many strategies one can use when ringing the bell. There is the the normal, friendly ringer, the passive aggressive, blantantly aggresive and many variations thereof. Our particular tactic was to sing as loud as possible so people couldn't possibly ignore us. This is especially easy when singing the 12 Days of Christmas (5 GOLDEN RINGS!!!!!). We spent a few solid hours ringing and singing and raising money. We apparently made an impact because the Wal Mart greeters asked us to sing for them inside for them and declared we were the best crew of bell ringers they have seen (full disclosure: they've only been greeters for 2 years now). We even had a woman feel so sorry for us (it was pretty darn cold) that she bought us all hot chocolate. It was capped off by Jake taking off on one of those Rascal- type scooters with a bell and bucket to hit up the people in the parking lot.

The final task before Christmas break was to do the Pantry handout on the 18th. We spent time with the students from LUC making over 350 (!!) food boxes in preparation. With so many people helping us we had two sets of tables going and were abe to get a lot done in a little time. It was again a little controlled chaos but everything ended up getting done. The Pantry handout itself went smoothly and we had plenty of cookies for everyone.

We had one final adventure before we finally went home for the Holidays. After the handout, Joe informed us that we were going to get pretty cold and snow that night after the rain we had gotten and so the hill by the Farm was liable to ice over. Thus we went from the Pantry to the Farm to throw all our stuff into suitcases and rush to Bossman's. So our first few months together at the Farm came to an appropriate end as we flew around the staffhouse in a panic and crashed at Bossman's for the night.

I hope everyone had a a great Christmas and a good Holdiay season. Thanks to everyone that has come down to the Farm and helped out. Lewis County is a special community and you have all done a lot for it. I know I have learned a lot from the people down here and I hope you did as well. It's been four months that have gone by really quickly but have been really enjoyable. I have really had a lot of fun on the Farm and it's due in large part to the volunteers so thank you.

Project Merry Christmas Part 1: The Best Way to Spread Chrtistmas Cheer...

The rest of December was marked by the preparation for and the execution of Project Merry Christmas. PMC is organized by the ministerial association and hands out food vouchers and toys to those who need it. The school age kids are covered by the local schools while we end up covering the rest including the home schooled kids and those people that fall through the cracks. The Farm pools the various donations, sorts them according to age groups, and then sets them up at the Lions Club so that people can "shop" for what they want. There was a lot to be done before all this went down.

We had an "off week" scheduled between Wright State and PMC but as my subtly placed quotes indicate, we were pretty busy. We spent a lot of the time at the clothing pantry (what else is new?) to try and get some of that ridiculous pile under control. It was a pretty bitterly cold on one of the days we worked there but we soldiered through it...naturally to find out later that there is in fact heat in the building. Typical. On one of the other days that we worked at the clothing pantry, I got the opportunity to work construction. It was good because it gave me an opportunity to work with the guys one last time before Christmas break. It was a lot of fun even though it was pretty cold and snowing throughout the day.

Speaking of cold, we had an interesting experience regarding the Farm's heating system. Our staff house is normally heated via heat pump. It essentially takes the heat from the air outside and pumps it into the house. It works fantastically as long as there is heat in the air to pump inside. However, once there are a few cold days in a row and all the residual heat is eliminated from the surrounding air, it turns into a dastardly air conditioning unit. When we did finally get a cold front that settled in, we did actually take the proper steps to head off the problem and we turned off the pump. Apparently, something happened with the pump because when I woke up the next morning it was 47 FREAKING DEGREES IN OUR HOUSE. I could literally feel myself getting sick. We scrambled to correct the situation. And by correct the situation, I mean we piled a myriad of heavy objects on the various vents throughout our house. We went to Church extra early Sunday morning just so that we could warm up. Eventually we talked to Dave, the Emperor of People's Self Help Housing, and were able to shut off the dreaded pump. If there was a story that typefied our time as Farm Managers, this would definitely be in the nomination envelope.

We should have known there would be a problem when this guy installed the heat pump

The off week was also when the Farm was officially turned into a Christmas Factory. We began what turned into a never ending cookie making whirlwind as we prepared gifts for those we delivered food boxes to, the people we worked with, and (most hilariously) Bossman. That last one came about as a result of pure boredom and a flash of creativity. We went back to the childhood tradition of leaving your shoes out on the evening of St. Nicholas and decided to make a middle-of-the-night expedition to Bossman's to drop off our present. It was complete with our incognito, black US Census Hats. As with most things involving us, we made quite a scene to the point that we were stopped by one of his neighbors that happened to work for the sheriff's office. Guess it looked a little shady to have people sneaking around at midnight and dropping off random boxes on people's doorsteps. Oops.

We also had the first of our many, many Christmas carolings. On Wednesday night the local churches got together and held The Ecumenical Church Walk. It started at the courthouse in town and then went to three local churches where we heard presentations on the history of each building. We did our part by caroling for the procession as they entered each building. It was made more challenging (though possibly more enjoyable for those witnessing our caroling) by the gale-like winds, which at times drowned out our voices. It was capped off with a cookies and treats reception that was downright delicious.

Thursday night we went to a concert benefitting the food pantry. It was a great night of music and entertainment. We even got introduced on stage as Glenmary Farm Managers, which was exciting. We helped out with collecting donations, which we found out later totaled a couple thousand dollars! After that, Friday was spent resting up and getting ready for the impending Project Week.

Wright State University: What a Gyps

From November 30-December 5 we had a group of 14 come down from Wright State Campus Ministry in Dayton, OH. It was a real mix of students ranging from freshmen to grad students and they were accompanied by a priest, which was something new. After the break for Thanksgiving, it could have been really difficult to readjust to life on the Farm. To be fair, it was a little weird being back here the first few days before the group came. But this group had such a focus on service that it was actually really easy to get back into the swing of things.

With it being a Pantry handout week, we had a lot of work to do. There was the obligatory packing of the food boxes and all the work that needed to be done at the pantry. George received a new shipment of clothes so the pile which we had worked so hard to reduce was again piled to the ceiling. Ah well... another task for future groups eh? We had plenty of work just trying to get the place ready for the handout day on that Friday. The kids did a great job with all the work. They were totally ready and willing to take on the new challenges that were thrown at them.

I had the opportunity to go back to Licking Valley Senior Center for the first time since I came down in March as a volunteer. Jamie, Colleen and I have gone there to help pack the commodities but I haven't been there for the regularly scheduled program since becoming a Farm Manager. It was great to just be able to hang out with all the people there. We did some word searches, played some bingo and had some delicious Turkey. We entertained the people there for about 30 minutes with some Christmas carols. Surprisingly, Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer was a crowd pleaser (by request, of course).

We also had plenty of fun with the group. The Thurmans were a blast, as usual. They have such a visible bond and a sense of fun that it's so hard not to enjoy yourself there. This time they were giving Jeff crap for gaining a whopping 11 pounds after Thanksgiving. He steadfastly maintained that his new belly was a badge of honor since it took so much effort to get to that point. I don't immediately hate every country song that comes on the radio now, and I think that's primarily due to the Thurmans. The atmosphere there is just so perfect for enjoying music that it doesn't matter what they sing, I always appreciate it. There have been a few instances where I go looking for songs after I've heard them at the Thurmans' and I find that the original is terrible. Case in point is That Summer. I love it every time the Thurmans play it but I was repulsed by the Garth Brooks version when I finally heard it... weird. They've also turned me onto some songs I end up loving in their original form. Toes by the Zac Brown Band is one of those ones. If you would have told me 4 months ago that this would be a song I surfed the airwaves for, I would have called you crazy. But I guess the Farm has brought me out of my comfort zone. It's a good feeling. It's part of the growth process I guess and shows that the Farm has affected me at least in this small way.

There was plenty of fun had during the week outside of the normal program. There was a night we spent around the fire singing Taylor Swift’s entire song catalog and playing Make a Song, where much hilarity ensued. They also taught us the infinitely fun game of Scum and we had a marathon, two tier session on the last night. It was a hectic evening with a lot of fun and a multitude of hilarious chief Scum pictures (RAKE IT, SCUM!). Naturally, it was capped off with a few games of ninja.

Congrats on your brother getting into ND. Umm.... call me?

There were a few things that were made evident to me this week. The first was the sense of community found here. It's something I have noticed throughout my weeks here but sometimes it's more prominent than others. This was one of those weeks when I really noticed it. At Licking Valley I could sense it talking to everyone and watching all the seniors interact with one another and swap stories about their grandchildren. There was a genuine interest for the welfare of others that existed in that place. Going to Mosby for service on Wednesday showed the community that forms around Christ here. The Buckners make up the majority of Mosby's congregation and it's like a mini family reunion everytime they go to service. But it's always remarkable to me how they make such an effort to welcome us when we go. They really do make us feel like part of the family. The Construction guys over at People's were also an example of the community to be found here. It's been a while since I've worked with John and Rog's crew and I could sense they were sincere when they said they had missed working with me. They were excited to see me again and the feeling was mutual. In the short 3 months that I've been here, they've really welcomed me and made me feel like a part of the crew. Everywhere I go in Lewis County, I see examples of the strong community that exists here. It's a wonderful feeling. But it's also taught me some things.

The strength of the community here derives from 2 main sources: family and faith. At Notre Dame, it was a similar situation. The University does such an excellent job at fostering community and its cited so often that community is really a buzzword when discussing Notre Dame. The love that students have for the school is no accident and comes from the same sources as the community here: family and faith. There, it was so easy to tap into both sources. The dorm life, football games, and classrooms established the Notre Dame family while having chapels in every dorm and the many faith based programs and places around campus made up the faith portion. It was the perfect storm for a patently lazy person such as myself. All I literally had to do was wander downstairs every week to go to mass. But I found that a funny thing happened when I went home. Now that it wasn't so easy, I would miss Church. Being here has reminded me that you can find a strong community in places other than Notre Dame. It may take effort, but the effort that you exert brings back rewards far exceeding it.

The second thing I noticed this week was the power of doing small things. While at Licking Valley one woman commented on how I seemed to memorize everyone's name after meeting them. It was such a small gesture on my part but it really made an impact on this woman. When we were at Mosby, Rick came around (like he always does) to shake everyone's hand before the service. Again, it's a small gesture but it does so much. It sets the tone for the service and creates such a welcoming atmosphere. Those dual lessons of community and doing the small things are ones I hope to bring back with me long after my year here is up.

The kids really got a lot out of the week. Different groups latch onto different aspects of the Farm and this one definitely found its identity in the spirituality component of the Farm. They took the opportunity for quiet reflection to really get in touch (or back in touch) with God. It was a good reminder to me of the value of sitting quietly and reflecting. Fred closed out the week with a really excellent homily. It was based on the gospel about the two houses- one built on rock and the other built on sand. Fred referenced the fact that the chapel had to be rebuilt multiple times but that it was possible because the chapel had a strong foundation a la the house built on rock. The foundation, Fred explained, that the chapel is built on is Jesus. He made the point that the Farm is what Christianity is all about. It's about loving those you meet and living simply not because it's hip but because Jesus set the example for the rest of us. I thought it was a homily that captured the essence of the Farm really well. It was also good to celebrate mass in the chapel, since we haven't had the opportunity to do so since I've been here. It was a great reminder of what we do here and a nice ending to the week.

Bishop Hendricken: Garrrr!

From November 14-20 we had a group of all guys from Bishop Hendriken High School in Warwick, Rhode Island. We had heard from a former Farm Manager that this group was pretty wacky but since different groups from the same school can be different we were interested to see how it went. Turns out our information was reliable and these kids were decidedly wacky. It was a super fun week that had a bunch of laughs.

The week started off with a night hike up to Armstrong cemetery to do some stargazing. It was a great night site because it was so close that it afforded us a lot of flexibility. Thinking back on it, it epitomized what the Farm is about. It's not often that we take the time to just sit back and look at stars. First off, most of us live in areas where the lights from the city make it almost impossible to see the stars. Second, we lead such busy lives that they rarely afford us the opportunity to sit back and actually look at the stars. So this simple activity was a great way to introduce the kids to the simplicity of the Farm. The kids showed their goofiness right away by spending much of the time figuring out a way to make a Hannah Montana constellation.

Something that really struck me about this group was the sincerity they brought to service. It's one thing to say you're going to serve, it's another to really go out of your way to make that effort to really serve everyone you can. These guys did that surprisingly well. They were always looking for jobs to do and were never satisfied when they finished whatever task they were initially given. This was evident right on the first work day. I was with two groups that day in Tollesboro at both the food and clothing pantry. The clothing group spent the day sorting clothes, as usual, while the food side put out much of the food for box making and also made some of the Thanksgiving boxes. Toward the end of the day, I ran over to the clothing side to tell them to start tidying up after which I raced back to the food side. I was shocked when shortly after I left them, the boys showed up on the food side, looking to help in any way they could. They could have just finished their job at the clothing pantry and could have easily (and justifiably) rested up until the others were finished. But they weren't satisfied just finishing their own job. They wanted to serve in any way they could and went the extra mile.

This week was also a week for finishing tasks. On that first day, the actually kids finished sorting the entire back pile of bags. It was really a culmination of a lot of hard work from previous groups. It felt really great to see that completed because it was a pet project of the Farm Managers. We never thought we would see the day when that huge pile was ever fully sorted. In addition, I got to work on the last day at the Thomas Colvin construction site at Fuller Branch. It was interesting to work on the last day at a site. It's not often that we get to see the tail end of a job. It was nice knowing that the very next day a family was going to move into the home we were working on.

There was a feeling of familiarity running through the week. For Jamie and Colleen, hearing the New England accents and slang was like having a little bit of home brought to them. It was similar to when the Notre Dame kids came in a few weeks ago and I felt so good hearing and talking about familiar sights. The two of them were so enthused by hanging out with people that knew the same places they did and I can see why. For me, the familiarity was rooted in a reason other than geography. Bishop Hendriken is an all boys school. While I never attended an all boys school, I did live in an all boys dorm for the last 4 years. Watching and listening to all the ridiculousness of the week really reminded me of living in Alumni Hall. There was such a sense of community and fun that permeated the week that reminded me of the camaraderie of living with

all guys. There's a sense of goofiness and energy when you get a bunch of guys together in one place. These guys definitely showed that very well. There were plenty of games of knockout and frisbee. We played G-H-O-S-T on almost all car rides and it was rare that anyone ever escape getting crap for something they did. Nicknames abounded and the sayings of the day were always interesting. It was also the first time I've ever seen pirate duels on the Farm. I came out of the staffhouse one day to find that the boys had grabbed any and all available sticks and had staged a pirate duel on the picnic tables. This was of course on Steve the Pirate Tuesday (There was a guy named Steve in the group). It was really nice being able to experience that sort of community again.

The group also brought a really cool element to reflection. The group always did their own reflection after we ended each night. On the last night, the chaperones included the Farm Managers in their reflection. They used a prayer structure known as an Emmaus Walk. It's based around the disciples meeting and, at first, not recognizing Jesus on the road to Emmaus. It was a really great way to look back on the progression of the week for the kids. They were able to see how they were changed by the week in a way that focused on their personal discovery of Jesus. It was a surprisingly in depth reflection for a group of high schoolers but they were more than up to the task. Their answers showed that they had really put a concerted effort into thinking about how Jesus had been present that week. It was an excellent end to a great week.