The following story first appeared in the Summer 1999 Glenmary Challenge.
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Farm Family Reunion
A "Working Vacation' in the Glenmary Spirit
By Patricia Normile

Reunion organizer Ed May rests with sons Kevin and Colin after the day’s volunteer work is done.

Vanceburg, a small town in eastern Kentucky, sports two traffic lights, a creek (Salt Lick) which runs through it and a river (the Ohio) that runs past.

At first glimpse nothing about Vanceburg—population 1,500—hints at why it would attract a group of doctors, attorneys, carpenters, insurance executives, certified public accountants, computer experts, industrial sales representatives and diocesan church workers to gather here with their families for a week-long vacation. There are no major resorts, amusement parks, beaches or golf courses.

Yet for the third summer such a group will be traveling to Lewis County, one of Kentucky’s poorest, for the Glenmary Farm Family Reunion. This is a gathering of those who have worked at the Glenmary Farm as teenagers and “20-somethings” at some point over the past 27 years. They share the Farm bond—the experience of living together in community; of reverence for and service to the poor; of sharing Christian values; of learning from the less fortunate. And now they want to share that experience with their families. Tony Abts, for example, brings daughters Claire and Kendra from Appleton, Wisconsin, to “be surrounded by and immersed in the love of God on the Farm.”

The Glenmary Farm began 27 years ago as an attempt to interest young men in joining Glenmary as a priest or a Brother. And while some Farm volunteers did join Glenmary, it is clear, in retrospect, that God had another plan for the Farm: the involvement of lay men and women with Glenmary’s mission of service to rural America. Over the past 27 years, 10,000 young men and women have come to the Glenmary Farm from all over the United States for an experience of service and the opportunity to see what life looks like from the perspective of Appalachian culture.

The Glenmary Farm Family Reunion began with the desire of Chicagoan Ed May, a 1978-80 Farm volunteer, and his wife, Gail. They wanted to find a Christian environment where they could volunteer during summer vacation with their sons, then 5 and 8. They searched their area and investigated several hundred Catholic volunteer programs on the Internet, but none were willing to accommodate young children.

Memories of his Glenmary Farm experience continued to inspire Ed. So he presented the concept of the Farm Family Reunion to Father Mike Caroline who took it to Glenmary president Father Jerry Dorn. “The rest,” Ed says, “is history.” The 1998 reunion filled to capacity—about 40 people of all ages. The 1999 reunion, scheduled for July 10-15 is on track to break previous attendance records.

 The Farm Family Reunion offers few of the vacation amenities many seek. “Bath time” finds campers, with a bar of biodegradable soap, plunging into the creek from a rope hung from a giant sycamore. Outhouses are also an adventure for the uninitiated. Most sleep bunkhouse-style in a barn air-conditioned only by open spaces between the boards. Some choose tenting. Food is ample—prepared by the volunteers themselves with help from Farm managers.

The comforts, or lack thereof, are unimportant once everyone gets to work. Just like the high school and college volunteers who come throughout the year, reunion participants are divided into four work groups that rotate through these daily duties: building or repairing homes for low-income families; visiting nursing home residents; providing social activities at a mental health clinic; and tending to Farm duties.

The daily drive to the various work sites is a learning time as Glenmary Brother Virgil Siefker or one of the two lay Farm managers tells about the area and its people. Natural beauty abounds on the drive to town—a flight of black swallowtail butterflies dances across the fields, a hawk plummets from the sky, wildflowers cluster along the roadside. Laughter fills the vans as riders chuckle at a hand-scrawled roadside sign: “Liars and thieves keep out!”

One group each day works at a construction site under the supervision of People’s Self-Help Housing. This local not-for-profit housing development corporation, begun by Brother Bob Hoffman 17 years ago, now employs 19 local people. This year it will build 25 new homes for low-income families with the help of federal funds and the labor of Farm volunteers.

During the 1998 Family Farm Reunion, a site sporting only a foundation on Monday was under roof by Wednesday. Doors, room partitions, decks and siding fleshed out the skeleton by Thursday. Volunteers from 6 to 66 learned that each had some talent to contribute—hauling lumber, digging porch foundation holes, shingling roofs.

Some who enjoyed the physical nature of the construction work found themselves uneasy the day their work crew was scheduled to visit Comprehend, Inc. At this adult day-care facility, volunteers were to help the mentally challenged improve social skills. By the end of the day, however, volunteers had discovered the genius of this adult therapeutic rehab program.

When asked what the Farm volunteers do, one Comprehend client replied with a broad grin, “Oh, we learn names, go to the library, play basketball, eat together. And we go to the Farm for picnics!” This same man demonstrated how far he has come in mastering social skills by preparing and offering coffee to that day’s Farm volunteers.

Cincinnatian Jeff Remenowski claims he originally thought he would be going down to the Farm “to help ‘these people.’ But after returning my thought was, ‘I can’t believe how much those people helped me, how much they gave me.’” Now in industrial sales, Jeff believes that Farm experience has affected his daily work life. “I try to see my customers as Jesus would,” he says. “I learned that at the Farm.”

Another community work site, the Vanceburg Health Care Center, comes to life as volunteers visit with residents. Guitars twang as a father-son combo of the Scodius and Kettinger families sings a rousing round of good old tunes with Father Mike Caroline. Some residents sing along; one woman reminisces that she used to sing professionally. Others tap toes and clap hands. A smile of recognition graces a face that had seemed unaware of the surroundings until the combo breaks into “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.”

Meanwhile, back at the Farm, the fourth crew prepares meals and tends children too young to venture to the work sites.

Days commence with prayer around a campfire. Old Quad, the Farm dog, lounges while volunteers pray and share their expectations of the new day. When the time arrives to depart for work sites, a simple lunch is passed out as crews pile into vans. Someone breaks into song: “It takes a workin’ man to sing a workin’ song.” And that is quickly followed by a new verse: “It takes a workin’ woman...”

The return of workers at day’s end is an event. At the sound of vans approaching down the narrow country road, the Farm crew drops whatever they are doing to dash outside to welcome workers home with song, hugs and refreshments. Many head for a refreshing plunge in the swimming/bath hole. Brother Virgil climbs on a tractor to mow a bit of lawn or tends the garden which provides produce for hungry volunteers and an occasional snack for visiting deer and raccoons.

Evenings allow Farm volunteers to move deeper into the culture of the region. An introductory tour of the area is conducted by Brother Virgil with stop-offs at the farms of long-time Glenmary friends such as the Thurmans or Edith Smith otherwise known as “Wild Woman” because of her great enthusiasm for life.

Farm Family Reunion participants—like all the volunteers year round—savor the hospitality and history and lore of the local folk. One night during the 1998 Reunion was spent singing and dancing at the Fly Branch Jamboree with Colonel Brown, a fiddler and storyteller, whose show was recorded for local radio. One evening volunteers are invited to a prayer meeting at a nearby Pentecostal church. Another evening town children are gathered in vans for a picnic supper, skits and games at the Farm.

A blessed closure to the week’s work, fellowship and prayer is the closing liturgy. When dusk falls on the final evening, Mass begins with the Liturgy of the Word around the campfire. Readings reach hearts opened by a week of giving to and receiving from those who are less fortunate in a material sense.

Following the Liturgy of the Word, staff members and volunteers, guided by the light of trailside torches, process silently along a hillside streambed to the Cathedral in the Woods. Here, in the shimmering firelight, a huge tabletop rock becomes the altar where gifts of bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. At liturgy’s end, one volunteer notes, “I realized that I had become the hands of Christ this week.”

The Reunion experience is not finished until buildings are cleaned and final prayers and thoughts are shared at fireside on the morning of departure.

Al Vondra of Cleveland gathers daughter Julie on his lap. “I leave with a feeling of goodness,” he says. “The week was so family oriented.…We did things together—fixing meals, cleaning up, jumping in the swimming hole, working at all the sites.

“I also have a great feeling of gratitude,” Al adds. “Life is so fast paced. Having no videos, TV, phone or computers is great. Just good food, work, worship and friendship. No brother-and-sister fights! No place to go except to be with each other.”

Theresa Butel, 5, enjoyed making a bracelet. She shares that her time at the Farm taught her firsthand what Jesus would do—care for others.

When Jamie Giangreco, 11, and Michelle Ziegler, 9, are asked if they would like to bring their children to work at the Farm someday, they quickly respond “Sure!” and “Oh, yeah, this is great!” 

Dan Kettinger, a teen from Bowling Green, Ohio, witnessed softly, “I am thankful to learn that if you give 110 percent to someone else, it’s a lot better than sitting on your duff in front of the screen.”

Young Angela Butel from Kansas City and Colin May thought the crawdads scurrying around the creek were the greatest.

As families began to depart, Joe Giangreco, an emergency room doctor from Rochester, New York, made a final run into town, returning with a supply of cement to repair a pot-holed basketball court at the Farm. Joe demonstrates the spirit of Glenmary-–leave everything and everyone a bit better than you find them.

The problems of Lewis County are not eradicated by the efforts of those attending the Farm Family Reunion—or by Glenmary’s presence in the area over all these years. But, as Al Vondra notices, living conditions have improved. “There are fewer burnouts in the cabins in the hollers than when I first came years ago,” he claims. “Many people have better homes.”

What difference does the Glenmary experience make in the lives of volunteers years after they leave the Farm?

Jim Kettinger, a family practitioner from Bowling Green, Ohio, remembers “sweating it out” to see if he would be one of the high-school students selected for the Glenmary program. Jim continues to be very grateful that he was chosen. He says the experience has enabled him and his family to choose a simple lifestyle focused on what really matters in life.

According to organizer Ed May: “I think the Farm has provided everything we could have wanted—and more!” ?

Patti Normile is a freelance writer based in Cincinnati, Ohio.