CAP Connection Spring 2012

Survey sets our direction You are still giving to CAP today. One way this has happened during the past year is that 412 volunteer alumni participated in a survey that helped the volunteer office gather updated volunteer information and solicit opinions on alumni programming. After extensive study, Amy Schill, Manager of Volunteer Admissions and recruitment, has compiled a report about what you said. Who you are Of those who responded to the survey, 42 percent are employed full-time, 21 percent are retired, 13 percent work part-time and the "others" fall into six other categories. You represent a wide variety of career fields, with the top three areas being being Education & Training (29%), Human Services (18%) and Health Sciences (8%). CAP’s volunteer alumni are working as teachers, nurses, executive directors, social workers and many other professions. Newsletter Because 82% of you indicated satisfaction with the frequency of this CAP Connection newsletter, we’ll continue our tri-annual publication schedule. We’ve made changes to the newsletter to respond to what you asked for, such as the CAP Quicks section that provides an overview of what’s new at CAP and in the Volunteer Program. We’re also replacing the Alumni Spotlight with a shorter Where Are They Now feature. Like you, we want to read more alumni updates. You can help with this. The updates in From Across the Mountains come primarily from alumni submissions. Your fellow volunteers want to hear about what’s new in your life, so please don’t be shy about submitting updates on jobs, moves, engagements, graduation, children, grandchildren or anything you would like to share. Reunions Sixty-eight percent of you indicated you would most likely attend a reunion a CAP reunion, with another 28 percent also indicating a high likelihood. Watch for information about our 2015 alumni reunion. You can also connect with volunteers from you area through a Google group which you can join at christianapp.org/vol/alumni. Directory Because you indicated an interest in an alumni directory, we are currently looking into the possibility of developing one online, but it may be cost prohibitive. For now, we have created searchable Facebook for former CAP volunteers. Please join at facebook.com/groups/capalums. Networking Seventy-six percent of you said you would be willing to discuss your career, school or both with current and former volunteers. Alumni also indicated job searches as an area of networking that could be helpful. Alumni can sign up for our job postings listserv at christianapp.org/vol/alumni. Once a member, you can also email the group with job openings you think will interest other alumni.Megan Kruse, '10-'11, helps recruit volunteers at her alma mater, University of Dayton.Because of your willingness to help other alumni and current volunteers, we now have a database of more than 250 alumni interested in serving as a networking contact for alumni/volunteers interested in a particular career field or graduate program. You can access this information by contact Amy at volunteer@chrisapp.org or 606-256-0973. We encourage all alumni on LinkedIn to join our alumni group. Continuing to serve More than 250 respondents volunteered to represent CAP in various ways. You also have been generous is your willingness to serve as spiritual adopters for our current volunteers. Thank you  for this as well as for your candor in responding to the survey. This is your alumni program, and we welcome all suggestions to make it more valuable to you, just as you are invaluable to CAP.Where they are now? They are a couple of firsts. Ken Kinley came to volunteer with CAP in 1990 after retiring from the military. After serving the in Christmas Basket program where he worked alongside Brenda Watts, Bev Potter and Odie Long, Ken became CAP’s volunteer recruiter. Headquartered at the old motel office in Lancaster, he dreamt of increasing the number of volunteers that CAP attracted. He visited universities and groups, spreading the news about what awaited the willing in Appalachia. That work also led Ken to work with Carla Durand, '90-'91, another volunteer turned employee. The two of them helped organize the first WorkFest 20 years ago. Students stayed at Camp AJ and worked on houses in Jackson County. “It was a wonderful experience,” he says. Cathie Bailey arrived at CAP as a teacher. She took a leave of absence from her work to serve in the mountains where she helped expand the GED program. An innovation that garnered national attention was how she converted a bus into a traveling classroom that could reach students who might not have transportation to get to classes. Cathie also stayed on as an employee, serving in Mt. Vernon, Salyersville and Martin. After meeting at CAP, the couple married and made a home in Ohio where Cathie returned to teaching and Ken returned to his work as a pastor, something he had done between stints in the military. Today he looks around at the ways he’s been involved in communities since his time at CAP and sees the ideas he carried from Appalachia to other locations. Ken also looks back over the past 20 years with Cathie, which he calls marvelous, and says it was through CAP that God brought them together, something he’s still thankful for.CAP Quicks Grateful Threadz and Breads, CAP's clothing store and food pantry in Rockcastle County, have moved to their new location. Manager Peggy Hancock, her volunteers and staff are grateful for the larger space and more prominent location on US 25. The programs celebrated an Open House and Grand Re-opening on March 27.*The March 2 tornadoes devastated parts of Indiana and Kentucky, resulting in the deaths of 24 Kentuckians. In response, CAP quickly changed plans for this year's 20th anniversary WorkFest. WorkFest students in the Sandy Valley region joined the emergency teams to work on disaster clean up. Students in the Cumberland Valley region, which experienced less damage,  primarily continued with the planned jobs.*With our logo, designed by Ben Schutte, ’10-’11, we paid tribute to the original WorkFest t-shirt and a certain soda familiar to most CAP alumni. At Camp AJ, the new counselor dorm was broken in as the new sleeping quarters for WorkFest short-term volunteers and CAP staff. WorkFest project pictures can be viewed at christianapp.org/vol or facebook.com/ChrisAppProj.*CAP’s Board of Directors approved a new strategic plan at their February board meeting.  The plan is the result of a collaborative effort among CAP senior staff, Board members, employees, volunteers and former participants. CAP will implement the plan in the coming year.*The McCreary volunteers are settled into their new house. A dedication is being planned.*Alumni who have participated in WorkFest in the Cumberland Valley region in recent years may remember the generous hospitality of Oneida Baptist Institute on Family Appreciation Night. Dr. W.F. and Mrs. Kay Underwood are retiring. The couple met there as students who graduated in 1963. Because of the special place it has in their hearts, they always wanted to return and were thankful when they received that opportunity in 1984. Dr. Underwood went to work as Dean Of Boys and Director of Student Work Program and Kay worked as Director of Admissions. In 1994, Dr. Underwood became president of the school. The couple was honored at Family Appreciation Night the final week of WorkFest for their contributions of letting CAP use their facility, and providing the Thursday night meals. CAP has been pleased to work with people who are such good examples of true servant leadership.*The most recent volunteer orientation class includes: (front row) Don and Cheryl Prue (New York), Janet Tawil (Virginia), Marilyn Hull (Michigan), Josh Lantos (Massachusetts); (back row) Daniel Landesman (California), Bailey Bennett (Kansas), Tricia Bush (Texas), David Somogie (New Hampshire), Greg Smithson (Kentucky)Thanks to The Fund for Theological Education, CAP volunteers have the opportunity to complete their volunteer experience with a better idea of what they want to do next. Harold Underwood has been working with The Fund for the past three years or so to provide volunteers with resources that help them strengthen their spirituality and volunteer experience while also exploring what God is calling them to next. Financial support from the fund has allowed networking with similar organizations, resource development in the form of literature, workshops and retreats. Harold says these resources have created a supportive atmosphere within the Volunteer Program for discernment.1980s  Julie St. John Dunlap, ’86-’88 started a poetry blog in March of 2011. Find it at dunlapsongsandpoems.blogspot.com.  Julie says she is learning to play the banjo. She’s sharing that talent church and at a restaurant twice a month with a small group. Dr. Rob Weise, '87-'87, visited Camp AJ during WorkFest to give a talk on Appalachian culture, drawing on his experience as a volunteer in Floyd County and from his academic work. Rob is an associate professor of history at Eastern Kentucky University. 1990s Jeff, ’93-‘94 and Beth (Breitmayer), '92-'94 Healander visited the volunteer office a visit with their daughters and niece in December. The family is pictured with Kathleen Leavell and Kathy Kluesener standing outside Jeff's old room, now a Volunteer Program office.       2000s Sue Funderburke, '02-'03 stopped by the Mt. Vernon volunteer office this fall.  Her message to her CAP family "I just turned 80 years old and Lord, I'm tellin' you I love it! I just sold my convertible and bought a new car!”  She would love for friends to connect with her at sufunder@gmail.com          Recent alums retruned to help with Teen Retreat at Camp Shawnee. They include: (front row): Staci Vanderpool (current volunteer), Caitlin "Turtle" Elsik, '09-'11, Vanessa Dubs, Summer Camp 2011, Moth Groth, Summer Camp 2011. Back row:: Brian Vanderpool, Patrick Kispert, Eric Wenning (all current volunteers), Paul Repuyan, Summer Camp 2011. In Memoriam Kathleen Gabriel of Louisville passed away on January 13. She and her late husband, Richard, volunteered with Fr. Beiting in the early years when he was building Cliffview Lodge as a summer camp. Little did they know that their daughter, Margaret (Peggy) Gabriel, ‘77-’79, would later become a “permanent” volunteer and then a CAP staff member for many years. We extend our sincere sympathy to her family. We also extend our sympathy to the family of Betty Laukhuf, ‘00-’03, who passed away in February. Betty was 77 and lived in Pleasant Lake, Ind. She served in the McCreary County Elderly Services Program and shared with such excitement how when she came to CAP she knew it was exactly where God wanted her to be. We are grateful to her for answering that call to service. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family.Thank you Thanks to these former volunteers who represented CAP at a fair or provided hospitality to Amy when she was on the road: Shannon Hoffman, '08-'09 Gracie Pollicino, Summer Camp 2011