See the Movie
Saturday, April 22
Hi everybody at church! This is Tegan again and just reporting a safe trip home. We left david at about 10:30 on Friday morning and stopped a couple times for refueling (the car and our stomachs). We stayed at a Super 8 near Erie, PA. We had breakfast at the hotel around 7 and left around 8. We traveled only to stop for gas, lunch, and rest. We made it at church around 3:30. I was surprised to see the website not updated, since I know everyone has been very excited to hear about our week. That's okay you guys all have been working as hard as we have, with supporting us through the whole trip and all. What's really exciting is that we told some people about the website and they are thinking of putting parts of the emails and pictures in the brochure for the David School. We also had a nice "parting party" with Betty after I had last emailed you.
Well I have to go and finish up homework unfortunatly. We will all be sure to see everyone in church tomorrow.
From the David Team~
P.S. Hope the shareholders enjoyed their postcards!!
Ed. Note: All the emails we received have been posted. Apparently, there were a couple that didn't come through. We'll see if we can track them down and post them in the next day or so!
Wednesday, April 19
Your reporter for this evening is Peg. This is a new experience to use a laptop! I'm so excited!!! I feel so grown up using the latest technology.
I had one of the students explain to me all about his iPod today. I had never seen one up close before. It also was a way for me to comminicate with him and he was eger to share with me. He is a student that is taking a couple college courses at a school near here and takes some advanced courses here at David.
Sometimes we can get into conversations by commenting about their T-shirts. One fella had a West Coast Choppers shirt and we said we were familiar with Orange County Choppers. He knew what we were talking about...and said he would love to have one of their shirts.
Today they had people from the environmental agency here for three 45-minute sessions about water testing, burning waste, and disposal of garbage and removal of illegal sites of contamination... such as gas station tanks that don't comply. We all split and attended these classes with David students.
You would be very proud of our teenagers, the way they have worked here this week!!!! They have done everything they have been asked to do and done it all well. They have particularly enjoyed painting the art room burnt orange and cottonwood (tan). It looks really nice!!!
We had left-over bananas that Kris brought with her and she made banana bread for us, and Carol made chocolate chip cookies for us.
Tegan and Amanda have been having a ball catching polywogs from puddles created from the rain we have had each morning. Actually, we had both thunder and lightning this morning.
That's enough for tonight. I'm having trouble with the keyboard. It jumps up on me!!
Good night!!!
The David Gang
Tuesday, April 18
HELLO from David!
We had a busy day today once we got going. The kids and Big Kids Peg, Steve, and Kris painted the Art Room here, the most GLORIOUS color! It is called Burnt Orange on 2 walls and 2 walls called cottonwood. (Tan) The principal here said it was very nice, but we were to stay out of her office with that paint!
The kids also did some weeding around the main building, Carol and Bev spiffed up the cabins for the next volunteer group, Peg spent the morning in the kitchen with Dinah... no, I mean Doris. She is at least 100 years old and walks like she is 200 years old. But she is a good cook!
We had taco salad today for lunch, and the students here gobbled it up.
We made Military Moms Christmas stockings with an art class while they were displaced from their classroom, and so we got to do some one on one with some of the students. Some are incredibly bright, just have had some tough breaks or walk to the beat of a different drummer. We did not get the stockings done today, so they will finish Thursday. (EPA is coming to the school tomorrow to talk to the students.)
We drove into Prestonsburg while our dinner was cooking and hit the "only game in town"... you guessed it, Wal Mart. Actually, there was a Big Lots too, and Peg and Carol checked it out. Steve said not to buy anything there unless we first confirmed that they sold trailers to hitch to the back of one of our cars!
We bought postcards today, and Bev will walk down to the David Post Office tomorrow to get them in the mail. The adults hope to get to the Applalachian Crafts Center that is right here in David, maybe while EPA is here. (Aren't they the folks that are making GE dredge the Hudson?)
It is movie and popcorn night tonight, and the kids bought October Sky. In case you don't know what it is about, it is the story of a teen from a West Virginia mining community.
Talk to you tomorrow.
Shalom to you~\
All of us
Monday, April 17
We've just finished our first day of work. This morning most of us cleaned the bottom floor of the staff house, while Teagan helped in the kitchen. This afternoon, we split up into the groups: four went to the art room to prepare for painting, three of us gave the kitchen a spring cleaning, and two did some weeding in the garden.
Teagan and Amanda have made a new feline friend, Falcon, who appears to be ready to have kittens some time in the near future (probably not while we're here).
After most of our work for the day was done, we had the opportunity to talk for over an hour to one of the teachers, Sara, who is here from Iowa volunteering. It was very interesting to hear everything that she had to say about the kids and the school from an outsider's perspective. She was very open and honest with all of our questions, and shared quite a few stories. One the things she talked about was how she taught them to use more appropriate language for things like "shut up." She is also taking some of them to a college in Lexington tomorrow. A few of the students here are already taking classes at the community college in Prestonburg (the closest town of any size).
This evening, Betty shared with us some of the history of the area. She is able to tell us about this from a local perspective, because she has lived here all of her life, and her father worked in the coal mines starting at the age of nine.
We've certainly been given the impression that the work that's done in is extremely important, all of the people who work here believe that whole-heartedly, and do it lovingly and caringly every day. The loving and the caring definitely seems to be what the majority of the kids need the most. From being here, we've come to understand that while the students are given a lot of care and support, there is also a lot of responsibility expected from them.
While we'd love to go on and one, we'll tell you more in our next email. We also expect to be able to send some pictures tomorrow.
Peg, Bev and Kris
(and the rest who have retired to their cabins)
Easter Sunday, April 16
We left church at 7:22 yesterday morning and arrived in Philippi, WV around 7pm last night. The alumni center at Alderson-Broeddus College where we are staying is great. The campus is on top of a hill and looks down on the town. Everyone one we've met has been real friendly including at the small restaurant in town where we ate last night.
The kids don't know it yet (or aren't supposed to), but in a little bit we'll be having an Easter egg hunt. We'll be making breakfast in the kitchen here on campus. And, then our church service is at 10:45. We hope to be in David, by 5pm, but it will probably be a bit later.
Hope everyone at hope is doing well.
Bev and Kris
Updated: 2006-Apr-23