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Vanceburg View
A Monthly Update From the Director
of Glenmary's Volunteer Office
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Colleen Novak (Eastern Illinois University), Roxie Rindt (University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse) and Molly Henderson (Eastern Illinois University) clean the future Boys and Girls Club during their week at the Farm, March 14-20, 2004. Volunteer director Joe Grosek serves on the executive board, which hopes to have the club up and running for the young people of Lewis County in about a year. |
News From April 2004
Construction continues on Boys and Girls Club. Volunteer groups that visited during February and March started to repair, clean and paint the Harmany House, which will be used for educational activities for the Boys and Girls Club that we hope to open in Vanceburg in the coming year. I am working on the planning group with Rob Hall, director of transportation for Lewis County Schools; Luc Bentley II, a local Lewis County lawyer; Jim Vaden, a local Methodist minster; and Connie Richardson, a psychologist for Comprehend.
We have decided to create the Harmany Foundation, (named for Allen Harman, a respected educator and pastor in Lewis County whose dream was to make a youth center possible for
kids of Lewis County) with the purpose of creating a safe, nurturing youth center that will promote education, moral values, social interaction and community-building to young people. Kids just don't have anything to do in Lewis County, and we hope a Youth Center/Boys and Girls Club will give every kid a safe place to go to avoid drugs, alcohol and sex.
The Harmany Foundation is currently looking at ways to raise funds for the club. We have applied for a grant and are in the process of raising money at gospel sings, dinners and car washes. We are also creating a youth advisory board to promote this new venture in the community and to help with fundraising for the Youth Center.
The Harmany Foundation has adopted the motto: "We can't fail." And we have pledged not to let differences in religion and socio-economic class be an impediment to the club. We hope to start programs next January.
The garden's in! With the arrival of spring sunshine, the managers put in the Farm garden. They planted peas. lettuce, onions, potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, corn and sunflowers. Volunteers will enjoy the produce throughout the summer, starting with the peas and lettuce which should be ready to harvest any day now. We have the Wild Woman to thank for much of our gardening success. She gives us great advice and some awesome fertilizer!
A bounty of spring volunteer groups. During spring 2004, the Glenmary Farm played host to groups from McNicholas High School (Cincinnati), Marquette High School (Milwaukee, Wis.), Assumption High School (Louisville, Ky.), Marian College (Indianapolis, Ind.), the University Notre Dame University (South Bend, Ind.), Loyola University (Chicago, Ill.), St. Anselm College (Manchester, N.H.), St. Xavier University (Chicago, Ill.), Eastern Illinois University (Charleston, Ill, University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse, Immaculata High School (Baton Rouge, La.), Bishop Watterson High School (Columbus, Ohio), and St. Catherine High School (Racine, Wis.). These volunteers gave their time graciously to build houses for low-income people, work with marginalized people of the community at Comprehend, the nursing home, and Licking Valley Community Center. To see photos of these groups.
Peace,
Joe Grosek
jgrosek@glenmary.org
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