A group of students and chaperones from Weirton Madonna High School took time out of their summer vacation to "give back" to a community in southern West Virginia.
Lend-A-Hand Appalachia, now in its 13th year, was started by Luci-Jo DiMaggio and Josh DeNinno. DiMaggio, a graduate of Weirton Madonna, brought the idea of its students participating in the project to the high school's administration after she traveled with the program while a student at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. DeNinno was a friend she met while in college. Those two, along with other chaperones Katie (Deter) Dahleim, Jessica (Swanson) Hensley, Michael Deter, Courtney Brown, Mark Gajtka and Kristen Stetar, planned and executed the event. Ten chaperones take off work and summer school for four days to donate their time and talents to Lend-A-Hand.
The group of 26 traveled south by van- and car-pool to Mullens, W.Va., a community in Wyoming County about 25 miles southwest of Beckley with a population of 1,800.
While there, students and chaperones worked on two separate sites.
"At one site we put up a new back deck, did odd jobs and helped get some of the flooding out of their yard, said Gajtka. "This family had a father, mother, a teenage daughter and four dogs. The father suffered a heart attack while working in the yard and had open-heart surgery about three weeks before we arrived."
Paige Good, 17, and an incoming senior to Weirton Madonna, said, "(Lend-A-Hand) was an amazing experience and allowed us to go out of our comfort zone. It gave me the opportunity to be totally real and open with everyone I was staying with."
"When you see your work that you did, it's unreal. The smallest thing we built a deck was the biggest thing for the residents. I worked on building the deck and the most awesome stairs you will ever walk on."
"This particular family didn't have much money. The father's heart attack happened two months before we arrived, and he had been out of work," added Gajtka.
Emily Palma, 17 and also an incoming senior, said, "It was pretty awesome. The best part was working outside of your normal environment and seeing the faces of the people that we helped. We just put up a deck, but we made the people so happy."
"All of us that went to Mullens quickly became a family. No one judged you and you were definitely outside of your ordinary clique."
The second work site was a cinder-block house that was aged.
"We pulled out the front and back doors and two windows and replaced them. In the basement, we removed old insulation and replaced it with a high-R-value insulation to keep them from losing both cool air and heat. We finished by painting the front porch," said Gajtka. "This particular family had an older father and mother, a 30-year-old son who returned home to go to school to get a better job and numerous cats."
Jimmy Deter, 17, and an incoming senior at Weirton Madonna High School, said, "This was my third year participating in Lend-A-Hand, and I must say the most challenging. After a burglary the local hardware store closed, so the closest place to purchase materials was two and a half hours away."
"Several things went wrong that we didn't anticipate. A water line broke, so we had to dig it up and repair it before we could even begin. We worked on a cinder-block house, with no sheetrock, just block, and framed two doors and two windows. We had to make sure they were square and level."
"This year we spent more time at the actual work site than before. We sent seven or eight people to the house on Sunday and they worked five hours to complete the project."
"It's always a great experience and it's personally good for me because my brother and sister are chaperones. Katie and her husband come up from Charleston, South Carolina. She does all of the organizing for Lend-A-Hand, on the phone, the Internet, by e-mail. My brother Michael came from Kettering University in Michigan."
With both Mullens' families, financial problems were a major blockade in being able to do maintenance and upgrades to their homes. Physical limitations were a huge part as well.
"Us helping just this little bit is a huge improvement. This little bit of help may help them to turn things around themselves. These families were extremely gracious this year, and all the other years that I have been a part of Lend-A-Hand," said Gajtka.
Students interacted with the families and got to understand them, their culture and their unique situations.
"This experience isn't just to help people with damage to their homes, it's also to help them learn how to treat others with respect no matter who they are, how much they have, and how they act. This increasing sense of acceptability is a large part of the program and so is the hope that each one of the students, and people we help, will always continue to help others and pass on the gift of service to those in need," said Gajtka.
"We sleep on floors and don't allow students to have normal communication telephones, televisions or computers. We take them out of their comfort zones and let them adapt to new settings. Finally, we add that aspect of service not only through construction, but also through social skills and talking to and learning about and from the families we help. Knowing how the families live from day- to-day reminds the kids, and even the chaperones, that we have so much to be thankful for and to be appreciative of the simple pleasures in life," concluded Gajtka.
"This is my last trip as a student," said Joey Capito, 18 and on his way to West Virginia University as a freshman. "It is my third year being with the group and I'm looking forward to being a chaperone next year."
"This was one of the most challenging years we had several setbacks and one 11-hour day. It was amazing how we all molded together to become a team. We bonded early on and worked so well together. All of us gave the dedication and extra hours to get the job done," said Capito.
Prior to making the trip to Mullens, the group solicited donations from area businesses.
"This year we raised roughly $2,000, which is lower than what we've usually received in years past, but we are still extremely appreciative of all the donations from the local businesses in the Weirton area," said Gajtka.
(Winkler can be reached at lwinkler@weirtondailytimes.com)
