I woke up early this morning wondering, how can I let my mother know how much I appreciate her? Years ago, when I was feeling flush, I sent her flowers several Mother's Day in a row. Now, with the budget tight, I know she'll be happy with time on the phone. Still, I wanted to do something more.
So, in honor of my mother (and, with a hat tip to my good friend Carnacki), today I share a happy story. And, when you are done reading, please share your happy story, too!
Thank you, Mom
My mother grew up on a farm. Her family was certainly not wealthy, but they never went hungry, either. They were fortunate to own their own land and to own a herd of dairy cattle (along with a sundry assortment of other barn yard animals).
On the other hand, once she was old enough to work outside of the house, my mother spent her summers working in the kitchen of the summer camp down the road where the rich city kids went. While most of the kids her age where at the camp for long days of fun, she and her sisters spent long days preparing their meals.
From grade school until high school my mother attended a one room school house. She do so well in her studies the teacher passed her straight from 5th grade to 7th grade. Even so, she graduated as valedictorian of her high school class and went on to college. Perhaps in part because her parents were willing to sacrifice to send her to college, my mother did the same for me and my siblings.
After college, my mother did something to help others with even less than she had growing up. She joined the International Voluntary Services (a pre-cursor to the Peace Corp) and spend over a year in Southeast Asia helping villagers there.
All this is a long way of saying, thank you mom. Thank you for providing a bright shining example through your life of helping others. Your life story continues to inspire me to want to help others just as you have.
A Happy Story
A few months back I posted several diaries here asking for help to plant a seed: Despair not, plant a SEED today. Since then, residents in Coal River Valley have been hit hard by the Upper Big Branch mining incident. Yet, through the generous response of many of you here, many seeds have also been planted.
Today, I'm pleased to share with you an email I received from the project organizer:
Here is a little update on the greenhouse for you. I'm attaching pictures of the greenhouse and also the shitake mushroom workshop we had the other weekend.
In the middle of so many reminders of the sadness and injustice we're up against these days, we do have a little bit of hope popping up in the Coal River Valley. Some of you may remember that, months ago, this blog posted an announcement and request for support for a community project that was just developing in the heart of the southern WV coalfields. Your response was beautifully generous, and we surprised and grateful.
What did we do with the donations -- what's happened since then?
Well, the community group has only grown in strength and numbers, as well as in its own sense of identity. Our monthly meetings number in the 20s, when we gather in a restaurant where the two forks of the Coal River meeting, to enjoy soup and cornbread homemade by the restaurant owners. We now have a name that the whole group voted on -- Seeds of Unity and Hope for Coal River.
We have a slogan -- "Many voices, many projects, one community." We have working groups, everything from a greenhouse group to a canning kitchen group, community renewable energy, craftspeople group, media spokespeople group, and a nonprofit working group dedicated to obtaining official nonprofit status for us. We have a mission statement, brainstormed collectively:
"We are committed to growing unity and hope through community projects, so the next generation can bloom. We are preserving our roots and sowing seeds for the future through hard work and shared resources."
The mission statement is open-ended on purpose, to allow room for the interests and passions of the members to shape the projects we take on. The bottom line is that we want to work on projects that are good for the community, in the triple-bottom-line way -- good economically, socially, and environmentally.
A beautiful vision is not enough -- everyone wanted to take action, to build something real. So we built a community greenhouse. That's where your donations have gone, to this structure that is the perfect symbol of planting something small which we hope will grow into something big. After several work parties, we have now finished the building and planted our first seeds. We hope to sell the seedlings later this spring (we're taking orders, by the way!), vegetables in raised beds through the summer, and then continue on with food production through the winter.
We have big dreams for our greenhouse -- employment for folks from the community, an educational center, a gathering place. We are excited to be able to hire a part-time summer caretaker this year, and we have already held our first community workshop, learning how to grow shitake mushrooms on logs, which can be a surprisingly profitable project. We hope this is only the beginning.
So thank you -- for your support and your faith in us. I think it's an appropriate time to quote Thoreau here, who said, "I have great faith in a seed...Convince me you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders."
Photo credits: Julia Sendor, Coal River Mountain Watch
Diary by Clem Guttata, volunteer Netroots blogger, West Virginia Blue
Update: There's lots of exciting projects going on in Coal River Valley to help break the cycle of coal dependence. Here's how you can help.
- Visit BrighterPlanet and vote 3 times for the Build It Up, West Virginia! project. (For more background, see Vote Online to Fund Youth Green Economy in the Coalfields Program.
- Donate to Sustainable Economic and Energy Diversification in Coal River valley summer programs.
Thank you!