Photos: Colonial Avenue Baptist mission trip to Nada, Kentucky
Nada. In Spanish it means “nothing”. “A quantity of no importance” according to one online dictionary. In Kentucky there is a poor Appalachian community called Nada. Many would also associate Nada, the community, with “nothing”. No shopping, restaurants, theaters. Nothing to do. More importantly no jobs and no sign of improvement. Little or no hope for improvement. In the early 1900′s the largest sawmill in the eastern US was here. The community grew from that and then as the business died, so did the community. Many stay and live in poverty as there are no jobs close by and there is no desire to leave. Our church, Colonial Avenue Baptist, left on Father’s Day for a mission trip there. Did we find “nothing” there as well? We chose Nada for our trip after seeing it in an ABC news special on poverty in Appalachia. Nada is in one of the 20 poorest counties in the entire country.The kind of place we thought we could help.One thing is true. There is nothing nice about the living conditions. Most homes are trailers badly in need of repair. Many had broken windows and holes to the outside.We added a ramp and porch to one trailer where a handicapped person’s only steps were stacked concrete blocks. Church groups come and work in the area but the effort is more of a patch than a fix.The apathy extends down to the school kids as many drop out. But the area is blessed with much to do and see. The Red River Gorge offers spectacular scenery and views. Caves and cliffs,natural arches, trails, state parks and a sky lift offer enjoyable outdoor fun. A hand carved 900 foot,one-lane tunnel through the mountain, made for transporting logs, is a sight to experience and travel.There is a lodge nearby and some tourism but not as much as you would expect from a place blessed by nature like this. Nothing to do here? Hardly!
Would our Roanoke church group have nothing in common with these people? This area isn’t far from the Hatfields and McCoys of feuding fame though they have now made up. Near Nada they hold a Wooly Worm festival with yes, wooly worm races. While we went to do some of the usual mission trip work- painting,landscaping, repairing trailers, visiting nursing homes, power washing-our main goal on this trip was to build relations. Paint might look good for a while but making friends can last longer with these people.Their lives do not revolve around material things.
Our youth went on two day-trips with the youth there as many never experience the world like ours do. Even going to a movie or restaurant for many is an extremely rare treat. We visited Lincoln’s birthplace, the Toyota factory in Georgetown and toured two colleges in hopes that this might spark some incentive for the kids of Nada to further their education or go elsewhere for a job. While our kids and the Nada kids are from different worlds, the laughing and joking in the car or on the volleyball court was common to all. New friendships. Ladies of the community joined our ladies for lunch and a movie in Lexington, our treat. Paula Williams gave free haircuts and our kids gave manicures and nail-polishing. One lady said it was the best haircut she’d had in her life.
The Nada mission center which is already a place for the people of Nada to hang out was much busier last week. Our people and theirs played outdoor games together such as volleyball, whiffle ball, basketball, ladder golf (hillbilly golf) and cornhole in the large field. There was no them or us, we all played together. I think the fun was enjoyed equally.I saw myself as a kid in one of the boys there playing whiffle ball as I could tell by the way he played he was really dreaming of being in the major leagues instead. When I found out he was a Cincinnati Reds fan as I was when I was a kid I knew some of our guys would have to return soon and take some of these boys to Cincinnati to experience a big league game. And to see the awe in their eyes as I had in mine the first time I went there 30 years ago. There was such an innocence in him that I knew he had probably not even heard of the way steroids had been ruining the game lately. To him it was still about throwing,hitting and running and not the money.
One evening we all mingled outside then enjoyed an outdoor movie on a big screen with popcorn and sno-cones. Another night we played bingo with prizes and another night had a jewelry-making class with the ladies.All week long we were hooked on Ale-8-1, the local ginger ale soft drink, which made us feel more like we belonged there as well.The local animals hung out at the mission center as well, night and day. Dogs,big and small were always with us outside but our kids especially fell in love with them. When one of the dogs, Bobo, was tragically hit and killed by a truck in front of the mission center where we stayed we all felt the loss as if it were our own. Nothing in common with these people? Again, hardly!
So while most people would equate Nada, the community, with “nothing”, the 27 people in our group would argue that. We were all enriched by the experience. Haley Reed was on her first mission trip and asked “when can we come back?” For us there was much to do and experience in Nada and for one week we had much in common with them as well, despite our differences. Friendship breaks down the material world boundaries we create.
Missionary and Kentucky native Paula Settle works for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in the area we came to. She organized the various projects that we came to work on. She helps the people in many ways to be more self-supportive such as by holding GED classes and encouraging the local women to make jewelry to sell. She also encourages churches like ours to come and interact with the people and share experiences, not just to come and fix a trailer. We saw in person how money sent to a mission organization is spent and used effectively directly on the people it is intended for. There is a big need but with people like Paula Settle, there is hope. For more information check out these sites:
http://www.thefellowship.info/Missions/Ministries/Together-for-Hope/appalachia
http://www.kybf.org/missions/mountain-hope/
Our mission team from Colonial Avenue Baptist included Melinda, Grace and Maggie Ruble; Jim and Parker Rhodes; Dianne and Jeffrey Hawley; Alva, Alex and Tucker Coleman; Haley Reed; Julianna Abbott; Elaine and Dawson Crews; Linda Miles; Kala Bridgers; Emily Oliver; Elizabeth Hatcher; Debbie and Brennan Scott; Paula, Haley and Bryce Williams; Melissa Scott; Renee, Eric and Tim Thornhill.
Submitted by Tim Thornhill
July 1, 2009 - 11:37 AM
Great report on your trip. Makes me wish I had been there with you. May God continue to bless you and the friends you have in Nada. It is all about relationships – Jesus told us that a long time ago! Thanks for going and giving of yourselves!
Yea.
Yall act like your doing so much for the people of our community and you go write crap about us like you are sure that you are better than us because you think we have “no chance” at becoming anything. Just because a couple of peolple may have dropped out doesn’t mean that we are all destined to end up like that. I’m sure there are plenty of high school drop outs up where you live just as well, our town is just smaller so it seems like more. You talk about us like we are some pathetic little kids who know nothing about the real world. We know a lot more than what you think we do. “Nothing nice about the living conditions.” You guys are supposed to be a church group and have nice things to say. All I’ve noticed through this whole thing is you dogging us and putting us down. Academically as well as financially. Yea. The church tends to help us out alot but me and my family could get along just as good without it. You guys act like you are feeding the starving kids in Africa or something. I understand that you want to help but i mean come on, do you really have to attempt to make us feel sorry for ourselves. I actually look down on you now that I know this is what you were really thinking when you were up here. By the way, Nada is not a county, it is a very small portion of Powell County. We have a city only 10 miles from Nada called Stanton and there are “shopping, restaurants, a drive-inn, and jobs.” We also have all these things in Slade, which is even closer to us. So, I think that next time you want to pick some people to look down upon you should probably get all your “facts” streight don’t you think?
Thanks:)
Charlene, the whole point is to say that money and things are not important in life. That’s what the world needs to realize in general. People are what’s important and that’s what we discovered on our trip. The people of Nada are awesome and income is not what matters in life. Sorry if it didnt come across that way. I agree with you that people with money should be looked down on because they have a harder time seeing what’s really important in life.We always come back from mission trips more blessed by the people we meet than what we do for the them.
Ok so you are saying stuff like oh there isn’t no word for nada there isn’t any places to go and crap like that and saying stuff like nada is nothing but a small poverty place.Well guess what we have friends and family that can do without your support.I meen thanks for everything but when you leave are neighborhood and say crap like that then why do you bother comeing so many church groups put us down if you want poverty people go to Owsley county they need more help but im sure they don’t need you help either.
Saying there isn’t many places to go isn’t an insult to Nada. I was pointing out that a lot of people, not us, judge places by what businesses are there but that isn’t what’s really important. You can go down the road to Stanton and find that kind of thing. I said there are great places to go in Nada relating to nature and outdoors. Some of the best I’ve ever been to. Nada’s a beautiful place. A lot of places have more to do but with that comes bad things too like traffic,noise and crime.Nada is a nice place partly because it doesn’t have a lot of businesses. Yes there is some poverty but the point is that a dying business can cause that anywhere in this country and it’s hard to recover from that.Not blaming anyone for it. Poverty doesn’t make anyone a bad person. It’s not a putdown.Not everyone there is in poverty. It actually shows good character when you can live in an area that doesnt have a lot of jobs and still be good people as I said you all are. We had a great time with the people there and I was pointing out that having lots of things to do wasn’t why.It was the people and natural beauty that make it nice. The article was to point out that smaller places like Nada are worth stopping in.
I think some of the girls have taken some of your words wrong.I do understand what you are saying.And i do say with great pride.I was so proud of my daughter when she walked on stage and got her high school diploma on 6-7-09.And i can see how The people in Nada can make you wonder.As i do my self some time.I do know my children and myself are not on the look out for free food as someone commented on the post.And The word Nada does mean nothing.But we do have many friends here in Nada and from churches that do come here to Nada.But you will have to understand.There has been church groups in the past who have looked down on us in the past and spoken mean of us.We are not rich in wealth but we are very rich as a community that care for one another.And i would rather have that than all the money in the world.As you said we dont look for material things to make us happy and i am glad you seen that.The hair cuts were nice.But with all honsetly i take my daughters to thier own hair salon and i have paid 110.00 to have thier hair layerd and cut and frosted.And i do take my children to the malls and to the movies in lexington.And by making earrings and selling them has helped me to be able to do some of this.Some will take what they can and make us all look like we are begging for hand outs.I do know i have a father who worked up to he was 71 years old.Worked hard with out a education and it was hard on him.Raising us.He worked on a farm.And in saw mills.But we never went hungry.And we always had clothes on our backs and shoes.And i could never be prouder of my dad.And i do hope you have no hard feelings from the misunderstanding.
Thanks Diana.Good to hear from you. We really enjoyed Nada. We were there about 6 years ago and loved it then too like we did this year. The people and the area. It is so peaceful and friendly. And our kids loved playing with the kids there and drinking the Ale-8-1. People dont know what they’re missing in the small communities of our country.The busy lifestyle in the city isn’t all that great. Matter of fact I just got back from Nada again today and brought a friend to experience it too.We spent 2 days with some Nada boys in Cincinnati.We had fun at a baseball game and just enjoyed being together having fun. They were well-behaved and good kids.
I thought Nada Kentucky was so opposite what Nada means in Spanish that it would make the point better but maybe I shouldnt have said it that way.No hard feelings from me, I just hope to continue coming to Nada and having friends there. While I don’t live there it is one of those special places in my life.
We hope to see all of you in Nada again.