Pursuits of Happiness picture , the work they did was essential to our mission too and honestly was pretty impressive for volunteers .
JEB : So other than Norwich and Harvard …
JS : I think there were all kind of different groups from across the country , although there was this national collation that organized the initial trips , it became a much more decentralized . Other resources included reaching out to other teams like the Harvard team there was also the Millbury Federated Church in Millbury MA , and then to a woman named Linda Chadwick of the Disaster Relief Team in Eastern NC . But what was interesting in keeping with the trips , I think that a lot of the people in our group , every year they got a little better . Their sheet rocking skills and their carpentry skills , they would come back with more tools and we got better and better in what we did .
We learned what skills sets we needed and sometimes it felt like we were very much over our heads , like , oh my Gosh , how are we going to figure this one out . But we always did , somehow . And sometimes we would reach out to other churches . What happened a lot of times there was the black church that we were working on and were helping build or do construction at and then we needed to find a place to stay down there . And what I learned was is there aren ’ t a lot of integrated churches . It ’ s either a black church or a white church , predominantly . And that ’ s the way the south still is . And a lot of times we would make contacts with a white church nearby and they would say ‘ we ’ ll put you guys up , we have a real nice basketball court you can sleep on and youth rooms .’
JEB : A bunch of cots and sleeping bags .
JS : Or whatever was there and a lot of times they had people that had knowledge that we could rely on and we would end up sometimes putting these two churches together that had no connections to each other .
JEB : To help rebuild too ?
JS : Yes . Initially to help us find resources but also to help . But prior to us coming , they would have had never thought of going across town and help this church . While we were coming from a two-day drive from Vermont , it then amazed them that our kids , these high school students , were taking ten days of their vacation time to drive two days on a hot smelly bus to get dirty and grubby and work eight hour days . Our groups cooked for ourselves and cleaned up for ourselves and slept in sleeping bags for ten days -- and they were just really inspired by that .
JEB : And so said , we ’ ll come help you too . JS : Yeah .
JEB : And it never occurred to them to go the town over and help until you guys showed up .
JS : Yes . Sometimes it seemed like what we were doing was so unusual and unexpected , it was a catalyst for change .
JEB : That ’ s fascinating . So back to 2000 , your first visit …
JS : On my first visit in 2000 , we went to Commerce , Georgia , but on our way down there , there was a black church in South Carolina that our group had worked on the year before and they were having a dedication type ceremony to welcome our crew back and some other crews back .
JEB : And there was a dedication to your folks ?
JS : Yes , all of the volunteers were honored guests of the dedication and the kids got to walk into this beautiful sanctuary that they were sheet rocking and climbing around in and doing work they year before . And they were welcomed with such open arms …
JEB : Oh , I ’ m sure .
JS : Like heroes from Vermont that came to help us with our church . And that was really moving , but what was incredibly moving was a service led by bishop Theodore Myers , who I think is still is the pastor of the church down there . He was an AMAZING speaker and orator . So as everyone crowded in there … what tends to happen is that all these white volunteer high school kids and crew tend to sit together and the people who are members of the churches and the locals , they were sort of sitting together with people they knew and it wasn ’ t terribly integrated in the pews .
JEB : Right .
JS : And then there was another speaker , who was the Volunteer Coordinator for the Interfaith Coalition Rebuilding Partnership . His name was Ed Pitner and the title of his message was “ Us and Them .” And it was all about how human beings tend to create artificial barriers between each other based on differences and this is something that has happened throughout time …
JEB : And of course , today .
JS : And that ’ s why we have wars . And it ’ s happening a lot today which is why lately I keep going back to that moment . He was going through this sermon and at one point he asked us to do something that must have taken some courage on his part , and took a lot of courage on our part . He said get up from your pews and go sit with peo-
10 THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • WINTER 2017 www . vtbar . org