The (Fine) Art of Customer Service

There are multiple facets to my job responsibilities: pre-trip communication with groups, tracking of center finances, project database updates, project site visits and the corresponding (photographic) tracking of construction progress, evening gathering planning and delivery, food inventory and ordering (eventually. my partner-in-crime in the office is handling this task at the present while I tackle finances), maintaining our center's social media presence, and other basic preparations conducted every week as we prepare to receive new groups of volunteers. Behind the fancy jargon and the lengthy list of responsibilities that constitute my job description, however, lies the core principle that my job is one of customer service. 

Customer Service? Maybe it isn't the label that you would intuitively place on my position: an Office & Volunteer Coordinator for a non-profit, home renovation organization in Appalachia. Or maybe you've worked for a non-profit before and realize that without invested buy-in from all parties involved, a non-profit organization's gears just don't turn. At ASP, customer service as an essential characteristic of my job stems, for me, from our vision statement that takes a two-fold approach: "that substandard housing in Central Appalachia will be eradicated and that everyone who comes into contact with this ministry will be transformed." I'll touch on my experiences with the first part of the vision statement ("that substandard house in Central Appalachia will be eradicated") another day, but today's reflections are about that second part, "that everyone who comes into contact with this ministry will be transformed."
In just two weeks of hosting volunteers at ASP's Jonesville center, I have interacted with, assisted and guided groups from Mississippi, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio and Illinois. From- the most basic- pointing out where the directions for the coffeemaker are (Answer: taped to the wall, just behind the coffee pot itself), to -the slightly more challenging- checking in on volunteer morale on their construction sites and reconciling volunteer mobility with limited top bunk vs. bottom bunk housing arrangements, to- the mildly intimidating- delivering a teaching that challenged volunteers to evaluate what they are chasing in life, I have engaged in more intimate customer service than at, well, Burger King where Have it Your Way is the attending M.O. Truthfully, while facilitating excellent experiences for volunteers is likely the most demanding aspect of my position this year, it is also one of the principle reasons that I accepted the fellowship. Having the opportunity to get to know and hear the stories of volunteers from all over the country will be some of the most treasured experiences that I will take away from this year in Appalachia. Further, however cliché it may sound, I don't think I've ever met a stranger in my life so a chance to meet and connect with new individuals and their stories on a weekly basis is something like a dream come true.

But wait, my customer service efforts certainly don't end with the volunteers that will pass through ASP Jonesville from now until August 2014; the families that we serve are important recipients too of our careful efforts and best ministry work. Our organization's founder Glenn Evans is infamously know for the following saying:

We accept people right where they are, just the way they are.

In just a month of living here in Appalachia, I have witnessed need, in home after home, of a degree greater than any other part of the country that I have ever seen. Need is need; I truly believe that and know that my work is driven dually this year, first by ASP's organizational commitments to earnestly serving our family clients in the homes where we work. Our "checklist" as we strive to improve their homes, via volunteers' efforts, is to ensure that their homes are warmer, safer and drier. Relationship building is the second, more subjective, yet just as important, piece of our interactions with families. Our community work and the trusted friendships we try to build with families serve as both distinctive associations to and active stakeholders in the formation of ASP's longstanding ministry and identity.

So when I share tales of playing cards with volunteers, or listening to their ASP trip stories from years or even decades prior, or chatting for an hour with one of our families just to hear about how her kids are doing in school, you, dearest reader, shan't chide me for "slacking off" on the job. As my supervisor here in Jonesville likes to say, "We're really a relationship ministry with a little construction on the side." It's all about customer service.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Our team in Jonesville has made it through week one of volunteers and in fact, has already dove headfirst into week two of volunteer work crews here at ASP. Last week our work crews dug drainage ditches, built an entire handicap ramp, installed siding, hung new drywall on walls and ceilings, and sealed decks, along with several other projects. While the majority of our week consisted of just a smaller group of 10 from Decatur, Mississippi, Thursday evening through Sunday morning included a large addition of about 45 volunteers from Wakefield United Methodist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina and Shiloh United Church of Christ from Dayton, Ohio. Friday's work went fairly smooth with all the crews out at their sites, but on Saturday, water came in the form of drizzle, and rain, and solid sheets that I would put in the classification of monsoon style.

I had already decided where I wanted to direct my focus for this blog post and then remembered that I had just written about rain in my previous entry. Don't pass me off as a Debbie Downer, okay? I promise that, one, it truly hasn't rained a great deal since I have arrived here in Jonesville, and two, that my next blog entry will have no such soggy, negative allusions.

Two cultural generalities struck me on Saturday, comparatively speaking between (northern) Argentina and the United States. The rain started out as a slower drizzle, progressively working its way to a steady downpour by midday. At that point, a few groups came back to the center because their outdoor work seemed impossible or unsafe at the home sites. Hypothetically speaking, in Chaco with an ominous overcast sky and almost inevitable threat of impending intensified rainfall, I have my doubts that groups of chaqueños would have even headed out to their work sites in the first place. While I was teaching high school English, it was not uncommon that I would have just three, or four, or five students in a class on a rainy day. There was one particular day that I remember that we had one student show up. That's right folks, one single young man out of the entire 300+ member student body (that's an approximate guestimation) reported for classes on one rainy day.

Let me anticipate your next question: Why (don't they go to school)? Some of the reasoning has to do with transportation and that even within the city of Resistencia, there are many streets that are not paved. Thus, if students get to school by walking, or motorcycle, or even public bus in some instances, the transit becomes extremely difficult if not impossible as streets become impassable mud pits. Secondly, and maybe just as influential in many homes, is the custom that parents simply don't insist that their children go to school on days when it is raining.  Where that custom originates from, I'm not sure, but it most assuredly exists.

Here in Virginia on Saturday, a volunteer who actually stayed on his site, hanging siding for a time despite the rain, told me that at one point it felt as if he was standing directly below a waterfall. Unceasing waves of water cascaded off the roof onto his then very floppy fisherman's hat. His improvised garbage bag-turned-poncho had essentially vacuum sucked itself against his clothes and skin. Eventually he did have to take a rain-induced timeout from his work because he literally could not see what he was doing. Yep, not happening in Argentina.

I did note, however, a cultural similarity amid the soggy conditions that plagued our work on Saturday. I believe there is something inherently human about a desire to remain dry and a non-desire to complete work on those rainy days. As opposite as our two cultures may be in how we actually conduct business on a rainy day, many volunteers' morale illustrated how they felt about doing work on an otherwise gloomy day. In practice, this takes the form of individuals who return to our center, say they'd like to work in the center, and then sort of halfheartedly take on the tasks that are assigned to them. I can't say that I blame them for feeling or reacting that way; I probably would lean towards doing the same. And so, I would say that inexplicable urge to be snuggled up in sweats, cuddled up under a blanket, coddling a cup of coffee (or tea, or whatever makes you warm inside), and settled in to watch a favorite movie is something human we all share, at least in Argentina and the United States.

Running with Raindrops

I went running last Thursday afternoon. Not special enough for you? (and, yes, I've gone running multiple times since then.)

Ok, I went running in the rain last Thursday afternoon. Still not cutting it?

Then I'll throw my last card on to the table : I went running in the rain in Jonesville, Virginia's Cumberland Bowl Park (aka The Bowl) last Thursday afternoon. Besides the fact that I find running in the rain extremely liberating (as strange as you think it may sound) my big news to share in this post is that I'll be blogging live this year from Jonesville, Virginia , more specifically, from the Appalachia Service Project site in Jonesville. I'm working as a Office & Volunteer Coordinator for ASP and with our first group of volunteers on site already this week, bustling is a pretty accurate term to reflect the tenor of our lives on the hill.

Since you've probably never heard of Appalachia Service Project before, I'll start with what you might find on a FAQ page. ASP was founded in 1969 by Methodist Reverend Glenn "Tex" Evans. Originally, from Texas, he was a bit of an unconventional man who moved to Appalachia and, after 13 years at the Henderson Settlement in Kentucky, started recruiting youth to work alongside him to complete much needed home repairs throughout impoverished Appalachia. Now in its 44th year, ASP is still driven by that same mission, making homes Warmer. Safer. and Drier. and creating transformative experiences for all who come into contact with ASP: families who receive assistance, communities where we work, and volunteers who are still responding to the call to help others in need.

My position this year as a Lilly endowed fellow places me among a team of: one other Office & Volunteer fellow (from Lima, Ohio), two Construction fellows (from Greeneville, TN and Damascus, MD) and our Center Supervisor and his family (from Akron, OH). All the fellows arrived here in Jonesville for training just two and a half weeks ago and we welcomed our first group of volunteers (from Decatur, MS) into Jonesville's center already this week. Needless to say that our first week of training was full of session, after session, after session of finance, volunteer number tracking, community relations, evening gathering planning, etc. Week two was more "training" of a very hands-on, go-out-into-Lee-county, and preparatory nature. ASP Jonesville is a busy place, and our volunteer center/quarters can house nearly 100 volunteers if I'm not mistaken! Thus, you can be sure to expect many a fantastic tale to reach my blog pages this year.

And so I've laid the framework for this next year of professional, personal and spiritual growth, soon to be followed by entries of a more specific and critical nature. If you know me and have ever read this blog in the past, you know that I'd rather not write this entry's type of detail-oriented account; I'm ready to jump in with an anecdote and provide some analysis on what I think it has revealed to me about the culture where I'm living. With that, I hope I leave you, dear reader, with a desire to follow along on my journey with ASP this year!