West Virginia Houses

Restoring Eden and Christians for the Mountains have long been friends and recently have begun to work together in Appalachian coal towns. Some of our joint projects have been the very successful student witness tours of mountain top removal and meeting with people who are adversely  impacted by the water pollution, flooding, land-slides  and toxic sludge ponds caused by coal mining.

The health costs associated with coal mining are born by the innocent children and women who live nearby. A recent study showed how life span is almost 15 years shorter for them.  Restoring Eden wants to help. An urgent need is to help communities test their water, do health assessments, and advocate for ecosystem integrity.

We have been hampered in our efforts because we had no physical base to operate from and no place for students and volunteers to sleep. I’m excited to announce that Christians for the Mountains received an unsolicited donation large enough to allow us to rent two houses in the beautiful town of Ansted, WV.  This allows Rebekah Epling, a CFTM leader, to live onsite and host and house the many visiting  students and volunteers we are recruiting.

It’s a great place to hang out, especially during the summer. Ansted is the white water capital of West Virginia.  Sadly, it is also the site of the Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster, which involved injuries and deaths as the result of the construction of the Hawks Nest Tunnel near Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, as part of a hydroelectric project. This project is considered to be one of the worst industrial disasters in American history. Click here for information about this tragedy.

This will dramatically increase our ability to effectively serve in these communities. Consider volunteering and bringing some of your church or school mates. Opportunities will abound in remodeling, building bunk beds, planting a garden, painting, setting up an office. After that we will also start visiting communities and working with local churches to gather  information on their community health and sampling water for testing.