WSA Mission Statement

As women, we strive to raise awareness of the economic, social, and environmental challenges and experience the rich cultural heritage of Appalachia, by providing regional volunteer opportunities of service, word, and prayer rooted in a Catholic tradition.

Our History

By Eugenie Coakley

After 10 years of becoming and maturing, Glenmary’s Farm Volunteer Program in Vanceburg began to bear much fruit. In 1982, People’s Self-Help Housing was started by Glenmary Brother Bob Hoffman, an accomplished carpenter, in partnership with Sr. Fran Bartos (an Adrian Dominican). In the area, there was a great need for affordable, quality housing, as well as for employment.

In 1984, a women’s volunteer program was added to the programs at "The Farm," called Appalachian Volunteer Week for Women (or AVW for short). This program was created by Glenmary Sr. Catherine Shoenborn, from Michigan, vocation director at the time. While other collaborators may have been the "idea people," she has been described as the "hard worker" type – never leading Farm week, but helping out. Humble, practical hard worker - surely a fitting description of many women who have volunteered at The Farm ever since.

By the mid-1990’s AVW was thriving, often running two programs of 20-30 women each. Three sisters collaborated to organize the program: Sr. Lynne Wrocklage of Glenmary; Sr. Brenda Gonzales, a Sister of Charity of Nazareth, Kentucky; and Sr. Pat Twohill, an Adrian Dominican. The charisma of each order shared commonalities in their focus on service to the poor, respect for the Earth, and empowerment of women. Sr. Lynne kept AVW grounded in justice issues, simplicity, and engendering an appreciation of the beauty of Appalachian music and crafts. Sr. Brenda kept AVW grounded in multi-culturalism, charity, and in balancing work and prayer. She is the creator of the Bread Service and the original prayer book.

But time marched on. By 1996, all three sisters were working in new ministries and there was a realization by their orders that vocations were not coming from the AVW program. For these reasons, the decision was to stop sponsoring AVW. By this time, there was a core of lay women very experienced in staffing the AVW program who were willing to take up the program themselves. They had worked directly with many of the good Glenmary brothers and priests who "came and stayed" for a period on the Farm: Brother Virg Siefker, Brother Curt Kedley, and Fr. Tom Kirkendoll, as well as Sr. Brenda and Sr. Lynne. They had experienced The Farm before the AA Highway was built, or the road to the Farm was paved, when potable water had to be brought over from the church, when using the outhouse was the ONLY option, and when the kitchen pantry was frequented by mice. They were: Nancy Fitzgerald-Bellovary, Barbara Stygles, Carolyn Wright, Jillian Stokes, Eugenie Coakley, Vicki Koertner, and Sr. Brenda Gonzales. Within a couple of years they were joined by Cynthia Anthony.

These women realized that they had the skill to incorporate and continue the program, if they each contributed their unique skills. Eugenie was the business planner and organizer, Jillian the lawyer, Nancy and Carolyn the most experienced Farm Week staffers, and Barbara generously contributed the seed money to keep the company afloat. Vicki was our main Kentucky contact. At a meeting in Chicago, at Sr. Brenda’s apartment, the group wrote a mission statement, named the organization and authorized Eugenie and Jillian to move ahead with the Articles of Incorporation in the fall of 1996. WSA was incorporated January 17, 1997. The first president was Vicki, then Eugenie, and now Cindy.

Immediately after informing Glenmary Home Missions that we were organizing and requested a summer week, WSA ran into it’s first difficulty. Glenmary didn’t believe we could survive independently and suggested that we turn our bank account over to them and let them run our week – basically suggesting that the small group of organizers were always welcome to have their own week, but not bother trying to recruit new volunteers. Brother Virg was sent to meet with the group in Ohio. It was an awkward discussion, but WSA remained independent. Since then, the collaboration between the organizations has grown and has only been positive.

WSA is small and all volunteer, but our accomplishments are great. Over the past ten years, more than 150 women have experienced our Farm Week, which has changed over time to include outreach to New Hope Clinic. Many have participated in Project Merry Christmas. We did our part for Hurricane Katrina relief. We’ve even had one vocation!

That, in a nutshell, describes our roots. We are a lay-lead organization born from the work of communities of women religious. In many ways, we are an outgrowth of the Spirit of Vatican II, and a harbinger of the changes in the Church today.