WILL YOU HELP YOUR NEIGHBOR? It Starts With A Woodpile, But It Don't End There. FOA Ep.21

Throughout the fall and winter men and women gather in this mountain community to help their neighbors. Every few weeks they will gather on a Saturday morning, no matter the weather, to cut, split, and chop firewood and load it on trucks and trailers to deliver to those in need.

The wood ministry of the Big Laurel section in Madison County, NC, is an amazing activity. It starts with an annual fundraising event, followed up with workdays throughout the winter where people get together to saw and split wood. Then they deliver it in their pickup trucks to people who are older, disabled, or otherwise not able to cut their own so they will have firewood for the winter to heat their homes.

In this episode we spend a day at the log yard as folks process logs into split firewood and load it to to take to folks in their community and beyond. We talk to the people involved with this wood ministry and to others who discuss what it means to be of service to one’s community. What started as a small group helping a neighbor get firewood for the winter, has grown to hundreds of people working together to provide this life-sustaining service for their community.

This inspiring and heartwarming activity is a wonderful example of being in service to others and events like this are part of a larger network of community support where neighbors help each other. One person might fix a dish to take to a family who has lost a loved one, while another picks up groceries for a friend who can no longer drive.

Anyone interested in helping support this great service can send donations to Foster Creek Baptist Church, 10710 Big Laurel Rd, Marshall, NC, 28753. For additional information on how you can help, contact Eldridge English at 828-774-4899 (North Carolina).

Links:

Foster Creek Baptist Church

  / fostercreekchurch  

Be sure to check out our other episodes and our books about the area at www.barnwellphoto.com