The Christ School Mission Alive!

Mr. Powell,

My name is Seth Early and I am an Environmental Health Program Specialist for Buncombe County Environmental Health in North Carolina. I am sending you this email because I had the opportunity to meet a group of your students, staff, and parents this week and feel that the thoughts that I have after this meeting are worth sharing with you. I am a regulator for Buncombe County NC, but I live in Haywood County NC. As part of my work with the county I have come to know and deeply appreciate ReCreation Experiences and their role in our community. When their groups are working in Buncombe County I have to interact in more of the official capacity of my employment, but when the groups work outside of Buncombe, I have the opportunity to volunteer my time and knowledge and work alongside their groups. This was the case with the group that spent part of this week here in the mountains from your school.

I am not certain how much you have heard about the task that was at hand for your group, but they were given a challenge of immense proportions and they rose to it efficiently and fervently. The group came to my home county and served one of my neighbors (literally about 1.5 miles down the road from the house I just sold) and blessed her with love and service. They spent two days involved in sheer backbreaking physical labor as they hand dug a completely new septic system on her property. This is work that is typically done with heavy equipment and that most people would never entertain the idea of undertaking by hand. They dug 150′ (actually 160′ because someone who shall remain nameless measured the ditches a little long when he laid things out) of ditch, 3′ in width, and 20″-25″ in depth, installed the trench material and covered it up. All this in a day and a half on the property!

I just want to tell you that I was absolutely blown away by your group! First of all the staff that came with the students were absolutely amazing. I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Coryell, Mrs. Ross, and Coach Vais. The interaction between these leaders and their students was nothing short of awe inspiring. The staff are true leaders for these young people. They quickly demonstrated to me that they were not only willing to lead by direction, but that they had a great commitment to leading by example. To watch them standing alongside the students with shovel, pick, or rake in hand, working as hard as they could was a true blessing. I have worked alongside with or inspected for many of the groups with ReCreation and several other similar organizations and often do not see this deep commitment to leadership by example (both in attitude and labor). Secondly the parents that came as chaperones were awesome! Again, I was encouraged by the commitment that they had to these students and to the work that they were there to do. They never backed down from the task at hand, and encouraged the students with a committed spirit and demeanor and this commitment helped to keep the students focused and driven to achieve the goals of the task placed in front of them. Finally, I cannot begin to explain how impressed I was with your students! These young people were absolutely great! They never complained, they just served. They knew what they were there to do, and they did it. Not to mention the first day the sun beat down without a cloud in the sky, and the second day it barely reached 50 degrees and the rain and wind blew the entire time they worked! It always amazes me to watch these groups come to an unfamiliar area, far away from the comfort of home and without all of their normal amenities, and never back down from a chance to serve. Your group, however, was one of the most productive I have ever seen! They accomplished more in one day with the septic than any other group their size (and even some larger) has accomplished. Many of the groups I have worked with are older, and if I am being honest I was a little concerned when I heard that the group consisted of only seventh graders, but they proved me wrong! You truly have a great group, and I hope that this type of ministry is continued to be supported and encouraged at your school, because I know the difference that it makes on both sides of those involved. Each one of these groups I meet or work with continues to change and encourage me, but your particular group did so in a huge way! Thank for being obedient to the path that is set before you and the school, and thanks for the opportunity for me to have a very small involvement in it!

Sincerely,

Seth Early, REHS

Buncombe County Environmental Health