“Highway” 12 winds through southeast West Virginia linking larger highways to rural communities tucked into the hills that make the oldest mountain range in the world. It’s out there, just off Highway 12, that Bethlehem Farm can be found. The Farm consists of a home/retreat center, a scattering of out-buildings, gardens and a cemetery. A second story deck wraps around the retreat center with garlic, sacks of onions and hammocks hanging from the outdoor rafters. Inside, Tibetan Prayer Flags hang among clothes drying from the rails of the second floor loft. The group-sing songbook, Rise Up Singing, rests on the piano near the doorway as visitors are welcomed home to Bethlehem Farm Community.
Although the physical beauty and order of Bethlehem Farm is striking, the heart of the program rests in its intentionality. One foundational concept of many volunteer programs with which the Pallotti Center partners is their emphasis on intentional community.
To understand community we can turn to the webpage of another program, Good Shepherd Volunteers.
They explain:
“Volunteers live in an intentional community where they provide support to one another, share their experiences of service, and commit to building open and honest relationships.”Intentional communities recognize a group is greater than the sum of its parts. Goals are set, commitments encouraged, accountability is enforced, compassion is embodied and patience is learned within community.
Emphases differ based on the spirit of any given community. Gateway Vincentian Volunteers follow the framework laid out in the charism of St. Vincent DePaul and his call to serve the poor. Maggie’s Place – “a community that provides houses of hospitality for expectant mothers who are alone or are living on the streets” – is committed to life and the dignity of the human person, trust in God, and hospitality.
Bethlehem Farm Community discerns priorities through four gospel based values: prayer, community, simplicity and service. These values influence each decision, from choosing not to have cell phones and no till gardening, to outdoor showers and air drying clothes, garlic and onions. Community members come together in prayer each morning and eating meals throughout the day. Caretakers (full-year volunteers) tend The Farm in addition to working in rural ministry, retreat planning and providing hospitality for high school and college volunteers serving the Appalachian region for a week.
The Bethlehem Farm Community is in need of a few more caretakers for this coming year. You can learn more by visiting Bethlehem Farm’s Website.
* Picture credited to Bethlehem Farm.