A modern-day wagon train hit the trail May 14 as more than 30 people loaded into a dozen or so vehicles and started up I-75 to Campbell County. The official purpose of this Appalachian Pilgrimage was to witness designation of two organizations as Jubilee Centers: the Mountain Community Parent Resource Center in the White Oak community and the Mountain Women’s Exchange in Jellico.

As the caravan wound its way from Knoxville into the hills of East Tennessee, the land grew more rural, and evidence of habitation faded. Near the first destination, asphalt gave way to gravel road, and the trees opened onto a valley. In a kind of parable illustrating how bad and good are two sides of the same coin, the pilgrims learned this cut-out place was the result of strip mining for coal. The mining operation that denuded the land had provided much-needed jobs, but when the costs outweighed the profit, the mining company moved on – and so did the jobs.

The gravel bumped back onto asphalt just before the caravan arrived at the Mountain Community Parent Resource Center. In a small compound of buildings in White Oak, Director June Pyle, two part-time workers and a handful of area volunteers work hard to improve the plight of their community.

A Service of Blessing and Thanksgiving began with Pyle declaring the purpose of the ministry. Bishop Charles vonRosenberg spoke about how those who do outreach are themselves blessed. “Those who feed the hungry and clothe the naked and give water to the thirsty and visit the prisoners and welcome the stranger – those are the people who place themselves at the King’s right hand and are welcomed by the King,” he said.

Later as a plaque was presented to Pyle, vonRosenberg said, “It is our honor to be here and to recognize as a Jubilee Center this outreach ministry. Congratulations to those of you who are engaged in this work and this ministry. Thank you for what you’re doing.”

Children are a big focus for the center, which among other services offers a free preschool, an after-school program, a computer lab for young teens and a tutoring program. The center conducts a drug and alcohol prevention program, from which a handful of promising teens are invited to participate in community service projects in connection with Save the Children, a national organization. Save the Children helped construct the center’s preschool, said Reed Livingston, its Appalachian field director. Joe Brown of the Jellico Housing Authority said his organization contributes space for the center to hold summer youth programs.

Collaboration is an important concept at these centers. Barbara Clinton of the Vanderbilt Center for Health Services took part in the Pilgrimage. Her organization supports a paraprofessional at White Oak who works with mothers to prepare their children to attend school. “A place like this takes people with different expertise to put together,” she said.

One area resident, Tonia Brookman, works at the center in the Woodland Community Land Trust and the Woodland Community Land Corp. “Ninety percent of the land is owned by absentee landowners,” she said. The programs have amassed about 400 acres, on which the community has built 22 homes over the years. “We work on a lease-purchase agreement where these families can own their own homes, but many only make about $8,000 a year,” she said. “They do lawn-mowing, they do crafts, but they have no capital. They can come to us, borrow the money.”

Someone asks Brookman what kind of help the center needs. “We do a lot of hand-holding,” she said, and she suggested classes could be set up to teach the new homeowners how to care for their property. “They’ve never had to do this, and they’re scared to death,” she said.

After lunch, the pilgrimage continued down the road to the Mountain Women’s Exchange in Jellico. Director Wanda Perkins introduced the pilgrims to volunteers, board members and clients. Small groups wandered the facility, asking questions and looking at classrooms, a computer lab and a food pantry.

Like the center in White Oak, Mountain Women’s Exchange meets an amazing volume and variety of needs with limited resources. It schedules literacy and GED classes through Read to Lead; offers evening college-credit classes in a degree program through Carson-Newman College; tutors youth; stages a summer program for children; opens workshops to the community; provides a meeting place for support groups, has an on-site employment service; and gathers and distributes toys to children.

“We work in education at all levels,” Perkins said, and she is particularly proud of the center’s relationship with Carson-Newman College. “Several people have graduated,” she said.

After the Service of Blessing, pilgrims joined Perkins, volunteers and others in a reception to celebrate the Exchange’s new Jubilee Center status.

The designation by the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church links the White Oak and Jellico centers to nearly 800 other centers around the world whose staff members and volunteers minister to poor and oppressed people. Applicant centers must be sponsored by an Episcopal parish or other Episcopal organization, and a lengthy review process ensures designation is made appropriately. Ministries that are designated Jubilee Centers gain access to funding and networking sources.

The Rev. Wade Frye, diocesan Jubilee Officer, said three other ministries in East Tennessee are in the final stages of evaluation, which would bring the diocesan total to 10 Jubilee Centers.