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Letter
Volume
8, Issue 1
Jubilee Project, PO
Box 657, Sneedville,
TN 37869 423-733-4195
Fall, 2007
stevejubilee@bellsouth.net Website http://jubileeproject.holston.org
Advance
Specials:
Program & Staff #781350-4, Hodges Salary Support #781325-3
Holston Conference
#3500-301-56
Dear Friends, this has been a busy year for us at
Jubilee
Project! Several staff changes have
meant we, especially Steve, have unexpectedly spent much time training
new
staff, even as opportunities for ministry suddenly began multiplying in
many
areas of our work. All of this has meant
time demands increased greatly; sorry we haven’t written more, but we
have much
to tell!
Our work with small businesses through the Clinch Powell
Community Kitchens and the Appalachian Spring Cooperative and Clinch
Appalachian Artisans Cooperative are growing in important ways.
The use of the Kitchen is increasing, both as
our previous kitchen users sell more of their products, and as new
small
businesses seek us out. Growing interest from local school districts in
buying
potato wedges made in the Kitchen from local farmers to replace deep
fried
potatoes, promises to increase Kitchen use even further.
Appalachian Spring Cooperative sold 2 ½ times
as much in gift baskets last Christmas, as the one before.
It too is moving toward greater financial
self-sufficiency, with a goal of increasing sales at least 30% this
year.
Clinch Appalachian Artisans
Cooperative continues
to gain new members, and greatly increased the numbers attending its
second
annual local Art at Elrod Falls Festival.
Both cooperatives have improved their websites, and made them
easier for
customers to buy member products (
www.apspringcoop.com,
www.clinchartists.com)
God is opening up exciting new opportunities in Steve’s
work!
Entrepreneurship: Two years ago
Steve helped started and still coordinates a statewide entrepreneurship
network, the Tennessee Alliance for Local Enterprise, with the goal of
removing
obstacles to and opening up opportunities for small business. TALENT
just held
its 2
nd Annual Tennessee Entrepreneurship Conference, and
established
a committee of 9 persons from around the state to plan a process for
developing
a statewide entrepreneurship strategy.
Farm-to-School: Three years ago, Steve helped begin a project
helping
local farmers sell to local schools.
This year we are working with 15 farmers and 3 school districts,
and
have begun talking with a nearby larger school district.
A state legislator has contacted Steve to get
his help in drafting what will be Tennessee’s first farm-to-school
legislation,
which will make it clear that local school districts can preferentially
buy
local food, will adjust bidding requirements to allow small- and
medium-sized
farms to bid on portions of school food needs, and which will involve
farmers
in working out the documentation of food safety and quality standards.
Retail Store: For the last year, Steve has
led a diverse group of people in studying the feasibility of a retail
store in
nearby
Kingsport
that would feature almost completely foods raised and processed from
local
farmers.
A written feasibility study is
almost completed and shows exciting prospects for the success of such a
store.
Chamber: Steve was elected
President of the local Sneedville/Hancock Chamber and Community
Partners, and
has played a larger role in keeping the local
county Fall
Festival going and in other efforts helping the county with economic
development.
Diantha’s work is blooming – literally! With a major initial boost from a summer
intern, Diantha has helped the local elementary school develop a school
garden.
Her work with adults has prospered too: the county leadership program
she
coordinates has doubled the number of persons wanting to participate,
and begun
to receive modest funding from local businesses. It
has been very gratifying to Diantha that
the local Drug Use Prevention Coalition that she helped get started has
developed new leaders: while Diantha continues as treasurer, others
have
stepped forward to take on the chair, vice-chair and secretary
positions.
The big news in Jubilee’s youth program is that
two of our
recent high school graduates have applied to Berea College,
as a direct result of visiting it as part of a Jubilee Youth trip. Randy Hildebrant’s work with youth and work
camps is greatly aided by a new Mission Intern, Stephanie Kellner, who
is with
us for a little over a year. Work camps
have helped us finish a second handicapped-accessible home and get a
third one
under roof this year. We may have more
news later this year or next about a possible collaborative project to
develop
a Christian recreation and activity center in Sneedville.
In addition to progress in many areas of Jubilee’s
work, we
are grateful that salary support for us has remained very strong. But we are at a low point in donations that
can go for general expenses that are essential like secretary and
bookkeeper
salaries, utilities, and insurance. We
also have a special need for a commercial size refrigerator for our
workcamps
to use.
We both continue to be much involved in church
work. Diantha continues to play piano (and
occasionally cello) for Sneedville United Methodist Church, and is the
new
Chair of the Outreach Ministry Team for the church where she is
encouraging the
church’s Mission Committee and increasing awareness and involvement in
caring
for God’s Creation. Steve is
currently
Church Council Chair, and has just begun his fourth year
of
teaching Disciple Bible Study at the church.
He chairs the Holston Conference Outreach Advocacy Ministry Team
(the
equivalent of Board of Church and Society in other conferences), and
has played
a part in starting task forces on Health Care and Domestic Violence
which are
operating largely without his help now.
Currently Steve is taking a leading role in starting cross-team
task
forces on Biblical Hospitality to Immigrant Neighbors, Advocacy
Coordination,
and Caring for God’s Creation. Steve
will attend the 2008 General Conference as an alternate, and will be a
delegate
to the 2008 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference.
In family news, our daughters are grown and
scattered, and
we see them when we can.
Our eldest
daughter Hope is 26 and is a massage therapist in the
Washington DC
area, starting a private practice.
Her
fiancé, Schuyler Cunningham, has been working for Shore Bank in
DC.
Our second daughter Joy is 24 and just
moved
to
Asheville, North Carolina where she is getting
settled;
she has no job yet, but is bartering renovation work for rent and is
very
active in transformational theater groups.
Our youngest daughter Sugi (Sarah Grace) has been in Eugene
Oregon for a
year working on organic farms and gaining extensive knowledge and
skills (and
muscle); she will travel back to this area of the mountains in November.
Steve’s mother Peg is enjoying life at an
excellent
assisted living center in
Pleasant
Hill, Tennessee,
3
hrs away.
Diantha’s parents, Don and
Grace, live in the same retirement community in
Pleasant Hill, so we go see all three
many
weekends. While the mission work at Jubilee and our church involvements
keep us
pretty busy, we do try to get away occasionally to see family, and
starting
this summer, to use our new inflatable kayak on the rivers and streams
of the
beautiful mountains of our region!
LOTS OF LOVE, Steve and Diantha Hodges
ATTENTION Mission
Chairs
HODGES MISSION
LETTER
