Reflection
	Our trip to Dry Creek, West Virginia introduced us to a lifestyle like none that we had ever seen or experienced before.  The people of Dry Creek endure painful hardships due to the mountain topography, the floods from the rivers, and the exploitation by the coal mines.  The men who give their lives to toiling in the coal mines each day often develop physical disabilites that impede them from working at a relatively young age.  While they were usually underpaid during their employment, this does not even compare to the little amount they receive once retired.  It is barely enough to sustain their families, let alone repair their homes once ravaged by floods.  Marge Booth, supported by church and parish organizations, endeavors to help these people once they can no longer help themselves.  She visits various homes once the complaints have been lodged, and then determines just what needs to be done on each home.  Although the families usually only report one deficiency on their house, Marge almost always discovers countless other flaws that make their houses practically unlivable.  Instead of simply repairing what is most obviously a problem, Marge adheres to the motto of making every home she works on "warm, safe, and dry."  She insits on staying with a house until she is satisfied that these three criteria have been met.  For this reason, we were felt like we were actually making a significant contribution to the homes on which we worked.    The first house we arrived at, the home of the Jackson family, daunted us by the amount of repair required.  The wife, Bobbie Jackson, was quickly losing her eyesight.  Because of this, an addition was built on the two-story house so that Bobbie would no longer have to traverse the dangerous stairs to do menial tasks such as laundry.  When we arrived, the addition was simply a bunch of two-by-fours with the outside paneling already in place.  We quickly learned how to panel a ceiling, run wiring, build a wall, fix a leaky roof, and much, much more.  Bobbie, though quiet by nature, would stop in to see us working and repeatedly expressed her gratitude.  Her husband, Chester, stayed by us much more.  Chester built the home by himself, and his torture at not being able to help us repair it was obvious.  Chester had worked in the coal mines and developed a debilitating case of black-lung, so while we desperately wished he could stay where we were working, we frequently had to ask that he leave, since the dust and dirt wouldn't impede his breathing.  Compliments from Chester were extremely gratifying, for we knew he was an excellent judge.     During the middle of the week, our group split up into two, so that half of us could travel to another house and help a different family.  This family, the Asburys, consisted of Roger and Stella Asbury, their daughter Shannon, and her son, Nathan.  Roger had worked in the coal mines for 19 years, when unfortunately, one year before earning his pension, there was a collapse in the mine he was working at, and he suffered a broken back-- something from which he still today, has not fully recovered.   Their home was severely