Glenmary Farm, Vanceburg, Kentucky

The Glenmary Group Program or the Glenmary Farm is a retreat like service immersion program for College and High School age students, which offers them an opportunity to serve Lewis County Kentucky. Which is a very poor county located about two hours from Cincinnati, Ohio. We do this by building houses for those of low income, working with the elderly, working with the mentally and physically handicapped, and other odd jobs in the community. The volunteers are also exposed to local culture by going to a multitude of different cultural sites, such as a bluegrass\country site, local speakers on the problems facing people in Appalachia, a different type of church service, and a picnic for local kids. We finish everyday with a reflection guided mostly by the volunteers.

Mission Statement: The Glenmary Farm allows over 500 High School, College aged volunteers to experience the ministry of the Glenmary Home Missioners which is a Catholic society of priests and brothers who, along with coworkers and a cooperating community of Glenmary Home Mission Sisters, is dedicated to serving the spiritual and material needs of people throughout Appalachia, the South and Southwest. Who serve The Catholic minority, by establishing a Church presence in areas where less than three percent of the total population is Catholic. The unclaimed, by testifying to our faith in mission regions where a significant percent of the people have no church affiliation. The poor, through our outreach and work for social justice in counties where the poverty level is almost twice the national average.