United Methodist Church of Geneva volunteers repair a home in rural Charleston, West Virginia, during a 42nd annual Appalachian Service Project June 15-22.
Courtesy of United Methodist Church of Geneva

United Methodist Church of Geneva went a little bit country at the July 21 service.

A half dozen congregants sang and played “Rocky Top” and “Take Me Home, Country Roads” to accompany reflections from a recently completed mission trip to Charleston, West Virginia. The tunes accompanied speeches from leaders and videotapes of volunteer testimonies and projects.

Thirty youth and adults from the Geneva church put faith into action with their 42nd annual Appalachian Service Project June 15-22.

Geneva UMC members Mike and Julie Popplewell co-coordinated the church’s participation in Appalachian Service Project. Team members carpooled in five 15-passenger vans to Kanawha County for a week of repairing four rural homes.

Appalachian Service Project, a Johnson City, Tenn.-based nonprofit, serves Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

Mike Popplewell said, “We worked daily Monday through Friday from about 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Work included weatherizing homes and mobile homes with insulation and underpinning, applying vinyl siding, and installing interior flooring and a bathroom replacement.”

A main project involved gutting a formerly vacant house and preparing it to be completely rehabbed into a new home to be gifted to a deserving applicant through a partnership with the city and Appalachian Service Project.

Julie Popplewell, Katy Howell and their crew were tasked with removing all walls and ceilings down to the studs.

“We came back each day covered in dust and soot and worked each day wearing masks and eye protection, so when we took off our goggles and gloves there were lines where the dirt stopped and our skin began!” Julie said.

Mike Popplewell added, “Group evening activities included reflecting on what it means to live and work in an economically depressed area like the Appalachian Mountains. Each night we circled up at 10 p.m. and shared our thoughts from the day — it helps us all process what we are seeing and doing- especially for the youth.”

“Midweek activities included a picnic with local homeowners and their families, with food and fellowship and delicious ice cream desserts at a local dairy bar.”

Appalachian Service Project volunteers support the local economy when possible by purchasing snacks, gas and other supplies locally.

Volunteers were housed at a local downtown church, sleeping on cots and air mattresses in a gymnasium. Appalachian Service Project lined up local volunteers to cook meals Sunday evening through Friday evening.

According to Popplewell, Geneva UMC volunteers contributed a minimum $300 each for transportation, gasoline and tolls. He added, “The church offers need-based scholarships because we wouldn’t want anything to get in the way of a student participating if they’re interested!”

Pre-trek group fundraisers included car washes, write-a-letter-home campaigns and selling chocolate-covered strawberries for Valentines day. Other fundraisers included a chili cook-off and a meat sale with Geneva’s local Country Village Meats, where the market donated a portion of the proceeds.

Additionally, congregants contributed donations for doughnuts served after worship services and some members sponsored individual participants.

The team gathered at the church on June 14 for a potluck dinner. After dinner, volunteers packed vans and met with adult leaders for last-minute details. The team departed at 7 a.m. June 15.

Geneva UMC Pastor Rob Hamilton led a send-off ceremony for the team during the previous Sunday’s service.

The chairman of West Virginia’s Democratic Party says it’s time to rally around Kamala Harris as the party’s nominee.

West Virginia’s Republican senator contends that if incumbent President Joe Biden isn’t up for a general election run then he should resign.

And the Republican nominee for governor, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, is repeating a call for Biden to be removed from office under the Constitution’s 25th Amendment.

That represents a range of reaction in West Virginia since Biden, 81, announced on Sunday afternoon that he will not seek re-election. Since then, Democrats across the country have swiftly backed Harris, the vice president who has already locked up enough support from convention delegates to gain the nomination and whose ascension prompted more than $100 million in campaign contributions over just the past couple of days.

Biden has announced he will give a prime-time address from the White House at 8 p.m. Wednesday on his decision to exit the presidential race.

“I will address the nation from the Oval Office on what lies ahead, and how I will finish the job for the American people,” he said in a post on X.

Harris, 59, is the first female vice president, first Black and first Asian-American vice president. She was a U.S. Senator from California from 2017 to 2021 and served as attorney general of California from 2011 to 2017. Before that, she was a prosecutor in California.

West Virginia’s delegates to the Democratic National Convention on Monday evening announced their support for Kamala Harris to lead the presidential ticket. West Virginia has 25 delegates to the convention, plus two alternates.

“We had a deliberate, long, healthy discussion and debate over what to do, and we voted — took a voice vote — to endorse the nomination of Vice President Harris,” said Mike Pushkin, chairman of the Democratic Party in West Virginia, speaking on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”

“When President Biden decided not to seek re-election — and I think he did so in a truly selfless act that’s so rare in politics these days; like you never see somebody stepping away from power like that and putting the country first — and when he did so he endorsed his vice president.”

Pushkin continued, “So she is the obvious choice. She is vetted. She is ready. And I believe the fundraising totals have shown that she is ready to do the job to take on Donald Trump.”

He said it’s time to coalesce around a candidate, Harris, and get on with campaigning. The Democratic Party was roiled with questions about the top of the ticket after Biden appeared at a late June debate against Trump with a soft voice and lost his train of thought several times.

“We’ve lost a lot of time. Since the debate, the discussion has been all about whether or not Joe Biden should stay in, whether he shouldn’t stay in — and, meanwhile, Donald Trump has been skating free without a whole lot of criticism

Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., has endorsed Trump, at 78 now the oldest presidential nominee in U.S. history, in the general election. She has been a regular critic of Biden’s administration, particularly on issues of inflation and border security. Following Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race, she released a statement saying the incumbent should resign the office. 

“I think it was apparent after his performance at the debate that he is not up to the job, up to the campaign — and then you could see the piling on. I said facetiously, the train’s coming — it’s just a matter of when it’s going to hit you. So I think that’s what happened. I think he made the right decision for himself, for the country and for everybody else involved. I have other questions around it, but I think it was the right decision,” Capito said on “The Dave Allen Show” on WCHS Radio.

She continued by suggesting that if the president isn’t up to campaigning for another four-year term, then he is not up to serving out the next five months.

“If the president’s determined that he can’t go through a campaign, can he really serve for the next six months?” Capito said. And, she asked, “Who in the White House, including the vice president, the cabinet members, the Democratic leadership — this doesn’t happen overnight, this fogginess or apparent cognitive issues he’s having — who knew about this? Who was covering up this apparent inadequacy as a president to be able to really formulate good decisions?”

Capito served in the Senate with Harris, who represented California. But, she said, “The issue here is the policies. It may be a change from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris, but it’s the same policies and probably more extreme.”

Morrisey, the three-term attorney general who is now the Republican nominee for governor, released a statement saying the vice president should, under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment of the Constitution, declare that President Biden is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.

Morrisey was repeating a call he made after reports from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation of Biden’s continued possession of classified information suggested that a jury could perceive the president as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

“If he’s unfit, he should either resign or be subject to the provisions of the 25h Amendment,” Morrisey said on “Talkline.”

“And now, in light of what we’ve seen over the last month, it seems even more clear that President Biden is unable to discharge the powers and the duties of the office. This is an office with vast amounts of responsibility, so we think it’s important for the vice president to take this step because if he’s not going to be able to conduct a campaign and engage in all the traditional activities of a candidate, he’s going to be very hard-pressed to serve as the leader of the free world.”

Morrisey, who is supporting Trump in the presidential election, continued by saying, “You need someone who is mentally fit to serve in that office. I don’t even know that this is something that is politically positive to do. It’s just the right thing to do for the country because the job is such an awesome responsibility. You need to have someone who’s on top of it.”

MORGANTOWN, W.Va (WDTV) – A road closure in Morgantown is expected to last for the next four weeks.

West Run Road will be closed between the West Run Apartments and Canvas Townhomes beginning Wednesday, July 24th, according to the West Virginia Division of Highways.

The closure will begin Wednesday at 7 a.m. and is expected to remain closed for approximately four weeks.

Crews will be installing a utility duct bank and performing excavation work, officials said.

Residents will have access to West Run Road at the Stewartstown Road intersection, and motorists are advised to plan ahead and allow for additional time for their commute.

Inclement weather or other unforeseen circumstances could change the schedule, officials said.

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