Breakaway
Thoughts from Violet Allen on the mentoring/tutoring program.
Don't Worry

Story of a Volunteer
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MAYTOWN MESSENGER
Spring 2006
The Maytown Messenger is a newsletter produced by the Maytown  Center.  Our hope is to update you on the happenings of MC, the town, and the people.  Hope you enjoy this latest edition.  A hard copy can be mailed at request.






LESSONS FROM SPRING By Beth Chauncy


Spring is the crown and glory of Eastern Kentucky.  Each year, I am amazed watching the things that appeared dead come to life again.  I wait for the crocuses peaking through the snow and dead leaves, and the bright yellow of the forsythia bushes against the blue sky.  Surely Monet would have been inspired by the hillsides painted with the pink of redbuds and white of the dogwoods. 

But the part I have come to appreciate most about spring is the visual reminder of  Easter.  It is the story of the gospel proclaimed in purples, pinks, new greens and white.  The message of Christ is sung out in daffodils and trilliums.  Jesus’ death must have been like winter to so many people-cold, dark, lonely and without hope.  The end.  And then comes Easter morning, when light returns.  The whole earth sings out, “He is alive!” 

So many people experience winter-the physical winter of changing seasons, but also winters of the spirit.  Over the years, our town has experienced a long season of winter-discouragement, the shutting down of the school and businesses, the widespread use of drugs, vandalism and unemployment.  These have brought on fear and sometimes hopelessness.
This is when the message of Easter is so needed.  Jesus came to give life to the full, and restore life to those things that were dead. Our ongoing prayer for our town and the people around us is for life to the full.  A restoration of life.  New starts.  Rebirth.  We are able to see this in many places.  There is the group of dancing retirees, the Swinging Sensations, who have found encouragement, camaraderie, increased health, and new dreams.  Narcotics Anonymous offers fresh, drug-free starts to many lives in need of a second chance.  Our after-school program, Break Away, provides the opportunity for positive, consistent adult support, as well as a chance to learn and grow. 

If I sit in the woods and wait to watch the spring flowers emerge, I am not going to see much.  But if I return each week, after a time, I will begin to see the greens appear, the ferns unfold, and the trout lilies begin to show buds.  And if I return again, I will see the flowers beginning to bloom.  In another week, new flowers will be pushing their way up, and so it continues. 

The wait for spring  parallels watching for change in our own lives.  We all want change immediately, and this is not the way it usually comes.  The Maytown Center has been in existence for 5 1/2 years.  If we look at this week, it is difficult to notice any change happening, but when we look back over the last 5 ˝ years, there has been much growth.   Change comes slowly, but spring always follows winter, and Easter is just around the corner.

Beth continues the balancing act of motherhood & helping out at the Center. (The Chauncy’s welcomed another beautiful daughter on July 31, 2006.)



"I have come that they might have life to the full." John 10:10