Change is brought about by individuals determined to make a difference in other peoples' lives. One of the engineers at the NAPC team witnessed people living in poverty and was moved to action.

NAPC Systems Engineer Scott Creamer describes the mountains of Appalachia as being "like a third world country", and notes that some of the Appalachian people live on pennies a day.

Scott is currently working with the Appalachia Service Project. The ASP operates similarly to Habitat for Humanity, but focuses on fixes existing houses rather than constructing new ones. This year Scott is foregoing traditional vacation locales like Cancun or Hawaii and traveling to West Virginia for a week. He will be working on one of 20 homes selected as the most needing repairs. These are life-saving repairs designed to provide basic standards of living to people in Appalachia: Fixing holes in roofs, repairing windows, and providing basic plumbing and sanitation. 

The group has about 100 volunteers; 20 adults and 80 students, including Scott and his oldest daughter. The group leaves a caravan of vans July 13th, sleep on air mattresses in a community center and work 12 hour days. Scott is excited for the chance to help people, and to enrich his and his daughter's lives with the experience.

"Seeing the plight of these poor people moved me to action...I'm very excited to have my daughter see the world differently. I'm told everyone who goes on these trips come home better than when they left."

Scott currently needs to raise $800 to cover the cost of the trip as well as building materials. Let's help Scott make life better for people in Appalachia together!