Monday Memories

Brethren Volunteer Service, pt.1
Brethren Volunteer Service was started in 1948 training young people and adults in groups to help in a variety of community projects in many countries. Service might be in a hospital, a small struggling church, Appalachia, a migrant camp, blighted urban area, nursing home, or school. Both my sisters had served, so I signed up for a summer unit in 1957 and left for California right after high school graduation, traveling to Fresno by myself on the Greyhound Bus. This memory is not about all the strange people I met on the bus, but rather I want to post some photos because my album has fallen apart after almost 50 years. I've adjusted the posting time so you can scroll down, instead of up. There are 3 parts, otherwise it would take too long to load.

I was assigned to a community center that served Black agricultural workers. The community looked rural and had tidy little houses; the house in which the volunteers lived looked much the same as the rest of the community. We had 4 rooms, no air conditioning. The director of the project and his family lived next door in a slightly better house. All the land for the center and the two houses had been donated by a Hoff family who were members of the Church of the Brethren.
121 West North Ave., Fresno 6, California, front of the volunteers' residence
Back of our house on W. North Ave. There was a large garden, but I don't think we took care of it. Laundry is on the line--wringer washer, no dryer. Addition to the back was the laundry room and tool shed. Addition on the side was two bedrooms, one for four women, one for four or five men. With 9 people living in a tiny house we had to be scrupulously neat; beds made up first thing; dishes washed and put away after meals; no clutter at all.
Our BVS group, but I don't remember all the names. Judy Haldeman, Imogene Traughber, in front, Rufus Wagner, Terry Thoreen, back. The other three guys are Don Jordan, next a relative of the director, Clare Stein (can't remember his name) and possibly Tim Guest. We had a "housemother" a few years older than me whose name was Barbara, but she isn't in the photo. From the clothing, we must have been at church. I was the photographer using my little Brownie Hawkeye. Only 3 of us were summer workers--the rest had been through regular training in Maryland.

Check the two previous posts for pt. 2 and pt. 3, rather than scrolling up.

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My visitors and visited this week are:Ma, Viamarie, Mrs. Lifecruiser, Debbie, Lazy Daisy, Lady Bug, Janene, Michelle, Anna, ChelleY. Jen, Melli Becki, Paul, Friday's Child, Irish Church Lady,

Brethren Volunteer Service
Church of the Brethren
Fresno, California
community centers
volunteerism