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Everything is new about the 12,600-square-foot Samaritan House Family Ministries building.
The spacious rooms are freshly painted. The commercial kitchen has yet to see the first sticky spill. The exterior brick and stone facade is newly-laid. Even the landscaping is just beginning to grow.
So what is an old oak mantel, the kind from a hundred years ago, doing in the family room?
“It’s to remind us,” said Jean-Ann Washam, director of Appalachian Outreach, the Carson-Newman ministry that operates Samaritan House. “We brought it over from the old house.”
The wooden mantel, one of two transferred from the old Samaritan House in downtown Jefferson City, is there to invoke 25 years of evening talks and devotionals, 25 years of families working together on new beginnings. Not much from the old house was worth saving, but these were.
“We couldn’t leave without them,” said Washam.
Families won’t be squeezing into a little front parlor anymore. There will be plenty of room for meals and activities now. But people will be gathering around the same hearth.
The public is invited to the dedication of the new house at 165 Jericho Way (off Crooke Road in Jefferson City) on Saturday, December 1. A ceremony will begin at 3 p.m., followed by an open house and tours from 3:30 until 5 p.m.
Parking will be available at nearby Faith Baptist Church, along with shuttles. If you want to help Samaritan House with a house-warming gift, check the gift registry at Wal-Mart.
The construction of the $950,000 house is a remarkable story, but when you scratch the surface of the overall story, you see there are lots of smaller stories beneath.
The current Samaritan House, which will be sold to help pay for the new building, has only 3,000 square feet, so the new place represents a four-fold expansion. Located on 10.2 acres of former zinc mine property donated by J. Moser, the new two-story building has four family suites, a bunk room for single women, a handicapped unit, two small efficiency apartments for overnight staff, a commercial kitchen, a large activity room, and other features.
“Our purpose is to reach out to families in crisis,” said Washam of Samaritan House. “We share the love and caring of Christ by helping them meet their physical needs – a place to stay and hot meals. And we offer classes in life skills to help them get back on their feet to stay.”
Appalachian Outreach gets all its support from local churches, individuals, and Carson-Newman students. It started as a home repair ministry for poor families, but has grown to include Samaritan House, Second Source thrift store, and other activities.
Have you bought or donated household items or clothing at Second Source? Then you’ve had a hand in building a new Samaritan House.
Sonny Strange, chairman of the thrift store board (and pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church), reports that about $750,000 of the cost of the new house was generated by Second Source, which also donates $5,000 per month to Appalachian Outreach operations.
“From the beginning, it was our goal to help build a new Samaritan House,” he said. “It’s just a phenomenal story of community involvement on every level. The community really built this house – for the community.”
Second Source has been going for nearly a decade. Their earliest goal was $50,000. Now they’re over $1 million in total sales. And it’s just the beginning of the story. Washam and Jim Wilson, who founded Appalachian Outreach and is now its executive director, estimate that the new house is actually a $2 million project. The savings came in many areas, not least in labor, thanks to volunteers from all over.
Retired electrical contractor Cottis Morrow has overseen the work. He’s on the job about six days out of the week, did all the electrical work, and hasn’t charged anything.
“I was asked to come over and see if I could help,” he said, “and I never did leave. Every day, I realize how blessed I was to be approached. I’ve worked with great people here, and I believe in their ministry. I just hope the Lord will find other ways to use me once the project is done.”
Volunteers from churches across the state — and out of state — have worked on the project. After it was framed, they wrote their favorite Bible verses on the wood. One of the most remarkable developments occurred when volunteer Terry McCracken of Bearden United Methodist Church mentioned it to fellow church member Dick Kelso, a retired professor of architecture.
The site was unique, McCracken told Kelso, because near the building there was an old zinc mine shaft, hundreds of feet deep. Kelso had an idea.
“Ever thought about geothermal?”
Kelso made a trip to the site, and liked what he saw. The end result is a state-of-the-art geothermal heating and cooling unit that makes use of the 850-foot mine shaft. Stan Johnson, a retired University of Tennessee professor of mechanical engineering who also volunteers at Samaritan House, explained that five pipe loops extend deeply into the shaft. Water circulates through the pipes, and its temperature is moderated by the flooded mine shaft, which stays at about 60 degrees. Designers of the system believe it will heat and cool the new house for about the same electrical cost as that at the old house, which is four times smaller. A mechanical engineering group will provide free monitoring and analysis for five years.
“It’s the only geothermal unit making use of an abandoned mine shaft in the United States,” said Johnson.
One of the children’s rooms upstairs will be dedicated to the memory of Nate Lynam and Noah Winstead. Noah, 10, and Nate, 11, died in an electrocution accident last summer on Cherokee Lake. Students at Cornerstone Academy, they provided volunteer labor during the construction.
Washam said prisoners in the workhouse program at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department have also provided hundreds of hours of skilled labor.
“We really appreciate Sheriff Bud McCoig and Jail Administrator Ricky Oakes,” she said. “They have been great to work with.”
Inmates have painted, applied sheetrock and roofing, put in drywall, and helped with all kinds of work. Inmates built the geothermal shed. One prisoner even did the stonemason work on the front of the building.
“A church donated $16,000 worth of stone, but we were afraid we couldn’t use it, because we couldn’t afford a stonemason,” said Washam.
The prisoner was proud of his work. When he got out of jail, Wilson got a call from him one day.
“He had turned his life around and was about to get married,” said Washam. “He wanted Jim to perform the ceremony on the grounds here, so he did.”
Sheriff McCoig said representatives of Samaritan House were trained to supervise workhouse prisoners. The program helps inmates develop work skills they can use after their release, he said.
“In some cases they teach work skills to other inmates who don’t have them,” he said.
A young inmate named Justin was helping last Thursday. Washam said he has probably put in more hours than anyone from the workhouse.
“I love working here,” he said. “Most of what I’ve done, I’ve learned on the job — painting, flooring, sheetrock. Every day is something different. But I feel like I’m making a difference, and that feels good.”
Working in the next room was Alan Guy, retired CEO of Covenant Health.
“Tom Cronan, a dear friend of mine, was a great believer in Appalachian Outreach and its ministry. He got me involved. He was right, as usual.”
“Think how poorer our campus, our community, our county, and our entire region would be if Samaritan House had not been here,” said Dr. Ross Brummett, Vice President for Student Affairs at Carson-Newman. “Community service is at the heart of who Carson-Newman College is and what we are about, and there is no ministry more significant than that of Appalachian Outreach and Samaritan House.”
Brummett said the college is grateful to “founding visionaries” such as Wilson and Kerry and Karen Smith, as well as to the “first generation of donors,” such as Will and Esther Rabenstein, who donated the first Samaritan House.
“We are grateful to the hundreds upon hundreds of volunteers and donors over the years and especially over these past couple of years as we have seen this building move from dream to reality. We are grateful to all the staff persons who have served over the years. And we all are especially grateful to Jean-Ann Washam whose tireless efforts and supervision have been such a key factor in bringing the building to fruition and this ministry to this new stage in its history.”
Morrow expressed it well as he looked up at the new building.
“I’ve been involved with some other rewarding projects,” he said. “But nothing could hold a candle to this.”
It’s not too late for your donation to help with the project. Send checks to Appalachian Outreach at P.O. Box 71904, Jefferson City, Tennessee 37760. For more information, call (865) 475-5611.
By Steve Marion | Standard Banner. November 21 , 2012
Click to print/view New Samaritain House Brochure
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