Trail P
Lutheran Church, Burkes Garden, Va. This Appalachian Trail ministry began as Suwak’s
seminary internship project. This month he returns for his final year at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (Pa.), but this congregation of 14 active members will try to keep the hospitality going. Because of Suwak’s project and the congregation’s welcome, hikers in need of shelter can come down from Garden Mountain for a shower, a warm bed and two meals before heading back to the trail. More than 50 came in from the snow and rain in the first month. The church is at a vantage point: only a mile and a half from a trailhead on the 2,200-mile Maine-Georgia trail that winds around the rim of Burkes Garden, a sce- nic rural bowl near the Virginia-West Virginia line. Starting in late March, hikers with such trail names as Lone Star, Spinoli, Rambo, Far East Coast, Lightning, Somersault, Porksteak, Mellow Yellow and Renaissance Man took advantage of the hospitality. They’ve come from nearly all the states, as well as Hong Kong, Singa- pore and Germany.
34 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
Because of its proximity, Cen- tral Lutheran Church, Burkes Garden, Va., pro- vides food and shelter to hikers on the Appala- chian Trail. Mem- ber Lee Greever poses with hikers Jelly and Bean from Vermont.
Some who arrive on weekends worship at Central— ministry
Tiny mountain congregation offers hikers food, showers & shelter By George Kegley
eter Suwak posted cards along the Appalachian Trail asking, “Are you cold, tired or hungry?” As a result, many hikers enjoy the hospitality of Central
hikers sometimes outnumber members. Three hikers came to church and then dined on venison chili and rice before “hitting the trail again, destined for Mount Katahdin, Maine,” the northern terminus of the trail, said Suwak’s wife, June. A 4-inch snowfall in April brought 13 hikers into the
valley for shelter. During a heavy rainfall in May, 18 hik- ers came down for dry beds. “During inclement weather, there is always room at the inn,” said June Suwak. When her husband was away, she picked up the hik- ers, “got them showered, laundered, fed a spaghetti meal” and drove them to another home for the night. Member Joe Nicholson installed an outdoor shower for the visitors in an “Agape Hut” in the Suwaks’ back- yard. And for those who don’t stop for lodging, parishio- ners contribute fruit, snacks and boiled eggs to a cooler left on the trail.
The project has been amazing, said Ron Levison, president of the congregation. “We are going to fig- ure a way to continue. But we are going to have to set some parameters. … This can be a full-time job,” said Levison, who recently spent half a day driving several hikers through the mountains into Bland, Va., about 35 miles away.
Peter Suwak said the Spirit is at work in this minis-
try, and the congregation, formed in 1828, is “re-creat- ing its identity.”
The hikers express their gratitude in messages scrawled in the guestbook at Lee Greever’s home. “Clean sheets! What a treat. It was so nice to see Burkes Garden. What a precious place,” said Salt Bomb from Pennsylvania.
And from Jelly and Bean in Vermont: “Thanks for your hospitality, selflessness and radiating kindness. ... This is a hike we will never forget.”
Kegley is The Lutheran’s correspondent for the Virginia Synod.
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