Sheffield — For three years, volunteers from the First Congregational Church, the Christ Trinity Church, along with other churches in the area, have helped hikers along the Appalachian Trail.
Volunteers from the groups have set up a “corner of kindness” tent at the trail section near East Road, an area where volunteers cook burgers, hot dogs, and serve water to hikers traveling along the trail.
Rev. Jill Graham, pastor for the First Congregational Church UCC, said that groups of volunteers from both local churches serve hikers on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during the summer, while guest volunteers from other churches serve hikers on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
“We had to turn groups away this year because this program has become quite popular,” Graham said. “We have had 21 different groups from the area volunteer in this program. By the time the hikers get to our ‘corner of kindness,’ they’re all in a place of exhaustion. They’ve depleted their water supply and they are starving.”
Rev. Graham said that this year volunteers have helped out hikers who have come from Australia, Malaysia, England, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.
“It’s just a profound experience to help out people from all over the world,” she said. “To know that you have impacted a person’s life in a good way by acts of simple kindness means a lot.”
“This year, we have heard from the hikers that a lot of the regular water sources that they usually get along the trail have all dried up due to the partial drought,” Christ Trinity Church Rev. Erik Karas said. “We’ve been setting out extra water over at the Shays’ Rebellion part of the trail.”
Rev. Karas said that the term Appalachian Trail hikers use for these types of acts of kindness is “trail magic.”
“Every hiker who comes into the tent is just overwhelmingly grateful and happy to see us,” Rev. Karas said. “It’s just a great feeling to be able to give some kindness to people who are going along their way on the trail.”
“In a broken world, it’s profoundly rewarding to see that we can do things that can make a difference,” Rev. Graham said.
