Appalachian Mountain Ministry: Carrying on the vision to help the helpless

For the past 10 years, Pete Soots has served as the director of Appalachian Ministry (also known as Appalachian Mountain Ministry) of Warner Robins. It is connected to the Rehoboth Baptist Association, a parent ministry under which 54 churches fall.

Appalachian Ministry’s visionary was a woman by the name of Anna Lovorn, who, along with her husband, Zack, started it in December of 2008.

“That first year, they sent up to the mountain, 58 pounds of clothes,” shared Soots, who joined the ministry in 2010 as one who just wanted to lend a helping hand. “The clothes were for children and adults. Anna worked out of a single-car garage and a carport at her house at 746 Lake Joy Road.”

The Lovorn home served as somewhat of a “ministry central” for the effort for about two years.

“We worked out of there and had volunteers that worked once a week and sometimes more than that,” Soots recalled. “But at least every Tuesday, which was packing day. We would go out there, and there would be clothes or toys or dishes that people had dropped off. We handled linen, dishes, clothes, toys, household goods and furniture.”

Soots said he, along with other helpers among the male volunteers, would go to different grocery stores and pick up the empty boxes in which bananas had previously been delivered. The banana boxes would be packed, and then loaded in the truck by hand. Soots shared they would put 880 boxes on the truck that were full of clothes, and those boxes would be driven to the mission sites. In the early years, they had two sites. One in Copperhill, Tennessee and the other in Williamsburg, Kentucky. Volunteers, including Soots, would drive the truck and deliver the items to the people there.

“First, Anna’s husband got sick and passed away,” he shared when telling how he became director. “Then she got to where she couldn’t walk and had a lot of medical problems. She had said that she was going to shut it down, and I said, ‘No, let’s not shut it down.’ I was getting ready to retire at that point,” Soots said, “so I told her to let me pray about it. I did, and God revealed that He had sent me here to do this. I know He did. So, I told her I would take it over.”

Lovorn was 86 when she passed away on April 30, 2019, but God extended her the grace of living to see the fruit of her labor flourish. She was able to witness the growth that allowed Appalachian Ministry to move from her garage into a structure of its own.

“In 2010, we started building another building at 744 Lake Joy Road,” said Soots. “It was a bigger building that was 88-by-50. The [Rehoboth Baptist] Association paid for that building to be built for us. We got it done that year in June. We opened it up and named it the Anna Lovorn-Sidney Durham Building.”

Soots explained that Durham’s name was placed on the building along with Lovorn’s because he was a man who worked with the ministry and tragically died one day shortly after helping to load the truck. As the ministry outgrew the garage at Lovorn’s home, it also outgrew the banana boxes.

“We decided we would go to the Gaylord boxes that were four feet long, four feet wide and four feet high, and start packing in those,” Soots informed. “We got to where we needed a forklift, and a gentleman graciously bought us one that we still use today. We put 24 Gaylord boxes on a truck at one time. So, we’re hauling a pretty good amount to the mountains each time.”

The ministry has grown from two partners that they service in the Appalachians to now having eight. Among them are three schools in Jellico, Tennessee, three locations in Knoxville, Tennessee and locations in Corbin, Kentucky. The supplies they collect go directly to those in need who live in those areas.

Soots revealed, “We’ve gone from sending 58 pounds in our first year to now sending a million pounds of supplies a year.”

Appalachian Ministry has three major projects that it does on an annual basis. They just recently completed the collection process for their 2022 coat drive.

“What we do is ask everybody in the community and all the churches if they will collect coats that are either new or lightly used for children and for grownups,” Soots explained. “They bring them to us, and we send them up to the mountains. We sent 1,500 last year, and this year, we’re probably going to send 1,400.”

The second major project is a diaper bag drive. Those are sent to the mountains in the spring of each year.

“People say, ‘What do they need a diaper bag for?’” he stated. “Well, these people don’t have anything. I’ve been up to all the locations except one, and I’ve seen homes that people live in that you or I would not live in. I’ve seen six homes personally. They are 10-by-12 buildings like what people like us would keep lawnmowers in. They have no water and no lights.”

Soots shared how the children in Jellico, when asked what they desire for Christmas, will answer that they want blankets to keep warm and candles so they can read in the evening. He noted that the luxuries that our children enjoy of video games, bicycles, toy trucks and such, are not even a thought for the children in the mountains.

The ministry’s third major endeavor is a backpack project. Annually, near Christmastime, backpacks are filled with necessities such as school supplies, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, washcloths, cream, socks, stocking caps, gloves, small toys like a footballs or jacks for girls, and a Bible storybook.

“To build those book bags cost about $40 each bag. Our goal is to give each child in the school a bag to take home. We also put in a Christmas letter in each bag to tell them about Jesus Christ and two cans of food, normally beef stew. We send roughly 2,000 bags a year.”

For those who would like to be a help to Appalachian Ministry, there are several ways to do so. A check in the amount of $40 that would fill a backpack can be sent to 744 Lake Joy Road (mark the check Appalachian Mountain Ministry backpack). Volunteers are also needed. The ministry packs every Tuesday at the center, and it is open Tuesday from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. They are also open on Saturday from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. to take donations.

“Volunteers could also help with the pickup,” Soot said. “We have people that go out on Tuesday and pick up items from elderly people who can’t bring the items to us. We also load trucks, so we need people who can help load the trucks. We load trucks, usually every Wednesday. And if they’d like to drive the truck, they can help us with delivery. They do not need a CDL because we’re nonprofit.”

Lastly, he said donations in any amount to help can be sent to Rehoboth Baptist Association with a notation of ‘AMM’ (which stands for Appalachian Mountain Ministry) written in the memo line. All monetary donations can be sent to 744 Lake Joy Road, Warner Robins 31088.

Soots, and his deputy directors, Phyllis and John Johnson, are doing all they can to carry on the vision started by Anna Lovorn and her husband, Zack. While Soots couldn’t give a definite answer as to why Lovorn chose the Appalachians as the area that she would make the focal point of the ministry, he did share that she was a woman who adored children but had none of her own.

“Maybe that’s why. I don’t know,” he said. “I just know that she had a heart for children, and not only did she prove it; she lived it.”

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