For the third consecutive winter, Glenmary Home Missioners sponsored three one-week work programs during the mid-winter college break, to give students an opportunity to serve the poor and to experience mission life.

Each week was filled to capacity at the Glenmary People Farm in Lewis County, Kentucky, with 67 students attending from 16 states and 39 dioceses, representing 27 colleges and universities.

The major work of the volunteers was construction of a simple one-man house for Lovell Clark, who lived for over three years in an abandoned school bus, without plumbing or electricity. The bus was given to Clark and his father when the house in which they lived gave up and collapsed. A year-and-a-half ago the elder Clark died; since then Lovell has lived alone.

"Of all the people I have met, I think Lovell lived in the most pitiable conditions," Glenmary's Brother Bob Hoffman said. "A school bus makes a hell of a house."

Until the Glenmary volunteers arrived and built a house for Lovell, he spent a lot of time in bed, not because he was tired or sick, but because it was the only way to stay warm. A tin drum that served as a stove and heater had more holes on top than a kitchen sieve. The ceiling of the bus was as black as a soft-coal mine. Any visitor taller than 5'8 left with a soot-blackened cap. Windows of the bus let in no light. Broken windows were boarded up; the remainder were blackened by soot. A kerosene lamp without a chimney gave off more smoke than light.

The plight of this man was brought to Brother Bob's attention by an FHA official who heard from a neighbor that Clark could use some help. Because FHA regulations made a loan impossible, the FHA spokesman suggested that if Clark could be assisted through private funds, perhaps a basic house could be built for him, and after that the FHA might be able to follow through with a home improvement loan.

Materials for the 24-foot by 12-foot house cost $600. Though small, the house is a luxury to Clark. He has an electric light (one) and a clean ceiling. Furnishings are two pieces: one chair and a single bed.

Manual labor was only one aspect of the volunteers' program. A Christmas party was held for 75 local people, two-thirds of the guests being children. A post-New Year's party was also held, making the holidays festive for families who had little in the way of celebration, in home or in school.

On New Year's Eve, the volunteers and the Glenmary staff celebrated at a unique party in the farmhouse. Furniture was removed from the living room. Hay was strewn on the floor and an amateur hour was staged. A beautiful midnight liturgy was followed by a toast to 1978, drunk in ice water.