Progress

"People in the mountains are doing great things, and we feel very close to some of them and they feel close to us, and I guess we also get pretty postive feedback from, not people who get big press, but people who have lived and worked in the mountains, they know we've been around, they know we've made a difference.  So in our own quiet way, we've helped some growth here."  (Rachel Goodman interview with Marie Cirillo.)

FOCIS brought much needed social services to Appalachia: schools, health clinics and health fairs, hospitals, legal services, training for local leadership, and critical resources.  They functioned as partners, nurses, teachers, friends and workers who used their tireless energy, skills and new ideas for the betterment of Appalachian communities. 

This was no forty-hour-a-week job.  In a number of interviews members state that they worked day and night, sometimes 80 hours a week.  These women were not saints.  They were fallible and imperfect human beings dedicated to a cause. 

The services brought to Appalachia would create a ripple effect.  The health care clinics would lead to the "development of a town water system and a community center and education program."  

This photograph is entitled "Disturbers of the Peace-At-Peace Easter 1973.