The Conservation of the Woodbury Area Community Center Photo Essay

This is the sign at the front entrance of the community center.

This is the room used for elections of any kind.

This is an example of some of the food collected for the food bank.

This is an example of some clothes collected for the clothing bank.

This is a memorial to community veterans.

This is the kitchen used to prepare for meals for groups.

This is the dining hall that groups use for meals.

This is the old auditorium that is used for events such as Mennonite religious services.

This is the room where groups like the boy scouts meet.

This is the pavilion where groups like my church have picnics.

This is the sign that identifies the area and pays tribute to the program that provides funds for its conservation.

The Conservation of the Woodbury Area Community Center

All over the United States buildings are being replaced by even more buildings. A building is torn down here, and five more are put up over there. This is how a family in one house becomes a town and how that town becomes a city. A great example of this is school buildings. A school building formerly held all grades, their classrooms, a cafeteria, an auditorium, and maybe even an indoor gymnasium. As more people came, however, more room was needed, so the people in charge tore down the one school and built three more, an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school, each with a cafeteria, auditorium, and gymnasium. Then the people in charge needed more room in the cafeteria, auditorium, and gymnasium, so they built three more buildings. This is how one building can turn into six. This is exactly what happened to a building in my home town, Woodbury, Pennsylvania, except nobody ever tore it down. Because nobody ever tore it down, it went from being a school to being the Woodbury Area Community Center. The conservation of this building and the many uses the community gets from it keeps even more buildings from being constructed that would take away from the landscape of the area.

One use the community has found for the building is to hold Woodbury’s local government offices. Woodbury is split into two parts, Woodbury Borough and Woodbury Township. Both of these sections have their own hierarchy of leadership, and both of these groups of administrators make use of the Community Center. They both have their offices located within the building and hold meetings in the building. The Community Center is also used for another important government function, voting. The building is used for any elections that affect the area. From local elections to the presidential election, the Community Center sets up voting booths in the room that used to be Woodbury’s school auditorium. In fact, during the last presidential election on November 4, 2008, I drove right down the road to this building to cast my vote. These uses are a remarkable testament to how a single conserved building can be adapted to fit the needs of a local community and its governmental functions.

The Community Center also finds uses in serving the community’s lower class population. It accomplishes this by containing a local food bank and clothing bank. A food bank is a place where members of the community can donate items of food, usually canned and preservable goods. The local school, Northern Bedford County, also helps bring in donations of food. All these donations are collected and sorted in the Community Center. Then, once a week, members of the community can come to the Community Center and receive a certain amount of food. The clothing bank goes through the same process and provides members of the community who are in need with various articles of clothing. These functions are extraordinary because they not only conserve the Community Center, but they also provide a much needed service to the local community. They get members of the community to help and contribute to the overall good of the town while recycling an aged building that could have been torn down in the distant past.

Many other uses of the Woodbury Area Community Center exist that can be organized under one main idea. Various independent groups can make use of the building by reserving specific rooms or the pavilions outside. For example, every Veteran’s and Memorial Day, area veterans hold dinners and services that commemorate the holidays. A kitchen and dining hall are located in the building that are very convenient for groups that hold dinners for different events such as these. Another example of an event like this is the local Senior Citizen’s dinner that occurs periodically. This is a chance for local seniors to get together and socialize with one another. The old auditorium which is basically a large empty room that can be filled with chairs or tables is also reserved frequently. For example, every Sunday, a group of local Mennonites uses the auditorium to hold their religious services. Another group that uses this room of the building is the local boy scouts. They regularly hold their meetings in this room. The pavilions and playground outside the building are also popular. My church, for instance, holds its Sunday school picnic in this area twice a year. A more general community picnic is also held here once a year for anyone who wants to came. All of these community associations have needs and have found them met by one building.

As evidenced by the many local community groups who use the building for their own reasons, the Community Center is not just being conserved for the sake of conservation; it is being recycled so that the community can consolidate all of these events into one building. That way the functions of what could be five or ten buildings all take place in one. This fact not only illuminates the conservation and recycling of the Community Center, it also shows how the community has conserved land. Those five or ten buildings have to be built somewhere and that means acres and acres of land that will be turned from most likely forest and field to building and parking lot. This, perhaps, is an even more compelling argument for the conservation of buildings. The more adaptive uses people find in older buildings, the more land can be conserved in those communities. This is the case with the Woodbury Area Community Center. It has been conserved for decades and adapted for many uses which prevent even more buildings from taking over the landscape of the community in Woodbury.

Understanding God and Nature

In many areas of life, humans tend to use association to remember or learn more about people, places, or ideas. One might say, “Oh, yeah, I recognize that person from this event” or “I remember going to this place on vacation at this period in my life” or “I remember learning about that event in history from this somehow unique teacher in middle school.” One area where this is somewhat common is when people associate a person with a place. People tend to only see specific people in specific settings, and, therefore, always think about the two together or only remember people by where it is they first met them. This is especially true when the person is someone very important but not someone who the person doing the associating sees daily. In almost all cases, trying to understand either the person or the place without the other is impossible. In my own life, this is the case with God and the places in nature I am most familiar with, rural areas and the night sky. Associating God and these places in nature allows me to receive a fuller understanding of both.

In rural areas, God can be seen in many different lights. Some people see him as an artist who has created a landscape pleasing to the eye. Others see him as an omnipotent provider of all the necessities of life. As I drive over the mountain that brings me into the cove in which I live, I think about God as the engineer who has set everything in motion. I see the land as a whole, the trees, the fields, the creeks, the animals all as one, and I have faith that God is responsible. All pieces of nature work as only a benevolent ruler can make them work. The plants receive nutrients from the water in the soil and rely on the sun for their photosynthesis while animals rely on the plants for food, the creek for water, and the sun for warmth. Thousands of these relationships that keep nature stable and seemingly eternal exist to show that God has designed a world that works and that is anything but chaotic. This order adds to my understanding that God is in control. In viewing the land this way, as in relation to God, it allows me to better appreciate it. It makes me respect it and frees me from the troubles of the world of man by making me realize something out there exists that is much bigger than I am. In the same way, a child looks at his house and reacts as though this is the home his father has provided for him. He has no worries because he knows that his father is in control of everything that he sees. In a different way, I appreciate the individual aspects of the land. I see the different parts of nature, and they make me think about how God has given each one an individual life. These ways of relating God to nature in rural areas has provided me with two things: first, an understanding that God is in control and, second, a grateful heart because God has used that control to breathe life into the world around me.

Another part of nature that seems intertwined with God is the night sky. I believe that simple stargazing, which has unfortunately been lost in our society, can be a powerful experience and can be crucial to understanding God’s relationship to humankind. In trying to explain it, I have no doubt that something will be lost, but it is still necessary. When I look at the stars, one of the first things that comes to mind is the distance of them. Stars are light years away. Stars are also vast beyond comprehension, not only in size but especially in number. Billions of stars within billions of galaxies exist in our universe. All of these facts should really lead to one feeling: humility. Earth is a relatively tiny, insignificant rock in the universe. If one thinks deeper, however, he or she might realize that maybe earth is not so insignificant, but instead that Earth is rare. Everyone has heard the numbers about how unlikely it is that life could have came to be on this planet or even how unlikely it is that Earth could have existed. This planet is unique. Mankind is unique. So, in my case, I am led to the belief that we are here for a reason and that that reason probably comes from a being who is above and beyond us: God. God, for some reason, has obviously chosen to be a part of our lives. He has chosen this planet and our species, and making the connection between God and gazing at the stars in the sky has allowed me to better understand this.

When thinking about these aspects of nature and how they relate to God, not only am I able to better understand God and his actions, but I am also able to better understand the places with which I make the connection to God. For example, the rural areas of nature, both as a whole and as individual parts, create in me a certain thankfulness, so I look to understand why this could be. I find that the places I see are ultimately gifts. I understand that I am not responsible for the creation of anything. However, I do realize that, as gifts, I must treat them with care. They are to be looked after and cared for as gifts, not to be misused. I understand that it is my responsibility to treat them this way. This feeling could be compared to going to a play or a concert. While I am not responsible for any of the music or acting, I am careful not to make any disturbances or interruptions. The performers deserve respect for the work they have created. Another example of better understanding places I relate to God comes from looking at the Earth in relation to the universe. I am able to understand that while Earth is seemingly insignificant, it is ultimately extremely rare and has been chosen by God. I am also able to understand that I am not here by chance, and so I have no reason to waste my life because God obviously wants me for some purpose.

As I ponder upon my understanding of these two places and their relation to God, I am moved to search out for other areas of life which can do the same and pull me closer to God. Henry David Thoreau once said, “My profession is always to be alert, to find God in nature, to know God's lurking places, to attend to all the oratorios and the operas in nature.” While I have displayed how I see God intertwined with a couple of different parts of nature, I believe the way Thoreau does. I believe that God can be found in all areas of nature and that finding him can give me a better understanding of both him and the part of nature I found him.

Works Cited
"Henry David Thoreau Quote." Wisdom Quotes. Web. 05 Apr. 2010. .