A monsignor who lives nearby sent me the following, from one of our local newspapers in Queens: the story of a deacon doing some remarkable work among the people of Appalachia.

Take a look:

Imagine for a moment your life without your cell phone or iPod -pretty unimaginable, right?

Now picture your life without even the simplest of amenities, like heat in your home or running water – completely unthinkable.

This is the reality for the people living in Appalachia – impoverished families struggling to make it from day to day.

But there is hope and there is help in the Christian Appalachian Project (CAP), an organization with which Howard Beach’s own Joseph Campisi, 67, has been volunteering for 12 years.

A Deacon with Our Lady of Grace (OLG) for nearly 25 years, Campisi and his crew of three men – Jack Keenan and Bill Clemente of Howard Beach and James Majorana of Long Island – made the 16-hour trip to eastern Kentucky this year on September 27.

They returned on Saturday, October 4, full of God’s love, knowing that they – and all the other volunteers from around the country – made a difference in the lives of these people in Kentucky.

“There’s a joy in giving, especially when you see people so poor,” said Joe’s wife Gloria, who has gone with him in the past. “You cannot imagine the feeling you get from doing this.”

According to the CAP web site, “When you live in poverty and rarely have money for incidentals, even the most basic housing repairs are virtually impossible.”

For the region where Campisi was, the average income is $10,000 to $11,000 per year.

The Campisis recounted heart-wrenching stories of people so poor that the ground was visible between the slats in the floors, families with no electricity, a woman in her late 60s who had never had hot water, and a man who could not afford the kerosene to heat his home.

There are no sidewalks, no streets, no lights. In the few stores there are, the couple said, there are no toys for children, and finding a birthday cake for a little boy was nearly impossible one year.

Then there was the young woman a few years ago, said the couple, in ripped jeans, driving a van that was in utter disrepair, with a baby with no shoes.

It was so bad for her and her child that she was cutting wood in the forest for heat.

“I was devastated,” said Gloria. “I was completely in shock that people were so poor.”

Yet, she remarked, despite their poverty, the people of the region are happy.

“The first thing that impressed Joe was the people’s joy. You’re with people who are so innocent, who haven’t been touched by the world,” she said. “They work for so little it’s spent on necessities. They’re not missing a lot because they’re not used to having a lot, and when you give them something they’re forever grateful.”

It turns out that this young mother, Joe said, was paying $65 a month for rent, some of which went toward buying her modest home.

The volunteers found out how much she needed in order to purchase the home, helped her buy it, and renovated it in only four days.

“They [the people of Appalachia] are so grateful,” said Joe. “They know the money comes from people and they are grateful.”

The money that the volunteers take with them is collected from big-hearted people – many of whom come from the Howard Beach area.

This year, Joe was able to collect $8,000 – the most ever.

“Howard Beach, from the day we moved here, we’ve always known the people to be beautiful,” said Gloria. “They are very generous to this cause that is close to our hearts.”

Every penny went to the poor.

“Joe makes a promise [to the contributors],” said Gloria. “He has a saying, ‘From your hands to my hands to their hands.’ ”

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Photo: One of the residents of Appalachia who was helped by the Christian Appalachian Project (CAP). Photo courtesy Joe Campisi, from the Queens Courier.