Author Archives: David

Free lunch? Is. Isn’t. Is. Isn’t.

By David | Published: August 8, 2009

Being a bear of small brain, I approach complicated subjects through what some call conventional wisdom.

One basic economic truth is expressed in the saying, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.”  You don’t get anything for nothing.  Someone always pays.  If it seems too good to be true, it probably is:  bah humbug on your free lunch!

But what about the other saying, the one that comes more from philosophy than economics, ”The best things in life are free.”   Things like . . . the unconditional love a parent offers a child.  The beauty of the world we inhabit. A cooked meal offered when we’re recovering from an illness.   A friend who listens . . . and listens . . . and listens, without asking anything in return.

Or the sidewalk feast last night in front of the ECWT office. 

Earlier this summer, generous residents of Elkhart County responded to the economic needs of our county, and donated land, seeds, time, gasoline for the tillers and tractors, and money to coordinate the efforts.   A community garden program was born. (And it happened all over – not just with ECWT.)

Resources in hand, we put the call out for people who wanted to garden – and they responded.  People who needed to grow food got land and seeds and help – and they got it free.   Now those gardens are bearing fruit – lots of it – in some cases more than the people who grow the garden can eat!  We have an abundance of food.

So last night we hauled a grill out, and boiled some potatoes, and made cucumber salad, and washed and snapped the green beans – and gave it away to people who were enjoying First Friday in downtown Goshen.  (Okay, there was a donation basket on the table, but that was back a bit out of sight – you had to want to donate in order to do so.)

When people tasting the zuchini steaks or enjoying Mom Schrock’s cucumber salad asked,  “What’s this all about?” we said, “We’re just completing the circle.  The community provided the resources this spring so that unemployed people could raise food, and here’s the food, and we’re giving some back.”

That’s the feel good part of the story - and “the best things in life are free” side of the argument.

But while the larger community donated the land and the seeds -  the people who raised the food had to add their time and energy – even sweat and sore muscles – before the gardens appeared. It’s true that the people who grew the food donated their vegetables – but ECWT volunteers and staff scrubbed and pared and cooked and carried dishes up and down the steps.   The food was kind of free – but it kind of wasn’t! 

Is.  Isn’t.

Having an initiative called Elkhart County Works Together isn’t free.  The website design was donated, but there is a monthly cost to host the ECWT website.  The Brew donates food for ECWT volunteers when they have extra, but the refrigerator we store it in runs on NIPSCO electricity – and there’s a meter outside that generates a monthly bill.  ECWT volunteers have donated hundreds – yea thousands - of hours of their time, but we have family obligations, and bills, and worries about the future.  Core ECWT coordinators have  each received a $250 stipend for their work – since May – which is not really sustainable over the long haul. 

Is there such a thing as a free lunch?  Is there such a thing as a free county wide initiative to respond to to our ongoing economic crisis?  What’s the right mix of donated hours and donated dollars? 

Sometimes we use the story of “stone soup” to explain the concept of ECWT.  (Google it if you need to, or call me in the morning!)  A couple of onions, some potatoes, maybe even a scraggly chicken.  Everyone throws what they have in the pot – and eventually everyone eats the stone soup.  

What can you throw in the pot?  What can you do to help Elkhart County work together? 

It’s not just a rhetorical question.

Posted in Community Heros, Gardening, Thought Pieces | 2 Comments

Top 10 reasons to volunteer at ECWT

By David | Published: August 7, 2009

10. You get to set your own hours (Oh, freedom).

9. You get to work in the most beautiful second floor office space in Goshen!

8. The other ECWT staff are very relaxed and friendly. (I have my moments)

7. What else are you doing right now?

6. There’s a really neat relationship with the Brew going on – you’ll find out more if you volunteer here.

5. You get a chance to “strut your stuff” and show the world how good you are.

4. You have something fresh to put on the resume for 2009.

3. One reason we’re looking for more volunteers is that people who volunteer here end up getting hired! (See number 3)

2. When your children and grandchildren ask you, “What did you do during the great recession of 2008-2010?” you’ll have something to tell them.

1. Elkhart County needs you.

We’ll be in the ECWT office tonight, August 7 for the Goshen First Friday celebration.   Come by to talk about volunteer possibilities (and enjoy some fresh produce from the ECWT community gardens).

If you can’t make it today, send us an email at info@ecwt.org or call the office.

What can you do to help Elkhart County work together?

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Being good ants in the summer

By David | Published: July 22, 2009

Many of us heard the story about the grasshoppers and the ants from our parents, as they tried to teach us about being industrious and planning ahead. 

The grasshoppers were jumping all over the yard, enjoying the summer day, and their ability to move and play.

The grasshoppers looked down at the ants, toiling away in the hot summer sun, dragging bits of food down into their underground nests.  “What are you doing down there?” the grasshoppers called derisively.  “Come play with us.”

But the ants said nothing, toiling away without a word.

Of course, the ants had the last laugh in the winter time, when the cold winds came and killed the grass, and the fresh food, and probably the grasshoppers as well, while the ants were warm and well fed in their underground houses.

The moral of the story is clear.  But does it have any application to us here in Elkhart County?

I’ve heard two separate themes this last month as I talk with social service agencies, bankers, unemployed workers, and government officials. 

First, the good news.  Requests for help with utility bills are down.  It’s summer time, and while you have to run the heat in the winter, you don’t have to run the airconditioner in the summer.  People are growing food, and visiting food pantries less often.  Our unemployment rate dropped a bit, and every bit helps. 

Next, the bad news.   We just passed the one year anniversary of Monaco Coach’s announcement of their closing.  People who lost their jobs last year are running out of benefits.  Extended unemployement, and the special extensions, are running out.  Job re-training isn’t finished, or the jobs people trained for aren’t there.  Family savings are exhausted.  An unemployment rate of 16% or 17%, while lower, is not sustainable.

The potential for another wave of foreclosures, bankruptcies, businesses going under, families leaving the area, depression, and other results of an extended period of joblessness and economic stress is great – and growing.

We can see the winter coming.  We know we need to be good ants.  But what does it mean to be an ant in Elkhart County this summer?

We hear of churches offering canning and freezing classes for people who want to preserve food for the winter.  That’s a great idea.  I wish there were more.  I wish we had people at ECWT to spearhead efforts like that.

We are developing a web-based Skills Bank that will allow unemployed people anywhere in Elkhart County to list work they are able to do, so that people who needs work done around the house can give them work.  That’s one small piece.

But I’m left with the feeling that there is more that needs to be done – much more – to avoid further pain and devastation in our community. 

Are you being an ant this summer?  What are you doing?

How could our community work together this summer in ways that allow us all to eat this winter?

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We’re not at our best

By David | Published: July 1, 2009

Talk around the tables at the ECWT office often turns to our relationship with our spouses.  Yes, un- and under-employed people think about more than where the next job is coming from.  We are also concerned about minding our intimate relationships!

It’s probably best to say at the outset that all of the ECWT coordinators who are married have supportive spouses.  That’s not just a protective comment, it has the added merit of being true.  While unemployment adds a strain to a family, and to a marriage relationship, having a partner who is employed eases the financial strain on a family.  The partner’s income can provide an unemployed person a cushion of time in which to explore other options. 

Indeed, were it not for employed spouses of the core of ECWT coordinators, this effort would not exist.  (Big thanks to them.)

The flip side of the coin is that being unemployed can hinder our ability to be the kind of partner we would like to be.   Being unemployed adds stress on us.  We worry not just about whether our family will survive the current economic hardship, we feel bad about not being an equal participant in providing for our families.

In theory, we can contribute to family life by doing some extra home projects, and preparing and having special meals ready for our spouse / children when they come home.  We can tend our social networks by helping neighbors with projects and volunteering in the community. We can even contribute by taking care of ourselves – getting back on that bicyle, working out at the gym, doing other “self-improvement” efforts.

In some ways this seems like the perfect time to being doing those things.  We have time.  We’re not tied to a work schedule.  We’re home, and can start making a special meal at 2:00 in the afternoon instead of boiling water for boxed macaroni 15 minutes before dinner.

But all those things take energy, not just physical energy, but emotional energy.  And, oddly enough, those of us who are un- and under-employed don’t always have a lot of extra energy.

Being unemployed isn’t a fulltime job, but it takes a lot of energy! It takes time and energy to review our lives, and think about what we want to do next.  It takes a lot of energy to fight off depression and self-pity.  It takes a lot of energy to get out of the house when we’re worried about what the neighbors think of us, and when we’re not sure what to say when people ask, “How are you doing?”  It takes sustained effort to feel good about ourselves, and to revise our sense of identity now that it’s no longer tied to a job.  It takes energy to create and sustain a schedule in the absence of the rhythm of a job.  It takes a lot of intestinal fortitude to mail out that next resume when the last 100 did no good, and it’s pretty clear that the company we’re contacting has no jobs available.

Our ECWT motto is, “We are strong.  We are creative.   We are an asset to our community.”  That’s true.  It’s especially true when we’re at our best.   Right now, however, it’s hard to be at our best.  In fact, we’re rarely at our best.

But we continue.  We support each other.  We cry when we must, and laugh when we can.  We thank our spouses for what they give us, when that’s not too painful to do.

And, we do what we can to help Elkhart County Works Together.

What can you do to help Elkhart County work together?

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“I just want my normal life back”

By David | Published: June 20, 2009

A friend, call him Andy, acted unusual when I stopped by Friday night.  “I guess your weekends feel different now that you’re not looking forward to a break from working working hard all week,” I said.

Andy works in a local factory making parts for the auto industry.  After 19 years, seniority has not spared him from  the rotating layoffs that have reduced him from working five or six days a week to maybe two or three. 

Rather than the optomistic, jovial, or bantering response Andy usually gives, there was confusion and bitterness.

“I don’t want to talk,” he said.  “I don’t like it when other people bring me down, and I have nothing to say that won’t bring you down.”

” Andy, I do want to hear what you have to say,” I told him.  “We’re friends, and when I ask how you’re doing, I want to know.”

What followed was an outpouring of confusion and anger and bitterness.  Rolling layoffs seemed to be doled out according to the whims of a capricious supervisor  rather than following seniority, or even an equal distribution of the pain among all workers.  The national news about Chrysler and General Motors did nothing to inspire hope.   After bringing dedication and skills to his job for a large part of his adult years, there seems to be no light for him at the end of this particular tunnel.

“I just want my normal life back,” Andy said.

The thought immediately came to my mind that  “normal life” isn’t coming back.  There are new realities of stock market and globalization, the disappearance of industries, and retirement funds that have been decimated.   I was about to say that no one’s life is normal when Andy said one more thing.

“It feels like life is going on for other people and I’m not part of it anymore.”

Andy’s financial challenge is compounded by the emotional isolation he feels. 

Elkhart County is divided roughly in thirds.  One third of our community is severely impacted by unemployment, under-employment, or the uncertainty of working in a company that is teetering on the edge of failure.  Two thirds of our community is employed, and continues to shop, go out to eat, plan vacations, and maybe even contribute to a retirement plan!

Part of the normal life Andy wants back is a normal work week and a normal paycheck.  Part of what he wants back is the feeling that he is a normal member of the community. 

ECWT is built on the assumption that the economic crisis we are experiencing is a community problem  that requires a community response.  That certainly involves extra giving to the local food pantry, finding ways to give unemployed people work, or  donating to a sharing fund at church.  It also involves maintaining, and building, meaningful individual relationships between people in the “one third” community and the “two thirds” community.

Everyone one of us in Elkhart County can do something to address this crisis.  We can give, and receive, financial resources with grace.  We can ask, and respond to, the question, “How are you doing?” with an open heart.

What can you do to help Elkhart County work together?

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Just like the Philippines

By David | Published: June 17, 2009

We had overnight guests this weekend.  When I read the welcome note Carolyn left in their room, I discovered that she used a handmade card we had bought in the Philippines when we lived there more than 20 years ago.

The card brought back a flood of memories.  The homemade cards were often made by political detainees, who needed to earn money to pay for food and medicine while in prison.  Sometimes they were made by organized groups in the slums, who sold them to earn money for their daily essentials.

I used to experience an overwhelming sense of the futility of using handmade cards to support a family – even while we were buying the cards!  Making a card for .05 cents  just didn’t seem like a way to work one’s way out of poverty!  It didn’t seem as though it could lay the foundation for social change.

What I realized this weekend is how similar Elkhart County Works Together is to the cardmakers in the Philippines!  Planting a garden isn’t going to support a family.  Listing your name in the (soon to be unveiled) Skills Bank won’t generate the money a job in the RV factory used to.  Making a small financial contribution won’t put thousands of people back to work.  These activities can seem merely symbolic rather than likely to make a real change in peoples’  lives.

The economic problems facing Elkhart County can seem overwhelming.   In truth, there is nothing that any single person can do to solve our problems.

Yet I believe that if every one of us did something for those among us who need help, we would be able to come through this crisis as a unified and strengthened community.

Perhaps the lesson I absorbed in the Philippines, without even knowing it, is the value of doing something rather than doing nothing.

What can you do to help Elkhart County work together?

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What season are we in?

By David | Published: June 8, 2009

My “Friday blog” was going to be titled, “A change of seasons.”  The main focus was going to be turning the corner from planting community gardens to working on the soon to be unveiled  ECWT skills bank.

Then  we received  a donation of 10-12 flats of transplants from a local supplier, and all of a sudden we’re advertising gardens again!  (The rain this morning also makes it feel more like spring than summer.)

We’re also not sure what season we’re in with the economic crisis in Elkhart County.  The headline in the Elkhart Truth this morning asks, “Is there still a credit crunch?”  Some RV dealers retain their credit lines,  some switched to new lenders, and some can’t get credit.

Just as a gardener plants seeds, and then watches longingly to see  sprouts pushing through the dirt, we here in Elkhart County check eagerly for any sign that the devastating economic crisis we’re experiencing might be coming to an end.

Folks who study recessions are not giving us good news on that front, at least not for those who have lost jobs in this recession.  They expect  unemployment figures to remain stagnant for as long as a year after the economy begins to recover.

We all rejoice with every piece of good news on the economic front.  But the hard fact remains:  we cannot prosper as a community when a fifth of our community is unemployed.  We cannot live with 17 – 20% unemployment for any length of time without devasating impacts on us all.

We are well into our season of economic depression in Elkhart County.  We are still in the spring of learning how to respond.

What can you do to help Elkhart County work together?

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What is a box of potatoes worth?

By David | Published: June 2, 2009

“Sam” called the ECWT office last week. His family has aways gardened – this year they doubled the size of their garden. Did we have seeds and transplants they could have? Yes.

When Sam came into the office, with his wife and mother, we engaged in conversation. “Were you caught in the wave of layoffs?” I asked Sam. He looked at me and said, “No.” Then a long pause. “I have a paper route, and my wife has work 2 days a week.”

This is another part of the Elkhart County community. Some in our community are facing economic hardship as a new reality. For others, this is their life.

I engaged Sam and his family in further conversation. What are they planting? How do they use the produce? How do they preserve their food?

Sam said they store their fall harvest of potatoes in the garage. “We eat potatoes all winter, ” he said, “In fact, we still have some from last year.”

“Why don’t you bring them in,” I asked. “We can provide them to others to plant.”

Two days later, Sam brought them in. Now we have a box of potatoes in the ECWT office, waiting for someone who want to plant them.

What is that box of potatoes worth?

If you wanted to eat them, you’d have to cut out the sprouts and trim them pretty severely. Maybe you’d get 10 pounds out of them. How much is a 10 pound bag of “eating potatoes” worth?

If you cut them up and plant them, they’ll make many times their weight in new potatoes. They won’t produce quite as much as new seed potatoes, bought for that purpose. But how much are they worth to someone who needs food who doesn’t have cash for new seed potatoes?

How much is giving that box of potatoes worth to Sam, and his family? They were happy to come to ECWT to get seeds and tomato plants. They are, in that sense, recipients of the generosity of others in our community who contributed to the ECWT garden program. But when Sam brought that box of potatoes back, he and his family also became contributers to the ECWT garden program. They also shared their resources. They gave back. How much is that worth?

Elkhart County does work together.

What can you do to help Elkhart County work together?

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What goes around, comes around.

By David | Published: May 24, 2009

When ECWT was looking for space in Goshen for community gardens, Kim and Eric Kurtz volunteered some of their land.  Not only did they volunteer their land, they also tilled it and made it ready for planting, using their own tractor, their own gas, and their own time.

The community garden that is taking shape there is a collage of different plants in different stages of growth.  Some plots are being tended by small groups of friends, some by individual gardeners, and maybe soon there will be a patch of flowers grown by Hannah and her friends.

Yesterday afternoon, a group of people gathered at the Kurtz_farm_helpKurtz farm to clean up piles of brush and wood, and weed flower beds grown over since the farm was idled several years ago. After working, and sweating, for several hours, they gathered for food and conversation.

What is interesting is that none of the people who have a garden plot gathered for the work day.  And none of the people gathered for the work day have a garden plot.

Is that a problem?  Not in my view.

The Kurtz family made their land available without expectation of reward.  Their friends cleaned up the farm without expectation of reward.

Dave_gardeningBuilding community is not about a one-to-one correlation between giving and receiving.  It is not about contributing in the expectation of getting back.

Building community is making an investment in the kind of place you want to live.

In the same way, Elkhart County Works Together is not about “the unemployed members of our community.”  Elkhart County Works Together us about all of us, employed and unemployed.  It is about those with time to contribute, and those with money to contribute.

These reflections often end with a question, “What can you do to help Elkhart County work together?”

Another way to ask that question is, “What kind of community do you want to live in?  What can you contribute to bring that community into being?”

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“This is a Godsend.”

By David | Published: May 18, 2009

Those were the words the caller to the ECWT office just said: “I am so excited about growing a garden. This is a God send.”

I asked her more. She said that her son brought home a flyer from Model school on Friday, talking about the availability of garden plots. The caller, let’s call her Amy, said she would love to have a space for her and her two sons to garden this summer.

“My benefits are running out, and I’m losing food stamps, so this is a God send,” she said.

We talked about how the ECWT garden coordinator would be in touch with her, and tell her the schedule for putting in a garden, probably at the Hay Farm across from Black Squirrel. I said we’d have seeds and other supports, and could also supply her with a garden buddy.

“Oh, I know how to garden,” she said. “I grew up gardening. And, I heard that the Boys and Girls Club is putting in a garden. I would love to help there. I’m just so excited about being able to help other people.”

Many of us went to church yesterday. There were many prayers offered, asking God to help those suffering from economic dislocation. Amy sees her garden as a Godsend, as an answer to prayer.

There is an old saying, “God has no hands but ours.” Amy has a garden because the city administration said “yes” to the use of the land, and the city forestor is getting it ready, and there is an ECWT office and printer to make flyers, and the ECWT Garden Coordinator dropped off the flyers last Friday, and a school administrator decided to send the flyers home with children.

Elkhart County does work together.

What can you do to help Elkhart County work together?

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