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.