Turkeys to the People

I'm a white meat eater. You?

As you read, note that a lot of people in our world are eating none of the items pictured here on this Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2012. And note that the foods are in order leading off with my favorite and working my way down (through the heaped plate).

The car pulled up to the yellow line, engine rattling, blue exhaust puffing out of the tailpipe. The trunk is open, grubby but empty. In the driver's seat is an unshaven man with a cigarette in the hand that holds the steering wheel, belly peaking out of his 'Dew t-shirt. An old woman, at least 80, sits in the passenger seat. From her eyes you can tell that she cannot see. She is slouched in every regard--sagging shoulders, vacant face, uncombed gray hair, misbuttoned shirt--except for the hand that tensely holds her cigarette. Life for them has been tougher than I can imagine. Behind them, a line of cars stretches beyond my field of vision, snaking around many block of our tiny village.

Don't give me that jello-type stuff--I want
some crunch and snap in my cranberry
relish. And, Craig Graybill makes the
best relish--please UPS me some.

They (mother and son? neighbors?) are actually in a pretty good mood. They are in line for the drive-through food distribution at the local food pantry. They are about to get food, including their very own turkey. And they are in a good mood because the food pantry has a policy of treating each client as a valued customer, a welcome visitor, someone special. This is a special place on a special day; the food pantry on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Their yawning trunk will runneth over.


I worked the Thanksgiving distribution this year. I was passing out flyers for a jobs and education program for young adults in the community. I was going to stay for an hour...but it stretched into two and then two and a half hours. It became my privilege to greet and talk with the people in every car. As the director of an agency that invests in this food pantry (United Way of Vinton County), I was especially interested in meeting the recipients of the food. Who were these people? Were they gaming the system? Did they look needy enough?

I like the classic chunks of sweet potato with
brown sugar--marshmallows optional.

I opened this blog post with a description of the people you expect to see in a food pantry line...people who are ugly, disabled, smoking, in need of a handout. But I hope you see the pain that was in that car, too, and in every car that came through that day--about 400 cars in all in our impoverished community. Don't ever say to me that it's well-off moochers coming to the food pantry until you have spoken to the people in every car through the line.

I was especially interested in the food recipients because in the past year I heard comments from many people about the food "handouts" and about people who have "too nice of cars" to need food assistance; and fielded questions about how the recipients are screened to weed out "people who are just looking for a handout"; and heard one too many "why don't they get a job" statements.

Yum. Judy Graybill--are you eating them right now?

First, let me back up. Under hero-director David Graham and his hero-volunteers, our largest local pantry (Methodist CARE Outreach) has, yes, gone to a drive-thru system. The young people I work with at my day job (and the program for which I was handing out flyers) actually helped convert a large aluminum carport into a drive through lane (they helped install a giant ventilation fan). No one has to park, get out of his car, take a cart around to gather food items, then return to her car to unpack it all into the trunk or back end of a vehicle.The drive through line has speeded up the distribution of food, but it also means that "regular" citizens (of course getting no public assistance--medicare anyone? home mortgage tax deductions anyone? Pell grants anyone?) driving along the streets can see exactly what each car in the food distribution line looks like.

I always think of my Grandma Bessie
Dickerson when I eat yeast rolls. Thanks,
Robin, for carrying on the tradition.

Second, let me back up. Probably some people are scamming the system for food. So what? So we don't feed hungry people? I would rather feed 20 undeserving people than for even one needy person to miss getting food. It's food. It's not gold. I can't judge someone who is cadging food. I know from my upbringing that free food is very hard to resist. Even when I am not needy and not hungry, I feel like I should grab some and stash it somewhere. My brain overrides this impulse most of the time, but it comes out in weird ways, such as the monstrous-huge collection of free pens I have from trade shows and such. When I die, they'll find 3,000 pens stashed in coffee mugs all over my house. Just saying, I am not in a position to critique anyone's behavior.

Plus, it's not gourmet. Canned vegetables. The apples a bit too ugly for Giant Eagle's beauty contest. Off-brand cereal that was left on the shelves for good reason. Sometimes something odd, like a 12-pack of spearmint gum or a 20-ounce bottle of artificially flavored maple syrup. That's the high reward of stealing from the food system. Better to stake out cars at Krogers!

Wait--I want more Cool Whip!

"Well, if they can afford a Suburban, what are they doing getting a handout for food?"

Here's an answer. A lot of the people who qualify for the food distribution borrow a car. Or, a kind neighbor or family member drives them. Or, they share a car with other recipients. Or, a case worker, home health aid, or caregiver brings them. Regardless, each recipient has to show his or her card, which is verified by a volunteer. A colored strip is placed under the windshield wiper of each car to indicate how many allotments that car gets (a family of five gets more food than a person living alone, for example). Then the car proceeds through the drive-through's tunnel of food, where volunteers put the right amount of each item into the car. It's cool to watch--and, as I mentioned above, especially cool to see the respect and good cheer handed out with the food (I'm sure that adds to the food's nutritional value). If an allotment is two cans of corn, then a family with 5 allotments will get 10 cans of corn. That's how it works. By the time the car reaches the street, it is full and can motor off home.

Moist, sticky, bready, with oysters, from a box or
hand made--love my stuffing.

In addition, the cars may look good from the outside, but they are not running that well. The smell of gasoline and exhaust fumes indicated inefficiency. The windows don't go up and down anymore. The door is wired shut. Many cars had distinctive pings, rattles, rumbles, and ka-chunks. These were not great cars. I know. I was checking on that for you. The better cars were mostly those of volunteers taking people through the line.

Listen. The faces of people who need food have a type of strain to them that I learned to recognize when my day job started providing breakfast and lunch to participants. Hunger takes the humanity out of a human. You can't sing and be hungry. You can't learn and be hungry. It's hard to be courteous and be hungry. The general cheer of the recipients in the CARE food line is a tribute to each and every volunteer who helps to bring them food. They honor and dignify the suffering of each person as the food goes into the car.

Salad? You served salad? What were you
thinking????

SIDEBAR: VOLUNTEER!

For most middle class and above people, the distribution of food to the poor happens outside our awareness. We don't see these people and sometimes we see them but invisibilize them. But, they are the least among us, as in "the least of these my brothers." Take a vacation day and volunteer at a food distribution in your community. You'll find out how it works, who gets food, who "those people" are. And I'm sure you'll be awed by the dedication of the people who serve regularly at the pantry. "Feed the hungry." It's a pretty clear message.

SIDEBAR: PLEASE COMMENT

Do you know of any other food banks who do a drive-through? I'm only familiar with the ones here in the county. Please add a comment to this posting if you know of other innovative strategies for making the food distribution respectful and expeditious.

Drive-Thru Community Baby Shower

[Part of the purpose of this director's blog is to record process. In this post, I'm at the very beginning stages of planning a community event.]

Here's my latest hair-brained scheme: Have a baby shower for all of the babies recently born and to be born in Vinton County. Let's celebrate the birth of every child with the basic necessities--diapers, onesies, rattles, wet wipes, and more! Let's give the future citizens of Vinton County a head start even before Head Start. United Way of Vinton County will sponsor this event, with lots of community support, but it will not be a fund-raising enterprise. UWVC just wants to demonstrate its commitment to the future of this place we call home.

I propose a community drive-thru baby shower. Pull up, get a piece of cake and a cup of punch while your donation is unloaded, and drive on. We'll even give you a receipt--and you never have to get out of your car. This idea is my attempt to do what every non-profit struggles with--making giving as easy as possible. I recall food drive-throughs, toy drive-throughs at Christmas. People seem to like the no-fuss approach to just dropping it off without leaving the car.

I admit that this idea was triggered by the McDonald's restaurant that is being built on the road I drive to work. As the block walls went up, I was tickled to see a drive-through window hole, and then a second one (meaning that we'll be able to pay separately from ordering and picking up food--we've hit the big time). The thought of just cruising through for a coffee or sandwich makes me happy. I'm not sure this is a good thing about me (or my culture), that I want my food to not interrupt my flow, but I do own it; it's real. It's (for better or worse) part of who we are at this time in this place.

My first step in planning any event is to go through the classic journalism questions--who, what, where, when, why, how, and how much. I know that if I can answer these, I've covered the basics. Let me know, readers, what you think about this event--your ideas, suggestions, and cautions.

Who (is doing the work): United Way of Vinton County (sponsor); potential partners include other agencies that serve families, women, and children, such as Sojourners, Head Start, Help Me Grow, Shepherd's House, HRS, ISS, schools, Families and Children First Council, Rio Grande Community College, Ahoy, Health Department (immunization schedules) and many others.

[Just since I started writing this, I've been on the phone with wonder woman Trish from Shepherd's House and she agreed to help with this project.]

I'm hoping that some corporate sponsors will jump on board, such as Kohls and Walmart. A big donation of disposable diapers would not go amiss. Would the state highway patrol come and demonstrate correct installation of car seats? Does the library want to have a readathon? Does the American Red Cross want to give babysitting classes that day, or infant CPR?

This lengthy list is only limited by my imagination (and yours--would love to hear suggestions).

Who (is benefitting): The newborns, babies, and mothers/families of Vinton County will receive some version of a gift box if they apply to certain agencies. One organization will be selected as the holder of the stuff and will distribute it upon receiving a referral notice from another agency. The holding organization will keep a list to prevent a mother from applying to more than one referral source. (I hate thinking of fraud when the goal is generosity, but that's how it is. I know that some donors will not participate if we don't have a plan to weed out dishonesty.) We can also use the list to send out United Way birthday cards, if we get that organized.

What: Vinton County Community Drive-Thru Baby Shower to shower the future citizens of Vinton County with gifts that make up a starter kit for babies and a pampering kit for mom.

Where: Wyman Park, the biggest park in the county. Cars will pull into the parking area through the park's south entrance, unload, get drive-through cake and beverage and exit at the north of the parking lot. People can also park and stay, participating in activities and browsing educational materials. Alternate locations might include Vinton Industries, Super Valu, Sojourners 605,  Beulah May’s lot, courthouse gazebo...or even the old high school parking lot.

When: Looking at a Saturday in September (8th or 15th?) right now. The United Way wants an activity planned for the longest day of the year, but I didn't find out soon enough to get this idea going. Time: 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

Why: To gather new and gently used baby items for distribution to babies in our community, to demonstrate that we are the village it takes to raise a child.

Food: Piece of cake/cupcake and fruity beverage ready for every car that comes through (because cake and punch is served at traditional baby showers); sell or offer hot dogs/buns, veggies/dip for those who are hanging around--an organization may wish to do this as a fundraiser.

Decorations: Pink and blue streamers, of course

Special Request: Donations of children’s pajamas and socks to Shepherd’s House

Referrals provided by: WIC, Shepherd’s House, St. Francis Center, Lutheran Social Services, Children’s Services, Help Me Grow, Goodwill, Truth Food Pantry, Sojourners, Care Outreach, police/sheriff, pastors, etc.

Activities: Every Baby a Winner Photo Contest (take photos of kids to post on facebook); infant/child CPR training; make tied fleece baby blankets; tie-dye onesies; read-aloud story time; face-painting, henna (?)

Booths: For adoption information, foster care parent recruitment, family planning?, youth homelessness, etc.

Donations: from Kohls, Walmarts, CVS, community, other retailers (focus on disposable diapers, wet wipes, new toys, etc.), Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Adena, Holzer system, Holzer Clinic, O'Blennis

Volunteers: needed for every function, but especially for cake making, unloading, and packaging donations into kits

Afterparty: Might need to meet the next day or that evening to sort out the donations and package them up for delivery

Empty boxes or bins: For collected stuff

Items accepted: Disposable diapers, pull-ups; Formula/baby food; Onesies and sleepers; Socks and booties; Wet wipes; Baby blankets; New and gently used clothing, toys, books; Car seats/booster seats (do these have to be new?); Items for mom--lotions, smelly soaps, loofah, book (What to Expect in the First Year)

Publicity: Press releases one month and one week out for all local newspapers, social media, radio, ask all partners to publicize to their members and clientele

Door Prize: I would love to be able to give out a free labor/delivery from Adena! I’m not kidding!

I'll keep you posted.

United Way of Vinton County Investments

PRESS RELEASE

May 13, 2012

United Way of Vinton County Invests $18,000 in Local Organizations

          The United Way of Vinton County distributed $18,000 in investments to local non-profit partners in April, 2012—an increase of $6,000 over 2011. Applications were received from eight groups; seven received investments, according to UWVC Director Joy Dickerson. “Our United Way Board had to make some hard decisions, not just about which groups to invest in, but also how much each partner would receive out of our limited funds.” A subcommittee of the board reviewed all of the applications and then made recommendations to the full board. The recommendations were ratified after much discussion at a meeting of the entire board. “Every board member showed up for the investment meeting—it’s that important.”

          The following groups received funding this year: Care United Methodist Outreach, Truth Food Pantry, Shepherd’s House, Vinton County Senior Citizens, R.S.V.P., the American Red Cross of Southeast Ohio, and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Southeast Ohio. “The Red Cross and Big Brothers/Big Sisters are located in Athens, but they provide direct service to Vinton Countians.” Dickerson noted that the American Red Cross of Southeast Ohio provided assistance to many county residents following the heavy rains that fell in the area in the last two weeks, a reflection of United Way of Vinton County’s funding at work right here. The investment in Big Brothers/Big Sisters supports a student mentoring program that has been operating without funding for the past year. “We’re so happy to assist that program. Mentoring helps the mentor as well as the person being mentored—everybody wins with mentoring.”

Board members Jeff Griffiths and Emmett Joy work the United Way booth at the recent Wild Turkey Festival--in all,
six of eight board members worked the festival; a board member was present for almost every hour of the event.
This is a Commoner Journal photo--see more pix at thecommonerjournal.com. 

          The United Way of Vinton County continues to focus investment on the most basic needs of our community—food, clothing, shelter, and safety. “Our investments in the community were higher this year than in the past, but not as high as I wanted,” board member Linda Donahoe said. “I hope that as people learn more about the United Way of Vinton County, donations will increase and we can fund a wider range of activities,” she added. The recent Split-the-Pot fundraiser at the Wild Turkey Festival was an effort to increase people’s awareness of the United Way. “We made a small sum from the split-the-pot, and the winner went home happy, but the most important thing was that we met and spoke with so many people about the role of the United Way of Vinton County in the community, Donahoe said.

          Dickerson is happy with this year’s investment decisions, but hopes to increase community involvement next year. “Next year, I hope we can invite some people from the community to participate in making investment decisions.” Dickerson would be glad to speak with anyone who has questions about the United Way of Vinton County and how it works. She can be reached at 740-596-9811 (leave a message) or by email at united_way_of_vinton_county@yahoo.com.

Live from the Wild Turkey Festival 1

The significance of this photo will become clear by the end of this post.

Ridin' the rides at McArthur, Ohio's
Wild Turkey Festival, May, 2012;
more photos at end of post

Hot and muggy...banks of clouds rolling in with rumblings...but passing over our little street festival here in the metropolis (population 1300) of McArthur, Ohio. The United Way of Vinton County is having its first event in more than a decade as we wake the sleeping beauty organization and get her up and walking. In short, we have a booth at McArthur's annual Wild Turkey Festival (and yes, the initials are WTF), which coincides not with breaking out bottles of Wild Turkey liquor, but with wild turkey hunting season. There's not much meat on them, but they're apparently fun to hunt.



          Our booth is in the "craft tent," although no crafts are being sold there this year. The booth next to us is selling fanatically pro-gun t-shirts, catty-cornered to us is the rifle raffle booth, and just down the way is hunter's paradise bed'n'breakfast and the mildly vigilante Community Crime Watch. United Way and the local community college are strange bedfellows with these neighbors, but true to the spirit of this place, we all just get along anyway.


          Good-heartedness is part of the nature of this underpopulated rural county. The local pro-gun secret-KKK-member redneck will still stop and change your tire for you, or pull over to the side of the road to help you carry a piece of furniture up the porch steps, or chip in a quarter for your cup of coffee at the Quick Stop if your're short on change. That's the side I focus on. That's the side I'm depending on for United Way of Vinton County.
          Everyone's been a client at some point in their lives...gotten food from a pantry, spent a night or two with the domestic violence shelter, had a ride from the RSVP volunteers, or had kids in the mentoring program at school, or had a mom or dad get Meals on Wheels from the Senior Center. This is the United Way. These are the non-profits we fund, serving the young, the old, the sick, the hungry, the scared, the needy in our community. I am counting on local good-heartedness to establish a tradition of local funding for the United Way.
          The Wild Turkey Festival is hot, loud, countrified, well-gunned, cammo-clad, confederate flagged, stroller pushing, corn-dog eating, country music listening, karaoke singing, pick the dropped sucker up off the ground and give it back to your kid doing, rides whirling, political glad-handing, neighbor greeting, good old fashioned fun. The media is different from 100 years ago, when people came in by rail from neighboring towns and the parades featured horses instead of SUVs, and we have the illusion of Little-House-on-the-Prairie wholesomeness, but I bet the feeling and mood are more similar than different.
          I suggested a booth at the festival two months ago at a board meeting, wondering which way they would go. The UWVC board is pretty genteel, but also pragmatic. The support for the booth was enthusiastic (if not unanimous) and every single board member who committed to something for the booth carried through with it. As I write, the booth is being staffed by board members--there will be a board member there for every hour of the festival (working either in pairs or with me). And they are selling split-the-pot tickets and chatting with old friends and new and chucking little babies under the chin, and ignoring tattoos, and actually having a good time.
          The support of the board has been wonderful. I am struck again and again by how badly they really do want to wake Sleeping Beauty with a big old smack on the lips and get our little local United Way on everyone's agenda. Their support makes it fun for me, too, and completely removes the sense of martyrdom with which I anticipated the project.
          We may make some money from our split-the-pot raffle, but the real goal is to talk to people about what we do. To switch children's literature references for the third time, we are the littlest Who from Horton Hears a Who. We're shouting strong and together: "We are HERE! United Way of Vinton County is HERE!"

Rifle Raffle

French fries by the bucket.

My friend Mindy, representing
both the pregnant women and
the stroller-pushers--you rock,
Mindy

Karaoke contestant
on the main stage

Examples of shirts sold next to us

New CEO Training

New United Way of Vinton County
CEO and blogger Joy E. Dickerson

OK. Ready...set...go (crazy). I took on a 1/4-time job several months ago, sort of a 16-hours a month job, sort of a few hours on Saturday and a meeting or two job. Turns out that I am classified as a Chief Executive Officer--the CEO of the teeny-weeny United Way of Vinton County (UWVC). Woot! This is a huge promotion from my paper-pushing day job. I'm a CEO. Does a BMW and golf culbs come with that?

I went to training...New CEO training...last Friday in Columbus, Ohio, at the attractively utilitarian offices of the Ohio United Way. There was a clutch of us hatchlings, some of us raw and new and a few United Way "lifers." The staff at Ohio United Way were terrific--professional, knowledgable, encouraging, and sympathetic. Thank you, Barbara, Cheryl, Char, Tim, and Nick.The material gave me whiplash. I either knew it already or was totally terrified by it. I alternated between giddy-up and WHOA.

The inner workings of the United Way are intricate, labyrinthine, roccoco, roccokookoo. I felt myself envisioning a tangled web of mammalian DNA, pi to the 10-millionths place. The great mysteries of the universe floated by and then paled in comparison. And I'm supposed to know this stuff. Abstractions littered the landscape. Acronyms crazied the cranium. My brain stretched and groaned as I told it to stay open, just stay open. We can control the cataclysm by and by, lord, by and by.

I love my brain. It is flexible and responsive. It holds a monstrous big storehouse of information and is networked not just by topic, but also by sounds and sound-alikes, history, images, strange co-vibrations of the gray matter with the sensory array. My brain (and most brains) makes the internet look clumsy. But it just wasn't enough to cope with this avalanche of information. New tracks must be laid down above the drum track, horns, bass, and strings--tracks for instruments undreamed.

I was glad to know that even the most experienced United Way directors (oops--CEOs) are still peeling back the rose petals of policy, still peeling leaves off the lettuce of the law. Knowledge of United Way habits and practices, policies and paperwork, campaigns and categories is like an old LAN--more knowledge in the group than in the the sum of the individuals. No one person can possibly know everything and shouldn't, but even in the room of newbies, we were quite a powerhouse of information. I was greatly reassured when an experienced CEO came in to speak to us and got some of her questions answered even as she answered ours.

So, I'm still in. I'm still swimming (in deeper water) in the oceanic United Way. The staff at Ohio United Way are my water wings; my CEO colleagues are my lighthouse; and seeing the good done by my tiny local chapter fuels my muscles. The wave has crashed over me and I am still afloat, still dog-paddling.

Thanks for tolerating my multitudinous metaphors. See you in the bloggy papers!