Sowing Good Seeds in Cambridge, Maryland
Posted by Michael McKenna on Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Editor’s Note: All summer, Share Our Strength staff will be visiting summer meals sites across the country to show our work in action. This post is part of that series. To learn more about Summer Meals, visit strength.org/summer.
In church on Sunday, the gospel reading was the parable of the sower who scatters seed on the road, in rocky ground, among weeds, and in fertile ground. According to the story of the sower and the seed, the seed that falls on the fertile ground bears fruit due to deep roots, whereas the seed in the other places fails to prosper. For Christians it’s a message about openness to God’s grace, but I think it’s also a good metaphor for community development. I couldn’t help but think back on my visit last week to Waugh Chapel in Cambridge, MD, a church serving summer meals to nearly 60 kids this summer.
To understand how a community organization grows deep roots, it’s worth looking a little to the past. In our research for our trip, Brian, Alice, and I came across an NPR article chronicling the Cambridge race riot of July 1967, during which twenty buildings burned to the ground. The community has been rebuilding in more ways than one ever since. Churches have weathered that storm and many others since, serving as a safe space, a source of charity, and the site of community renewal. Waugh Chapel United Methodist Church has been running a food pantry and provides year round enrichment and nutrition for kids. This church was a great example of the important role communities of faith can play in advancing the work of the No Kid Hungry campaign. Here a just a few of the ways congregations can be natural partners:
First, people of faith feel called to work for the common good for spiritual reasons. In any religion, feeding the poor is an expression of faith in action. Servant leaders like Celestine Dorsey (who’s been working for Waugh Chapel for the past fifteen years since her retirement) wake up day after day to make sure the kids in her community are well-fed.
Second, churches are often a center of community life and are familiar to children. Kids can feel safe there. In underserved rural and urban areas alike few social service agencies may exist apart from a congregational community. The congregation’s knowledge of the local landscape can help identify the kids that need to be connected to nutrition programs.
Third, churches often have access to transportation. At Waugh Chapel, a generous volunteer shuttles kids from a local public housing project’s summer camp to the church rec hall for breakfast and lunch every day, using the church’s bus.
As with most community-based non-profits, congregational communities are not impervious to the decline in donations that comes with tough economic times. In previous summers, 2 other Cambridge churches offered summer meals but had to close due to the lack of funds. That reality reinforces why No Kid Hungry grants matter. Thanks to Share Our Strength’s investment, Waugh Chapel is able to serve meals for an extra week! Five more days of kids eating, playing, and learning in community, setting them up all the better for a happy, healthy return to school.
Last but not least, I have to tell you about the kids! As Waugh Chapel’s summer meals program is the fruit of seed that sprouted in good soil, so then are the 5, 6, and 7 years olds the seeds that could grow into Cambridge’s renaissance. Little Daniela with the mischievous sense of humor (“I’m not 5, I’m 61 years old!”); Jordan who loved the Flip camera (future film director?), and the little guy who recited the names of every one of his neighbors at the lunch table (future politician?). They are reminders of what we’re fighting for. Their spirit is a balm in these tough economic times when budget cuts to social programs like SNAP and WIC are on the table. Ultimately, they are kids being kids, free of worry about summer hunger thanks to the great work of our No Kid Hungry partners like Waugh Chapel.
RELATED LINKS:
— Learn more about Share Our Strength’s Summer Meals work
— Help Support Summer Meals Work
July 13, 2011 | 0 comment(s) | Tags: church, maryland, summer meals
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