Love in Action

A small sand dollar rests on my desk, a cherished souvenir of last month's trip to Florida as a member of a Global Volunteers team. The sand dollar is grayish-white, slightly rough to the touch, imperfect in shape, yet symbolizes everything good about the entire experience. The German woman who gave it to me, a stranger, had no idea that her kind gesture would help bring this journey full circle.

I had been longing for a new adventure that would be both unusual and meaningful, and Global's Immokalee project seemed to fit the bill. I would be part of a team that would spend a week living in Friendship House, an emergency homeless shelter, and volunteering at the PACE Center, a school for "at risk" girls. It sounded like a wonderful learning experience, and I quickly signed on.

When I told a well-meaning friend about the upcoming trip, he looked at me as though I were a naive child who didn't understand how the real world operates. He suggested that I bring some mace, in case I needed it in the shelter. "You never know about those people," he warned me. This remark bothered me for several days.

One of the ideas with which I have been struggling is the concept that life is a mirror for our beliefs. The world can be an unjust place, where much evil exists and terrible things can happen--there can be no doubt about that. However, if we genuinely look for the good in people, won't we find it? Without being naive about human nature, can we be both "street-smart" and compassionate too? Can we live in the hope that we will find positive solutions to our problems and build a better future for our communities? Can we be both realistic and optimistic in a tough world?

The morning I left Minnesota, I mulled over these thoughts while waiting for my flight to take off. In a moment of perfect synchronicity, I looked up from my seat just as a quote from Goethe's "Faust" flashed across the airplane's movie screen. It seemed ironic..and very appropriate:

"A man sees in the world what he carries in his own heart."

That thought would remain with me during the entire week in Immokalee. Beforehand, I had worried about my personal safety in that shelter and in that town, as I always do when traveling to an unfamiliar place. However, I also believed that "Global" would never knowingly send volunteers into an unsafe environment. Besides, it would be bad publicity if anything happened to us!

Also, I thought about my own intentions for taking this particular kind of trip. One cannot change the world in a week--I knew that. I wanted to rediscover a sense of gratitude, and to be reminded that I had something to offer others. Escaping the Minnesota cold was a bonus as well! I suspected something else about this "travel that feeds the soul" business-- namely, that the one who gives of her/his time gets much more out of the experience than those whom s/he is going to "help".

My suspicions were confirmed as the week went on. Our volunteer group of eight women, ranging in age from 30-something to 70-something, turned out to be a "dream team". Each woman had an interesting story about why she chose to participate in this program. These women were all fun, interesting, vibrant and curious about the world. We got along well, and had a lot of adventures and laughter along the way. We coined ourselves the "Wagon O' Women" (WOW's for short) because we drove around town together in a mini-van, and we were all fabulous! Immokalee hadn't seen anything like us before, I thought!

And I hadn't seen anything like Immokalee before, either. A small farming community located about 40 miles northeast of Naples, it is, as one resident told me, a "struggling" town. It's a curious paradox--one of the poorest communities in America, located in one of the richest counties. Parts of the town resemble a Third-World village, and 44% of the population lives below federal poverty guidelines. Many workers earn $7,000 a year or less.

The fruits and vegetables picked in that region feed the rest of America, and other parts of the world. During picking season, the population swells from 18,000 to roughly 35,000. Residents and migrant workers together face a host of complex social problems, from low incomes to a lack of affordable housing to high rates of alcoholism, violence, and sexual abuse. It is not a town where women venture out alone, particularly after dark.

As luck would have it, we met Benny Starling, President of the local Chamber of Commerce, who took us on an "uncensored" tour of the area. We saw both great wealth and astounding poverty. He discussed his hopes and the plans for improving the area as he drove us around a beautiful "gated" community, and the high-crime neighborhoods as well.

We were also given an overview of the situation by Ed Laudise, Director of the Friendship House. In one year, the staff of the Friendship House manage to house over 900 people, provide 22,000 meals, referrals, counseling, and a safe, clean environment to the homeless on a budget of just $200,000. Everyone takes seriously Friendship's mission to "follow God's call to share bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed, and the homeless, and clothe the naked" (Isaiah 58:6-7). The goal is to meet the immediate needs of the homeless while helping provide services that will enable them to locate and maintain permanent housing. It was an eye-opening experience to spend the week in the shelter, and meet the staff and clients who stayed there.

We were given another perspective of the community from Threasa Miller, and Mellony Tracey, Executive Director and Program Manager, respectively, of the PACE Center for Girls, Inc. They and their dedicated staff provide discipline, structure, love and attention to 30 girls. The time we spent with the staff and students was rewarding indeed. We helped out in whatever ways we were asked--from grading papers to tutoring individuals to telling the girls about our lives and careers. The girls were wonderful to get to know--bright, beautiful, and full of promise. At PACE, we witnessed a safe place where girls are allowed to blossom, despite the difficult environment of the town.

Ed, Threasa, Mellony, and the staffs of Friendship House and the PACE Center are truly examples of love in action. They do not waste time judging their clients or overanalyzing the problems of the area---they are busy doing the hard work of advocating for the people that they serve. And they are making positive contributions to the community and in the many lives that they touch daily.

In our celebrity-driven, entertainment-oriented culture, we don't always hear about extraordinary "ordinary" people like these--they are the true American heroes, who deserve our respect and support. They see the ugly side of life, to be sure, but also see the human potential in everyone they meet, particularly the young people.

I reflected on all this one day when we stopped at a local grocery store. I noticed something I had seen a million times before, but on this particular day, it struck me as something terribly obscene about American culture. The tabloids lined up next to the cash register had cover stories which dealt with unfortunate female celebrities in various stages of emotional meltdown. One was leading a "secret gay life" while another was coping with a stray spouse, and yet another lovesick star was about to marry--without a prenup! It struck me as very sad--all these negative stories, putting women down. I had been among women (and men) of all ages and backgrounds who were strong and beautiful and talented, all committed to making this world a better place.

The day before we left Florida, the "Wagon O' Women" spent a few hours at the beach. After a week with the group, I finally had some time alone to myself! I strolled up and down the beach, looking for seashells, noticing broken bits of sand dollars, and watching live starfish gracefully glide across the sand beneath the shore. I talked to various locals and tourists along the way, and eventually came upon a German tourist. She had a handful of sand dollars. How did she find the intact ones? I wondered. What was her method of digging for them? We chatted for a couple minutes, and set off in opposite directions. I wandered back to where my "Global" friends were. Several minutes later, the German woman walked up to me with a little gift. She had followed me back down the beach, and she cared enough to give me what I couldn't seem to find that day--an unbroken sand dollar. Without knowing it, she had also given me a larger gift, by confirming my belief that most people are basically decent and good and caring!

It was an incredible week, and one in which I received far more than I gave. It was a privilege to live at Friendship House and volunteer at the PACE Center.

To learn more about Friendship House or Pace Center, contact:

Ed Laudise, Director, Friendship House, 620 W. Main St., Immokalee, FL 34142 - (239) 657-4090

Threasa Miller, Executive Director, PACE Center for Girls, Inc., 201 N. 1st Street, Immokalee, FL 34142 - (239) 657-2400

Here are a couple good sources for learning more about children and poverty in America:

The U.S. government offers poverty data at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty.html.

The Children's Defense Fund has issued their annual report on the state of America's children. The CDF also offers a resource page listing other organizations concerned with the welfare of children: http://www.childrensdefense.org/links.aspx

Teresa Callies
January 2001