Al Nelson, center, at our first-ever public event: a drumming circle at the August 2010 North Adams Downtown Celebration.
The following reflection began our Board of Directors' retreat today, April 8.
Introduction
Al
Bashevkin, who is leading our retreat today, suggested that we being this retreat with a review of our origins as
a group. I agree and think this would be both informative and helpful
in looking forward.
All
this started with the idea of greater cooperation for the common good
among people of faith and houses of worship in Northern Berkshire. We
did not have a project at the beginning.
The
very start was the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition forum of
April 9, 2010 -- almost nine years ago to the day. The topic was The
Intersection of Faith and the Community. Several local clergy members
attended.
During
this discussion Al Nelson and I suggested that the local clergy
should be doing more to foster interfaith cooperation in the
community. Some of the clergy present turned this right back on us.
Especially the Rev. Carrie Bail, then of the First Congregational
Church of Williamstown, and Rabbi Jeff Goldwasser, then rabbi of
Congregation Beth Israel in North Adams.
“Why
don't you do something,” is what they responded, to us as people of
faith.
So
Al and I decided to hold meetings for what we tentatively called the
Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative. We held monthly
meetings at the Eagle Street Room at First Baptist to look for
project ideas. We wanted to find something that was needed and wasn't
a duplication of effort.
We
had a diverse group of people at our meetings: protestants from
various denominations, some Catholics, a Muslim, two people into
native American spirituality and one or two agnostics. One of our
most active participants was rabbi Goldwasser.
We
examined a number of possibilities for service and we also considered
such activities as an interfaith Thanksgiving celebration. We
couldn't agree on anything. But we did manage to have a drumming
circle led by Otha Day at the 2010 North Adams Downtown Celebration.
Service
possibilities we examined included Big Brothers Big Sisters – still
present then in Northern Berkshire – and helping out at Louison
House.
Interfaith
groups of various kinds can be found all over the country. They do
everything from conducting interfaith discussions between Jews and
Muslims in cities such as Chicago to running service projects and
agencies all over. One such group can be found in nearby Bennington,
Vermont.
A
large part of my interest in interfaith work came from my experience
with the interfaith group in Bennington, Vermont. The Interfaith
Council and its service arm, Greater Bennington Interfaith Community
Services Inc. (GBICS) is a group of both laypeople and clergy.
It
has a part-time executive director and runs the Kitchen Cupboard Food
Pantry, which started just a few months before we started one; a free
medical clinic and a fuel fund. Among other things, members of this
interfaith group meet regularly and submit columns about faith weekly
to the Bennington Banner.
The
Friendship Center
In
late 2010, it became apparent that the Berkshire Community Action
Council (BCAC) would no longer be able to run its food pantry in
North Adams because of space. The consensus then was that there were
not enough places offering emergency food in North Adams in
particular.
Around
the same time, our friend Lois Daunis had mentioned to us the
possibility of using space she and her husband owned at 43 Eagle
Street for a headquarters for our interfaith group. Soon, the idea of
using that space to store the BCAC food or perhaps operating a food
pantry was also in the air.
Well,
needless to say: We had found our project. We worked with Lois and
Mike and with BCAC and the Food Bank and Kim McMann of Target Hunger
and got a crash course in running a food pantry. We modeled a lot of
what we do from our visits to the Charity Center in Adams. Later, we
visited the Kitchen Cupboard in Bennington.
We
opened the Friendship Center in February 2011 at 43 Eagle St. The
name was inspired by the name Charity Center. In our case the goal
was to go one step beyond and offer friendship.
The
emphasis of all of the early founders was to treat people with
dignity and respect – as friends. This is why we don't use the word
“clients.” Happily, this spirit and attitude has stuck.
We
are not social workers – we are an all-volunteer organization of
people motivated by the best traditions of faith and/or humanistic
concern.
And
that's an important point, which has evolved into our working mission
statement: “The NBIAI is a group of people of different faiths and
denominations working together with others of goodwill to serve the
community.”
So
far, it's a formula that works. And it also doesn't limit us to just
a food pantry. Yes, that's our main task by far. But over the years
we have broadened this to offering all manner of social services,
including a nurse, at our sign-in point at the Eagle Street Room. We
also offer books, diapers, personal care items and free rides home.
Love
is creative. And there's a lot of love in what we do.
Other
activities over the years
It's
worth briefly mentioning that we picked up the ministry voucher
system from the now-defunct Williamstown Ecumenical Association
shortly after we opened the food pantry. This was introduced to us
through one of our monthly public meetings that continued for years
after the Friendship Center opened.
Those
monthly public meetings provided an opportunity for faith sharing,
idea sharing, telling folks about out work at the Friendship Center
and learning about other programs. Presenters over the years at these
meetings included Habitat for Humanity, the Fresh Air Fund, Western
Mass. Legal Services, Berkshire County Jail Rehabilitation Services,
and Berkshire Health Systems and many more. After Newtown we had a
meeting on violence at which we decided to send letters to the media
and Congress voicing our concern for gun safety legislation.
For
two years after a presentation by the National Alliance on Mental
Illness Berkshire County, we presented – with the help of the Rev.
Kim Kie one year and the Rev. Dan Randall the next – an interfaith
service for mental illness survivors and their families. The first
one was particularly well-attended and attracted people from all over
the county.
From
the beginning we have had a blogspot blog, a Facebook page and a
Twitter account. Now, thanks mostly to Fran, we have a website, too.
For several years, with early volunteers Mark Lincourt and Corinne
Case, we also ran a public access TV show called “In The Company of
Friends.”
Conclusion
Our
crown jewel is of course the work of what we now call Al Nelson
Friendship Center, which most of us refer to simply as the “food
pantry.” And we can be justly proud of it. It is considered a model
program by the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. Its volunteers
over the years are the finest group of people, by far, I have ever
been associated with.
But
I'd like to draw on this backstory about our origins for a couple of
concluding points. I see benefits now, as I did when Al and I worked
to incorporate us, to being an interfaith group that runs a food
pantry.
One
is to keep alive the idea of people of different faiths and those of
none working together in an intentional way to serve the community.
We provide a social service but with a difference.
Defining
ourselves as an interfaith group also makes it less of a leap to add
programming – if it makes sense. Food pantries are usually adjuncts
of larger groups – churches, community action councils etc. – and
having an interfaith identity associates us with a venerable movement
that takes many forms in the United States today.
Finally,
in this time of division and scapegoating, what could be more
important than bringing people with different perspectives about
politics and religion together in voluntary service to the poor?
Service that is friendly, respectful and given enthusiastically?
I
would offer that how we do what we do is as important as what we do.
We should think big, but in any case we should keep the eye on the
ball: serving our local friends with dignity, respect and friendship
in the best traditions of faith and humanism.
Thank
you!
