Posts
Ways to help displaced Tent City residents
July 22, 2010 by Amos House Community
We recently set up a “Care Calendar” for volunteers to sign up to help some of the displaced Tent City residents who are living at Hobson United Methodist’s parsonage in East Nashville.
We currently need volunteers who are willing to stay overnight with us at the parsonage as “Inn Keepers” each day from now until the end of August, provide dinner for about 20 people, and/or help to transport residents to appointments, especially in the morning hours. Being an Inn Keeper involves getting to the house sometime around/after dinner, spending time with the residents, sleeping on the cots provided in the living room, and then leaving sometime the next day. If you stay overnight, you should bring your pillow and sleeping bag. We also have wireless at the house.
To sign up for one of these volunteer opportunities, please visit out Tent City Care Calendar site at http://www.carecalendar.org/logon/45351 and enter the following
information in the appropriate spaces:
CALENDAR ID : 45351
SECURITY CODE : 6077
The address for the parsonage is 1716 Greenwood Ave., Nashville, TN 37206. If you have any questions about these opportunities, please e-mail amoshousemercyfund@gmail.com.
7.12.10
These past few weeks of resettlement of the Tent City folks off the Beaman property have been long days for everyone involved – especially the folks that have had to pack up and move again. How frustrating it must be to not be in a position to provide for yourself, your companion or your spouse and be at the mercy of other people (and if you’re reading this and think that all someone needs to do is try harder, get a job, stop drinking and start acting like a “normal” person in society then I’d love to have you spend part of a day with me and get to really know a few of the folks that are trying to get back up on their feet). I’m haunted by the thought of such vulnerability.
Each person struggling to find their place in community is a unique soul with a story of happiness and sadness, success and failures, struggles and victories. With all the differences in personalities it’s no surprise that there are conflicts when groups are brought together, either voluntarily or not. No different than you and me, some folks are not ready for living on their own or in close proximity to each other or being asked to share in chores. That’s why different models of support are so important. With assistance from trained and caring providers each person’s personality and needs should be assessed so that they can be offered support where it’s needed. For some that may mean the Rescue Mission, for others Father Strobel’s Campus and Room in the Inn, still others look to the Salvation Army for shelter and support. Each of those organizations is a different model of support. Being forced to accept shelter where your personality clashes with the program but having no choice creates fear and mistrust. I’m haunted by the thought of my friends trying to adapt to inappropriate living situations and feeling helpless to tell anyone how they are feeling.
And then when someone has taken all they can and put up with all they feel they can, they feel they have no choice but to fall back on their own survival skills. Trust no one, get what you can and take care of number one. Knowing that they need to get their meds refilled so their mood swings and potentially violent outbursts can be controlled but realizing they don’t have the transportation or money for the refill and adamant that they are not going to ask anyone for charity, they let their words and actions go where they will and then they face the consequences of arrest or isolation from their peers. What shelter has been provided is taken away and they face the reality of life back on the streets and in the woods. With the closing of Tent City and a sanctioned place for retreat I’ve had to take some of my friends to unauthorized camping sites where they know they face being told to move or, even worse, get arrested with the potential of losing their personal belongings. I drive away having given them a tent, a sleeping bag, some food and water. I’m haunted as I drive back to my air-conditioned house by the thought of them in the heat, living a subsistence life and wondering if there’s any hope.
Decisions are being made by people that will have long term implications on the lives of my friends. What support services will be provided? What shelter and housing options will be approved and which will not be allowed? How receptive will the community be to programs that will reeducate, retrain, rehabilitate and reintegrate these folks back into the life of the city? Who is going to champion their cause and be a voice for those whose voice is not only not heard but not even acknowledged? Is there enough vision and courage to see how developing a comprehensive program to address Nashville’s most vulnerable can be as positive an investment of time and money as a new convention center or medical mall? Or will the fear that creating a compassionate program will open the floodgates and welcome even more poor, vulnerable, marginalized people to our city and that will be seen as a negative by those driving the economic engines of our city? I’m haunted by the thought that the progress we have the potential to make will be short-lived and pushed aside when the voices of opposition and threats of votes raises its ugly head.
And yet, we are called to be people of faith. To work within the areas we have influence and not waste our time and energy by lamenting areas over which we have concern but no ability to effect. Many of the people serving the marginalized in our community are serving with a motivation that seems counter-intuitive to many others. We’re marching to a different drum, answering a different call. Are we naïve? That thought does not haunt me. We’re following in the steps of one who saw a community of compassion and equality. Not where everyone was the same, but where differences were valued for the contribution they made the whole. There’s energy and resources to help that vision take shape. But mostly there’s faith. Let’s keep that thought in mind when we are tempted to feel haunted…
Each person struggling to find their place in community is a unique soul with a story of happiness and sadness, success and failures, struggles and victories. With all the differences in personalities it’s no surprise that there are conflicts when groups are brought together, either voluntarily or not. No different than you and me, some folks are not ready for living on their own or in close proximity to each other or being asked to share in chores. That’s why different models of support are so important. With assistance from trained and caring providers each person’s personality and needs should be assessed so that they can be offered support where it’s needed. For some that may mean the Rescue Mission, for others Father Strobel’s Campus and Room in the Inn, still others look to the Salvation Army for shelter and support. Each of those organizations is a different model of support. Being forced to accept shelter where your personality clashes with the program but having no choice creates fear and mistrust. I’m haunted by the thought of my friends trying to adapt to inappropriate living situations and feeling helpless to tell anyone how they are feeling.
And then when someone has taken all they can and put up with all they feel they can, they feel they have no choice but to fall back on their own survival skills. Trust no one, get what you can and take care of number one. Knowing that they need to get their meds refilled so their mood swings and potentially violent outbursts can be controlled but realizing they don’t have the transportation or money for the refill and adamant that they are not going to ask anyone for charity, they let their words and actions go where they will and then they face the consequences of arrest or isolation from their peers. What shelter has been provided is taken away and they face the reality of life back on the streets and in the woods. With the closing of Tent City and a sanctioned place for retreat I’ve had to take some of my friends to unauthorized camping sites where they know they face being told to move or, even worse, get arrested with the potential of losing their personal belongings. I drive away having given them a tent, a sleeping bag, some food and water. I’m haunted as I drive back to my air-conditioned house by the thought of them in the heat, living a subsistence life and wondering if there’s any hope.
Decisions are being made by people that will have long term implications on the lives of my friends. What support services will be provided? What shelter and housing options will be approved and which will not be allowed? How receptive will the community be to programs that will reeducate, retrain, rehabilitate and reintegrate these folks back into the life of the city? Who is going to champion their cause and be a voice for those whose voice is not only not heard but not even acknowledged? Is there enough vision and courage to see how developing a comprehensive program to address Nashville’s most vulnerable can be as positive an investment of time and money as a new convention center or medical mall? Or will the fear that creating a compassionate program will open the floodgates and welcome even more poor, vulnerable, marginalized people to our city and that will be seen as a negative by those driving the economic engines of our city? I’m haunted by the thought that the progress we have the potential to make will be short-lived and pushed aside when the voices of opposition and threats of votes raises its ugly head.
And yet, we are called to be people of faith. To work within the areas we have influence and not waste our time and energy by lamenting areas over which we have concern but no ability to effect. Many of the people serving the marginalized in our community are serving with a motivation that seems counter-intuitive to many others. We’re marching to a different drum, answering a different call. Are we naïve? That thought does not haunt me. We’re following in the steps of one who saw a community of compassion and equality. Not where everyone was the same, but where differences were valued for the contribution they made the whole. There’s energy and resources to help that vision take shape. But mostly there’s faith. Let’s keep that thought in mind when we are tempted to feel haunted…
6.10.10
This week a few of my friends and I went camping in one of my friend’s RV. We spent the day in various activities and wrapped up the day with a light dinner and got ready for bed. As we were about to head to bed the carbon monoxide alarm starting going off. We pushed the reset button and silenced it and went on about our business. About 5 minutes later it went off again. We silenced it again. 5 minutes later it went off again. By this time it occurred to us that this alarm was probably going to be going off all night unless we either 1) figured out why it was going off and address the root cause ; or 2) disconnect the alarm. A quick assessment of the environment lead us to believe that we were in no danger and that the alarm was either ultra sensitive to something in the air or malfunctioning. But the real issue was that the alarm was hard-wired into the RV so it was no simple matter to disconnect it.
It was already late in the night and we were ready to go to bed. Frustrations begin to rapidly grow as every few minutes the alarm would go off. All I could think about was how my planned night’s sleep was going to be regularly interrupted by the alarm. This was not good!! We all needed our sleep. And to think about having to sleep with one ear listening for the alarm so as to not be scared to death when it went off was just not acceptable. We read the owner’s manual to try and figure out how to disconnect the alarm but there was nothing giving us those instructions.
As we jumped up every few minutes to hit the reset button on the alarm it occurred to me that this must be something like my friends living on the street experience every night. They’d love to have a good night’s sleep – uninterrupted and quiet. But most of them lay down for the evening in fear of being woken up by passers-by, by the weather or by the police. They know they can’t get too comfortable because a siren might come screaming by and wake them up. That’s life on the street – not just one night but every night.
Within about a hour we found the fuse box for the RV and pulled the fuse powering the alarms so we had our quiet night’s sleep. Simple solution once we were able to figure it out. I just wish it was that simple for the people looking for a good night’s sleep on the streets of Nashville.
It was already late in the night and we were ready to go to bed. Frustrations begin to rapidly grow as every few minutes the alarm would go off. All I could think about was how my planned night’s sleep was going to be regularly interrupted by the alarm. This was not good!! We all needed our sleep. And to think about having to sleep with one ear listening for the alarm so as to not be scared to death when it went off was just not acceptable. We read the owner’s manual to try and figure out how to disconnect the alarm but there was nothing giving us those instructions.
As we jumped up every few minutes to hit the reset button on the alarm it occurred to me that this must be something like my friends living on the street experience every night. They’d love to have a good night’s sleep – uninterrupted and quiet. But most of them lay down for the evening in fear of being woken up by passers-by, by the weather or by the police. They know they can’t get too comfortable because a siren might come screaming by and wake them up. That’s life on the street – not just one night but every night.
Within about a hour we found the fuse box for the RV and pulled the fuse powering the alarms so we had our quiet night’s sleep. Simple solution once we were able to figure it out. I just wish it was that simple for the people looking for a good night’s sleep on the streets of Nashville.
6.8.10
It’s been about a little over 3 weeks since the Red Cross shelter closed and two week since about 50 people had no other choice but to move onto the property in Antioch generously offered by Lee Beaman. Make no mistake about it this was not how it was supposed to happen…
From the day after the flood there was no doubt that a need would exist for another emergency and transitional living arrangement to take the place of Tent City. Those most familiar with the homeless situation in Nashville saw the “opportunity” afforded by the flood to change the model of Tent City while some saw it as a chance to eliminate that particular rung altogether.
So while meetings were going on during the time in the shelter the focus was on long term housing solutions, namely Section 8 vouchers. Make no mistake about this either – eventually having 70 vouchers allocated to help homeless people displaced by the flood is a great thing. But it has not and will not eliminate the need for the rung on the ladder to housing that was filled by an emergency and transitional arrangement. Rationalizing that the Mission or the Campus can fill that rung is just not the truth. Both of those organizations fill an important role but they admit themselves that they are not structured to be an emergency and transitional housing model like that envisioned by the “new Tent City”.
Everyone associated with the old Tent City knows that model was not working as well as it could. There was both a perceived and real image problem – alcohol, drugs, violence and lack of respect for law and order. And so when the people of Antioch heard that Tent City was being relocated to their community they screamed. No one ever thought to call the Red Cross shelter that had been in the middle of Green Hills by the name of Tent City. It was an emergency shelter and folks were OK with that. There were rules and security that had to be enforced. Yes people could come and go, they could walk down the streets around David Lipscomb and yet there was no neighborhood outcry. There were no community meetings to debate the merits of opening the shelter. It was an emergency and that’s just what people do.
If there was a failure on the part of Metro and the faith-based groups trying to work behind the scenes as the shelter was closing perhaps it was a failure to communicate that an emergency still existed and there was a real need for another kind of shelter. What was set up in Antioch is NOT Tent City. There are rules and registration and security. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. And neither was the arrangement at Lipscomb or the prior arrangement on the Cumberland River called Tent City.
What really happened was that politics got ahead of love for our neighbors. The folks flooded out of Tent City are not taxpayers or voters (although most would love to be). When faced with disasters in residential, commercial, entertainment and business areas all on the heels of the CMA, it makes perfect sense that the priority would be on those areas. No one argues that. But prioritizing and intentionally ignoring are very different. No one is going to step up and say who made the decision to ignore the impending disaster when the shelter closed and there was no place for the folks to go. The response by the faith community to step up and not let it be swept away has brought it to light and the powers that were in control are pretty frustrated with us. (That’s not speculation – I’ve been told that to my face). What’s interesting to me is why the frustration is with us. Just because we didn’t walk away? Did they really think that people of God would do that? Does that say more about the faith groups or the power groups?
Listen to the words by Derek Webb from his song Love is Not Against the Law:
Politics or love can make you blind or make you see
Make you a slave or make you free
And only one does it all
And it’s giving up your life
For the ones you hate the most
It’s giving them your gown when they’ve taken your clothes
It’s learning to admit when you’ve had a hand in setting them up
And knocking them down
Because love is not against the love
Are we defending life when we just pick and choose
Lives acceptable to lose and which ones to defend
Because you cannot choose your friends
But you choose your enemies
And what if they were one and the same
Could you find a way to love them both the same
To give them your name because
Love is not against the law
But that’s all water under the bridge (sorry for the pun). There are solutions to the issue at hand. Antioch can rest easy to know their image is back in their hands. The emergency shelter on the Beaman property will be gone by July 5. But just like the powers in control, that doesn’t mean the issue is going away. There still is a need for this rung in the ladder and it’s not going away. Perhaps we’ve come to place that we can all sit down together and come to short-term and long-term solution.
From the day after the flood there was no doubt that a need would exist for another emergency and transitional living arrangement to take the place of Tent City. Those most familiar with the homeless situation in Nashville saw the “opportunity” afforded by the flood to change the model of Tent City while some saw it as a chance to eliminate that particular rung altogether.
So while meetings were going on during the time in the shelter the focus was on long term housing solutions, namely Section 8 vouchers. Make no mistake about this either – eventually having 70 vouchers allocated to help homeless people displaced by the flood is a great thing. But it has not and will not eliminate the need for the rung on the ladder to housing that was filled by an emergency and transitional arrangement. Rationalizing that the Mission or the Campus can fill that rung is just not the truth. Both of those organizations fill an important role but they admit themselves that they are not structured to be an emergency and transitional housing model like that envisioned by the “new Tent City”.
Everyone associated with the old Tent City knows that model was not working as well as it could. There was both a perceived and real image problem – alcohol, drugs, violence and lack of respect for law and order. And so when the people of Antioch heard that Tent City was being relocated to their community they screamed. No one ever thought to call the Red Cross shelter that had been in the middle of Green Hills by the name of Tent City. It was an emergency shelter and folks were OK with that. There were rules and security that had to be enforced. Yes people could come and go, they could walk down the streets around David Lipscomb and yet there was no neighborhood outcry. There were no community meetings to debate the merits of opening the shelter. It was an emergency and that’s just what people do.
If there was a failure on the part of Metro and the faith-based groups trying to work behind the scenes as the shelter was closing perhaps it was a failure to communicate that an emergency still existed and there was a real need for another kind of shelter. What was set up in Antioch is NOT Tent City. There are rules and registration and security. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. And neither was the arrangement at Lipscomb or the prior arrangement on the Cumberland River called Tent City.
What really happened was that politics got ahead of love for our neighbors. The folks flooded out of Tent City are not taxpayers or voters (although most would love to be). When faced with disasters in residential, commercial, entertainment and business areas all on the heels of the CMA, it makes perfect sense that the priority would be on those areas. No one argues that. But prioritizing and intentionally ignoring are very different. No one is going to step up and say who made the decision to ignore the impending disaster when the shelter closed and there was no place for the folks to go. The response by the faith community to step up and not let it be swept away has brought it to light and the powers that were in control are pretty frustrated with us. (That’s not speculation – I’ve been told that to my face). What’s interesting to me is why the frustration is with us. Just because we didn’t walk away? Did they really think that people of God would do that? Does that say more about the faith groups or the power groups?
Listen to the words by Derek Webb from his song Love is Not Against the Law:
Politics or love can make you blind or make you see
Make you a slave or make you free
And only one does it all
And it’s giving up your life
For the ones you hate the most
It’s giving them your gown when they’ve taken your clothes
It’s learning to admit when you’ve had a hand in setting them up
And knocking them down
Because love is not against the love
Are we defending life when we just pick and choose
Lives acceptable to lose and which ones to defend
Because you cannot choose your friends
But you choose your enemies
And what if they were one and the same
Could you find a way to love them both the same
To give them your name because
Love is not against the law
But that’s all water under the bridge (sorry for the pun). There are solutions to the issue at hand. Antioch can rest easy to know their image is back in their hands. The emergency shelter on the Beaman property will be gone by July 5. But just like the powers in control, that doesn’t mean the issue is going away. There still is a need for this rung in the ladder and it’s not going away. Perhaps we’ve come to place that we can all sit down together and come to short-term and long-term solution.
5.27.10
These past few weeks have been so totally consuming that I decided to reprioritize and not spend the time to post to my blog in order to have enough time to handle the other urgent matters of flood relief coordination for Otter Creek members; friends, family and neighbors of Otter Creekers; the general population of Nashville (our teams worked in Bellevue, Pennington Bend, Antioch and Bordeaux just to name a few areas; helping with converting the fellowship hall at our Granny White building into a disaster supply distribution facility & food preparation kitchen for supplying meals to volunteers and people who lost everything; working with Tent City people who were completely displaced and left with no place to go.
Otter Creek rose to every call for support – people, supplies and money to help pay for all kinds of needs. I continue to thank God for the blessing of an active, caring and engaged congregation. There are definite disadvantages of being a large, wealthy, suburban church in one of the wealthiest counties in the country. As a ministry staff and part of the leadership team we wrestle with that every day. But there are also many advantages IF we are able to allow God to direct those resources and control our hearts and our spirits and continue to keep the focus off ourselves and onto him, our neighbors and the purposes and goal of the kingdom.
So over the next few please start to check back to the site and I’ll do my best to recap what all has been going on how Otter Creek has been trying to listen and follow God into the world in order to be salt and light and show community to ourselves and to people who are crying out for an environment of trust, compassion, accountability and engagement.
Otter Creek rose to every call for support – people, supplies and money to help pay for all kinds of needs. I continue to thank God for the blessing of an active, caring and engaged congregation. There are definite disadvantages of being a large, wealthy, suburban church in one of the wealthiest counties in the country. As a ministry staff and part of the leadership team we wrestle with that every day. But there are also many advantages IF we are able to allow God to direct those resources and control our hearts and our spirits and continue to keep the focus off ourselves and onto him, our neighbors and the purposes and goal of the kingdom.
So over the next few please start to check back to the site and I’ll do my best to recap what all has been going on how Otter Creek has been trying to listen and follow God into the world in order to be salt and light and show community to ourselves and to people who are crying out for an environment of trust, compassion, accountability and engagement.
5.11.10
The last week has been a blur of activity, reaction and planned response. It’s been a balancing (or maybe juggling) act of reaching out to Otter Creek members touched by the flood, friends and family of Otter Creek members, members of the Nashville community who simply call our office for help because they’ve heard we are on the scene, and members of the homeless community who are so very vulnerable after losing everything and being help in a shelter with nowhere to go.
There are more stories of sacrifice and triumph and of loss and disappointment than you can imagine. We’ve met people who have shown us a faith that has inspired us and challenged us as we struggle with the guilt of not having had to see most of our “stuff” lost in the flood waters.
We’re still trying to find a piece of land for the Tent City residents. Lipscomb University has opened its doors so that the Red Cross can keep a shelter open for the folks to have a place to sleep and eat. But when it closes (as it soon will) there’s literally no place for nearly 120 people to go. If you know of a 2-3 acre tract of land in the central business district, please let us know.
The members of Otter Creek are responding to the challenge of need in ways that many of us have never seen. People are stepping up to organize and volunteer the time and labor. I know there are lots of churches helping people across the city, but I couldn’t be more proud of Otter Creek – reaching out in times of need is a part of who we are. And it’s at times like this that it shows…..
There are more stories of sacrifice and triumph and of loss and disappointment than you can imagine. We’ve met people who have shown us a faith that has inspired us and challenged us as we struggle with the guilt of not having had to see most of our “stuff” lost in the flood waters.
We’re still trying to find a piece of land for the Tent City residents. Lipscomb University has opened its doors so that the Red Cross can keep a shelter open for the folks to have a place to sleep and eat. But when it closes (as it soon will) there’s literally no place for nearly 120 people to go. If you know of a 2-3 acre tract of land in the central business district, please let us know.
The members of Otter Creek are responding to the challenge of need in ways that many of us have never seen. People are stepping up to organize and volunteer the time and labor. I know there are lots of churches helping people across the city, but I couldn’t be more proud of Otter Creek – reaching out in times of need is a part of who we are. And it’s at times like this that it shows…..
5.2.10
Tent City is gone…. The floods of the last few days have caused the waters of the Cumberland to raise higher than many long-time Nashvillians can remember. As many of you know, Tent City is built in the flood plane of the Cumberland under the Sylman-Evans bridges. Until today it was hard for me to imagine that the water could ever really be high enough to flood that area. But now I’m a believer. I started getting calls late yesterday that the water was rising but really had no idea that it was as serious as it turned out to be. So starting this morning Inner City Ministries provided a school bus and we started evacuating Tent City residents and their animals. The Red Cross sat up a shelter at Lipscomb and the Humane Shelter provided a trailer for pets. I took 2 loads of folks and their pets and they were more than happy to get out of there. They were wet and frustrated – they had lost everything except what they could carry out – tents, shacks, beds, clothes, books, everything. By the time I got there, the portable toilets were floating in over four feet of water. But the good news is that everyone that wanted to leave for the shelter was able to get out. A few folks decided they would go to higher ground and stay and a few went to stay with friends. There were a few other camps that we also evacuated yesterday. Since the shelters had not yet been set up we ended up taking them to the Drake Motel. Thanks to everyone who pitched in to help.
But this means that once the water recedes we’ll be faced with helping nearly 140 people get their lives back together. If you are reading this would you consider getting your church and your place of business to start a tent and sleeping bag drive? We’ll also be needing clothing and just about everything else you can imagine.
I want to say I couldn’t be more proud to be a member of Otter Creek. For the past several months Otter Creek has been working towards today as the culmination of a fundraiser for a new kindergarten addition. There was a big breakfast planned along with a service centered on asking folks to make pledges for the campaign. But the weather had different plans. Early this morning the power went off at the building. The caterers were already there setting up the breakfast. The organizers were there putting the final touches on the events for the day. But no sooner had the power gone off and the flood warnings started to come in than the folks put their heads together and started trying to figure out what to do. Within an hour it was clear that the event would not take place today. That could be rescheduled. But what to do with the breakfast? With no hesitation or concern for the investment, the call was made and plans were put in place to take an incredible breakfast to the Red Cross shelter where the Tent City folks were staying. Almost sounds biblical… And then the organizers decided that it was more important to get everyone together to pray for the people affected by the storm than worry about the fundraiser. There was tremendous effort put into the plans for today. But without any hesitation, those plans were delayed so we could all pray and roll up our sleeves to help our community. Now that’s the Otter Creek I know and love and am proud to serve. They’ll be plenty of time for the fundraiser, but for now let’s focus on helping others – I think that’s what Jesus would be doing…
But this means that once the water recedes we’ll be faced with helping nearly 140 people get their lives back together. If you are reading this would you consider getting your church and your place of business to start a tent and sleeping bag drive? We’ll also be needing clothing and just about everything else you can imagine.
I want to say I couldn’t be more proud to be a member of Otter Creek. For the past several months Otter Creek has been working towards today as the culmination of a fundraiser for a new kindergarten addition. There was a big breakfast planned along with a service centered on asking folks to make pledges for the campaign. But the weather had different plans. Early this morning the power went off at the building. The caterers were already there setting up the breakfast. The organizers were there putting the final touches on the events for the day. But no sooner had the power gone off and the flood warnings started to come in than the folks put their heads together and started trying to figure out what to do. Within an hour it was clear that the event would not take place today. That could be rescheduled. But what to do with the breakfast? With no hesitation or concern for the investment, the call was made and plans were put in place to take an incredible breakfast to the Red Cross shelter where the Tent City folks were staying. Almost sounds biblical… And then the organizers decided that it was more important to get everyone together to pray for the people affected by the storm than worry about the fundraiser. There was tremendous effort put into the plans for today. But without any hesitation, those plans were delayed so we could all pray and roll up our sleeves to help our community. Now that’s the Otter Creek I know and love and am proud to serve. They’ll be plenty of time for the fundraiser, but for now let’s focus on helping others – I think that’s what Jesus would be doing…
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