Changing the Pond

Posted on Jul 13, 2011 in Community Development | 0 comments

I often have people get really excited about the work of Embrace Richmond.  They say to me, “I love you guys because you are going beyond ‘giving out fish’ and are ‘teaching people to fish.’” To which I reply, “No, we are actually going beyond teaching people to fish and changing the condition of the pond.”

Relief programs give out fish.  Embrace Richmond does some relief work such as our mobile food pantry.  However, our ultimate goal in doing a food pantry is not “feeding people”, it is building relationships.  On our food bank application, there are two questions which help us do that:

Community Building Question #1:  “This mobile food bank was brought to you through the volunteer efforts of your neighbors, would you be willing to serve in the Hillside community?”  Roughly 50% of applicants indicate “yes” and are then given information on how to get connected.

Community Building Question #2:  “If you are in need of assistance due to a lack of employment, would you like assistance in finding employment?”  The roughly 30% who answer “yes” to this question are invited to join our vocational mentoring program.

Through the vocational mentoring program individuals receive one-on-one assistance with job readiness skills, job searches and interviewing techniques.  However, the most important element is an invitation to join a service team in order to build up their resume while building the community.

Both these questions move people from taking fish, to learning to fish.  However, the story does not end there.  Those that connect to a “service team” and serve faithfully are asked to join the “Leadership team.”  Before joining the leadership team, individuals must identify an area of community need that they would like to take a leadership role in addressing.  This moves people from learning to fish, to actually changing the condition of the Hillside pond.

Here is a true story of how this process produces a change that extends beyond individual betterment.

We met John through our monthly house blessing events which grew out of a homeless woman’s desire to give back.  John had lost everything and was moving into Hillside, so we completely furnished his apartment.  John was then invited to come serve others in his neighborhood, which he did.

 

John served faithfully and was invited to join the leadership team.  The area of passion for John was food scarcity.  He loved helping to address the issue of hunger in his own community.  John became a key leader and inspired the team to enter into a partnership with Feedmore to bring a mobile food pantry to the community.  John now heads up the team that distributes food to more than 150 Hillside households every month.

 

Qubilah came to the mobile food pantry to get food assistance.  She indicated her willingness to serve in the community and her desire for employment.  She began serving faithfully every week and joined our vocational mentoring initiative.  We were so impressed with Qubilah’s commitment to service, that she was invited to join the leadership team.

 

Qubilah’s desire is to help more people connect with one another in the Hillside community as well as helping others do job searches through the computer lab.  In the next year, Qubilah will have a chance to build on the work of other residents and create opportunities for new residents to change the Hillside community for the better.

If Embrace focused on teaching people to fish, the story would end with the individual.  Taking a community development approach means we are always looking for ways individuals can sow into the lives of their neighbors – or “pay it forward.”  In so doing, those we teach to fish are changing the culture and social fabric of the community.

Next year, Embrace Richmond will be supporting the work of many key leaders from several under-resourced communities.  Many, like Qubilah and John, will go from taking fish, to learning to fish, to then teaching others to fish, all culminating in a change in the condition of their communities.

For these individuals to go from being in a place of crisis and need themselves, to the point where they become a pillar of the community, takes a tremendous amount of training, coaching, encouragement and prayer.  However, it is such a joy to see the fruit this investment yields not just in the individual’s life, but also in the culture of the community.

We are not “giving”, we are truly “investing” for the long haul in the community by investing in the people.  These investments are only possible because individuals are investing in Embrace Richmond.  I want to thank all of you who have given of your time, talents and treasures to support community development work across this country.  Those of us dedicated to this work, seek to insure that we invest your resources in a way that yields fruit for generations to come.