Picking Up Trash

I’d like to introduce you to Allen and Ken. A few years ago, Allen lost his job and so he and Ken ended up buying a house on the “wrong side” of Parsons Avenue on the Columbus South side. The East side of Parsons is an area known for high crime and low incomes. Allen decided that he was not going to live in a trashy neighborhood. So.. he did something about it.

Allen (pictured second from the left in the above picture) and Ken have started a revolution in their neighborhood by doing one simple thing: Picking up trash.

Every day Allen spends part of his day walking through his neighborhood picking up trash. When he first started doing so, people thought he was a little crazy. Then they started asking him why he picked up trash. He would share with them his vision for a safe clean neighborhood. Before long, other people also picked up trash or at least didn’t throw it on the street.

Allen and Ken and some other concerned neighbors started the Ganther’s Place Garden Club and Block Watch. Together they transformed the empty lot next to Ken and Allen’s house into a spectacular “pocket park” with community art, a greenhouse, green space, flowers and benches.

Then, the drug dealers started noticing that people who lived around there cared about their neighborhood and paid attention to what was going on. They moved their operation and were not so prevalent.

Now Ganther’s Place has two pocket parks with a gazebo stage, beautification efforts throughout the streets, annual garden tours, Christmas events, Halloween events, an arts festival, a large colorful mural at the entrance to their neighborhood, a newsletter, cleaner and safer streets, a gardening program with the local elementary school, and many other successes. They have spearheaded a larger effort, in partnership with Keep Columbus Beautiful, to put flower planters up and down Parsons Avenue and hold community cleanups twice a year.

And it all started with picking up trash – an effort that required no money, no organization, and only one person.

One great story from this effort concerns a missing tree. Allen had bought two trees to plant in the pocket park. He went outside and one was missing. He followed the trail of dirt down to a house and banged on the door. The woman who answered said she didn’t know anything about it. Allen pointed out the tree was in her back yard. Her grandson had apparently taken it.

Allen carried it back to his house. The next day it went missing again. Allen was really steamed now, and he went back down and banged on the door. This time the grandson was home. Allen made the teen carry it back and help plant it. He asked him, “Why did you take the tree?” The boy replied, “It was nice, and I wanted to have nice trees and shade at my house, too.”

Allen then went and bought the boy a tree and took it down to their house. Since then, that teenager has been involved in other efforts by Ganther’s Place and he and Allen are friends.

This story delights me because it shows how returning evil with good can be transformative. It also shows how we can start with just our own resources and assets and end up transforming the world. And, according to Allen, even losing his job turned out to be his greatest asset.

Blood Money

Blood Money

Dorothy (not her real name) is an attractive African-American woman who has been attending the United Methodist Church for All People for awhile now. She is petite and always dresses impeccably. She has volunteered for many things and I was especially grateful that she helped me decorate and set up for a recent event. She is sweet and seems very intelligent and a little vulnerable.

I was absolutely shocked to learn that she is homeless and is currently living in a shelter. Our stereotypes are very disabling because they make us think that homelessness is only a problem for certain “types” of people – those with addictions, mental illness and so forth. Our image is of dirty, smelly people who have no interest in taking care of themselves. It is easy to classify these folks as “chronic” homeless folks who don’t need or want help, or who are impossible to really help. Dorothy is one of many people who run quite counter to this stereotype. She is meticulous about her appearance and clearly would like to not be homeless.

I do not know the details of Dorothy’s situation but I was even more stunned when Pastor John mentioned almost in passing that she sells plasma (meaning, really, that she sells her blood) in order to try to get by, but she’s, of course, limited in how often she can do this. This isn’t the first time I’ve known that people who are marginalized often sell their blood, but for some reason more than ever I found this so totally unconscionable that it has stayed with me. Each time I see Dorothy I remember this comment and I’m outraged.

Ever see the bumper sticker “If you aren’t outraged, you aren’t paying attention.”? Well, we should all be paying more attention. Here in the world’s richest country, people across our nation will sell their blood tomorrow in order to buy the food they need, pay for bus tickets, put gas in their car, pay for prescriptions, pay the rent or the electric bill, and, yes, in case you are wondering, sometimes to pay for liquor. Probably they don’t make enough selling their blood to buy illegal drugs, but maybe that too.

Many of them are actually employed but don’t make enough to get by. Many are mentally ill. Many are veterans. Many are parents.

A member of our congregation now has over 80 days of sobriety. He has a family and has had an alcohol problem for many years. He is going through some bad physical withdrawal and a $60 shot would help him through the process, but he can’t afford it so he struggles through without it, risking his recovery.

Someone else has a knee that troubles him so much you can see he’s in constant pain. He won’t take care of it – it will cost too much money and he can’t afford it.

A young woman I know, a single parent with two children, recently lost her minimum wage job because she was out sick too often with chronic kidney infections that had her hospitalized. She’s unemployed again and in danger of losing her kids, because she can’t make a steady income.

The daughter of another member has a job but she has to have a car to get there. There is no bus service. She doesn’t make enough for car payments and gas and insurance. So she risks her license and car by driving without insurance.

Have some of these people made their own bed? You betcha. Are they getting what they “deserve”? Oh, in many cases, probably yes.

I guess the question is whether we believe in second chances, forgiveness and compassion. I guess the question I ask myself is “Do I get what I deserve?” or have I had, in my life, many second chances, forgiveness from others around me, and lucky breaks – starting with the circumstances of my birth, my parents, my race and my class.

I'm blessed and hope you are as well.