I don’t know

Jack Deatherage

I don't know why you moan and pout
 All the world lies at your feet
Like a child, you sit and wonder
Who's to blame for your defeat
- John Kay "To Be Alive"

(5/2019) As of 2016 the number of households in Emmitsburg at and below the federal poverty level totaled 14%. More recent data suggest the percentage is likely 15.8 -which (given the sources I can access online) means around 160 households are currently living in poverty in Emmitsburg. Oddly, those few people I know who fall into this category are generally living in nicer apartments and eating better than I do. How is this possible? They accept help from various government agencies and private charities, which I do not. (Hell, I couldn't ask for help, or accept it, when the DW and I had to empty out Mom D's apartment after she went into long-term care at St. Joseph's Ministries. My back, hip and knee still ache from carrying 24 years of accumulation out of her low income living space.)

While I'm aware our household is in steady decline - financially, physically and mentally- I'm not particularly concerned about it. There are other important things I think I should be about, or so the jumble in my head argues when I bother to engage with it. For some ungodly reason an outcome of several ongoing arguments was my wandering into the town office for the January and April Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) meetings. All I remember of the first meeting was hearing about something called ALICE. The second meeting turned out to be an explanation, by a United Way rep, of ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) made up of households with incomes above the federal poverty level, but below the county's average cost of living.

Based on the ALICE average Household Survival Budget for Frederick County (2016), the DW and I don't have enough income to meet the monthly "single adult" budget of $2,943 let alone whatever the current amount might be for two adults. (That we aren't the "average" household allows us to get by without seeking public or private assistance. That may change as we continue our decline, or decide to increase our incomes.)

Locally, the Emmitsburg Food Bank and Seton Center have been the "go to" resources for those citizens struggling to get by. There is also "2-1-1 Maryland" which is a partnership of four agencies working together to provide simple access to health and human services information. 2-1-1 is a telephone number that connects people with community services. Their trained call specialists answer calls 24 hours a day, every day.

Near as I can figure, the point of the April CAC meeting was to inform the town about ALICE and promote the sponsors and partners of United Way: Advocates for Homeless Families, Blessings in a Backpack, Boys & Girls Club of Frederick County, Care Net Pregnancy Center of Frederick, Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership, The Community Foundation of Frederick County, Community Living, Inc., Federated Charities, The Frederick Center, Frederick County Government, Frederick County Public Libraries, Frederick County Public Schools, Frederick Regional Health System, Frederick Rescue Mission, Girls on the Run of Mid & Western Maryland, Habitat for Humanity of Frederick County, Heartly House, Hood College, Hospice of Frederick County, Interfaith Housing Alliance, Kiwanis Club of Frederick, Literacy Council of Frederick County, Marriage Resource Center, Mental Health Association of Frederick County, New Spire Arts, Partners in Care, Second Chances Garage, Spanish Speaking Community of Maryland, Helen J. Serini Foundation, SHIP of Frederick County, Woman-to-Woman Mentoring, Zavos Architecture and Design. Most of these I've never heard of, so I'm guessing that alerting those who might benefit from them isn't going to hurt, much. If these agencies primary function is to help people gain the educations and skills needed to lift themselves above mere existence then I'm all in.

I don't know how to teach anything to adults. I tried to teach writing in Up County's GED program, and reading via a Sister working out of the Provincial House in conjunction with the Literacy Council. No amount of knowledge and training will ever make me a teacher of those already surviving without the knowledge I have to impart. I'm simply not able to relate to them, though I'm more like them than I'm generally comfortable admitting.

I became an untrained archery coach at the Frederick chapter of the IWLA to a group of children involved in Maryland's Youth Education Challenge fifteen or so years ago. Not because I'm a good archer and certainly not because I'm a knowledgeable coach. According to head coach Ben Kelkye, "Jack has the patience of Job when teaching the younger children." I've since been startled by some of the now grown children in that program thanking me for helping them reach whatever places they are now in. I wasn't aware I had that much influence in their educations, but they insist I taught them lessons beyond mere arrow slinging. Which leads me to thinking I may have something to offer the next generation of kidlets in this place. Enter the Emmitsburg Youth Garden.

Thanks to the beneficence of both a local company I have ground to build a youth garden on, and a local farming family for the supply of straw for the type of garden I'm experimenting with. The Emmitsburg Youth Garden (my small attempt at giving opportunity where it currently isn't) is due to their gifts more than to my bit of passion for gardening and sharing what little I know.

The DW and I have built the first two rows of the garden and have begun the fertilizing and watering necessary to turning the bales into this year's growing medium and next year's garden soil. With average luck, we should have veggies and flowers growing on by midsummer for those interested in the taking a look at what we are doing. Currently, I'm posting pictures and telling the "story" of the garden as we build it on Facebook at "Emmitsburg Youth Garden". The group has 23 members; some of them even live in Emmitsburg!

Of the $215 I managed to squirrel away for the startup garden I've maybe $7 left. I've turned down several hundreds of dollars in offered donations because I don't have a working group to decide how the money should be spent. I can get through this warm season without spending more money on the garden, I hope. As people turn out consider the garden, and express an interest in joining the adventure next year, I'll begin accepting donations as they are offered.

I've equipment enough to build as large a garden on the six-acre section as we're likely to need. With access to all the public libraries in the state the gardeners can explore any type of gardening method they choose- community, market, flower, vegetable, landscaping, insect and wildlife. Beyond the gardening books are hundreds of books explaining how to turn a garden's produce into useful everyday items - herbs for soap and candle making as well as culinary and medicinal uses; turning fruits into wine, mead, jelly and preserves; landscaping with trees, shrubs, perennial and annual flowers. The possibilities are virtually endless and limited only by the lack of participation.