The Newspaper of Wayfarer's House
June, 1998 Issue  /  Esther Smith, Editor

Welcome to residents Anna, Jean, Cathy and Robin, volunteers Barbara and Al Ammon; and Program Coordinator Schaunel Steinnagel, our newest Meeting Ground staff person. Farewell and good wishes to Marietta, Linda, Candy, Katy and Tanji.

Happy Birthdays to May's celebrants, Missy and Stephanie; and to June honorees, Jean and Anna. To Anna, congratulations on starting her new job at the courthouse; to Mandi on her promotion to 8th grade; to Tray'Von on his, to 2nd grade. Many thanks to those residents and volunteers who prepared the house and food for the open house and annual meeting held on June 7, especially to LaWanna, Natalie, Trish, Mandi, Sharon, Kristin, Renee, Marsha, Mary Jo, Jean, Lynn, and Kathy. Please note the fresh paint at the house. Our thanks, too, to Mary Jo and John Williams for making a Food Safety Notebook from material they copied from "Fight Bacteria" by NBC.comm. One copy of the notebook resides at the house and one at the farm. Mandi Griffin writes: "Marsha took some residents from the farm and Wayfarers' on a trip to Wildwood, N.J., recently. It was raining Saturday when we got there, but on Sunday it was nice. We had fun on the rides and at the boardwalk, and my brother, mother, Pooh, her brother and I had an efficiency apartment. It was great, and we're wondering when we'll go again." Thanks to strawberry pickers Natalie, Sharon and Renee, who made shortcake. Lynn and Sharon went to Concordfest at Concord Presbyterian Church in Wilmington to sell the Herbs of Clairvaux Farm. The just-over-$200 they made will go to MG in its entirety. Sharon reports the weather was gorgeous, the people were so nice, and they had a "fun day."

UPS & DOWNS interviewed our new Meeting Ground volunteers, Al and Barbara Ammon, who will be with us for June, July and August.

BARBARA AND AL AMMON were both born in South central Nebraska, where Al's grandparents were good friends of Barbara's parents. Their paths parted when Al moved to Texas, later into the service, and after his marriage to a woman from Washington State, there for 20 years. His work for IBM moved him to Upstate New York and Iowa. Barbara, meanwhile, had been graduated from the University of Nebraska at age 20, married and moved to Connecticut. This wife and mother of a son and daughter acquired both a library science masters and a law degree. At one point, after she had moved back to Nebraska after her divorce, she opened a book store, a bed and breakfast, was doing legal research and served as Holdrege's mayor!

Al, who also has a son and daughter by a previous marriage, had an aunt and uncle who stayed in Barbara's bed and breakfast when visiting from California. They and a family reunion were the links that brought Barbara and Al back together again. Al had a dream of seeing the world by living on a sailboat. He took early retirement from IBM and persuaded Barbara to marry him and sail away. Actually, they were married in 1994, and last year sailed to La Paz, Mexico, on the Baja California South peninsula to spend the winter. The boating club to which they belong there does community work, for example, buying fabric and providing sewing lessons so that poor children can learn to make their school uniforms. Other projects include providing them sports equipment, a breakfast program, an emergency medical fund and distributing blankets to families in deprived areas.

While the Ammans come under the sponsorship of the Presbyterian Church to Meeting Ground, they can claim experiences, like many of the rest of us, in visiting or belonging to several denominations during their lives: Methodist, Lutheran, and Episcopal, to name a few other affiliations in their past.

Barbara, before she was ten, had a dream of what she would do if she won a million dollars: go to Chicago, tear down slums and build nice houses for the people who live there. She felt they would keep the houses in good shape if the could have "nice ones." As a married couple she and al had another dream, that of giving a year to church mission. In pursuing this idea again after buying their boat, they sought lists of places where they might serve for three months, found Meeting Ground on two of those lists, and heard MG "call" to them both. They swung into action as soon as they arrived by reorganizing the Farm's library, helping us get ready for open house/annual meeting and doing other current projects. Al told those assembled for the meeting how near they came to disaster en route here in their motor home when a car hit them on the driver's side. For the Amman's safe arrival here we give resounding thanks.

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Last month we began printing Kim's story of her encounters with the Housing Authority as told to Loaves and Fishes. We continue with her letter written to request a fair hearing. Although we cannot print the entire remaining text for want of space, we refer you to the May-June 1998 Loaves and Fishes.

To: the Housing Authority:

This letter is in response to your decision of denial for my housing based on a falsification of application (criminal record). As advised in your letter I am requesting an informal hearing to discuss the decision. I must point out that I discussed my situation at my last fair hearing. I was honest, and the lady did tell me that due to welfare reform I may have problems. However, it is completely unfair that this stand be taken, I am not one of the people who grossly abuse housing in the past. I am a person who made a mistake in my life and I am badly in need of housing and help. This is like being proven guilty without the innocent part before it. I am a responsible person now who has paid for their mistake. I informed your office (at the same time I told about my record), that I had successfully completed Cecil County's Drug and Alcohol program, including passing every surprise urine (test) administered to me. I originally filed with your office in October 1996. I returned your update form in January of 1997 as requested by you, but your office misplaced it and I was told I was off the list. I had a fair hearing and was placed back on the list (this is when I told about myself). I came back in November of '97 to check my status and was told there was no record of me at all, to apply again, so I did. An entire year and month of wait has been deleted by no cause or fault of mine. I applied for section 8 at the same time and the record of it was till available, why, would a person desperately in need of housing apply for one and not the other? I did, and have written about it, and discussed the frustration of the handling of my case, but I have never been rude, demanding or ignorant about this. I appreciate that you deal with huge volumes of people, and it must be a difficult job, but as aforementioned I was verbally honest, also I have worked and paid taxes the majority of my life (including when I got in trouble) and now that I need help so my daughter and I can have a safe root over our heads I am continually getting the shaft so to speak. Pleas re-consider this decision, a mother and a one-year-old child are depending on it.

Sincerely, Kim

[Editor's note from Loaves & Fishes: Kim received her response letter on 1/21/98 denying her request for housing primarily because, "there was drug activity on more than one occasion which does not convince me that the applicant has been rehabilitated as of this time ...," and additionally because of an unsettled debt due a previous landlord. Permission was given to re-apply after 8/24/98.]

My skeletons had leapt out of the closet in full force. It had been a struggle with this organization from day one, but this straw almost broke the camel's back. I FOUGHT for my year and a half of sobriety, made a 2-week mistake and promptly re-enrolled in Drug and Alcohol counseling, I have 6 months clean now ... I'm not giving up so easy. Anyone who knows anything about an addict would know that living in a homeless shelter and having your baby cry when your visit is over is enough to make you want to use , but i haven't; for now my respect for myself for this achievement (by the grace of God) has kept me strong. I pray it continues to do so, I pray for some help for this situation, not just for me, but for everyone in it. There are many good people out there who've cleaned up their acts but continue to be judged ... Anyway, I guess this would be as good a place as any to remind people that all drugs and alcohol do is mess up your life, even after [you stop.]