Mom, Can Santa Bring a Bicycle, a Gameboy…Someone to Love
It’s best not to believe in Christmas when the safety net has vanished. — By Angelic Wood, Americorps Member at TEAMwork for Quality Living Attending Ivy Tech
A Lesson in Gratitude
Being 79 years old and a retired nurse, I have seen hardships over the years and have helped people whenever I could. I don’t think any of that prepared me for the extreme difficulties suffered by a family I’m currently trying to help through Christian Ministries. Over the months that I have known them, one […]
Hope Pulls Me Forward
Since I am a seventh generation Yorktown person, I know most of the folks in this area. I taught and substituted in this region as well as worked in the Indiana State Education Department and Ontario Systems. My wife and I are local pastors of the United Methodist Church in Cammack. One day, after I […]
Nuances of Poverty
Not living in poverty ourselves, we don’t always recognize the sort of difficulties that can crop up when you have to rely on layers of other people to just get by, let alone to help yourself move into a more economically secure place in life. When we started volunteering in local efforts to eliminate poverty, […]
The Color of Muncie
I was born in Muncie in 1945 and grew up in the Whitely neighborhood. I have lived in town all my life. My father worked at the wire mill and my mother stayed at home and raised me and my 11 siblings. I was the youngest child. When I was 15, I moved into public […]
Inextinguishable, Wholly
“There are 10 of us moving across the country. We have a choice to make. We can impact our new community positively, negatively, or make no impact at all.” This is what I told my children as we moved from Pennsylvania to Muncie in 1973. I knew coming to Muncie for my husband’s new position […]
Not Just a Driver I am a driver, but not just any driver: a deliverer. Most people see me as a deliverer of food, but that’s only half my job. I deliver optimism, joy, assistance, and support. I used to work on the railroads, but I injured my back and had to quit. I hit […]
A Thousand Pieces
I was brought up in an upper middle class family where everyone knew of my family. Today, I live in a single bedroom apartment that is decorated with only a couch, chair, television, my purse filled completely with receipts and my stack of precious books. Without my dog Duchess, my television and my books I […]
Breaking the Cycle of Poverty
It was 31 years ago, the summer after we moved to the country. When I’d go home from work, I’d drive down Willard Street and pass a tiny drab house with peeling paint and windows wide open in the stifling heat. A young blonde-haired woman with sad, empty eyes would always be sitting there under […]
My New House…My New Life
My new house will be 1200 square feet and one story tall. It will have three bedrooms and one bathroom. It won’t have leaking pipes, a leaking roof, a broken furnace or mold. It won’t be unsafe. My daughter will miss our old, drafty house, the one where she could race down the stairs and […]
