Branching Out & Growing Roots

Goodness gracious - I had big plans of giving a blow-by-blow of the weekend, but then the weekend happened, and then the week, and I just haven't gotten back to it until now. And even now I don't really have much time. So here's some highlights:

T had her friend Quincy over last night for Friday Pizza-and-Movie Night. He's a very nice little boy, almost exactly her age, tow-headed and husky of voice. (Although, I tell you truly, something has definitely changed between Q's day care days and now, because when Quincy walked in the door, I would have sworn I had never seen that kid in my life. I just don't know her little buddies like I did Q's.) The two built Brio trains and played with the little plastic pet store that T got for Christmas, and at one point she had to go to the bathroom. So she left the living room and trotted through the dining room toward the john. On the way she passed me, slowed down quickly and gestured over her shoulder toward Quincy. "Papi, I have to go to the bathroom - Can you make sure Quincy has fun?"

Quincy came over to soften the blow to T that Q was away at a birthday sleepover. So he was gone all night, and then in the morning, I drove to Pittsfield to do my first-ever stint of volunteering.

I have never volunteered for anything. I mean, in any capacity, really. I've donated blood, but without any real regularity; I've picked up trash on the street, held doors for people, stuff like that. And once, Janneke and I took the kids to the river here in Billtown and picked up garbage that had been strewn along the banks by flooding. But really, that's it. And then the other day I went to Stop & Shop for some reason, and on the way in, there were these guys handing out flyers. "Hi, we're doing a food drive, here's a list of some of the items we could use, if you don't mind, you could drop it off for us on your way out."

So as I walked down the aisles, I read their info, and they're called "Western Massachusetts Labor Action". Their symbol has a fist holding a hammer. And these days, I'm getting more and more socialist, and got a kick out of it. So I bought them some tuna, and when I handed it off, the tall man asked me if he could tell me about his organization. "Sure," I said.

So he did. They're a grass-roots organization that wants to organize part-time, seasonal or otherwise low-income workers in western Mass, and to advocate on their behalf before lawmakers and / or business leaders. They keep people's utilities from being shut off, they offer legal advice, they organize doctors and dentists to offer free appointments to the poor, etc. And the best part?...They're completely non-religious.

I liked the look of it. It's local, it's grass roots, it affects people I know or could easily know...It would get me more into my community. Something that I've talked about a lot with my friends Brad and Betsy, something I think needs to happen in general across the country, something I should really get into. And so I called them and asked what I could do.

What they like their first-time volunteers to do, turns out, is spend a Saturday canvassing. And they don't ask people for money - they go to poor neighborhoods and try to enlist people as members, with full benefits. Membership costs $7.42 per year, if you can / want to pay it. And then you can come to their offices and get emergency food, furniture if you need it, clothing if you need it, sign up for doctor and / or dentists, etc. They have weekly meetings (Thursdays at 7:00) for all members who can come...It's really very, very cool. So I showed up at 9:30.

There were a total of four of us that went out to canvass, in teams of two. Thatcher went with a college student from UMass who'd heard about WMLA when one of their members went and spoke in one of his poli-sci classes, and another was a very odd man who drove out with him. And since I will probably end up doing more with this organization, I will limit myself a bit in how much I say about him, but I will say that he was my partner, that his clothing, hair, teeth, stubble, and demeanor indicated that he was probably close to homeless, and that he insisted on telling everyone we talked to that he had recently worked as an extra in the upcoming Mel Gibson movie, "Edge of Darkness".

We canvassed until about 3:00, and talked to 17 people, 4 of whom we signed up as members. One was a laid-off carpenter who was doing work on a garage in lieu of rent; we described the dental benefit, and he said he had recently lost two fillings and the edges of the teeth were rubbing into his tongue and keeping him from sleeping well. He showed us a number of other apartments in the immediate area where people he knew lived, and said that one family was Hispanic, probably immigrants (from Ecuador, he thought), and he was sure they were home, but they weren't answering their door.

We went into one of the most fascinating I have ever entered and signed up a very poor, somewhat off-kilter woman who has six children and a number of health problems. I won't get into too many details, but her reality is grim. And we knocked on her door and informed her of an organization that wants to help her out.

And on we went. I managed to survive until the end, and drove home pondering whether it had been an amazingly uplifting and inspiring way to spend a Saturday, or an incredibly depressing day spent among people who really make me sad. And which was spent in the full knowledge that my wife and two children were skiing.

And as you can see from how I'm going on and on about it, I'm still stewing. It was thrilling, it was an adventure. And the WMLA folk may have found a way to hook me - last night, around 7:00, Thatcher, the head honcho, called me at home to tell me that Jim, the man we signed up Saturday, had already had his teeth fixed. They had been calling around to dentists on Monday to see if they could find a slot where someone could see him, and one of them said, "You know, with all the snow, we have this three-hour block where everyone canceled. Can he come now?" And bang - one unemployed man whose country hasn't seen clear to giving him health coverage will now sleep better.

And I'm thinking, "I have to do this again." ...I don't know. I have a lot of stewing to do.

OK, that'll have to do for now. There's more to say, but it's a question of energy and time. I mean, I still haven't walked the damn dog.

Take care, and whatever you do, don't walk like Bobby Jindal.