A visitor to the Amherst Survival Center recently described its operations - including a restaurant, green grocer, supermarket, department store, hospital, theater and a variety of support services - as a small city. Although we normally refer to our programs by more modest names (soup kitchen, food pantry, free store and clinic, furnace room), and the "city" is only the size of a small school basement, her point was apt.
The range of services is that of a flourishing downtown area, and as in a city, the world passes through each day. Children chattering in Portuguese sit on milk crates drawing pictures while their mothers shop for food in the pantry. A well-dressed banker donating cherry tomatoes from his garden rubs shoulders with a homeless man who is helping to prepare a fresh salad. In another room, a Chinese teacher, a Ghanaian grandmother and a nurse from an old Amherst family work together hanging donated clothing in the free store.
I simply need to listen closely to the many conversations that go on here to find out what's going on in the world. Do you want to know what the weather is going to be next week? Ask the men who volunteer at the front desk. Wondering who is going to win the next presidential election? Take a straw poll of the 80 people who have arrived for lunch. Do human beings have free will? The student volunteer discussing philosophy with a recently laid-off electrician here to see the doctor can probably clarify this for you.
Recently, the conversations have told me that summer is coming, and that everyone is thinking about baseball. It is at this moment every year when I start to worry that the attractions of the game might crowd out people's thoughts about our neighbors in need. This is especially troubling because summer can be a time of great difficulty. The end of school spells the end of school lunch, leaving low-income parents to scramble for enough food to feed their families. One mother with three school-age children told me, "During the summer vacation, I bring the kids to the Amherst Survival Center to eat and to get groceries. How else can I do it?"
This year, however, I had an epiphany. I realized that baseball fans are bound to their teams by three major factors - loyalty, aspiration and a sense of being part of something larger than themselves - that can be found in abundance at the Amherst Survival Center and at all of our local human service agencies. Our supporters feel proud to be helping their own neighbors in need (loyalty), are inspired by the spirit of struggling families who succeed against all odds (aspiration), and get tremendous satisfaction from being part of a larger group of volunteers and donors working together to make the community a better place.
Summer, therefore, is the perfect time to be a passionate fan of both baseball and our local organizations. There are many programs in the Amherst area where work continues, and even expands, during the summer months. They would welcome your time, talents and financial support. For example, you can join Family Outreach to "Light up the Night" for a fundraising dinner and auction on June 17. The Center for New Americans invites you to join in greeting brand-new citizens at 11 a.m. On July 4 at the corner of King and Main Streets in Northampton. Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Hampshire County needs some hearty individuals to help with the set-up and cleanup for their annual craft fair on July 9. And the Amherst Survival Center welcomes you to join our volunteer team to provide food, clothing and health care for the people who need it most.
In other words, step up to the plate and knock the cover off the ball for your community in whatever way you can. It is a guaranteed home run.
Cheryl Zoll is the executive director of the Amherst Survival Center.