It's time to quote John Steinbeck who practically quoted Scottish poet Robert Burns:


The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Perhaps that saying is not entirely true in this moment, but it seems to fit what I felt immediately after reading an email last night.

Back up a little bit, to when I emailed our hosts in Silver City from our May trip, and asked for their time and energy (and amazing number of connections) to point us to people in the Silver City area who could help us determine the viability of our business idea.  We had some good, enlightening conversations with the manager of the grocery co-op, and felt like we were on our way to uncovering ways we could provide a unique experience for the community.

But then we got an email from another individual last evening, informing us that there is to be a commercial kitchen and low-cost, no-cost cafe using locally grown food...scheduled to be completed jan. 2012. 

Those are direct quotes there, friends.

Well, superb!  The community is responding to its food security needs!  We are happy and excited for them as they start this venture, as they will likely be able to engage immediately and effectively with their community.

So, we are not offended or angry -- if anything, just sad, because we really enjoyed our time in Silver City.  However, I have said recently to a friend that the geographical place is secondary to the work we wish to do.  (I do not, of course, want to be situated in either of the poles.  Somewhere a bit warmer would be preferable.)  If there is a need for someone to address food security in a place, we are open to being there.

Meanwhile, the researching and business planning can go ahead, even if the location is in flux.

That is today's update.  We are still searching.

Silence doesn´t imply...

So much for the once-a-weekish committment.  :)  We have been busy and abroad for much of the last month, which limits networking and using the internet.

However, this doesn´t mean we´ve been laz-ing around, not thinking of future hopes and dreams.  We have had the chance to make a few new connections with people in Silver City, and we eagerly anticipate pushing out those conversations even further.

Meanwhile, we also are wanting to re-nig on our set year to 18 months idea.  Not to say that it won´t be within that time period that we begin to make our way, but we feel that a time frame doesn´t allow for the bumps along the way that we can´t anticipate...or that other possibilities may arise that momentarily lead us into new directions.  We are slowly feeling our way towards our dreams, and will allow it to happen as organically as possible.

I look forward to updating more soon, and continuing to push out some ideas with you all and others.

As we are wrapping up our time in Phoenix, Justin and I are looking forward to having the chance to focus again on researching ideas and business strategies.  I recently had the chance to email with a person who had worked at Sisters of the Road cafe in Oregon.  SOTR offers tasty meals (so I hear) for a set low price, and also has a voucher program set up as a way for people or churches or whomever to be able to give a "handout" to persons in need of a meal.  Essentially, it is a gift certificate for one meal.  I really liked this idea, and hope to use a similar approach.

SOTR is well-established, having been started in 1979 -- much older than the other establishments that we have been looking at.  This makes me want to investigate their model further and see how it has gotten to where it is today. 

Let the researching begin!

Recognizing Injustice

We are currently back in the southwest, exploring Phoenix, Arizona.  This trip is not more prospecting for our future venture, rather it is us taking the opportunity to walk alongside some Mennonite youth as they have a chance to experience service learning.  We are here with the Youth Venture program, and today was our first day of "working".  We helped out with the lunch shift of one of the local chapters of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.  The clientele was mostly homeless and transient adults, and our job was to help clear the tables when a person was finished with their meal.

My interest in working with homeless persons was sparked when as a youth, I was involved in Youth Venture as a participant, and spent time working at a food pantry and soup kitchen.  My interest took another huge step when I spent time with a program called Service Adventure (also through the Mennonite church) after high school.  I worked in a program in the public schools of Albuquerque that enrolled and tutored homeless or transient children who had fallen behind in their schooling.  That year solidified a passion for working for justice for the "least of these".  I've had various other experiences since these times, and in each moment, I'm amazed at the economic injustice which exists so readily in our world.

But I have to be honest when I say that I was a bit turned off by the experience I had today at St. Vincent's.  I felt like the large cafeteria had one purpose: to be a shelter where a person can eat a meal.  The end.  We were informed in our "training" that the interest is in getting people in-and-out.  While many of the people know each other, the meal time is not supposed to be community-building.  Places like SVdP absolutely have a place -- they serve hundreds of people a day.  I simply feel more attracted to serving a person's humanity vs. their biology.  It mirrors the question people often deal with when considering giving to charity -- should I give a little bit of money to lots of organizations, or all my money to one?  Places like SVdP aim to respond to everyone's physical needs.  My interest is in supplying a few persons needs, be they physical, emotional, or spiritual.

I appreciated my time working at Trinity House Catholic Worker in Albuquerque a couple years ago, where I often played hostess to persons on the one day per week when the house was open for breakfast, showers, and laundry.  Most weeks we only had 3 or 4 people come in, but having the chance to sit down with them and hear their stories made we want to come back, week after week.

This is the vision that we have:  intimate, deliberate, and sufficient.

Silver City, part 2

The second part of this series revolves around our personal interest in starting a venture in Silver City.

The town seems diverse:  copper mines provide jobs for a large sector of the population,  art galleries and coffee shops crowd along Bullard St., Western New Mexico University is situated on the edge of town, etc.  For a smallish town, the opportunities to meet different people seem abundant.  And many are transplants themselves, moving by some sort of choice to the area.  I like this -- transplants are, from my experience, more open to inviting others into their community.

Another long term interest of mine has been addressing hunger and poverty in a direct way.  New Mexico, in comparison to the rest of the U.S., has the fourth highest rate of persons living at or below the poverty line (as of 2009).  Poverty finds many ways of taking shape, and does not always immediately imply dire suffering.  We didn't see homeless persons while we spent time in Silver.  We didn't see persons sleeping on the street.  I did get a chance to talk a little bit to a volunteer at a local twice-a-month food bank, and am interested in finding out more about their work and clientele.  There may not be an incredible need for free-ish food as one might find in a metropolitan area, but we recognize that food insecurity knows no boundaries.  We have long said that this venture needs to reflect the needs of the community in which it is established, and not create false assumptions of need.  We are committed to making and maintaining networks in Silver City to find ways that we can best support the community.  This will likely mean trips to the area before we even relocate.  This may also mean moving to Silver and having a buffer time before opening any doors.


We know that there will be downsides to living in a relatively secluded area.  Access to restaurant equipment, food distributors, etc. will be harder.  There will surely be unforeseen obstacles that we'll encounter.  But that's part of the journey, and if we can figure out ways to work through them, then super.  If we can't, then we'll regroup and go from there.

So, for now, we're taking a lot of notes.  Starting to make some connections, starting to do some more research...

Just as an aside, I hoping to make a weekly entry to this blog, simply letting you know more of our thoughts and ideas as we go.  We look forward to continuing to hear your comments!

Peace!

Silver City, part 1

One of the first questions people ask when we say Silver City is..."Why there?"  It's really a two-fold question.  First is the city itself.  Second is way we see ourselves there.  For this post, I'll focus on the first part.

When I lived in Albuquerque in '02-'03 and then again in '06-'07, I would have likely heard of Silver City, but I had never visited.  When my thoughts and dreams started drifting back to New Mexico, I pulled out my trusty Google map of New Mexico.  I had been to much of the northern part of the state, had lived in the central area, and had spent some time in the southeast.  But the southwest part of the state I only knew from reading about the ghost towns which remain today.

Except Silver City.  They still had a dot on the map that seemed slightly larger than all the others in the area.  And the word "City" was attached...

So, then came the wiki article that briefly introduced me to the area.  I was intrigued, and tucked the place in the back of my mind.

Several months later, I picked up a copy of Mother Earth News.  In this particular issue, they listed something like the 10 best towns in America to live in.  Lo and behold, Silver City was listed!  The blurb, if I remember correctly, mentioned the art scene, the public university (Western New Mexico U), and the general movement towards becoming a sustainable town.  And so it cemented in my head that this is a place I needed to check out on my next trip to New Mexico.

Upon our arrival in "Silver", I was extremely skeptical.  Just previous to arriving in New Mexico (on Justin and my NM RoadTrip Deluxxe 3000 this May), I had watched a video called "Blue Gold: World Water Wars," which delved into the current and impending water issues.  New Mexico, especially along the Rio Grande, has a long road ahead of them in terms of how they will sustain themselves on the water which is present...without making the New Mexican extinct.  This issue has and will continue to be a delicate topic to discuss.

But aside from my skepticism when driving into Silver City, we were able to have conversations with persons who live in the area who seem optimistic that the water crisis is less impending than that of the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area.  Silver City doesn't rely on the Rio Grande for water (but rather on two other smaller rivers coming from the northwest of town.)  That said, it is still a desert, and the discussion remains, "Can we create a sustainable life in the desert?  If so, how?"

I realise I'm practically writing a novel...So I'll stop here for part one. 

In brief, why Silver City?  Because aside from the very real discussion of water rights and availability, the town is vibrant and inviting of wanderers in search of a spiritual oasis.

A very fuzzy beginning

Friends, we are starting on a new journey, and we are looking forward to the new direction(s) we find ourselves going in.

After nearly five years of dreaming, scheming, researching, and meditating, we are feeling an inkling to start on the journey for which we have been preparing.  The vision is yet fuzzy, but essentially Justin and I have agreed on the following ideas and motives:

We wish to loosely follow in the steps of the Catholic Worker Movement, and establish a Mennonite-ish program/initiative/who-knows-what, creating a safe, equal space for persons of all races/economic statuses/sexual orientation/genders/ages/religions/etc. to share life together.

Our first step in this (what we will call) initiative is to establish an open discussion with those who are interested in walking alongside and supporting us for a part (or for the duration) of our work.  We have started this blog as that initiative, and encourage your comments, emails, phone calls, letters, coffee dates, etc.

The second step is to create a donation-based café, likely in Silver City, New Mexico.  We anticipate relocating to this area within the next 18 months, participating in the life of the community and finding the best location to serve a diverse audience.  We will apply for 501(c)3 status, and rely on donations from diners and private donors, as well as seek and apply for grants applicable to our mission.  We will explain at a future date more of our ideas for this café.

The third step will be to create a Mennonite House of Hospitality, modeled after the Catholic Worker houses of hospitality.  We will have several private rooms available for transient persons, visitors, and café volunteers.  This house of hospitality will not charge persons who need to use the shelter, though donations (of all sorts) may be given to the house.  We anticipate designating one room/bed as an emergency room, and designating the other rooms for persons who are interested in longer term housing (based on need or involvement in the café).  We will expound on this third piece of the initiative at a later point as well. 

So, it's published.  And we're sharing this with you, and encourage you to pass on our link to anyone you feel may be interested in participating in the discussion.

We beg of you to keep us in your thoughts as we continue to discern how to continue on this path towards a realisation of a long-held dream of Valerie's.