Awareness & Action to Find Solutions
October 15 2019 – overflow crowd packs Stillwater Library meeting room to deepen focus and take action on Homelessness and Affordable Housing.
John Hodler, one of the Trinity Lutheran Church organizers of the highly successful October 15 Housing Forum, put it this way. “We expected 50, got food for 80, and seated 90.” That evening, in coalition with MICAH, Ascension Episcopal, St. Peters UCC, Rivertown Inn, St. Paul Lutheran, and the Stillwater Library, we brought people to hear the story of someone at risk of homelessness, to hear about the need for all of us to take a step forward, and to make a commitment to make something happen in Stillwater!
Inside the room, the overflow crowd was asked to do two things – to deepen their conviction and focus their attention. We need to deal with the affordable housing and homelessness crisis, and to understand where the levers for action are. Sue Watlov Phillips spoke on the big picture, highlighting awareness of the issue and the acceptance that we must be the ones to deal with it. Yoshiko McDonald spoke about her struggles with homelessness and health care, and how few resources there are to help. John Slade spoke on walking the walk of justice – taking those next steps –and then the room broke into small groups. Participants had time to share in these groups and coalesce their thinking around solutions.
Outside, we had a broad array of people who worked on housing and homeless in the St. Croix Valley. Cindy from the St. Croix Family Resource Center was there, talking to Trisha from Solid Ground. Family Means and Valley Outreach, Jenny from the St. Andrews Community Resource Center, Dana and Jake from Washington County were all there. MICAH and Habitat for Humanity also tabled.
The planning for the event went on for several months beforehand. John Hodler was one of an ‘ad hoc committee’ of Trinity Lutheran, who brought together John Slade from MICAH and Rev. Brenda Hoffman from Ascension Episcopal as well as Trinity members Jeff Anderson and Roger Funk. These folks were the core of the team. Trinity and Ascension both held adult education sessions the week or two before the community meeting and a detailed contact plan was devised to reach out to political leaders, the media, and other faith communities. Table leaders were recruited from various places, tying together the community commitment to the issue. And – at the end of the night, we had over 50 people sign commitment cards, agreeing to work on everything from Accessory Dwelling Units to an Emergency Warming Shelter!
The whole process was a clear sign that as people come to understand the issues of housing and homelessness they are willing to stand up and help. Two Stillwater churches have joined MICAH already and more are considering it.
There’s an old folk song that has this refrain – “Step by step the longest march can be won. Many stones to build an arch – singly, none.” We are coming together to take the steps and lift those stones!