Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET by MARGARET DICKSON THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET When Faith Needs a Little Concrete Help really do receive more solicitations for fi nancial assistance than ever, almost all of them from legitimate community organizations that do great good and which do need our time, talents and — especially — our treasure. Just last week when I sat down to pay my bills online, I sorted through well-crafted and heartfelt pleas from an environmental organization that has preserved thousands of acres of pine woodlands in our part of North Carolina, a group which sends needy local children to summer camps they could otherwise never experience and a no-kill animal shelter, which has placed thousands of animals who would otherwise have been put to sleep. Then there are the political candidates who need cash to get their messages out to voters, one or two of whom are already soliciting for 2014! And these are just local and state worthy causes dear to me! I edit out the national and international ones, not because they are not needy or undeserving, but because my focus is closer to home. Going through my most recent stack of pleas from organizations that do so much good, I was reminded of what have come to be called "faith-based initiatives." As best I understand the concept, it refers to religious groups and organizations with all sorts of helping philosophies that step forward and do all sorts of good works for our fellow Americans so that government—think tax dollars — does not have to do. It is a terrifi c notion, and in truth, it merely gives a name to what thousands of religious and other groups have been doing for generations anyway, helping "the least of these" in all kinds of ways, ranging from quiet handouts to individuals and families to large-scale youth programs and more. Our own community is a generous one which almost always steps up to the plate when there is a need. Think Operation Inasmuch, germinated among the pastors and fl ock of Snyder Memorial Baptist Church, which repairs dilapidated housing, feeds the hungry, provides human company to the forgotten elderly among its other good deeds. Think the Cumberland Community Foundation, founded by a single individual who wanted to return something to her community and its fl edgling offspring, the Women's Giving Circle of Cumberland County, which assesses community needs and then make grants to address them. Our community would be a different place without CCF. These are among the most positive community organizations I know of, but still…. Two crucial issues arise when considering faith-based and other Maybe it is just my overactive imagination, but I do not think so. I think I Meeting the needs of the unfortunate is a challenge. community initiatives. Volunteers can and do work wonders, but at the end of the day, people in need often require various and regular human services of all sorts, most of which require the efforts of paid staff to shoulder the regular responsibility and to deliver consistently. Only a precious few independent organizations can even dream of providing such services, which is why long-term and comprehensive human services have traditionally been delivered by government at some level and staffed by people whose primary interests and livelihoods lie in executing such service programs. The second issue involves training and professional skills. No volunteers, however well-intentioned and dedicated, can provide for the social and healthcare needs of people who have long- standing problems with poverty, physical and mental health, addictions and other conditions and life situations which render them among "the least of these." Here again, a compassionate society that decides to address such human problems in a collective manner has few options but to do so through programs supported by government. We Americans began making that decision around the turn of the 20th century, and despite some failures and some excesses, we have continued reaching out to our fellow citizens in such ways through state and local governments of all political leanings. treasure to community organizations we believe in and trust, many of which successfully repaired homes, saved historic sites, warmed bodies and touched hearts. I am only one of many local people who give our time, talent and At the same time, as a country we seem to have come to a crossroads of sorts. Both Congress and state legislatures are strapped for dollars and wielding sharp knives on their respective budgets, cutting everything from public education to human services. We Americans long ago undertook a collective responsibility to and for each other, and over a century or so that responsibility has become woven into the fabric of our social contract. The question we must ask ourselves is whether we have reached the point where we are ready to unravel the fabric woven by our forebearers? MARGARET DICKSON, Con- tributing Writer, COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM AUGUST 8-14, 2012 UCW 5