Copyright © 2006 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee

‘Appalachian Pilgrimage’ participants
learn of Hamblen County ministries

From left, Isabel Alonso, Hispanic outreach educator, and executive director Jackie Fleming greet visitors to the CEASE domestic violence shelter, including AMRT members Patty Chase and Linda Dietrich.

Story and photos by Kelly Norrell

Appalachian Ministries Resource Team members, the Rt. Rev. Charles vonRosenberg and other area Episcopalians embarked May 17 on the 2006 Appalachian Pilgrimage, this year to Morristown in Hamblen County, home of one of the largest migrant populations in the state of Tennessee. Their goal was to see how the area is handling an influx of thousands of Hispanic neighbors.

This was the sixth annual spring tour for the diocesan AMRT members. Each year the group travels to Appalachian communities to learn about their needs and how ministry groups are addressing them. Fourteen Episcopalians made the tour this year, which was organized by Sandy Elledge, AMRT administration coordinator, and Linda Dietrich, a team member and parishioner at All Saints, Morristown, who serves as executive director of the area's Ministerial Association Temporary Shelter.

Participants gathered at All Saints, hosted by the Rev. Scherry Fouke, rector.

Tour participants learned that in Hamblen County, where Hispanic people now make up about 10 percent of the total population, the challenges often come down to particulars:

• One-third of a school's kindergartners might show up in August unable to speak English.
• Children might stay enrolled in school from August until only October, when their families move to another state. One migratory pattern shows families spend summer in Florida, early fall in Tennessee and late fall in Ohio.
• Free and reduced-price medical clinic staff say that migrant people who suffer from ailments ranging from pesticide exposure to diabetes to gastritis won't come to daytime appointments, because they are reluctant to take time off work. In response, many clinics now schedule evening hours.

In Hamblen County, the third-smallest Tennessee county in area and 20th in population, the mostly Mexican migrant population needs a full range of human services, including food, shelter, education and medical and mental health care.

Fortunately, as Dietrich said, "Hamblen County is a social worker's dream." She explained: "We're a close-knit community. We network and collaborate better than anyplace I've ever known. We solve problems."

Churches, businesses and individuals clearly take a pro-active stance with existing agencies to solve problems. Some highlights emerged in a morning discussion with social service agency representatives:

• The Douglas-Cherokee Economic Authority's Hispanic Mentoring Program works through local schools to match volunteer adult mentors with Hispanic students. The mentors encourage the students and help them learn English. The program has been shown to reduce absenteeism among students, and it aims to increase from 52 mentor matches in the past school year to 150 next year, said spokeswoman Tanika Walthall.
• The public school system has 22 nations represented and about 700 students now learning English. A new International Center funded by several local organizations and donors - including Walters State Community College, a Niswonger Foundation grant, an Alcoa grant, the City of Morristown, Hamblen County, and Mahle and Garcia Labor Co. - will open in August, offering half-days of literacy instruction to children who do not speak English. Dr. Brenda Dean, director of the International Center, said local officials had found that half-days work best because students receive the support and instruction of the center while maintaining a tie to their zoned school.
• A migrant coordinating program with the Hamblen County school system works with families to find local needed services, such as those offered by the county's Health Dept., and maintain continuity so students will stay in school and be able to go on to college. That program worked with 200 students last year, said coordinator Kim Fox.
• Health services include a Hispanic Outreach Program at Cherokee Health Systems, which provides interpreters and programs tailor-made for the Hispanic population, including dental care, health education, health fairs and a 24-hour hotline, as well as a full slate of preventative services through the Hamblen County Health Dept.

Betzaida Shands, a native of Honduras and representative of the Hispanic Outreach Program, said awareness of cultural sensitivities improves the effectiveness of medical services. For example, mental health ailments carry a stigma among Hispanics, but with support, patients are now seeking treatment for maladies including depression and family dysfuction issues.

The Helping Hands clinic, begun by local physicians in 2003, provides free medical care to the uninsured during daytime and evening appointments. It is specially equipped to meet needs of Hispanic patients, offering Spanish-speaking staff and free supplies for ailments characteristic of migrants, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

A parade of persistent, problem-solving individuals leads the charge on meeting other needs. The Daily Bread Community Kitchen, for example, is a downtown eatery that looks like a restaurant any area resident might want to patronize, but it is in fact fully funded by donations, mostly from churches and businesses. The homey-feeling agency seats up to 125 and serves 11 meals per week - seven lunches and four dinners. Meals are free ,and diners are welcomed, no questions asked. The rules are simple: No talk about religion or politics; no smoking; and shoes and shirt required.

Operating in a building owned by Hobe and Sue Williams, the Daily Bread Community Kitchen is staffed by volunteers from Episcopal, Presbyterian, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist and other churches. "We have about 130 volunteers. On holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, we have five times as many volunteers as we have room," said Williams.

The Pilgrimage tour members ate a bountiful and delicious lunch at the Daily Bread Community Kitchen: meatloaf, roasted potatoes, green beans, deviled eggs, rolls and butter, iced tea - sweet or unsweet - and a choice of desserts. Servers hailed from several local churches.

Many of the activities under the auspices of Morristown-Hamblen Central Services once were offered on a smaller scale by local churches: a community food pantry, an annual Toys for Tots program and aid programs to supply emergency rent, utility bills and medical supplies.

Toys for Tots, which is funded in part by two barbecues hosted by All Saints Episcopal Church, last year supplied toys for 2,300 children, as well as 2,000 food baskets. Central Services furnishes toys to parents, who give them to their children. Simmons said the agency only issues new toys. "I can get real teary about this," she said. "Every child deserves to get some new toys for Christmas."

The community food pantry inventory includes perishables collected from local grocery stores once a week, such as butter, milk and cheese, and "recovered" foods, such as cooked food from restaurant buffets. All these items - good but near expiration dates - are parceled out for immediate consumption by hungry people. All are donated by local businesses.

Now located in cramped downtown quarters, Central Services will soon move to a 45,000 square foot building on the perimeter of town.

Housing programs range from emergency and transitional housing run by the Ministerial Association Temporary Shelter Inc., to single-family houses overlooking the city. CEASE, a domestic violence and sexual assault prevention program, maintains houses that function as refuges for victims of battery. Hispanic and other migrant women sometimes find themselves in a double bind, as they may fear both their spouse and immigration authorities.

Jackie Fleming, CEASE executive director, is protective of the homes and their residents. She tells the story of one abusive man who located a refuge house and demanded to see his wife. Fleming is a small woman, but she said she confronted the man. "Get off my property and don't come back!" she shouted at him. "Go on, or I'll get him" - pointing to a policeman on the corner - "I'll get him to put you in jail." The policeman said, "You'd better do what the little lady says," and the man left and never returned.

Some programs are created to help people feel better about themselves. Stepping Out, a nonprofit, ecumenical organization directed by Patrice Puglise, offers programs to encourage and support people spiritually and emotionally. One of its best known is A Queen's Banquet, which offers cosmetic makeovers and a gourmet lunch to low-income women. Last year the event took place in a local high school, using the volunteer services of beauticians and helpers, and 400 clients were transformed that day.