There hasn't been a market for truth in quite some time. Terrorism and Nazi style government is the flavor of the day. Enough of you and the peasants demands of freedom. The media overlords determine what can be said.

I came down the mountain with my tail between my legs right after Thanksgiving. Despite working toward the goal of being able to spend the winter off the grid, I was nowhere close. I figured, ah, what the hell, I'll just play bridge as hard as I can and focus and see what happens. Promptly got blackballed. I'm still not sure what the hell even happened. But, that idea was shot down day one.

I'd hooked up with my oldest best friend again, a lifelong relationship that has taken intermittent breaks of up to a decade. His wife was passing through to help with the horse caravans take supplies to the flood victims in North Carolina. She was an on ground volunteer. You don't think about volunteering for this kind of disaster relief as ongoing, but it is and the longer something goes on, the harder it is to get volunteers. So there was plenty of work and Bonnie was spending her early retirement years doing something she valued. Paul is an usher at the VIP elevator in Lambeau Stadium. It's a dream job. Paul and I went off to Lambeau on a vacation a couple years ago and ended up at Shenanigans, Fuzzy Thurston's old bar and the gossip surrounding the quarterback was absolutely bizarre. Seems like there was a limo driver that heard it all. In reality, nobody liked Lindy Infante's offense. There's nothing like gossip in a Wisconsin dive. Except maybe a meat raffle.

So as a result of boredom more than anything, but inspired by Bonnie's volunteer effort (We were all raised Lutheran. More on that later) decided to take some coffee to the Methodists for their warming center. I would have taken it to the Lutherans if they were doing anything, but they weren't. They did open their doors for the election public forums, but not this. They didn't give us coffee though, which I would have gladly brought. Plus somebody had published a wish list for the warming centers and staying home with a fire is easy on the budget and we'd already paid for the room to meet Paul and Bonnie at Ft. Walton Beach this past weekend. We'd talked about staying til Wednesday, if we had, we'd still be there now. I did get pictures of their snow plows to to show I'm not the ignorant fool and liar Glenn Jacobs people keep trying to make me out to be. Other communities DO respond to emergency weather conditions with rentals and planning, two things we still don't do. Well, there was a plan, but it was only a plan for about half the days we've had so far.
So, I'm at Costco, pulling stuff from the wish list and taking it to Magnolia Avenue United Methodist Church (UMC). Now, I'm not Methodist and I no longer do church. To me, church is a place of philosophical, intellectual and spiritual community. Most churches want buy-in rather than exploration of philosophical and intellectual aspects and they're just not for me. Trout fishing does that for me. So, I'm pulling my donation, really just killing time until the roads back up to Green Cove and my place melt, spending money I couldn't fish with anyway, and it occurred to me that what was being attempted, even at this relatively small level, was an expensive, labor intensive endeavor. Opening a warming center is not a cheap endeavor to be taken lightly.

So I go to Magnolia Ave. UMC (2700 East Magnolia Ave. Knoxville, Tn. 37914) to drop off the supplies. I met a couple folks that were helping. This was right around the 3rd, as I recall, and everyone, including me, seemed to think this would be in the rear view mirror in a couple weeks. It was before anything hit the fan. The goal was no deaths, and everyone thought that was attainable, best I could tell. Three weeks later, we're looking forward to seasonably cold weather, which is what we were preparing for to begin with. We've lost three people. Three human beings to a diverse set of circumstances. And instead of recognizing and coming up with short term solutions to these circumstances, the way we as a community are responding involves either denial or blame. Neither of those approaches solves problems.

As a result of my first trip to Magnolia Ave UMC, I made it a point to take study to the weather response plan, something I'd researched rather deeply after last year, as it related to warming the homeless during subfreezing weather events. As it turns out, when you plan for normal weather and normal deviations, when a record cold spell hits the plan is inadequate. Go figure. Regardless of other flaws and inadequacies, the plan's scope and needs were always going to be inadequate. That's how these things work. In specific areas of planning, these inadequacies can prove to be dramatic. They can expose errors rather quickly. In the case of this plan, it only went to the point of a State of Emergency, at which point there seems to have been some sort of presumption that the resources freed to whoever was in charge of that emergency response would be used to lesson the effects of the emergency. That power lies in the office of the County Mayor. That help never came. That's how this chain of command works. Blame who you want.

My second trip, I asked if either Tim or Kecia was there. Kecia had sent me a friend request, presumably because of my work. I was quite honored. Tim is sort of a whirling dervish, and as a result of pure chance met me and showed me around. First off, I couldn't believe they were pulling off this task. I'm asking questions and he's shooting answers from the hip and he doesn't even have a working heating unit and I'm staring at a half million to get it started restoration job and it occurred to me that if we wanted this guy and gal to operate in our community, and we do, believe me, we should get them some resources. They're mentoring and providing training to young folks. They're helping people that would be falling through the cracks. Plus, operational basics you need to run a church with that sort of mission. They need bathroom upgrades, including another couple showers. They are emergency response front liners. There is but one rule, keep the peace. It's a sanctuary of God and that is the human condition upon entry. Seemed like a pretty good idea to me, I was surprised I'd never heard it before. They need a laundry room. No telling what kind of shape the roof is in or what the utility bill will be. They have , and need, a commercial kitchen. They will cook whatever food they have with whatever trained volunteers they have. But, having worked in a commercial kitchen 50 years ago, I was concerned about how familiar all the equipment seemed to look. I have no idea what that kind of upgrade costs. So I asked Tim how much money he needed and he started talking about a heater and I asked if a half a million would get him started and he said yes and that's what I'm doing here. Honestly, he probably needs three times that, but he strikes me as resourceful, and I did spend 26 years learning to size people up in less than 15 seconds. You'd be surprised how good I am at it.

So I head out thinking, once again, who could possibly be against this? It's like I think I'm living in a Voltaire play. Come to find out, everyone wants to decide who should pay for this and who should be in charge, and everyone is blaming Indya Kincannan except Tim and Kecia. It's the old Sam Kinison routine but it very much fits a modern ministry. Hungry kid? Do you want to fill out a form or make the kid a sandwich? It's the reality of a ministry with a committed mission in the times we live in. And the reality is, the mission of Magnolia Ave UMC as well as their sister Vestal UMC is expanding. And it's a service mission serving those who might otherwise be alone without help. It's kind of the whole point of the Christian Philosophy, when you get right down to it. But they don't want government money. They are a sanctuary. They don't wish to betray the trust of those they serve. So the donations need to be from the private sector to go to the ministry. What I honestly recommend doing, is buying a giant box of tampons and drop them off for their women's programs and clinics and asking whoever you give them to to answer your questions and show you around. Don't expect details of the operation. Read the audience. I always like to help out or volunteer in person before I jump in whole hog. I suspect quite a few volunteers showed up and were trained. A hope at least some continue. Which brings us back to where do we get a half million seed money?

Us. The community. Historically, the Presbyterians and Methodists pioneered this region, bringing the teachings of Calvin and Wesley to the region. We've always been a stronghold for those community values. As the Baptists became more prominent their outreach extended into the community. There is a reason we became known as volunteers. When we were needed by our people, we responded. I like to think we have some of those values left. So, I'm going to leave this here for now, still not having a clue about raising a half million dollars. How do you raise money that will go directly to helping people these days?