Henry Schliff, Nederland.   This spring I contacted Pastor Hansen Wendlandt at the Nederland Community Presbyterian Church to ask if he needed volunteer help with his work to feed the homeless campers who visit our community each year. Much to my surprise he not only accepted my offer, he upped the ante and asked if I would be willing to help organize several of the lunches. I agreed and joined Kathy Meyer and Diana Nelson who have been helping organize the lunches for a couple years now. This past Thursday we wrapped up the last meal and said farewell to the people we met over the past months. With the help of many volunteers from the local community and from the campers themselves we ended up serving about 240 meals over the course of 14 weeks.

Dostoyevsky once wrote, “I could never understand how one can love one’s neighbors. It’s just one’s neighbors, to my mind, that one can’t love, though one might love those at a distance.” This sentiment is as common today as it ever was. How easy it is to pass by a stranger in need without the slightest concern. I suppose that is why I came to Socks & Sandwiches. Having spent too many years living with indifference, I was curious to find out who my neighbors were. The people in our community who are engaged in good works of service. At first, I was not convinced that helping the campers who visit our community every year was the best idea but I was open to giving it a try. Mind you, I was all for helping the homeless and in the past had volunteered in Boulder to do just that. Those unfortunate souls were far enough removed from my own community to be treated with some tolerant concern. It can be so much easier to help people when they are not the people you have to live with. The people in your own neighborhood.

In practical terms, here is what Socks & Sandwiches has contributed over the past three years. Launched in the summer of 2015 in Chipeta Park, that first year volunteers served 120 meals over 11 weeks. These volunteers came from Teens Inc., Ned Seniors, St. Rita’s Church, the Presbyterian Church, Calvary Church, and Club Ned. Every year volunteers have served more meals with 2018 being the largest yet. Over the years, the program has received funding through grants from Mountain Forum for Peace and Tebo Industries, as well as gifts and church donations. Initially the program ran simply as meals for kids and families, but quickly expanded to include all those in need and added free socks, which many people desperately needed. Hansen partnered with Sock It To ‘Em (a program designed to provide socks for the homeless) to provide the socks and now we also offer basic hygiene and toiletry products.

So that is what we have offered, but what good has come from the program as a practical benefit to our community? Education has been one of the greatest pay-offs of Socks & Sandwiches. Representatives from the National Forest Service and Sheriff’s office speak to campers to inform them about how to camp safely and legally on Forest Service land. This has included education on fire safety and appropriate wildlife interactions. In addition we provided assistance for people to responsibly dispose of their trash to help keep our wildlife protected and our forests beautiful. From my experience this year many of the campers have enthusiastically pitched in to help, not only caring for their own sites but those that were left filled with waste. About a month ago while talking to George, one of our regulars at Socks, I thanked him for helping with the cleanup efforts. He looked at me, somewhat bemused, and said, “That’s just being responsible.”

Our annual campers are not so different from you and me. Many of them have fallen on hard times and are trying to get their lives together. Most of them don’t want just a hand-out but, like all of us, they want community and are more than willing to pitch in to make that happen. If I learned one thing this year it is that the word neighbor is a word of inclusion not of exclusion. I learned that from the many volunteers and campers who showed up to Socks & Sandwiches. People like David, Paul, Moonlight, George, Eric, John, Tinkerbell, Ressa, Parker, Susan, Margie, Dennis, Brigitte, Eugene, Happy and so many more. We are all neighbors.

(Originally published in the September 13, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)