Urban Immersion Retreat Center: Volunteering Is Just First Step

by Elaine Klaassen

When the Urban Immersion Service Retreat Center at E. Lake and 11th Ave. S. opened, I planned to write about it. The story idea was on my list for at least a year. But I couldn’t bring myself to pursue it because I kept picturing hordes of really nice, patronizing suburban folks coming to the inner city to learn about crime, poverty, prostitution and alcoholism. I imagined them “gawking at the natives.” Since I am one of the natives and count myself among the, by and large, solid-human-being, educated and interesting urban population, I didn’t like the idea of the inner city seen as scary, deprived, destitute and, yes, a little glamorous.
Furthermore, the new, expensive looking Urban Immersion Service Retreat Center building looked like the kind of place where people accustomed to upscale consumer comforts would feel at home when they came to “help” the inner city. These were some of the pre-conceived notions running around in my head.
In December, I read Faith Works, a joyful and inspiring book by Jim Wallis, activist preacher and editor of Sojourners, an international ecumenical Christian social justice magazine. Wallis talks about how important it is for people of different faith traditions as well as civic and political groups to work together to address racism and poverty, the major crusthing ills of our society.
Wallis talks about challenging the policies and structures that keep poverty and racism in place. He doesn’t discredit charity that is done to meet immdiate needs, but believes the church and society at large need to go beyond charity. “In this critical transition period (of ‘welfare reform’) it is important that churches and charities not accept the role of merely cleaning up the mess from bad social policy... churches and charities are being widely named as the heir apparent to the federal safety net. To make up for cuts in social services already enacted in the 1990s, each church in America would have to add $250,000 to its budget.”

As I searched South Minneapolis to find out who is confronting poverty head on, I came across the Urban Immersion Retreat Center, part of Congregations in Community, a program of the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches. Their mission is to organize volunteers to provide charitable assistance while at the same time eductating people on the structural causes of poverty.
Putting my prejudices aside, I spent Solstice evening there with a group of ten ninth graders from Southview Middle School in Edina who had chosen to spend the service datys requred by their school at the Retreat Center.
The amiable and open teens were accompainied by two teachers and a parent and led by the Urban Retreat’s associate director Mike Manhard and volunteer coordinator Bill Schoonover. Their first stop was the annual memorial service for Minneapolis homeless people, held at Simpson United Methodist Church, 28th St. and 1st Ave. S. The names of the 70 Minnesota homeless people who died in 2000 were read. The majority of the deceased were in their 30’s and 40’s; lack of adequate health care and the constant stress brought on by lack of a fixed residence put homeless people at greater risk than the general population.
When friends got up to remember their lives, they lamented their battles with mental illness and chemical addiction. Just as often, friends remembered their artistic talents and their gifts of personhood.
Afterwards at the retreat center everyone participated in a “talking circle” (passing a hockey puck instead of a feather) in which each person was asked to state what stood out for them and what new perspectives they had gained One of the teachers said that during the service it had dawned on her that her sister-in-law was homeless. Some kids mentioned how terrible it was that some of the people who had died weren’t even named because no one could find out who they were. The question was asked: “How does society let people become anonymous?” Several students were moved by the eulogies for a homeless woman named Janet Hall who had died recently and suddenly, a good writer whose works were apparently lost.
For the next two hours, until 10:30, there were activities designed to help participants understand poverty, challenge stereotypes about poor people creating their own disasters. “Justice in Jeopardy,” modeled on the famous television show, was very revealing. The answers to the questions were provided by United Way, the Wilder Foundation and Kids Count and compiled by Congregations in Community. For example, only 40 percent of homeless people could afford a $300/month apartment if it were available, childcare for an infant and toddler for one year costs around $16,000; and every night there are about 700 teenagers with nowhere to go and only 56 beds available.
Then we formed teams for the next activity, Face the Facts: Understanding Urban Poverty, in which each team took on a simulated family situation with a specific budget. They were given choices concerning housing, childcare, food, and then randomly given either unexpected problems or unexpected lucky breaks. Three teams came out with money left over but one team had to take out a loan. Regardless of the outcome everyone could see how difficult it was for a family of five, with two working but underemployed parents, and two children under school age, to live on $2100 a month.
Now a lively discussion began, centered around the notion that the term “affordable housing” is supposed to be equal to only 30 percent of income. This can be an impossible ceiling if one is underemployed, even though they are working full-time.
Teacher Ingrid Roberts said that before the memorial the kids had been asked to consider what might be causes of poverty. Some answers were “bad decisions,” and “poor choices.” She thought their perspectives were changed through the activities and the eye opening memorial service.
In the morning, one group went for a tour of the Centro Cultural Chicano and then on to Todos Los Santos Church to prepare for a fiesta and the distribution of Toys for Tots. Another group went to Oasis of Love in North Minneapolis to distribute Toys for Tots. The others went to the Eastside National Guard Armory in St. Paul to clean up the storage facility.
The philosophy expressed in the Urban Immersion Service Retreat brochure clearly rersonates with that of Jim Wllis in Faith Works-volunteerism is a great beginning but it is not the end.
According to Ingrid Roberts, the simulated Face the Facts activity especially helped the kids realize that “sometimes there are things beyond the individual’s control, sometimes making an effort is not enough.”
With that knowledge, they can now consider that the larger community has some share of the responsibility for the economic well being of its members. The middle school teens learned that all people, no matter how poor, are valuable people who deserve to be considered, not unltimately as receivers of charity, but as equals when it comes to decison making.
Wallis put it this way: “Corporate executives and White House officials might learn that Jesus did not suggest the answer to poverty was for the rich and powerful to volunteer some of their time to the poor and teach the values of success, but rather for the rich and poor alike to undergo a change of heart and create a new community where everyone has a place at the table.”
For more information about the Urban Immersion Service Retreats, call Associate Director Mike Manhard 612-721-8687, ext. 568.