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Prior to Sunday, I knew the Oliver neighborhood of East Baltimore by reputation only. I had read it was one of the most blighted neighborhoods in the city. I had heard Pastor Calvin Keene tell his story of witnessing one of the young men from the neighborhood die on the sidewalk just steps from his church. He was shot a few days after he had gone to visit Pastor Keene to ask for help getting a job. The young man had told Pastor Keene he wanted out of the gang life. And most recently I knew of Oliver through the work BUILD is doing to raise money to build affordable housing in the neighborhood. To me, Oliver was “out there” – I didn’t know anyone who actually lived there, I vaguely knew where it was located – somewhere a little north of Johns Hopkins hospital. It was a place that I could hardly fathom existed. And, if I missed reading the paper one day, or didn’t listen to public radio one morning, or didn’t turn on the news (all three of which frequently occur in my life) I could easily deny it existed.

But since Sunday, I can no longer deny Oliver.

On Sunday afternoon a fellow BUILD member agreed to give me a tour of her neighborhood. And yes, the blight was as bad as the paper described. There was a crack vial on the sidewalk where I parked my car. And I felt very self conscious as I knocked on her door while the locals walked by. I couldn’t help but wonder what they thought of me. But for all the differences in our neighborhoods, what struck me most that afternoon were the similarities we shared. Before we set out on the tour, she invited me into her home. It was well kept and decorated for Christmas, just like mine. Her son is in high school and she is planning for him to go to college, just as I intend for my children to do. Her son started at one high school, but when he became the victim of school violence, she immediately intervened and arranged for him to be transferred to a different school, just as I would do if my children were at risk. She pointed out the park in the back of her row home. Through a BUILD action, the residents recently got the landlord to repair the broken street lights that had been shot out by drug dealers so they could conduct their business under the cover of darkness. Now that it is light again, the dealers have moved on and the kids can play in the park. She is thankful to have an outdoor space for her son to go because at times she wants him out of the house. I feel the same way at times about my two sons. As we drove through the neighborhood and looked at all the vacant, boarded up and bricked up row homes she asked “Who would want to live here?” That’s just what I was thinking. And as we talked about BUILD, I learned that she too is struggling with figuring out how it “works” and how to engage more people from her church in the organization.

There will still be days I don’t read the paper, or listen to the radio, or watch the news. But there will never be a day I don’t think of Oliver.

Elizabeth Reichelt (church member)

Comment

It is encouraging to me that Elizabeth Reichelt has “Oliver on her Mind”. I grew up in Oliver and now I pastor there. Oliver has been influencing my thinking and action for a lifetime.

The last 15 years have been especially disheartening for residents like the one you visited. Were it not for the actions of B.U.I.L.D., the plight and blight of Oliver would still be “out there” and distant to you. But now it’s “real” not only because you’ve seen it but because you feel it through your relationship with your fellow B.U.I.L.D. member in Oliver.

That’s what B.U.I.L.D. is about. One-on-one meetings where mutual interests and issues are shared and relationship are developed. From one-on-ones to house meetings where groups meet to do more one-on-ones and develop relationships which advance the common interests and issues of the group. Larger groups (churches, schools, communities, etc.) further develop and focus the issues and organize people around there common issues. These issues become the basis of a group agenda which can be put into action.

The action of organized people is what is reviving hope in Oliver. The action is to which you were an eyewitness has educed engagement and excitement about involvement in B.U.I.L.D.

I encourage you to do some one-on-ones and develop relationships with other B.U.I.L.D. members in Brown Memorial and elsewhere within B.U.I.L.D.

— Pastor Calvin Keene · Dec 28, 12:22 AM · #
Another way to get to know people in East Baltimore is through Meals on Wheels. When I think of that area of town, I immediately recall one of our clients who lives just off of North Avenue. Her house is the cleanest home you could ever hope to enter. Every piece of furniture is preserved under a plastic cover, and there is not a speck of dust anywhere. She lives behind an ornate metal guard door becuse the neighborhood has changed so much since she set up housekeeping there decades ago, but I have seldom felt so welcomed by any host (despite the fact that when she opens the door and sees me, she always says with disappointment “Isn’t David Mock supposed to be delivering my meal today?”).

I know that the schedule does not work for everyone (it doesn’t even work for me anymore) but Brown’s 40+ year ministry through Meals on Wheels offers an opportunity for all of us to literally step into the lives of people we might easily otherwise forget.

— Betsy Nix · Dec 14, 10:00 AM · #
Elizabeth, thank you for your poignant description of your experience. I went to Hopkins School of Public Health, and had a similar tour back in 1994 as part of a community outreach class. I remember most the 50 people lined up to buy drugs at 3 in the afternoon and the smell of dead rats coming from the storm drains.

I volunteered at Rayner Browne Elementary School and still think of those kids and their challenges, like the 10 year old girl who found her mother dead of a heroin overdose after school one day. Now that I’ve lived in the suburbs for 9 years, I feel soft and so removed. So what’s next? How do we help beyond supporting Eutaw Marshburn’s tutorial program and McKim toy drive? One person at a time feels so inadequate sometimes, doesn’t it?

— Patti Flowers-Coulson · Dec 13, 01:37 PM · #