Team Spirit

I had never heard of Germantown before slipping out of the office to check out Coming of Age’s Make a Big Difference Team there.  There are presently 8 teams, recruited by area nonprofits with the support of Coming of Age, which combine the various skills of team members to tackle a specific project important to the nonprofit and the community.  The Germantown team, specifically, is creating a new café, to become a hub of community life.

After a quick, but hair-raising (I’m still not used to this traffic), drive up 76, I was immediately struck by what the team was up against.  Germantown Avenue is small, congested, and lined with abandoned lots and strip malls, and I got the impression that this was a community struggling to find its identity.

Cydney Williams, of Center in the Park, the local senior center and host organization of the Make a Big Difference Team (Cydney is the team coordinator) described to me the frustration of long-time residents.  There are open spaces in the community—national treasures, colonial homes (including one used by George Washington during his presidency), famous residents, and a history of jazz.  Center in the Park itself is located in a beautiful old building in the historic heart of the city.  However, there’s also a real sense that Germantown’s been passed over and its history forgotten.

Luckily, there are still some members of the community who remember it as it once was—and luckier still, they’re determined to act.  “There’s no fairy angel that’s going to come and save Germantown—it’s got to be us,” says Cydney, as she lays out the plan for me.  The café project, led by the Make a Big Difference Team—which feels increasingly like DC Comics’ Justice League (a collection of animated superheroes) thanks to the drive and personal expertise of each member—will be an important step in making Germantown a destination location once again.

Sipping orange juice in a basement conference room in the local senior center, in the middle of a park, I surprise myself by increasingly tingling with excitement.  These guys are serious!  They’re capable, committed, enthusiastic, and adaptable (the space intended for the café is no longer available?  Put the café on wheels!).  This community needs a shot of adrenaline, and this team—mostly older, retired adults—is just the right choice to administer it.

I can’t wait to see how the café turns out.  Barack Obama visited Germantown the day after I was there.  I wonder whether he took the time to enjoy his surroundings, as our first President once did.  With the community beginning to revitalize, and the Make a Big Difference Team taking a leadership role, I don’t think he’ll be able to resist next time.