When you live in a vacation destination community that caters to travelers who are able to drop a significant amount of cash over the course of a few days in town -- $75.00 per adult ($42.00 per child) for admission tickets to Colonial Williamsburg, $130+ a night for lodging, restaurant meals for your family for several days, Busch Gardens Tickets at $90.00 per person, and various incidental and not-so-incidental expenses – it’s sometimes hard to realize that amid these indicators of affluence, there are more than a few local residents who live on the knife-edge of poverty.
The Grove Christian Outreach Center, featured in this newspaper article, exists to help these people – many of whom are servers at local restaurants, housekeepers at local hotels, or hold down jobs (sometimes more than one job) in other minimum wage or less-than-minimum wage jobs to keep the whole enterprise afloat. Grove is a community in James City County that is largely a food desert and an area devoid of work opportunities.
This community was largely uninhabited prior to World War I. Directly north of Grove in York County, a lower-income neighborhood known as “the reservation” was home to a predominantly African-American community, many of whom were farmers or oystermen. In July of 1918, the US Congress authorized President Woodrow Wilson to establish a Navy Mine Depot, and a month later President Wilson used eminent domain to acquire 11,433 acres of land near Yorktown. Hundreds of families were removed from “the reservation,” some without any compensation, and their church – Little Zion Baptist Church – relocated to Grove. A second resettlement occurred in 1942-43, when the Navy claimed the land that now constitutes Camp Peary for the purpose of training Seabees and housing World War II POWs. Over 100 families subsequently moved from the historically African-American neighborhoods of Magruder and Bigler’s Mill to Grove.
Grove is currently the largest African-American community in James City County. The following table (made with 2010 census data) shows that Grove is younger and more diverse than James City County as a whole (the column on the far right is James City County; the column next to it is Grove):
The following table shows that residents of Grove are less educated and less affluent than James City County as a whole (James City County on the right; Grove next to it):
Other data show that more than 40% of the residents of Grove live in mobile homes, while that is true for only 3.7% of residents in the country as a whole. The value of housing in Grove is about 1/3 of that of the county as a whole.
The local bus system (Williamsburg Area Transit Authority) runs one bus line that serves Grove. The bus runs once an hour throughout the week, but it is a classic spoke-and-hub arrangement. If residents want to get to the only Walmart in town, for example, they have to ride to the transit hub (at the train station in Williamsburg) and transfer to another bus to go to Walmart. This bus also runs once an hour. So if a bus rider catches the bus in Grove at 8:35, for example, they will arrive at the transit hub at about 8:55. The bus that goes to Walmart leaves the transit hub at 9:00. If everything is on time and there are no delays, the transfer can work pretty well. It will then take the rider another ½ hour to get to the Walmart. After shopping, they have to complete the trip in reverse, again hoping that everything connects and that they don’t have to wait another hour for the next bus to come along. A trip to Walmart — which I can accomplish by car in about 1 1/2 hours, including driving and shopping time — can thus take an entire morning. A day-long bus pass costs $3.00; a 30-day pass can be purchased for $45.00. Reduce fares ($1.50 for a day pass, $22..00 for 30 days) are available to senior citizens, Medicare customers, and person’s with certain identified disabilities
As you can imagine, it is very difficult for anyone living in Grove without a car to work anywhere in town, where their ability to show up predictably and on time is left to the vagaries of a skinny bus system. Shopping for the necessities of life can be equally difficult. The Department of Agriculture has labeled Grove a “food desert.” The nearest grocery store is six miles away, and 7% of households in the community don’t have private cars. There are a few convenience stores and gas stations in Grove, but the food they sell doesn’t include fresh, healthy options you can find in grocery stores. Some local gardening and market initiatives have been attempted in Grove, but they have not been successful.
Hence the Grove Christian Outreach Center, which has operated in Grove since 2000. In addition to its regular church functions, this center operates a year-round food pantry as well as seasonal offerings like a summer lunch program for school children, a fall backpack program, Thanksgiving food baskets, and Christmas gifts for kids. For many residents of Grove, the food pantry is a lifeline, providing them access to food that they would otherwise be unable to access or afford.
But as this article says, Grove has other programs as well – including the Prom program every spring. Community residents across the area donate gently used and new dresses (and tuxes) that are then offered to Grove residents. The Prom boutique is open by appointment at the center on Wednesday and Friday throughout the spring. The center has a variety of options to choose from, as dresses of every color and style fill several racks inside the center. There is an area to try on clothing, and the center is offering free alterations. High school juniors or seniors from the region can schedule a confidential appointment by calling the center or emailing the program director.
Anyone who has ever been a high school senior or worked with high school seniors know that prom is a very important milestone for many of these young people. They look forward to prom as a kind of rite of passage, and many of them structure their senior year around prom weekend. A pretty dress or spiffy tux, plus shoes and accessories to complete the outfit, is out of reach for many of them. This program gives them a chance to participate, without shame or embarrassment, in an event that often marks the end of years of work and the beginning of a new chapter in their lives.
Thank you for your essay. When we lived in Williamsburg, people actually told me there were no issues of poverty anywhere in the area. So sad.
I remember bumping into Tom - who drove the Ludwell Bus - in KMart when I was back in '71 for grad school, and realizing that he was shopping there for his family. In fairness, there were not a lot of "general" stores in the area in those days, and I was doing my shopping there because it was all I could afford on my tiny grad student salary. That led me to realize that all the grounds, maintenance and housekeeping staff at the College were probably struggling financially, even with "college jobs". And, sadly, they were probably considered well off for having a college job.
Am sad that it's still such a "haves" and "have nots"situation in the area, but if one has been paying attention for the past (errr, 50) years, this should not be a surprise. Am happy to hear that this Center helps with prom dresses as well as food insecurity. I donated all my "evening wear" to a similar program in Richmond some years ago. If I hadn't, you'd be getting a package!