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FISH, Inc. (Williamsburg, VA)

 Organization

Biography

This content was acquired from https://williamsburgfish.weebly.com/fish-history.html on June 23, 2022.

FISH in Williamsburg - A History of the Founding and Early Years - 1975 - 1986

On a fall afternoon in 2014, a group of women gathered at the Historic Triangle Building to recall their role in the early days of the organization FISH. Marian Bennett, Nancy Lubrano, Ling Ngo, and Sherry Welter are four of the organizers and first volunteers of FISH in Williamsburg. The task at hand was to recollect the founding and early days of FISH. We wanted to know How did these founders organize a new service organization? Who volunteered in those first years? What services did FISH provide? What support did FISH receive from local churches and organizations? And perhaps most of all, Why did these busy young women feel compelled to action?

Karen Berquist took recorded the conversations and took notes. Sally Fisk took candid photos. We hope this narrative preserves a useful history of the founding and growth of FISH, the contributions of its many volunteers, and the collective community support that has helped many neighbors in times of need. Few documents remain from the first years. We have gathered in our archived records a copy of the original article that appeared in Reader’s Digest in January 1969, directions for volunteers dated 1979 – 1980, lists of volunteers by service category from the early 1980s, and a directory from the mid-1980s.

1969 - Inspiration from an Article in Reader’s Digest

In 1960, Reggie and Ling Ngo moved to Newport News, Virginia, and became parishioners at the mission church that later became St. Jerome Catholic Church. In winter of 1969, Ling read the Readers Digest article, “A Friendly Neighbor Called Fish,” describing the grassroots efforts of Anglican minister, Reverend Derek Eastman, and his congregation in Old Headington, near Oxford, England.

The story moved Ling to action. Through Vatican II, the Catholic Church had extended a call to lay ministry. Although the call to acts of mercy is centuries-old, there was something new and exciting in the spirit of Vatican II. The call also resonated with the spirit of compassion and caring that Ling had learned from her Buddhist grandmother. Ling wrote a letter to Reverend Eastman and received a lengthy letter in reply. He encouraged her to do what she could in her community to establish a volunteer service group using his project as a model.

In addition to informational brochures and suggestions for organizing, Reverend Eastman shared the spirit of how the work should be done. Ling recalls that he told them to “work simply, as caring neighbors.” He reminded her that although actions would be helpful to others, there would also be times when the most important thing a person could do for another was to “just listen.”

St. Jerome’s pastor, Father Frank Hendrick, supported the idea of a FISH volunteer program in his parish, and meetings to organize and recruit volunteers soon followed. Volunteers signed up to cook and deliver meals, provide transportation, babysit, or supply clothes to neighbors in need. That year, FISH at St. Jerome’s became one of hundreds of volunteer groups that sprang up throughout the country as a result of this one Reader’s Digest article.

1975 - FISH Comes to Williamsburg

The Ngo family moved to Williamsburg in 1974 and joined the congregation at St. Bede Catholic Church. There, Ling would meet the people who became the founders of FISH in Williamsburg. Among these was Sister Nancy Lydon, a young nun from the Sisters of Mercy who taught at Walsingham Academy, and served as St. Bede’s Social Ministry coordinator. Sister Nancy encouraged Ling to start a FISH program in Williamsburg as she had done in Newport News. St. Bede pastor, Father Anthony Warner agreed. The call went out to St Bede parishioners; meetings were held and volunteers recruited. By 1975, Williamsburg had its first group of FISH volunteers.

How it Worked

During the first years, FISH volunteers worked independently providing most resources from their own means. Calls for assistance were infrequent, perhaps only two or three per month. An answering service was the group’s only paid expense and the handful of volunteers rotated their day on-call. The volunteer of the day responded as best she could to any request for food, clothes, shelter, and other assistance. At times the on-call volunteer would contact other volunteers to help. Volunteers paid for items like gas, hotel stay, or bus tickets themselves. Sherry Welter recalled that in the early years, an arrangement was in place with Mr. Washington, owner of the Exxon station, to provide gas on credit to later be reimbursed by the FISH volunteer.

Shortly after moving to Williamsburg in 1978, Karen Berquist experienced how this small group of volunteers worked. She was visiting Marian Bennett when Marian received a phone call from Nancy Lubrano, the FISH volunteer on duty that day. Nancy was trying to fill a request for children’s clothes. She knew Marian’s son was about the same size as the young boy in the family. Did Marian have something to offer from her son’s closet? It was that simple. Marian gathered a few gently-used items to deliver to Nancy. Then Nancy gathered clothes from her own children’s dressers. She sorted, folded, and delivered the clothing.

This kind of simple gesture of neighborly concern for a stranger’s family was the hallmark of FISH. Many who experienced FISH volunteers in action wanted to become involved. In the next few years both the number of requests for help and the roster of volunteers grew.

A directory from 1979-1980 includes guidelines for volunteers, the names of the steering committee members, and lists of people who would provide cooked meals, clothes, and transportation. People also signed up to babysit, read to the blind, do housework, and provide companionship for seniors and teenagers.

Some requests did not fall neatly into these categories. For additional services, the directory includes a list of volunteers available for any kind of request. People on the 24-hour list might be called upon at any time for any reason. Ling Ngo recalls serving as a translator for speakers of Tagalog and Chinese. Sherry Welter remembers when she and her husband Bill, along with Ling and her husband Reggie, gathered and delivered blankets, food, and clothes to a family who had lost their home in a fire on New Year’s Eve. On several occasions, the Welters delivered food and chopped wood for an elderly man who heated his home with a wood stove. Each volunteer had memories of taking her children along as helpers to visit shut-in or to deliver food, clothes or a hot meal. They wanted to make their children more aware of the world around them and foster a generous and caring spirit.

The structure was simple and effective. As local police, social service workers, and churches became aware of the many ways FISH volunteers were willing to help their neighbors in need the number of calls grew. Changes were necessary to respond to more requests for assistance.

1980 - 1984 Growing Years

Many events in the early 1980s impacted social service needs in Williamsburg. Around this time funding changes at Eastern State Mental Health resulted in a dramatic increase in calls for assistance. At the same time, an expansion in service jobs in Williamsburg’s hotels and restaurants meant more people worked in low-paying, seasonal jobs. Even those who worked two part-time jobs occasionally encountered hard times making ends meet. An illness, car repair, or unanticipated expense could jeopardize a family’s housing situation or income.

Churches experienced more people coming directly to their doorsteps for help and church referrals to FISH increased. At the same time, the churches became an important source for volunteers, food and clothes donations, and funding. Operations changed greatly when churches offered spaces for a centralized food pantry and clothes closet. This period marks the transition from the small, loosely organized group of volunteers that founded FISH to the organization as it is today

From 1980 and 1994, many churches provided space for a FISH food pantry and clothes closet. The food pantry’s first homes were in the St. Bede rectory basement and later in the St. Bede Parish Center. When St. Bede could no longer host the pantry, the Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists provided space in Fahs house, their newly-purchased property on Ironbound Road. The pantry remained in the Fahs House until its move to the Historic Triangle Building in 1994.

The clothes closet also moved between many locations. The first clothes closet was in a volunteer’s home. Williamsburg Baptist Church on Richmond Road provided the first church location. In time, the clothes closet relocated and expanded into a house at the corner of Burns Lane and Jamestown Road owned by the First Church of Christ, Scientist. When the church was ready to raze the house for new construction in 1994, the Historic Triangle Building was ready for use. In this last move, the food pantry and clothes closet were located in the same space.

In addition to providing spaces for the growing food pantry and clothes closets, some churches offered other types of services. For several years, St. Stephen Lutheran Church, St. Bede Roman Catholic Church, and Wellspring Methodist Church made space available for temporary overnight lodging. A volunteer from the church or from FISH unlocked the church rooms, helped the person get settled in for the night and returned the next morning - often with a hot breakfast - to send the lodger on his or her way.

As transportation requests increased, the Williamsburg Religious Society of Friends organized a more efficient system. They built a roster of volunteer drives and created a system to coordinate ride requests with available drivers.

Other changes increased the types of assistance available to those in need. Hickory Neck Episcopal Church established an additional food pantry in the western part of James City County. Several churches, including Walnut Hills Baptist Church, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, and St. Bede Roman Catholic Church provided money for emergency purchases, generally under $20. Sister Berenice, St. Bede Social Ministry director, relied on FISH resources and volunteers to carry out the work that earned her the reputation Williamsburg’s Mother Teresa.

The 1980’s: A New Routine

With an official food pantry, volunteers no longer raided their home pantry or shopped for food. Selecting clothes was easier in a tidy, well-organized clothes closet. Even so, a day on-call could be demanding. The number of requests for assistance increased to two to five requests per day on weekdays. To fill requests, volunteers travelled to both the food pantry and the clothes closet. From the food pantry, they packed a food supply for three days. At the clothes closet, knowing little more than the age, size, and gender for each request, the volunteers selected three outfits for every-day use, including underwear, shoes, and coats, or other specific items. A fourth outfit for church, dress occasions, or job interviews would also be provided.

On a typical day, a volunteer would receive calls at home from morning until about 3pm. The next few hours were spent at the food pantry and clothes closet. Deliveries usually began around 5pm. Later in the evening, the volunteer would handle transportation requests. A day on-call became busier each year. The routine for gathering and delivering food and clothes was so time-consuming that the daily volunteers no longer had time to provide services like emergency babysitting, hot meals, or companionship. Instead, they called upon volunteers listed in the directory for these special services. Referrals to outside organizations also became part of the FISH volunteer routine.

Working Together - A Historic Covenant between FISH and Ecumenical Outreach Ministries (E.O.M.)

FISH built strong relations within the community. The Covenant between FISH and Ecumenical Outreach Ministries (E.O.M.) was a pledge of solidarity and cooperation between these two service organizations. Each program worked independently, supported by a core of churches and individuals. Each relied on dedicated volunteers to provide food, clothes, and other assistance to those in need. In 1982, E.O.M. director Carletha Morris approached St. Bede pastor, Father George Zahn with the idea of a covenant. The Williamsburg Pastoral Council embraced this gesture of solidarity between two growing, all-volunteer service organizations. Each would retain its name and board of directors. E.O.M. would provide screening applicants for assistance with fuel and utility bills. Food and clothes requests would be met by the well-established FISH pantry and clothes closet, as well as the auxiliary pantries at E.O.M. and Hickory Neck Episcopal Church.

In September 1982, members of the clergy, volunteers from E.O.M. and FISH, and many community service workers joined in a beautiful service at the church on Jamestown Island to commemorate their covenant. The covenant pledged volunteers’ faith and prayer support as they joined in serving the poor and needy in Williamsburg.

The 1986 FISH directory reflects the joined resources of FISH and E.O.M., and a newsletter article from 1985 recalls the spirit and purpose of the covenant.

Small Gestures, Big Changes

The story of FISH in Williamsburg is truly a ‘mustard seed’ story. One person, inspired by a small article in a popular magazine took action. Others joined in with small gestures of kindness. Compassion spread. We can’t say how many lives were touched – lives of volunteers and lives of recipients.

Between 1975 and 1986, FISH in Williamsburg grew from a few dedicated volunteers to a prominent, reliable, and well-respected community resource. Churches, civic groups, and individuals throughout the Williamsburg area were drawn to provide support for FISH. They remain an important of part of our community service today.

This history is only a fragment of the entire story and remains a draft. We invite others to supply additional details and correct errors and omissions. We welcome recollections of the events that began in the late 1980s leading to the current location in the Historic Triangle Building and operations today.

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

FISH Inc. records

 Collection
Identifier: MS 00343
Content Description

Records pertaining to the history and operations of FISH. FISH is an all volunteer organization, supported by the local community, providing food, clothing, small house ware items, and some transportation for medical appointments to residents who are in an emergency or crisis situation.

Dates: 1985-2015