The bridge is gone but community remains

Pretty soon I will have to abandon the idea of running a not-for-profit because I can’t NOT say the things that need to be said in these perilous time.

Yes, I am a hard-core journalist and as such I don’t take sides. It’s almost a religion.

But now?

It’s an ideal that gets challenged when the “other side” has maybe made a pact with the dark side.

Our only hope in these difficult times is not just politics, though it is one useful tool.

It’s community — to find your brethren and sisteren in the grassroots gives more meaning to the struggle. And, in that energy, find renewal.

Now I’m going way off the “journalism” script.

Consider what two off-the-grid communities — Millanville, Pa., and Skinners Falls, N.Y. — did to protect a bridge that symbolizes EXACTLY what I’m talking about: Supporting a bridge to reach across the Delaware River.

Leading with hope.

Up in Sullivan County, N.Y., as well as in Wayne County, Pa., they know a thing or two about building community. It’s where many urbanites seek rural retreat before hurling themselves into the city for work.

Some of those have found that this place offers such a relief that they figure out how to do the work they love and live in a place they have come to love.

Others have roots in the county that go back aways.

Some are Democrats, some are Republicans, and many are neither, or both.

But the Skinners Falls Bridge mattered to them and their friends across the Delaware River.

Here’s one of many stories we wrote about that bridge and the Herculean efforts of local residents to save it.

Sadly, they did not.

Here’s where I’d like to offer you a chance to be part of a community that’s likely way off your beaten path.

The bridge activists incurred about $55,841 in legal costs — about $30,495 has so far been collected.

Wanna chip in to ease this financial burden? Count it as a vote for community.

You can donate here or here.

As a thank you, I’m linking to a clip of a soup-to-nuts trip on the Delaware River by CBS News. Many of you watching this will know more about the river than this 40-minute review can offer, but what I like about it is how its focus is on the whole river.

Remember what we say: We’re all one watershed! Federal support may wane and progress might be slowed, but we can’t stop. We won’t stop. 

We love this river!!

Thanks for reading,

Meg