Ron Wachob takes a cookie from volunteer Lynda Sherwood during the weekly community supper held at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Landisville, PA Thursday, January 6, 2011.

About a month ago I made some images for AARP Bulletin way out in middle Pennsylvania of a weekly community church dinner. Here’s the accompanying story and slideshow.

My community journalism background has made me really good at covering fluff. And I’ll be honest, I thought this might be a fluff story, but after reading the article, it shed some light on some interesting facts. The heaviest being that — and I’m pulling this quote, hyperlinks & all, directly from the story — “More than 6 million Americans age 60 and over don’t have enough to eat,” said Dick Chevrefils, AARP Pennsylvania state director. …by the way, there’s some really good work at the end of the “6 million…” hyperlink. …like really good.

But food isn’t the real issue behind this night. It’s camaraderie.

…well, I guess because it’s in a church it’s called Fellowship. But you get the idea.

For me and most people my age, my peers are getting married, having kids, advancing in their careers.

But most of the people who attend this weekly dinner are dealing with the realities of death and oldness. I don’t know about y’all, but I’d prefer some good company to giving too much thought to all that darkness.

Wow. I just made myself a little sad writing this. Sorry everyone.

But let me tell you, there wasn’t a sour puss in the lot.

(Above: One day before their 60th Anniversay, The Zerphey’s, Henry and Arlene visit with some of their favorite people during the weekly community supper held at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Landisville, PA, Thursday, January 6, 2011, including Betty Metzger, foreground left, and Nancey Rineer, foreground right, who is sharing some of her turkey tetrazzini with Henry.)

Everyone was having a great time. — which is the point. It’s a light hearted weekly event, taken very seriously.

Enjoy!

…no. really. enjoy.

Friends (L-R) Helen Booth, Ruth Sellers, and Winnie Linn sit at their usual table.

cool glasses, right?

I like her hat. I think it’s muppet fur.

Volunteers (L-R) Sarah Thompson, Barbara Wildasin, Andrew Sherwood, Lynda Sherwood, and Amy Thompson, clean up in the kitchen.

Volunteers, Barbara Wildasin, folds table cloths after the weekly community supper.

Volunteers, Barbara Wildasin, left, listens to Cameron Thompson talk about his dishpan hands while Brian Sherwood, right, cleans the table after the weekly supper.

Cameron Thompson’s dish-pan hands.

This assignment would’ve been a whole lot tougher without my trusty assistant Monica Lopossay!

Corinne Bell, partially obscured by artificial flowers on her kitchen table, has lived in the home she and her husband built for 52 years. The widow now lives with three cats, Tiny, Cece, and Sheba, former strays who now call the split level on Main Street, Pilesgrove “home,” too. “Somedays they’re the only company I get,” says the 79-year-old New Jersey woman. Bell, like other New Jersey seniors who live on fixed incomes, are in danger of losing their homes because of the state’s high property taxes — the highest in the nation. “I have too much stuff to move,” and worries about the future of her cats. In the past a social program called Senior Freeze alleviated a portion of the property taxes for those who qualified. The state’s former governor changed the program’s eligibility, but the state’s new Republican Governor Christopher Christie said he would restore the rebates to those who lost them, but has yet to fully reinstate the program.

Recently, I’ve been making visual side stories while on assignment. Sometimes they’re totally off task, but other times they tie into story.

When I met Corinne, who’s a lovely lady, I couldn’t help but notice some loneliness in the widow. But I wasn’t doing a story on looniness. Stay on task, Matt! Focus. Property Taxes. But lets be honest, visualizing property taxes in an interesting AND literal way is a bit tough. Well, the obvious idea is to make a portrait of her in front of her home… Snoozezilla, right? But if there’s one thing I learned from the failings of Time Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is that you have to develop your protagonists. …make people care about them. Lucky for me, the wind was so inhospitable (lightstands be damned!) we couldn’t make a decent picture of her (windblown hair) in front of her house. “Okay Corinne. It’s crazy out here. lets see if we can’t do this inside.”

“Okay. Well, while I’m out here, I might as well get my mail.”

And that’s when the light switch turned on. I’ve always been a fan of, as I like to call it, “exploding the ordinary.” So, as Corinne walks back to her home, mail in hand, I notice a simple composition: house, yard, Corinne. The wind was knocking her around. She seemed vulnerable. And there it is. There’s that loneliness I felt when I first met her. I make a few frames. The one I chose is of her, in a slight stumble — a shuffle, really — en route to her front door. Her home has always given her shelter. And I saw a beautiful connection between Corinne and her home in a mundane moment. Her home is the glue that ties her life together. So, there’s the tie-in, exorbitant taxes would disrupt her life.

Corinne Bell sits down for a cup of tea and a Tastee Cake.

Corinne Bell pets her cat Tiny while sipping on tea and nibbling on a Tastee Cake.

Sometimes Corinne Bell can see the neighbors’ livestock from her window.

Tiny, one of Corinne Bell’s three cats, asks to be let back in the house.

Corinne Bell can see the cemetery where her husband is buried in from her kitchen window.

One toothbrush. One rinse cup. Fantastic wall paper!

A photo of Corinne Bell’s late husband “Slim,” sits on her bedroom dresser.

Corinne Bell waits for her cat Tiny to come back in the house.

If you like, feel free to embed the slideshow at the bottom of the page on your blog or wherever. And if you do, I’d love a heads up and possibly link to your link.

NJ Taxes and Corinne Bell – Images by Matt Roth