Hundreds of families helped last year by Presbyterian Community Ministry

By William White

Published: February 18, 2008

Planning to title his talk, “The Loveliest Potemkin Village on the Plain,” led to some explanations for an AU historian.

The historian explained that a Potemkin village was derived from a period of history of Russian empress Catherine the Great. Legend has Prince Grigorij Aleksandrovic Potemkin setting up facades as the royal barge went down the river to prevent her from seeing poverty and misery of the regions he governed.

“Think about the way in which you and I all drive around this community, this state and this nation. Think about what we see, what we don’t see and what we prefer not to see whether that is in Auburn, Opelika, Lee County or Macon County,” said Dr. David Carter with the Auburn University history department.

“It feels much better to deal with the facade, and in our case a facade where the veneer runs very deep,” Carter added. “We are very fortunate. Many of us either live in houses, or visit friends in houses, that are so lovely, so spacious, so filled with luxury and creature comforts.

“I do think we need to keep our eyes wide open and that we live a lot of time in this country with our eyes quite shut.”

Carter offered a few statistics gathered in 2000:

- We have about 24,000 people in Lee County alone that are living below the poverty level,

- Roughly, about one out of every five people in this county are living below the poverty level,

- We have about 14,000 people who are below 50 percent of the poverty threshold, and

- We have about 5,000 children effectively living in poverty.

“It is very easy to drive around and see so much grandeur and forget that just beyond these beautiful roads and homes, there is another Auburn, another Opelika and another Lee County.”

Carter spoke Monday to the annual meeting and luncheon of the ecumenical charity group, Presbyterian Community Ministry, that has served this community for 39 years.

He described PCM as, “a Presbyterian Community Ministry, a ministry of compassion that for nearly four decades has made a huge difference in the lives of hundreds and hundreds of Lee County’s truly disadvantaged residents - the deserving poor.”

During 2007, PCM helped a total of 418 families with housing and emergency needs through non-interest bearing loans and grants.

For more information call, 887-3777, or write 143 East Thach Ave., Auburn, AL 36830.