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Community Service
Most everyone in Addison County knows Tom Plumb, the long-time director of the Addison County Community Action Group, Inc., mostly known as "ACC-AG." In fact, lots of folks beyond the County know Tom, too, including plenty of State workers in Montpelier and Waterbury, whether in Housing & Community Affairs or the Governor's Office. In fact, Governor Dean knows Tom pretty well, and vice versa. Tom will be leaving ACCAG, where he's been Director for more than 19 years in, " Let's see." He begins to make the calculation. "Eighty-five days." But now, he's stepping down. And there are plenty of folks who'll be sorry to see him go. If there are some who might not be sorry to see Tom go, odds are, it's because he has not been afraid to stand up for the poorest folks around, even if it's meant taking less than popular positions. Tom's 19 years at the helm of ACCAG represent only a brief history of his involvement in advocacy for the poor and community development. Back in 1975, after graduating from Middlebury College, Tom went to work with John Graham, a life-long worker in the fight to help those in greatest need in the Valley. Graham, the former director of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity [CVOEO], passed away in January 1980, and was Tom's mentor, someone who Tom described as a master "of basic economic and organizational development." Tom then ran off a very partial list of some of Graham's projects. "He started the Buyers Club, Tooth Hollow, a furniture factory, a wood cutting operation, home construction. Not everything succeeded, of course, but that would never stop John from trying." "John was, how can I put it? Godfather of the poor," Tom said. "He spent his days, long days, on a listening tour. That's what he did. He would go around the Valley and listen to people's individual problems, then he'd try to solve them. ... I guess you could say he 'held court'." Tom thought about it all for a moment, then added, "Those were simpler days." Tom began working with John Graham when he was still an undergraduate at Middlebury College as a volunteer. That was in 1972. By 1975, after he graduated, he went to work at CVOEO full-time. The decision could not have been an easy one. Not all the members of Tom's family were supportive of the idea of his spending his time and energy, not to mention his college education, helping the poor. One of his first tasks was to resurrect the old Buyers Club in Bristol, a vital food shelf and low-cost outlet for the county's neediest families, which had burned down. Tom moved on from CVOEO and went to work at the Chittenden Community Action Center as director from 1977-1979. After that, he worked on the Ted Kennedy campaign for 6 months, but by April of 1980, he was back as the Food & Nutrition Co-Ordinator in Addison County, under the directorship of Cheryl Rivers {then Pratt}. By March 1981, Rivers decided to leave to raise a family, and Tom then became director of the operation, a position he's held since. Over the years, Tom worked tirelessly, the only mode he knows, on advocacy efforts to help the county's poorest families. But there was something of a political struggle at the time, and, as a result, Tom left. Following in Graham's tradition, Tom continued to work to develop an impressive array of services for the county's poorest families. And perhaps nothing shows the strength and breadth of that commitment more than ACCAG's new digs up on Boardman St. in Middlebury. Just last year, ACCAG moved into its new, impressive building, with numerous offices housing not only ACCAG, but other community services, including Vermont Adult Learning, Court Diversion, Voc Rehab, and Addison County Transit Services, and RSVP, as well as a program out of the Parent-Child Center. In addition, the facility also now has an up-to-date computer lab, shared by VAL and ACCAG, where area residents can go to become computer literate and learn internet-related skills. In addition to the office-based services, the new facility also houses the Marion Munford Thrift Store, Vermont RetroWoprks, which recycles clothing, appliances, furniture & computers, with a particular emphasis on PC rehab in order to distribute functional PC's to poorer families. The facility is also the county's central re-use facility and brings in materials for re-cycling from around the State and even New Hampshire.
All this was part of Tom's vision of the place from the beginning, a kind of "one-stop-shop for low income Addison County residents," making it easier for those come, many of whom are often without transportation, to get the help they need. The new facility was also one of the last major efforts which Tom undertook on ACCAG's behalf. "It's a great opportunity for non-profits to work collaboratively," he says. And for ACCAG, he adds, "It's also allowed us to have an incubator space to grow new programs." Now, with ACCAG in its new home, Tom has come to the end of a long and fruitful effort, one without which many of the county's poorest families might have fallen between the cracks. We knew it was a dumb question, and even said so, but we had to ask: "Will you miss it?" "That is a dumb question," Tom said, laughing. "I knew I wasn't going to die in this job, so it came to me as kind of if not now, when?" But one thing Tom won't miss is the paperwork. Anyone who knows him and has been to his office, whether at the new Boardman Street facility or elsewhere, knows what Tom's desk looks like. "I'm just dying to leave the paper behind and go back to basics," he says. On that note, from here, Tom and his wife will be going to {ready?} Honduras in February. It may sound like a dream vacation. And, even if it was, it would be well-deserved. But that's not quite what it's all about. They're going to be driving down, but not in Tom's car.
Tom will be going there to work on housing and other economic development , including helping schools and villages obtain computers. "They're still using paper and pencils," Tom notes. he also wants to try to help a coffee co-operative to obtain a roaster, in order to bring more of the value to the local growers. As Tom put it, "There's a lot to be done down there." They will actually be spending 6 months in Honduras, and 6 months back in the States, trying to raise money for Honduran projects. Well ... An era has come to a close. And we all, especially the county's poorest, hope that Tom's successor brings even a fraction of the energy ... and most of all the commitment ... which Tom has demonstrated over all these long years. We wish him well. ... And, if one believes in such things, you've got to believe, too, that, somewhere, John Graham is looking down and wishing Tom well, too.
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