The tourist impression of St. Michaels will always assume that this charming little town is prosperous with an exceptionally high quality of life, but like many things, the reality is not that simple. While is true that St. Michaels is indeed blessed with many remarkable characteristics, it and the Bay Hundred hamlets to the west, nonetheless have their fair share of unemployed or low-income distressed families needing help.
This is not a new observation for community leaders. Twenty-five years ago it was clearly noticed, and the Community Center of St. Michaels was created to organize ways to provide assistance to those in need. Fast forward, and the same organization has grown from a small outreach office in downtown St. Michaels to their current location serving over 400 children throughout the year, local senior citizens, and partnerships with Talbot County’s leading human services organizations, schools, and agencies. And yet, even with this remarkable range of services and programs, the Community Center has its challenges, ranging from managing the significant increase in those who need help to fighting for name recognition in the sea of hundreds of nonprofit organizations in the area.
At the helm of it all is the Community Center’s only full-time employee and director, Trish Payne. A former bank executive and actress, Trish talks to the Spy about her five-year involvement in St. Michaels, the dozens of volunteers that are at the heart and soul of the organization, and the hurdles one must jump in explaining why her community center is different from Oxford’s center for performance and arts and the Talbot Community Center which provides recreational opportunities.
This video is approximately five minutes in length. The Spy Community Profiles project is supported in part by the United Fund of Talbot County.
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