The lessons of the Delaware River are legion. Experiencing the river not as scenery but a channel and a route to the wide world can widen the imagination.
The lessons of the Delaware River are legion.
Experiencing the river not as scenery but a channel and a route to the wide world can widen the imagination.
That sort of encounter may be rare for city residents working to fulfill course requirements for a chance at a better life. But last month, as Kelly Johnson reported in The Times, such a confluence occurred as 20 Trenton women embarked on a journey along the Delaware aboard SPLASH, a replica of a 19th-century paddleboat.
The passengers and their conveyance are object lessons in determination.
The women are enrolled in the the HomeFront program WorkFirst, which involves GED preparatory classes, resume and cover letter writing, practice interviews and life skills training. as they hone their skills to begin searching for a job.
HomeFront, the social services agency based in Ewing, is dedicated to breaking the cycles of poverty and homelessness that condemn far too many to a life bereft of hope and caught up in constant struggles for the barest necessities.
The women are actively engaged in shattering the sequence. Eager to get off public assistance and provide for themselves and their families, they were exploring the river as they explore their own potential.
The captain, crew and instructors on SPLASH — Student Participation in Learning Aquatic Science and History — meanwhile introduced the women to the river’s elements and levels of acidity. They learned about the causes of pollution threatening the region’s drinking water supply, and they got a crash course in the physics and mechanics of steamboat travel.
That SPLASH is still paddling along the river is another example of expectations defied.
Its future was in doubt after the death of former Princeton University professor Bart Hoebel who had restored the vessel as a floating classroom. After his passing, funds to keep SPLASH afloat dried up, and there was talk of selling the boat.
Grants and donations, as well as countless volunteer hours have kept SPLASH sailing from Lambertville on two-hour tours that focus on the biology, birds, plants entwined with the Delaware. Passengers also learn about the region’s history from the famous 1776 Christmas crossing to the Delaware’s importance in economic development.
The river offers another vital lesson, one of endurance.
Ancient rivers, of course, chiseled through mountains.
Paul Robeson sang of being weary, sick of trying, then watching the river just keep rolling along.
We wish all those involved in the HomeFront initiatives such grit. And we hope SPLASH will have many, many more years on the river.
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