Diakonia perseveres and moves forward
Diakonia, the West Ocean City-based provider of services to the homeless, knows something about adversity as well as how to overcome it through perseverance.
The nonprofit organization demonstrated the latter last Wednesday at the groundbreaking for a project that at one time appeared to be forever doomed.
It’s not clear how Diakonia managed to regroup and revise its plan to build a new campus on Route 611, replete with flexible rent housing, administrative offices, food pantry and thrift store, but it did with the help of contributors, supporters, volunteers and excellent leadership.
The Worcester County Commissioners had all but killed the shelter’s plans in January 2024 when a voting majority of four members rejected a solution to Diakonia’s need for wastewater treatment services the county was unable to provide.
Thwarted by the lack of treatment capacity in the county district it occupied, Diakonia struck an agreement with the Town of Ocean City to tie into its services.
The four commissioners, however, refused to allow it, apparently believing that accepting the homeless shelter’s workaround would put them in a politically awkward position with homebuilders who also had projects they wanted to build but faced the same wastewater treatment problems.
Even more ridiculously, the commissioners tried to justify their refusal to accept the Diakonia deal by saying they wanted to “level the playing field” — as if would-be home sellers and the homeless shelter were competing for the same clientele.
But Diakonia’s resourcefulness and the generosity of contributors such as Jack Burbage’s Blue Water development and hospitality business, found a way forward by deciding to build the project in phases. That allowed them to seek a much-reduced treatment capacity, which the commissioners had little choice but to approve.
In light of Diakonia’s successful approach, we applaud its leadership and its supporters for their problem-solving ability. But, most of all, we admire their perseverance.