Mennonite Weekly Review

GOSHEN, Ind. — The annual “Family Fest” at Bethany Christian Schools is usually a joyous event as families auction off handmade quilts, furniture and other goods in the annual school fundraiser.

Unemployment in Elkhart County, Ind., where the county courthouse is located in Goshen, is at least 18 percent, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data on people who lost their jobs and are still looking for more work. — Photo by Celeste Kennel-Shank/MWR

But this year, double-digit unemployment rates overshadowed the event with a sense of anxiety. The event failed to meet last year’s proceeds.

“People … know that there but by the grace of God go I,” school principal Allen Dueck told the PBS program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. “It could be me tomorrow or my family member. So I think there’s a real sense of pulling together in ways we can.”

Indiana’s Elkhart County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country — 20 percent, which is more than twice the national average. And in this overwhelmingly Christian community with a significant Mennonite population, churches are being called upon more than ever to help meet physical and spiritual needs.

This is RV country, where more than 60 percent of the nation’s recreational vehicles have been manufactured. But in tough economic times — when gas prices are unpredictable, people aren’t buying luxury items and banks are restricting loans — the RV industry has collapsed.

Factories have been closed or made drastic cutbacks. And the ripple effect is touching virtually everyone.

Many believe the unemployment rate is actually much higher because the official numbers don’t include those who don’t file for unemployment benefits. Here, that means large numbers of out-of-work undocumented Hispanic immigrants and Amish farmers who took factory jobs when they couldn’t make a living on their farms.

Derald Bontrager, president and chief operating officer of the Jayco RV company, which his parents started 41 years ago, has seen production drop from 40,000 campers a year to less than half of that now.

“It’s a gut-wrenching experience to go from 2,200 employees down to 1,100, particularly in this environment because you know that each one of those employees you lay off, that the chance of finding any meaningful employment in the future is almost nonexistent,” Bontrager said.

Bontrager, a leader in his local Mennonite congregation, says he is dealing with a difficult moral equation.