Bucks resident has a unique way of combating plight of the homeless
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Sports Editor
Carol Lee Lindner is a special person. Just ask the men who powered her dragon boat in October in the 3rd annual Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival.
Lindner, who hales from Doylestown, is both the founder and executive director of the festival. She's been directing the event since its inception in 2002. That includes registering teams, scheduling practice times for participants and yes, even coaching the paddlers that sign up to take part in the event.
This year, Lindner formed a team of her own, composed of a group of men who were formerly homeless and are now trying to make their way back into mainstream society through a charitable organization called Ready, Willing and Able.
Here's the story of how a woman from Doylestown got involved with a group of homeless men living at 10th & Bainbridge Sts. in Philadelphia, changing the lives of all, perhaps forever.
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Most of the men that come to RW&A trying to make some sense of what became a convoluted life of outdoor living, have had problems with the law, drugs, even keeping simple relationships with others. Many are scarred from a lifetime of abuse and neglect.
RW&A gives the men a place to live and finds jobs for them. All the group asks in return is that the men make a commitment to a drug-free existence.
The first year the festival was held, proceeds from the event after all the bills were paid totaled just $250, says Lindner.
Lindner and event organizers were determined to make a better showing in 2003. Unfortunately, Hurricane Isabel stood in the way. The storm was bringing floodwaters to the banks of the Schuylkill River where the event is held so Fairmount Park Commission (FPC) told festival organizers to get the boats out of the water.
Overwhelmed with concern, Lindner raced to the banks of the Schuylkill. Her daughter Alexis, who is afflicted with Down's Syndrome, is one of thousands of paddlers that take to the river on festival day.
That's when Lindner had her first contact with RW&A. The men were working for the FPC that day. When Lindner arrived, the men were gently easing Alexis' 900-pound dragon boat out of the water.
"They were so gentle; they did it with such care," said Lindner of the way the way the men handled the $13,000 boat. "I was so impressed"
The wheels in Lindner's mind were already cranking. Surely men that could lift a dragon boat weighing nearly a half-ton out of the water with ease would have no trouble paddling one.
She soon asked for and got permission to form a team comprised of RW&A clients. Twice a week, from July until the day of the event in October, Lindner met the men on the banks of the river and coached them on the nuances of dragon boat racing.
Lindner had coached other teams but this one was different. The septuagenarian from Doylestown immediately bonded with the men. They liked her, too.
After committing so much time and effort into transforming the RW&A team into a squad that was dragon boat festival-worthy, Lindner decided to take an active role in the 2004 event. In previous years, she had always taken a back seat, electing to watch the event unfold from the banks of the river. This year, she stayed on the RW&A boat as the team's drummer - the equivalent of a coxswain in skulling events.
When race day came, the RW&A team took to the waters. They performed fabulously, winning their first race by a nose. They bested their time in the second race and came in fourth.
The group came in dead last in the final heat, said Lindner, but surely, there was no shame in that. The RW&A team competed in the B-Division - the second best group among the six classifications in the race.
The end of the festival didn't spell the end of Lindner's relationship with the men from Ready, Willing and Able. She is currently in training with the group in preparation for the annual Broad St. Run that takes place in May.
And on Christmas Eve, Carol Lee and her husband Albert shared a limousine ride from the RW&A facility in Center-City to a holiday mass that took place at Lindner's Church in Haverford.
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Lindner was raised in Doylestown in the 1940s and '50s. It was a magnificent time to grow up; the town was almost magical then, she says.
"I have such wonderful memories of Doylestown," said Lindner, a member of CB West's Class of 1958. "It was a great time to grow up."
Many of Lindner's relatives still live in the area. At one time, her father owned and operated the Strand Dry Cleaners. Her brother Robert Fighera and her sister Barbara Harrison have remained in Doylestown.
After marrying Albert (CB West - Class of '57), Lindner moved to the main line in 1964. The couple has shared a home in Haverford ever since.
So how does one go from Doylestown medical secretary to the head of one of the largest one-day dragon boat festivals in North America?
Somebody asked her and she said, "yes," though it took years from the time Lindner formed the first women's dragon boat racing team until the time she pulled off the first festival two years ago.
In 1997, Lindner was rowing the Schuylkill River, strictly for exercise purposes. At that point, she had been skulling the river for five years and had gotten to know some of the familiar faces one sees on Boathouse Row.
That's when Ed Lucas, Commodore of the Schuylkill Navy, asked Lindner to establish the first women's dragon boat racing team in Philadelphia.
"At the time, I knew absolutely nothing about dragon boats. I didn't even know what the boats looked like," said Lindner.
So naturally, she rejected the offer set before her by Lucas; right?
Wrong.
"I said, 'Yes; I'll do it,'" said Lindner. "I tend to do that - say 'yes' and figure it out later."
>From day one, Great White North - the Canadian company from which Lindner had purchased her very first dragon boat - had tried to convince Lindner to establish a one-day regatta, one successful enough that paddlers would come back annually.
In 2002, she finally relented.
This year, the event raised more than $417, 000 for cancer research all of which is funneled directly to the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Northeast Philadelphia. Proceeds from the event have totaled more than a half million dollars for the cancer center in the past two years.
The rewards have been great, says Lindner, though there's been a lot of 24-7 volunteerism involved.
So why does she do it?
It's all about the people you meet along the way, says Lindner. She's been inspired most by the men at RW&A.
"There's a sensibility in these men you don't see in other people because of what they have been through," says Lindner. "They don't regret their past; it's put them in a better place."
Lindner relishes the opportunity to assist the men from RW&A in their quest to reclaim their lives. She knew one of the men - Eugene Edmunds - loved to make dessert. So she asked around and found out that Cherry Hill Chef extraordinaire Robert Bennett was looking to train a new man in pastries.
All he asked in return from Edmunds was a commitment, something Eugene was already familiar with through his association with RW&A.
"Good friends represent a world in us - a world possibly not born until they arrive," said Lindner, quoting another.
"A new world has been born to these men," said Lindner. "And it's all because of dragon boating."
Yes, dragon boating.
Add in all those, including Lindner, willing to take a chance on a group of homeless men trying to make their way back and you have all the ingredients for a modern-day success story.
