Wyndmoor native gets travelers where they need to go

Posted 11/27/15

by Constance Garcia-Barrio

Travelers Aid Society volunteer Jim Feeney, 74, a Wyndmoor native, must have felt as if he’d been dropped into a surreal movie. “An elderly woman, dignified but …

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Wyndmoor native gets travelers where they need to go

Posted

by Constance Garcia-Barrio

Travelers Aid Society volunteer Jim Feeney, 74, a Wyndmoor native, must have felt as if he’d been dropped into a surreal movie. “An elderly woman, dignified but penniless, approached our kiosk at 30th Street Station and asked for the phone number for the FBI in Hamilton, New Jersey,” said Jim, who staffs the booth on Wednesday mornings. “The Hamilton FBI office was unlisted, so I gave her the numbers for Philadelphia, New York and Washington. She sat down on a nearby bench and pored over documents, obviously lost in a world accessible only to her.”

Jim, a retired college administrator and a Travelers Aid Society volunteer for almost five years, alerted police and explained that the woman might need help before day’s end. Sure enough, the police brought her back when she went off without her luggage. “We worked as a community to help her as best we could,” Jim says.

That case required patience and compassion, two qualities that launched the Travelers Aid movement. Begun in the 1850s, Travelers Aid at first helped stranded immigrants, soldiers returning home from the Civil War and in time, other travelers in trouble.

“The information and passenger assistance kiosk, which opened in 2007, is supported by Families Forward Philadelphia, which meets the needs of homeless families,” said Grace Hightower, director of fund development for Families Forward Philadelphia. “Families Forward, an anonymous donor and 17 dedicated volunteers lend generous support to the kiosk.”

“At 30th Street Station we’re ambassadors for the city,” said Jim, who now lives in South Philly. “We welcome visitors, answer their questions and set the tone for them to have a good experience while they’re in the city.”

Sensitive to travelers’ needs thanks to trips to England, France, Australia, India and Denmark, Jim finds ways to leap over language barriers. Once, some girls from Spain came to the kiosk. “They had little English, and I speak no Spanish, but we worked at understanding each other” he says. “They wanted to go to Lancaster County.” Careful questions revealed that they wanted to see the Amish but couldn’t take that long of a trip. The solution? Jim sent them to the Reading Terminal Market, where they could meet some Amish vendors.

On another occasion, a young man, probably from Africa, wanted help to reach an address in North Jersey. “He felt he wouldn’t understand information via telephone, nor would he be understood due to his accent. I used my Smartphone to Google the address, and then I called NJTransit,” Jim said. “I lucked out with a very good information clerk. We constructed an itinerary that would get him to his appointment with what turned out to be a non-governmental agency aiding immigrants.”

One day, a family from South Asia came to the booth with no more than an address in the far Northeast. “It was a small business, probably owned by relatives,” says Jim. “I constructed a subway-bus itinerary that would take them to the door. If you’re empathetic and enthusiastic about the city, you’re a friendly presence for visitors. We’re the only source in or near 30th Street for interactive, informed travel guidance.”

Born in Germantown Hospital, where his mother graduated from the nursing school, Feeney grew up near Mermaid Lane and Cheltenham Avenue. He attended Wyndmoor Elementary School and Springfield Township Middle School and High School. He then majored in sociology at Goddard College in Vermont.

“The junior high, as it was then known — this was before ‘middle school’ rebranding swept through education — served the entire township and was near Stenton Avenue and Paper Mill Road, as I recall,” said Feeney. “The current middle school is adjacent to the high school I attended. The high school was quite new when I attended; I graduated in 1958.

“Here's a bit of trivia: The path of Route 309 past the schools is the former right-of-way of the Fort Washington branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The entire Fort Washington branch is long abandoned, but the derelict, overgrown right-of-way can still be followed through Wyndmoor. Its bridge over Germantown Avenue by the old PA School for the Deaf is still there.”

For more information about volunteering at the Travelers Aid kiosk, contact Grace Hightower at 215-240-4828 or ghightower@familiesforwardphilly.org.

* This article is reprinted, with permission, from Milestones, a monthly publication of the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging.

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