From Queen City to crossroads

CUMBERLAND – Before leading a visitor into some of the more challenging parts of Cumberland in early March, David Bena, clinic director of Villa Maria of Mountain Maryland Behavioral Health, and Tricia Iliff, the office manager, debated if they needed to bring pepper spray.

“The city is not what it used to be,” Iliff said, a Cumberland native who is now raising her own family there. Along the way she pointed out former glories – a once-busy strip mall now abandoned and a popular spot for prom photos by the North Branch of the Potomac River now missing its gazebo. There was nowhere she mentioned that she would feel safe walking at night.

As to why she chose to remain in the area to raise her children, her reply was simple.

“I know what I am dealing with,” Iliff said, adding, “I try to be a positive role model for them. Things can change in a blink of an eye.”

That last line carries weight in Cumberland these days. The city still bears its old nickname, “Queen City,” and the bones of its former greatness are still visible.

Once the second-largest city in Maryland, Cumberland was a manufacturing powerhouse, boasting five railroads, a stop on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and major employers such as Kelly-Springfield Tire Factory, Celanese Corp and Hunter Douglas.

As factories relocated or closed – Hunter Douglas departed in April 2023 – jobs disappeared and the population shrank.

In recent years, however, efforts have been made to breathe new life into the city’s core. A multimillion-dollar redevelopment of Baltimore Street has begun transforming the historic downtown into a more modern, walkable gathering space, with updated infrastructure, room for small businesses and new opportunities for community life.

At the same time, Cumberland’s scenic setting – nestled in the Appalachian Mountains along the Potomac River and near major biking and hiking trails – continues to draw visitors and offers a reminder of the area’s natural beauty and tourism potential. Plans for a multifaceted project called River Park at Canal Place would bring even more visitors to the area.

Some parts of the city, however, show real signs of strain: boarded-up storefronts, a growing homeless population and illegal drug use on the rise. Bena regularly picks up discarded drug paraphernalia from the streets near his office.

Roughly one in four Cumberland residents lives below the poverty line, a rate significantly higher than the state average. Median household income in Allegany County is about $65,498, far below Maryland’s $102,905 average.

“We have a large homeless population,” Bena said. Of Cumberland’s roughly 17,000 residents, he estimates 4 percent experience homelessness. “With the housing crisis that exists in our area, there’s just not enough.”

Frances Callis, Catholic Charities’ director of Community Services in Allegany and Garrett counties, is equally direct about housing: “There is never enough housing. Let’s just be real. Both counties have housing issues.”

She noted that Garrett County does not “have the homeless like Allegany” – in part, she said with candor, because “nobody wants to come here and freeze to death.”

During the winter, Cumberland’s cold weather shelter is available only in the evenings, and everyone must vacate during the day. People have nowhere to go, Bena said.

The situation may grow more difficult. The passage of Bill HR 1 in July 2025 tightened eligibility for SNAP benefits, now requiring individuals ages 18 to 64 without dependents under 14 to complete 80 hours per month of work, volunteering or job training to qualify – including veterans, people experiencing homelessness and young adults aging out of foster care.

“You have to qualify, and you have to be extremely, extremely poor,” Callis said of food assistance. Many working poor and senior citizens fall just outside eligibility. “A lot of seniors (citizens) are missing it by $2. It is really depressing.”

Beginning Jan. 1, 2027, similar activity requirements will apply to Medicaid, with coverage renewals required every six months rather than annually. In a region with some of the highest Medicaid usage rates in Maryland, Bena calls the outlook “bleak.”

“We have a lot of adult clients who are unable to work, unable to find employment. There are not very many large employers in the region,” he said. The area’s largest employers are now the prison systems and the public school system.

For those with criminal records, mental health challenges or physical disabilities, the job market is even more forbidding.

“Many people turn to drugs,” Bena said. “It’s an unhealthy mechanism, but it happens.”

Silver linings

If the problems are structural, so is much of the response – and it is coming, in no small part, from the pews.

St. Anthony Place, a parish-run food pantry at the St. Mary campus of Our Lady of the Mountains in Cumberland, has long met critical needs with shelves stocked with dry and canned goods. It is also the only food pantry that provides toiletries as well as laundry detergent, according to Stephanie Vollmerhausen, business manager for the church. While many of their clients are referred to them by Maryland Social Services, the pantry is open to everyone, Vollmerhausen said.

“We get homeless and give them different food,” Vollmerhausen said. “Food with pop tops and stuff you don’t have to cook. We have can openers. People are very grateful.”

Local churches throughout the wider region, including Divine Mercy Parish in Frostburg and St. Peter the Apostle in Oakland, have “stepped up in a big way,” Callis said.

“Almost anything I called for, they’ve helped” – from covering a month’s rent to an electric bill when other resources run dry, Callis said.

Divine Mercy parishioners deliver snacks and canned goods to local schools monthly and support the Knights of Columbus’ 40 Cans for Lent drive. This year, Frostburg Council 1442 collected 1,400 pounds of food for the local food bank.

“Allegany County is an economically depressed area. There is a need for food support,” said Nicholas Costello, Grand Knight of the council. “It is a blessing to be able to do that.”

Throughout the year, Council 1442 also donates $300 per month to local food pantries, with $75 each going to the Frostburg Interfaith Food Pantry, the Tri-Town Food Pantry, the Georges Creek Ministerial Association and Divine Mercy Parish Food Connect. Knights’ Council 1442 also regularly collects donations from a local supermarket and delivers them to the Frostburg Interfaith Food Pantry, which takes several Knights and vehicles for each collection event, Costello said.

St. Peter the Apostle in Oakland hosts Catholic Charities’ Food Connect program once a month, serving roughly 100 families, and runs a free community dinner. The parish also provides rental and utility assistance.

“People do rely on this meal,” said Sheila Saab, the parish’s office manager. “It is a blessing to be able to welcome them to our space and provide a hot meal for them and a dessert.

“You can’t let families go without heat,” she added.

Villa Maria serves 640 to 700 clients with outpatient mental health and substance abuse care, while also helping people navigate housing applications, expungements (getting criminal charges removed from public records) and job interview skills.

“We do everything we can to try to assist and help each person’s needs,” Bena said. “(For) every person who comes to our door, we develop an individualized treatment plan.”

Bena sees education as another lever for change, and is clear about what he believes the broader response must look like.

“We need to focus on health care, education, making sure people have food, not starving in the streets,” he said. “It’s not that difficult. It’s very simple, actually. It depends on where you want to put your money.”

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