Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Amish Ways of Today

Bank Run Teaches the 'Plain People'
About the Risks of Modernity
Some Amish Lived It Up Until Hard Times Hit;

Dinners Out and LED-Appointed Carriages

By DOUGLAS BELKIN
TOPEKA, Ind. -- Dan Bontrager is a 54-year-old Amish man with flecks of gray in his long beard. He's also treasurer of the Tri-County Land Trust, an Amish lending cooperative created to support the Amish maxim that community enhances faith in God.
This past spring, Mr. Bontrager was startled when a number of men he has known most of his life tied their horses to the hitching post outside his office and came inside to withdraw their money from the Land Trust.
"We had a run," Mr. Bontrager says. "I don't know if you know anything about the Amish grapevine, but word travels fast. Somebody assumed it was going to happen, and it started a panic."



About the Amish People
The Amish are a group of highly religious Christians originally from Germany, Switzerland and the Alsace region of France. They immigrated to the US in the 18th century. The Amish originally settled in Pennsylvania. Over time they migrated to many other states in the US and to parts of Canada.Today more than half of the Amish live in 5 US states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan (as shown with the * on the map below).

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