ASHEVILLE — Keynon Lake founded My Daddy Taught Me That in 2012 in part because of his father.
A social worker and community service navigator for Buncombe County Health and Human Services, Lake was constantly going in and out of single-parent, fatherless homes. Although he knew he would never be able to fill the gap, he could provide role models to male youth and offer them some stability. He could also honor the work of his dad. Bennie Lake, who passed away in 2010, played ball for the Harlem Globetrotters, before spending three decades working at the Juvenile Evaluation Center in Swannanoa. He was also deeply committed to youth and sports, leading a program called The Hot Shot, a camp for the state's best basketball shooters, and founding Up Front Sports Management, a business focused on encouraging young athletes to continue their education. He did a lot for Asheville, helping youth and families, Lake said. "He was a local hero. If you got in trouble or needed advice or guidance, you would call on him." These days, local youth are going to his son. Read more here.
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ASHEVILLE – For as long as I can remember, my Christmases have always involved giving, not just to friends and family, but to total strangers whom I only know from a tag.
Every year growing up, our church would have a Salvation Army Angel Tree in the back. Without fail, one Sunday my mom would take us to pick out a child. Not all families can afford gifts, she would explain. Pick someone to help out. I used to think this was glorious fun. Some years I'd pick a baby, other years I'd find someone my own age. I would daydream about the person I was helping, using the clues provided. I knew their name, gender and age. There was also a short wish list, so I knew the things they liked. Buying Angel Tree gifts and wondering about the children behind the tags is a tradition I carried with me into adulthood. Each year, as I do my own Christmas shopping, I always grab one or two tags from the Angel Tree at the mall. New to Asheville, I was delighted a few weeks ago when a colleague told me that the Citizen-Times participates in Angel Tree giving. She left two tags on my desk — one for a middle-school-aged boy named Jonathan who wanted a basketball, and another for a girl, Nashana, who was addicted to Barbie and Hello Kitty. When the Salvation Army of Buncombe County invited me to come volunteer at the toy giveaway and actually watch parents come and get their gifts, I couldn't believe it. After all these years, I was finally going to see the faces behind the tags. Read more here. ASHEVILLE – The best thing about CARING for Children's big house in West Asheville on Thursday evening was the people inside. While it was true that each girl there had her own story of abuse and neglect that would make anyone's heart flinch, you wouldn't know that by siting down to a meal.
"We're just like anyone else," said resident Zena Redmond, 18. "We want the same things; we just don't always get the same things, or even get them at all." Called Cornerstone, the house is a transitional living home for girls ages 16-21 with nowhere else to go. Just like my sister and I used to do in the early 1990s, the girls at Cornerstone style each other's hair. They argue with their moms over the phone. They eat dinner in their pajamas. They have dreams of being models, actresses and teachers. They can't wait to finish high school and go off to college. They take turns doing chores. They share rides to school. And, even though they won't all admit it over this particular meal of pork chops, cabbage and mashed potatoes, Redmond insists, they see each other as family. Sometimes they love each other; other times they can't wait to get away. Read more here. ASHEVILLE – I was terrified I was going to fail you this week: I didn't have time to volunteer. What with holiday deadlines, family visiting from Michigan, and the stress of cooking one's first turkey dinner, I had no idea where I was going to squeeze in my weekly commitment to service.
As I frantically combed through emails and interview notes from nonprofit providers looking for a quick and easy yet meaningful volunteer opportunity, I remembered something from one of the first meetings I took when I came to town — the United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County offers Portable Projects. Thank God! I have still have my column (and my job). "Our Portable Projects provide community service opportunities for families and individuals that fit their busy schedules," said my new savior, Charlie Lee, volunteer programs manager for Hands On Asheville-Buncombe, the volunteer program of the United Way. Read more here. BLACK MOUNTAIN – Jim Parsons is overworked and underpaid but he couldn't be happier. As co-manager of the Kiwanis Thrift Shop in Black Mountain, Parsons, 84, volunteers at the store, which supports local children's charities, 15 to 20 hours a week.
When he's not running the cash register, he's trying out his jokes on the customers or harmlessly flirting with the women who organize the inventory in the back. "People say I should be a stand-up comedian, but I always tell them my problem is standing up," said Parsons, whose cheesy one-liner jokes kept me laughing throughout the afternoon as I finished up a long week of work volunteering at the Thrift Shop last Friday. If you can't tell, Parsons is a bit of a ham. He's a great guy to volunteer with; he relentlessly tries to make you smile. "I've been here years and I still don't know the difference between slacks and capris," he said upon meeting me. Read more here. ASHEVILLE – The volunteers and staff at Meals on Wheels of Asheville and Buncombe County do so much more than the name implies. Yes, they drive around and deliver food to homebound seniors, but, more importantly, they become their clients' advocates and friends.
They bring them donations of used clothes and blankets, they give them Christmas presents, they help feed their pets, they provide excellent gossip and conversation and, at times, they have even been known to be matchmakers and lawnmowers. I learned this on Tuesday after spending my morning driving around West Ashveille with volunteer Marsha Ott. Even though schools were delayed and snow covered the roads, we spent hours navigating windy neighborhood streets bringing people hot lunches. "You come away always feeling so good about people," Ott promised. "The clients, they will warm your heart." Read more here. I love kids, especially the little ones. So, when the people at the Junior Achievement of Western Carolina asked me to help at a "JA in a Day" event at a local elementary school, I didn't hesitate to say yes.
When Interim Regional Director Meredith Switzer followed up a day later to tell me I would be teaching financial literacy to kindergarteners, I started to second-guess my decision. It took me until I was at least 27 years old to understand that the secret to eliminating credit card debt was simply to not use them. Read more here. The day my first column came out, Laura Kirby, executive director of the Haywood Street Congregation, e-mailed me before I could even find a newspaper. It was 6:36 a.m. last Sunday when the message came through my inbox: "Please come to Haywood Street!" she wrote. "We'd love to have you Wednesday."
And so, three days later I found myself, tea still in hand, making an early morning walk down Patton Avenue to Kirby's church. The farther I got from the Citizen-Times, the more my surroundings changed. Instead of bustling tourists poking their heads in shops and restaurants, there were people sleeping on the streets. One man stopped me and said, "Woooo wheee! Ain't it great to see a woman heading to work this morning. We don't got no jobs." Read more here. As the new social issues reporter at the Citizen-Times, I think it's important to tell you that I'm bit of a volunteer junkie.
I spent the last three years of my life volunteering with the U.S. Peace Corps. For reasons I'm still unsure of, my husband and I chose to leave our jobs in Michigan near our friends and family and move to the middle of nowhere. At first we were sent to Kazakhstan. Placed in the remote Kyzyl Kum desert in the middle of the Kazakh steppe, at times it felt like it was just us and the camels. Most recently, we were in Rwanda, in central/eastern Africa. We lived a in tiny village near the Ugandan border, where people farmed for less than a dollar a day and families' lives rotated around planting seasons and the rain. Read more here. |
Beth WaltonWriter, World Traveler, Mother. These are my stories. Archives
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