A PLACE TO GROW. THE WAY TO LIVE
DIANNE ANDREWS is the engine at Interfaith Volunteers
Greene eene Living Li GREENE COUNTY, NOR NORTH CAROLINA AROLINA
UNSUNG HEROES People who don’t need fanfare to make a difference. INSIDE: Tyreek Ward, Kathy Heath, Melinda Waters, Ray Holloman
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This Issue CARING FOR CATS: Kathy Heath devotes time, treasure to animal rescue.
VETERAN ADVOCATE: Ray Holloman ensures veterans, families get their benefits.
CRITICAL ROLE: Tyreek Ward growing with the Boys & Girls Club.
SENIOR CENTER CITIZEN: Melinda Waters helps center serve seniors like her.
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A PLACE TO GROW. THE WAY TO LIVE
ENGINE OF INTERFAITH: Dianne Andrews dedicated to feeding folks in her hometown. PAGE 10
DIANNE ANDREWS is the engine at Interfaith Volunteers
Greene eene Living GREENE COUNTY, NOR NORTH CAROLINA AROLINA
UNSUNG HEROES People who don’t need fanfare to make a difference. INSIDE: Tyreek Ward, Kathy Heath, Melinda Waters, Ray Holloman
Greene Living 2023 EDITION
PUBLISHER: Mark Cohen EDITOR: Bobby Burns PHOTOGRAPHY: Bobby Burns, Beyonca Mewborn and Breanna Sapp WRITERS: Emily Bronson, Bobby Burns, Kim Grizzard, Beyonca Mewborn, Breanna Sapp DESIGNER: Darla Allen
Greene Living©is published by The Standard newspaper. Contents are the property of the newspaper and may not be reproduced without consent of the publisher. To advertise in the publication, contact The Standard at (252) 329-9513.
OCTOBER 2023
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Caring for By Bobby Burns For as long as she can remember, Kathy Heath has loved cats. As a little girl, she would follow them around at her grandparent’s farm in Maury. “There were cats everywhere, and they were
CATS
feral,” she said. “So what did I do? I would follow them all around, I guess, entitled, behind them.” Her love of animals is now woven into the family lore. Her mother would tell Kathy later that her persistence with the cats terrified her. She feared they would tear Kathy up. But as Kathy grew, she continued to woo the feral felines. “And, eventually, the cats would give up and let me rub them … and they just lay there,” she said. “And people tell me that there’s just something about me that animals just gravitate toward.” Fast forward about 60 years and Heath is still herding cats in and around Greene County. In fact, thanks to her and the supporters of Beare Garden Plantation Animal Rescue, more than 1,600 animals have been rescued and have homes, many of them pulled from county shelters before they had to be euthanized. The shelter, in a plain metal building just outside Snow Hill, is located on land settled in 1774 by Heath’s ancestor, John “Capt. Jack” Murphrey, and shares the historic farm’s name. The story of how Heath started it in 2018, became a hero to cats and other people who love them, and made Greene County a haven for homeless furry friends, also has its roots in Heath’s childhood.
BUSINESS SUCCESS While Heath, now 63, spent a lot of time with both sets of grandparents in Greene County, she grew up in Rocky Mount, where her father worked for Carolina Telephone &
Telegraph. It was there, when she was in ninth grade, that she discovered another passion, speech therapy. While speech therapy may seem like an unusual passion for a ninth-grader, a visit to the local hospital proved to be momentous and set her on the path to where she is today. “At that time, girls couldn’t join Boy Scouts, but there was another club that was co-ed … the Explorer Club. And we could go out into the community and observe different things. So I went to the hospital and somehow got assigned to the speech department, and I watched what they did, and I absolutely loved it. And at that time, ninth grade, I knew, this is what I’m gonna do.” Heath graduated from the first speech pathology master’s program at East Carolina University in 1982. It was a oneyear program that nearly killed her and her classmates, she said with a laugh. After that, the university made it a two-year program. But Heath loved helping people, especially children, work through speech disorders, and she was good at it, too. She and her husband, Bobby, operated CareWorks, a successful speech, physical and occupational therapy practice in Greenville for 27 years. “My husband wanted to retire. I didn’t,” she laughed. “So we sold the business so he could retire. And now we travel. He bought an RV. We also have a house in the mountains and a house in Florida. And since we travel so much, I can still do speech therapy online. I do telepractice.”
RESCUE REALIZED She does a lot more than travel and telepractice, of course. The success of CareWorks — she said they sold the business for several million dollars — allowed Heath to pursue that other passion that had grown since she was a girl of 2
Kathy Heath started Baere Garden Plantation Animal Rescue in 2018 along with friends, family and other animal welfare advocates. 4
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Lakyn Morris, part of the staff at Baere Garden Plantation Animal Rescue, gives a rub to Angel, a recent intake at the rescue. Morris cares for the animals daily.
PHOTOS BY BOBBY BURNS
Cam and Ginny were among kittens up for adoption at the rescue during a visit in September.
on her grandparents’ farm. She and her best friend, David Edwards, owner of Kinetic Physical Therapy in Greenville, and others concerned about the number of animals killed at area animal shelters started Beare Garden even before there was a building. That first year they were able to take in 280 animals — OCTOBER 2023
they help dogs and other animals but cats so far are the main beneficiary — and found homes for 229. Meanwhile, Heath was overseeing the construction of the shelter building on the ancestral family property that she had purchased from her mother. The old farmhouse had fallen into disrepair and the fire department burned it to practice putting
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out fires. They opened the 1,600-square-foot shelter in January 2019 with a full license from the state of North Carolina to operate as an animal rescue. The building consists of an office, exam room, isolation rooms and the main room containing several large enclosures that can house up to 12 cats. There are also 28 individual cages, some in the main room and others in small areas devoted to new arrivals under medical care or those who need time adjusting to socializing with humans and other cats. The rescue also works with families who foster animals and partners with PetSmart, which keeps a small number of animals that customers can adopt.
sending you pictures. It’s like, I’m OK until I see a picture, and then that’s it,” she said. “And some of these shelters and staff know that,” she laughs. “It’s like they send pictures first and ask questions later.”
RETIREMENT GIG As the executive director of the organization, Heath receives a dozen or more calls daily from people who want her to take in more cats. She also coordinates with a small staff, volunteers and board members in Greenville and Snow Hill to help with adoptions, manage supplies and upkeep of the building and coordinate veterinary care.
Belle is a small female who was looking for a home during a recent visit to the rescue.
The rescue primarily works with shelters in Greene, Pitt, Lenoir and Wayne counties to rescue adoptable cats in danger of being euthanized. It works with veterinarians to see that the cats are surgically sterilized, vaccinated, treated for medical conditions and then promoted for adoption. The facility is licensed for 90 animals. That’s too many, Heath said. The organization has limited resources. But it’s difficult to turn a cat away. “I mean, people have been really, really good to us,” she said of donors who provide money, food and supplies to keep the rescue running. “The problem is, Kathy’s making it grow too fast and I need to slow down. But it’s hard. It’s hard when they are 6
Veterinary care is the shelter’s largest expense, she said. She paid a $12,000 balance in early September and it was back up to $6,000 just over a week later, she said. Total expenses through late September totaled $163,625, she said, and $86,000 of that was for veterinary bills. Donations through the year so far have totaled about $70,000. The rest of the revenue has come from one main source — Kathy Heath. Every bit of income Heath generates from her speech therapy practice goes to support the rescue, Heath said, while she and her husband live on their savings. “Most people don’t know what we do here,” Heath said, even though the organization is hyper-transparent about finances — even to the point of posting invoices on
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Bobby and Kathy Heath operated CareWorks, a speech, physical and occupational therapy practice in Greenville for 27 years. Its success helped Kathy make Baere Garden a reality.
Facebook — and their website, bgar.org, offers an in-depth background, a full tally of animals rescued and lots of photos. “I think people think, based on some comments that were made, that I sit around and I draw a salary from the rescue and just take some phone calls.” But they do much more, she said, including community service. The organization helps people in the community who can’t afford to send a sick or injured animal to the veterinarian, she said. “We will send them to our vet and we will pay for them so that they don’t have to give up their cat to a shelter who would put them down because they’re injured and they wouldn’t have the money to fix it.” They provide free adoptions for people who are 60 and older through their Senior Companion program that pairs older folks with cats and kittens. They also work with Greene Early College to provide volunteer opportunities to students. But there is so much more to do.
DREAMING BIGGER Beare Garden Plantation has helped 1,645 animals over the past six years. It found homes for 1,286 of them and provided community service aid to more than 300 others. The organization was sheltering 84 cats as of Sept. 22, about 50 in the building and others in foster care. About half of those were kittens, which require the most care, time and money and too often die. As many animals as the organization takes in, however, there are always more, Heath said. “I’m having to turn away a lot because we simply don’t have the OCTOBER 2023
funds,” she said. “I would say realistically, we are contacted between 15 to 20 times per day with people begging us to take pregnant moms or kittens or … And it tears me all to pieces. But I’ve had to start telling them no, because we just can’t afford them.” If the organization could raise more money, it would certainly expand, Heath said. Plans are in place to add another building and maybe have a place for dogs. “Yes, that’s a goal, but I don’t know that the money would come,” Heath said. “I don’t know if I can work enough hours since I’m 63 to bring it in … But yes, most definitely, we would be adding onto that. I have no intention of closing this rescue.” The nonprofit’s board of directors has been making headway with creative new fundraisers like a wine and art event and sold-out tattoo event, Heath said, but more help is needed and regular, sustaining support would be most appreciated. Why should an everyday person who may not be as fond of cats as Heath support the organization? “Well, first of all, God says that it’s our responsibility to take care of animals that have been entrusted to us. So they would be doing the right thing and something that would be in favor in God’s eyes,” she said. “As far as I’m concerned, humans created this mess. They didn’t fix their animals, they didn’t take responsibility, and then humans are killing them. So someone with a good heart, whether they like cats or not, I would think would want to stop that kind of cycle. “But also just to feel good ’cause you’ve done something good. You’ve saved an animal.”
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CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Morris plays with Butler, a kitten who is roommates with Grimlin, the little black guy in the cage. To learn more about Baere Garden Plantation Animal Rescue, adopt an animal or become a donor or sponsor, visit bgar.org, call 252-531-0453 or email admin@bgpanimalrescue.com.
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Kathy Heath spends much of her time traveling and at homes in Florida and the North Carolina mountains but works remotely with the shelter daily and returns regularly to visit with the cats. She also keeps has cameras in the shelter that allow her to keep an eye on them from afar, she said.
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OCTOBER 2023
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PHOTOS BY BOBBY BURNS
ENGINE of Interfaith
Greene County Interfaith Volunteers Director Dianne Andrews said food distributed by the agency comes from multiple sources. Volunteers Jackie Suggs and Ernie Murphrey work behind her.
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Dianne Andrews dedicated to feeding folks in her hometown
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I went to churches. A lot of people didn’t know we were here. They didn’t know what we did, and they didn’t know we were not just a food bank or not just an emergency shelter.
”
By Kim Grizzard
Chris Paine pulls a watermelon from a bin to load into a waiting car. He and his wife, Diane, left, were visiting thier friend, Greene County Interfaith director Dianne Andrews, from Arizona and came out for the morning to help out with the food distribution on Sept. 21. OCTOBER 2023
Greene Living
The name Greene County Interfaith Volunteers does not exactly make it clear that this is a food pantry, and neither do the calls that come in from folks looking for help. In rural eastern North Carolina, where this county ranks among the most economically distressed in the state, people are asking for so much more than canned goods. There is a man who has managed to find a job but needs clothes to wear to work, children who don’t have a warm place to sleep, a cancer patient another agency put off for a week. Many of those requests are well outside Dianne Andrews’ duties as executive director, but she rarely, if ever, mentions that’s the case. Time she spent serving as director of constituent services for North Carolina Congressional representatives taught her that challenges come with the territory, and those in need don’t necessarily care who has jurisdiction. “Everybody calls her (Andrews) for everything,” said Adelle Israel, who serves as administrative assistant for Greene County Interfaith. “She tries to do what she can. She’s got a good heart.” A decade ago, when Andrews got a call about a “perfect” job at Greene County Interfaith, she wasn’t sure her heart was in it. After more than 25 years of working for Congress, she had taken a job with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, serving along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina and in Joplin, Missouri, after one of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history. “I didn’t even know there was a Greene County Interfaith at the time,” Andrews said. “I knew there had been because of working with
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Gay Owens checks off clients and directs other volunteers on food orders to be loaded into their vehicles during the distribution at Greene County Interfaith Volunteers on Sept. 21.
Jackie Suggs and Carol Pridgen, from left, fill food boxes on the assembly line at Greene County Interfaith on Sept. 21. The boxes are loaded with sweets, bread, produce and more. 12
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them during (Hurricane) Floyd when I worked for Congress, and Greene County, of course, was in my district. But I didn’t know they had remained.” One of more than a dozen faith-based recovery groups formed in eastern North Carolina in the wake of the 1999 hurricane, Greene County Interfaith Volunteers is one of only two still standing. In addition to serving about 1,000 people a month through its food pantry, it also is the county’s designated disaster recovery center. The executive director’s position could pay Andrews only a fraction of the salary she had earned with FEMA, but it offered something else that her government job simply couldn’t match. Greene County was home. “I came home one time and my dad said, ‘One day you’re going to come home and I’m not going to be here,’” Andrews recalled. “I got to thinking about it and I told my husband, ‘I’ve got to come home.’” One of her first assignments at Greene County Interfaith was to find a new home for the ministry. The building that it had occupied rent free for years was being sold. At her first meeting with the ministry’s board of directors, Andrews learned that Greene County Interfaith had no prospects for a new building, no land to build on and little money. The agency, which received no state or federal funding, survived on donations and grants. “I’d never written a grant before in my life,” Andrews said, incredulously. “So I thought, ‘This is definitely going to be a Jesus thing.’ God’s just really good. He knew where I was coming from. I had no clue. OCTOBER 2023
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Cars line up at Greene County Interfaith Volunteers for food distribution on the first and third Thursday of every month.
“Praise God, every grant that I’ve ever written, we’ve gotten,” she said. “It’s God because I’m not that smart.” What she did know how to do was talk to people, so Andrews made phone calls. She relied on networking to put together a fundraising campaign. She spoke to groups. “I did a lot of outreach when I first came on,” she said. “I went to churches. A lot of people didn’t know we were here. They didn’t know what we did, and they didn’t know we were not just a food bank or not just an emergency shelter.” By 2015, Greene County Interfaith Volunteers had built itself a new headquarters, a homey yellow building on Kingold Boulevard. Why yellow? “Yellow is sunshine and hope, and I want them to have hope,” said Andrews, who recalls struggling as a single parent after she and her husband divorced when her daughter was a toddler. “I want them to know ‘I don’t have to be like this forever.’ It’s to get you up and try to help you along your way, and that way you can pay it forward and help somebody else.” Carol Pridgen, and her husband, Ray, have been volunteering with the ministry for more than two years. The two, who have known Andrews since high school, were aware of the need in their home county. But the number of people lined up to receive food has sometimes surprised them. Greene County Interfaith operates one of the largest children’s food ministries in the state, partnering with Greene County Schools to send grocery items home with children. In addition to food, it stocks hygiene items. “Food stamps can’t buy toothbrushes, and food stamps can’t buy toilet paper, feminine hygiene products,” Andrews explained. Also in the ministry’s warehouse space are miscellaneous items ranging from blankets and socks to children’s Christmas toys. Christmas Eve or even Christmas Day have sometimes found volunteers serving up meals for families in need or delivering them to elderly residents living alone. OCTOBER 2023
Greene Living
Volunteers load cars with fresh fruit and boxes of meat, produce, bread and shelf-stable foods at the drive through at Greene County Interfaith. Volunteers from left include Diane Paine, Gay Owens, Chris Paine and John D. Shackleford.
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“It means a lot,” Andrews said. “It’s the little things that mean most to people who don’t have anything.” There are times when the gifts are met with ingratitude. Andrews recalls a woman storming into her office to complain that the eggs she was given were not the Eggland’s Best brand that she had seen another client receive. (When Andrews tried to explain that volunteers had filled donated empty cartons from the same supply of eggs, the woman refused to believe her.) “I got cussed out because of a dozen eggs,” Andrews said, adding that clients sometimes make a fuss about things like dessert – if they wanted coconut pie but got a box that contained pound cake instead. While few, those complaints can make for long days. So can getting a call after hours from a truck driver who has a pallet of free meat from an area grocery store with no more freezer space. Andrews will get up and meet the delivery truck at Greene County Interfaith at night rather than pass on a chance to stock up on items needed to feed its clients or to offer to first-responders during a disaster. The ministry served more than 2,000 meals following Hurricane Matthew in 2018. Recent years also have brought storms in Andrews’ life. She was her father’s caregiver before his death in 2017 before losing her husband and her mother, all within an 18-month period. “One thing I will never regret is having the time
to spend with my mama and daddy and my husband,” she said, “being here for them.” In 2019, she filed for and won election to Snow Hill’s town board. Andrews is seeking re-election this year. After 10 years at Greene County Interfaith, Andrews, 71, has no immediate plans to retire. “We don’t have a retirement here, but I’ve got retirement from my other jobs,” she said. “But I don’t think God’s finished with me yet.” Andrews would like to see the ministry add a commercial kitchen, which is particularly needed during disasters. In addition, Greene County Interfaith has just acquired some adjacent property which she would like to see used for temporary emergency housing. Many of her plans don’t necessarily fit into the traditional role of a food bank. But that’s of no concern to Andrews, who avoids narrow descriptions of the ministry. “We’re not just a food pantry. I think that’s what we were at one time,” she said. “It just depends on what the need is. It’s not always the same.” That’s why, when a woman called this summer to ask if Andrews could bring her some fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, she was not surprised. (Although the ministry did not have such produce, Andrews delivered.) “I think they just know,” she said. “It doesn’t take long for word to get out when you’re doing good.”
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A CRITICAL ROLE PHOTOS BY BOBBY BURNS
Tyreek Ward growing with the Boys & Girls Clubs 16
Art and other activities at the Boys & Girls Clubs are geared toward academic success, good character and citizenship and healthy lifestyles and choices — The Formula for Impact.
By Emily Bronson The Boys & Girls Club of Greene County is booming with young people, and everyone credits the growth to the unit’s director, Tyreek Ward. At, 24, Ward is the youngest unit director in the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain, but in his first year he and his team in Snow Hill have helped reach more families than the unit ever has. Ward started his career in youth development as a youth himself in church, he said. He worked for a Christian school in Pitt County and then worked in Greenville with Pitt County Schools. He took a second job with the clubs and jumped at the chance when offered the opportunity to lead in Greene County, he said. “I was working two jobs while being a full time student as well, until I got offered the opportuGreene Living
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nity to become the unit director capacity, Ward said. A large part of his job is “getting in Greene County,” he said. “I just The programming the word out” about the club, he said. said, ‘Hey, that is my chance to lead He has utilized social media, flyers a group of kids on the right path, is so specific and so to send home with middle schoolers, and this has been a fantastic opintentional, and at and community engagement to grow portunity that I was offered, I don’t the same time it’s the program. regret it at all because this position fun and we hide “Without my team, this Boys & has groomed me, matured me even Girls Club would have never grown more. learning inside of to the way it is right now,” Ward said. “Also, it produces ways of how we everything we do. “I am just grateful for the kids wantcan be there for the kids, outside of ing to come to the club.” the public school system.” The biggest need for the club is a In addition to helping kids with bigger space to help serve even more their homework and ensuring families in the community that could benefit from the they get a good snack, curriculums offered by the clubs program. introduce and expose members to programs focusing on The club is grateful for its partners in the school system health, exercise, citizenship and more. For instance, one of the club’s new curriculums, the Second Step: Social and Emotional Learning Program, focuses on mental health. “I am all about pushing for mental health programs within the organization, and I am seeing how that can help develop the kids,” Ward said. Serving children is a great passion, Ward said. Since coming to the Greene County club in November of 2022, he said he has realized how rewarding a career in child development is. The position of unit director is a challenging one, Ward said, but the challenges do not trump the joy that working with children every day brings. There Ward is comanding a presence and is popular with the club members, including this group of middle schoolers. is silliness, seriousness and everything in between when you are the support system for some and at the middle school and the space that they have kids, he said. provided, but the unit is running out of adequate space “It has matured me even more, I have grown in areas with the number of new members coming in he said. that I didn’t think I was going to grow in,” Ward said. “It Needs include dedicated athletic facilities and play has been very rewarding.” areas and better games and teen areas, he said. GROWING IN GREENE COUNTY “The more people who hear about the Boys & Girls The Coastal Plain organization opened the unit in Club and hear about what we can offer, the more the calls Greene County in 2013. At first, it was located at the Income in, the more the emails come in and the more visits termediate School. Greene County Schools then provided we have from parents who are trying to enroll their kids,” a large mobile classroom unit behind Greene County Ward said. Middle School. The most difficult part of being the club’s unit direcAs of September, the club has 105 members with about tor is knowing that there are children who have issues at 70 coming daily. Ward has a staff of a half dozen who can home, Ward said. lead up to 20 members a day, so the club has additional The Boys & Girls Club can help a child in that situation
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T a
A group of school children play kickball outside the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greene County, which is located in a large mobile classroom unit behind Greene County Middle School. The club can utilize the middle school’s athletic facilities on the rare occasion when they’re not in use for school activies, but club leaders otherwise are good at improvising games and activities.
in so many ways, but there are limits to what he can do as a unit director, Ward said. “Some kids don’t want to go home because of issues,” Ward said. “And we have to let them go home because we are just an after-school program. That is the only difficult thing about this job – to see the kids go home to an area where they don’t feel safe in.” Children need a support system, and Ward said he is grateful that he is that for a lot of kids. He said, you have to have a heart when working with children. “Just being there and seeing them (children) excel automatically makes you a hero,” Ward said. “How can you not be a hero from saving someone’s child from going down the wrong path?”
FORMULA FOR IMPACT Mark Holtzman, the chief executive officer for the Boys & Girls Club of the Coastal Plain, said that a unit director like Ward is the face and representative of a club. Ward is someone who the children can look to as a mentor and a friend, Holtzman said. He is not there to just help the kids with their homework, he is there to also be a source of emotional support, he said. “It is a critical role,” Holtzman said. “I can see even just a year in, how some club directors are just at home in their role and how personable and connected to their community they are. Tyreek is certainly that person.” The Greene County unit is one of several within the Coastal Plain organization, and the clubs are not quick to add staff members without making sure that they are a good fit, Holtzman said. 18
The club is not just a job, Holtzman said, but a career. Leadership is at the core of how the club operates, he said. “Tyreek really leaves an impact by filling that gap between the school and the parents,” Holtzman said. “Helping the kids discover themselves and learn what they can become.” There is a lasting impact that the Boys & Girls Club has on children who are enrolled. Ward is someone who the children relate to and confide in, Holtzman said. The Boys & Girls Club is like a family to unit directors, Holtzman said. “These kids when they see their club director out in the community, they’ll run up to them as fast as they would run up to a school teacher or an aunt,” Holtzman said. The club highlights academic success, good character and citizenship and healthy lifestyles and choices, Holtzman said. Those three things make up what the club refers to as “The Formula for Impact,” Holtzman said. The longer a child stays with the club, the more they benefit from leaders like Tyreek, he said. “It starts with integrity,” said Holtzman, the former Greenville Police Department chief. “It starts with somebody who we can trust and someone that I would be comfortable putting my kids with, and Tyreek is that guy.” The programming and curriculum is what sets the Boys & Girls Club apart from other youth-serving organizations, Holtzman said, but without Ward the organization would have a big hole to fill. He is a great unit director and he is the reason why the club is growing so quickly, he said. It’s through Ward’s leadership that parents want their
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TJ Carmon, Amya Roberson, Erynn Suggs and Alanna Roberson, enjoy a little free time in the club’s teen room.
Nail Technology Monday – Thursday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. or Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, call (252) 233-6878.
A club leader supervises students in one of the groups at the Greene County Unit. Club members are divided by age groups that follow the school system’s structure, from primary and elementary to intermediate, middle and teens.
Barber School FULL-TIME: Monday – Friday, 8:15 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. PART-TIME: Monday – Thursday, 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. For more information, call (252) 233-6878.
Ward says he has a dedicated staff of a half dozen young leaders who help run the club and have been a big part of its growth and success. While Ward is from Pitt County, his staff all are from Greene County. Most of them are college students.
children enrolled and why kids don’t want to leave at the end of the day, Holtzman said. “The programming is so specific and so intentional, and at the same time it’s fun and we hide learning inside of everything we do,” Holtzman said. “Without Ward, we would be years behind where we are now.” OCTOBER 2023
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Basic Correctional Officer Training To apply, visit: www.ncdps.gov/careers-matter/ correctional-officer-careers. For more information, call (252) 233-6838.
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Senior Center Citizen PHOTOS BY BEYONCA MEWBORN
Melinda Waters, left, and her fellow seniors follow along in a chair exercise class during the Greene County Senior Center’s spirit week.
Volunteer Melinda Waters helps fellow seniors share in the fun By Beyonca Mewborn As a 10-year volunteer at the Greene County Senior Center, Melinda Waters likes to keep the focus on fun. Now, 72, she began volunteering at the center after retiring and moving back home in 2012. She helps lead participants in the Senior Games, conducts exercise classes, organizes trips and recently even started a breast cancer support group. Most of all, she invites people to the center and makes sure they know they are welcome, said Sharon Harrison, director of Greene County Senior Center and Services. “She encourages other clients to participate in activities, she tries to think of doing different things, she volunteers with some 20
Waters shows off her costume during Country Western Day at the Greene County Senior Center. The 10-year volunteer says the center is fun and she aims to keep it that way. Greene Living
of the exercise programs, and she helps with planning senior trips,” said Harrison. Born and raised in Greene County, Waters graduated from Greene Central High in 1970, moved to New Jersey and then to Washington, D.C., where she resided until her retirement in 2012. She is the third eldest of 13 children — the eldest daughter with two brothers her senior. All of her siblings hold her in the highest regard. James Wesley Waters is one of her older brothers who also comes to the senior center. James said that Melinda was good trouble when they were growing up. She tried to keep up with her older brothers, whether it was climbing trees, playing ball, shooting marbles or jumpOCTOBER 2023
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James Waters, left, said his little sister Melinda is the glue that holds the family together and the person who got him to start coming to the senior center.
ing ditches. James said that Melinda is now the glue of their family — she keeps everyone together and encouraged him to start coming to the senior center. “My sister is the most wonderful person that I know, she’s a contributor to the neighborhood, she’s a fullfledged volunteer here, and she does everything she can to encourage people to come out and participate,” said James. When the center celebrated Senior Center Month in September, Waters’ niece and her three sisters were there to surround her with love and support, demonstrating how tight-knit the family is. Sarah Barfield, the youngest sibling, said that Melinda is the queen bee and matriarch. “She’s like a mama to me, and I treat her like she is my mom,” said Barfield. “She’s a good lady, she doesn’t mind helping people, she’ll let you know when you’re wrong or right, and she speaks up about things.” Barfield said anyone who meets her sister remembers her because she makes an impact, and since she’s so friendly to everyone, she never meets a stranger. Since Waters has been volunteering, she has helped with and participated in their Senior Games, different exercise programs, and arts and crafts projects at the center. “I even lead some of the exercises on certain days, and OCTOBER 2023
we do crochet, wreath-making, different types of arts and crafts and we do a lot of practicing here for our Senior Games,” said Waters. Waters also serves on the advisory board for the senior center, and Harrison said that she recently presented an option for a new support group at that started in September. “I just recently talked with Sharon about having a cancer support group meeting, and we had our first meeting on Sept. 20,” said Waters. “We had quite a few participants who talked about the different things that they went through when they heard that they had cancer, how it made them feel, and how some of them couldn’t talk to their family members about it.” Waters said that two women had come to the senior center recently and she overheard one of them talking about her breast cancer. After going home and praying about it, Waters went to Harrison to see what they could do. She felt as if the clients at the center would be able to be open to each other better than they would an outsider. One of her main motivations was that she had her own battle with breast cancer, but she said that she was fortunate to have had it detected early, had it removed, and is thankful to God that she can say that she has been healed.
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Greene County Senior Center is located at 104 Greenridge Road in Snow Hill.
Waters led the first meeting with help from administrative specialist Renate Harper who provided resources and information on breast cancer. “We just sat around in the room, we talked, we cried, and we prayed,” said Waters. “I didn’t realize that breast cancer had affected so many women in so many ways, and it’s nice that you can have somebody to come and talk to about it.” Joan Wade is another volunteer, and she said that Waters always has a lot of great ideas to enhance their experience at the center. “We usually plan our trips and excursions based upon what Melinda suggests, and to me, it’s always a great time,” said Wade. “We get to go to different places, sometimes we go out of town on our vacation for a whole week, and I’m looking forward to going to Kentucky and Ohio next year.” Waters said everyone always has the best of times on the trips because they get along with each other famously. “We planned a trip to the Cayman Islands last year in May, Lord knows it was hot, but it was beautiful, and I want to go back again,” said Waters. “We went to Massachusetts to Martha’s Vineyard, and we went to Biloxi Mississippi to the casinos and that was a real good time.” Harrison said that the clients all know that Waters is someone they can talk to. “Sometimes they’re not as comfortable coming to me, per se, but they can go to Melinda, she’s out here all the time, and she’s just a really good person for them to confide in or talk to,” said Harrison. “It’s good for them to be able to bounce ideas around with her because we always 22
try to mold our programs and the activities based on what the clients want, which is important to the future of our senior center and its success.”
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Greene County Senior Center and Service Director Sharon Harrison say the senior program relies on volunteers with energy like Waters has.
The last week of September was spirit week, which started off with Wacky Tacky Day and ended with a Senior Dance on Friday evening. On Sept. 26 they had Country Western Day, and Waters was all decked out in her outfit as she participated in games and exercises with all of her friends. “I love to participate in all our activities for spirit week, and we had so many laughs, it was just a lovely time,” said Waters. Waters said that people may be surprised to know that she is very competitive; she loves bowling and she really loves watching sports, especially football because she is a diehard Dallas Cowboys fan. The one thing that’s not surprising is that she really loves volunteering at the senior center, and she wants people to know that she is very kind, and extremely helpful, and that she’ll do anything in her power to help others. Waters said that she will tell anybody that Greene County Senior Center and Services is a nice place to come, that the clients and staff are very nice. And that it’s just a fun place to be “This place is like a kindergarten for seniors, and I enjoy coming up here to volunteer and participate,” said Waters. “And as long as the Lord blesses me to live, I’m going to continue coming up here having fun.” OCTOBER 2023
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Veteran ADVOCATE Ray Holloman ensures service for veterans, families veterans in Greene County, Holloman said the income generated For the small community of by claims made with the VSO veterans in Greene County, the contributes about $5.5 million to name Ray Holloman means the local economy each year. public service. In addition to working with A man of many hats, the veterans on benefits claims, 75-year-old Vietnam veteran as well as their spouses and directs the county’s Veterans Serchildren, Holloman also answers vice Office (VSO) while serving any questions about health care as commander of Walstonburg’s accessibility, educational opporAmerican Legion Post 332 and tunities, pensions, food security Snow Hill’s Veterans of Foreign and funeral arrangements. War. PHOTO BY BREANNA SAPP Though the VSO is only open Holloman also serves on Holloman served in the U.S. Army from 1968 to on Mondays and Tuesdays, Hol1974 at the height of the Vietnam War motivates his several community boards and is loman makes sure he’s available dedication to veterans like himself, he said. a commissioner for the Town of as a resource at all times by Walstonburg, all while making including his cell phone number sales quotas for local business JAK Moulding. But Holon his business card and voicemail. loman says not to expect a retirement any time soon. “I get calls all the time,” Holloman said. “I want to “Look, the guy’s place I took worked here (at the help the veterans when I can, and if I can’t answer the VSO) until he was 88 years old, he retired at 88 from phone then I call them right back.” here,” Holloman said with a laugh, referencing the A Greene County native, Holloman served in the U.S. shoes he has to fill. Army from 1968 to 1974 at the height of the Vietnam At the VSO, Holloman spends time with former War. Since returning to civilian life, Holloman’s passion service members one-on-one, helping them navigate for service has led him to become a key pillar of the benefits claims and other Veterans Affairs (VA) docucommunity in Greene County. ments. Holloman’s role with the American Legion led him The VSO is the closest resource for veterans in rural to establish Proud to be an areas of the county, many of whom have difficulty navigating the complexities of VA documents and requirements of the state and federal government. “We help people get their claims from 10%, to just getting enrolled in health care, even up to 100% service-connected (disability) for the sacrifices that they made,” Holloman said. While there are just under 1,000 By Breanna Sapp
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PHOTO BY RAY HOLLOMAN
Holloman and American Legion Post 332 organized Proud to be an American Day to honor area veterans in Walstonburg every June. Vets salute each other, above, during a ceremony during the 14th annual event in 2021.
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role at the VSO after he retired. To Edmundson, he was the perfect fit. “He’s (Holloman) a dedicated veteran himself, Amerand he helps people ican Day, an annual in his community celebration of vetand throughout the erans, fallen soldiers county,” Edmundson and active duty said. “So he may as service members. well just be it.” The Vietnam When reflecting veteran also makes on his character, sure to give back to the Greene County Edmundson said community at Holloman’s comlarge in other ways munity involvement outside of his comis representative of mitment to current the veteran’s love for and former service FILE PHOTO members. Holloman, Walstonburg American Legion Post 332 president, right, and post public service. member Ron Turner place tributes for fallen soldiers at the 2019 Proud to be an “Last year at In reference to American Day. Christmas, we had Holloman’s planning a lady who got sick of Proud to be an and was going to be out of work, a single lady, for the American Day, Edmundson said he is keeping patriomonth of December,” Holloman explained. “So we gave tism alive in the community. her enough giftcards to be able to buy groceries for the “He’s on a lot of committees in the county, so many month.” that I asked him last night at a VFW meeting,” EdHolloman and members of the American Legion also make efforts to contribute funds to charities including mundson said amusingly. “I think he’s been everything the county’s Boys & Girls Club and Interfaith Volunexcept the mayor.” teers, the Food Banks of Eastern North Carolina, and Holloman has impacted numerous veterans and Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro. their families over the years, Edmundson said, Why he is so invested in his community? particularly through his work with the VSO. “Number one I’m a veteran,” Holloman said. “I just “Ray here has the personality that enjoy the fact that I’m able to help the veterans get some of the benefits that they deserve for the sacrifices that when a person comes in, they feel at they made.” home, they know that he’s going Former VSO Director J. Ray Edmundson got to know to help him,” Edmundson Holloman after meeting the fellow veteran through the said. “That’s one of the American Legion. It was there that Edmundson says he main things about noticed Holloman’s commitment to veterans and his being a service passion for service. Around 2016, Edmundson asked Holloman to take officer.” over his
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