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Take and Eat
ANTIOCH YOUTH AND FAMILY Charolette and volunteers Words and images Dwain Hebda
On a brilliant clear day, two trailers arrived at Fort Smith’s Gorman Towers, swollen with food. Volunteers moved swiftly to unload the plunder – apportioned bags of meat, cheese, gallons of milk. In twenty minutes, the bounty has been moved onto handcarts and trucked inside while bags of non-perishables have been set up on tables out front for retrieval by the one hundred fifty low-income elderly who live here. “I’m from Fort Smith, Arkansas, born and raised,” says Ray Thomas, a thirty-something volunteer whose life story is inked into his skin. “Fort Smith, Arkansas, is my community so I want to be part of doing something for my community. As a kid growing up here, I was a gang banger, got into a lot of trouble. Now I’m giving back to my community and trying to make a difference.” Fellow volunteer Bobby Whiteaker is old enough to be Ray’s grandfather. He regularly makes the trip in from Oklahoma to drive the delivery truck and unload food for people who need it. “I’ve been traveling over here the last two and a half months and working three days a week just to help,” he says. “I feel like I’m giving back.” Off to one side of the activity sits a slight senior woman. Her age blends her in with the people who live here, but Charolette Tidwell’s tone tells you immediately who’s calling the shots. It’s been that way ever since she founded Antioch Youth & DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
