Our Town

OFF DUTY

OUR

“When I ring the bell I sing Christmas carols the whole time.”

–Patrick Sheehan, Salvation Army volunteer

IF YOU VISIT THE HARRIS TEETER AT FALLS POINTE IN NORTH Raleigh this December, you might see – and hear – Patrick Sheehan. He’ll be ringing the bell for the Salvation Army’s annual red kettle campaign, and he’ll also be singing holiday songs. Nonstop. “ e shi s are four hours this year, so volunteerism. e Sheehan children, ages 17, 16, and 10, have never known a Christmas without it. “My kids … meet me during the last 20 minutes and we sing songs together. It’s a family tradition.” He even comes prepared with his own bell, an actual red Salvation Army one given to him last year by a local chapter sta I’m going to be hoarse the next day,” he says with a laugh. For the last two decades, he has sung and collected donations that the nonprofi t uses to buy holiday toys for local kids in need, Angel Tree gi s, and cold-weather care packages. Sheehan is jovial about his commitment. “I’m not any kind of noble guy here. I’m just a regular guy trying to help out. Everyone’s smiling when you’re singing Christmas carols. It’s fun.” Sheehan fi rst rang a bell for the Salvation Army in his native Boston about 20 years ago. He signed up for it on a whim a er seeing the opportunity in the local paper, and then decided to spruce up his time ringing. “I’m not a singer,” he says, but says something about the holiday spirit led him to perform carols nonetheless. “I’m atrocious!” He chuckles. “People are probably donating to make me stop singing.” When his job as an industrial engineer brought Sheehan and his wife to Raleigh in 2001, he continued the annual red kettle member as a thank-you. “ e real heroes are those guys who drive the (Salvation Army) vans around” to distribute kettles and bells to volunteers, Sheehan says. “ ey drive all over Raleigh in those vans, and they’re always so nice. Talk about patience.” As for the songs, Sheehan has fallen into a routine over the years. He begins with kids’ favorites – Santa Cla Is Coming to Town, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – then does a few traditional ones. “I’ll throw some Bing Crosby in there, some White Chr tm .” No matter what, “I always do e Twelve Days of Chr tm , because it takes up a lot of time!” He says that while it’s all in good fun, his singing is also e ective. “Every year, there are the people who come into the grocery store and they see me singing. ey leave, and they still see me singing. ey’ll unload their bags into their car, and then they’ll come all the way back across the parking lot and say, ‘If you’re going to sing that long, I’ll give.’” –Jessie Ammons

“Our goal in creating this business was to create a local community of cooks.” –Dan Saklad, owner and co-founder of Whisk kitchen store

Dan Saklad is admittedly not a shopper. “I’ve never really spent time in retail stores,” says the owner of Whisk, a retail kitchenware store in Cary. Nonetheless, when he and his wife Diana moved to Cary 11 years ago – a place he says they classes like knife skills and master-level sushi-making. Wall-towall racks of kitchen gadgets and cooking accessories complement the skills being taught and supply specialty items for gourmands of all kinds. “Part of the experience is the personalities we hire,” Saklad picked after Googling “best places to live” – they wanted to launch a business rooted in something they cared deeply about. “Cooking is what we’ve always done,” Saklad says. “I’ve cooked every day of my life since I was 5 years old, and Diana has done the same. It’s always been a passion of ours.” In 2013, the couple translated that love to Whisk, a kitchen emporium with a strong emphasis on cooking classes. Saklad says the experience has been less like a foray into retail and more like an investment in community. “We’re a very different experience.”

It’s one focused on doing, they hope, with shopping a happy side effect. “We have 35 to 40 cooking classes here every month, taught by 42 chefs from 15 different countries.” Classes range from themed recipes for beginners, a la “a night in Paris” and “Bollywood, an authentic Indian feast,” to in-depth technical says. Rather than look for employees with retail experience, they look for employees who are “engaging and fun, the types of people you’d like to hang out with on a weekend at a party.” The employees’ attitude is contagious: “It’s amazing how the community has embraced us,” Saklad says. Despite receiving offers to franchise and expand, the Saklads say they’re not interested. “The beauty of it is having one location. There’s a certain magic to that.” And this time of year, full of celebratory meals and gatherings, is especially meaningful to the Whisk team. “We love cooking and we love people who love cooking. We’re completely happy being here in Cary doing our thing. This is a place for people who share our same passion for cooking and entertaining.” –Jessie Ammons

Our Town THE USUAL

“I’ve always loved learning new things … learning is such a good thing to do in the community and to meet people and bond with people.”

–Haley Bohon, SkillPop founder

When Haley Bohon graduated from N.C. State in 2012 and moved to Charlotte for a job in mechanical engineering, she missed meeting new friends in college classes. She felt she quickly fell into a rut in Charlotte, going to work, the gym, then home, and eating at the same restaurants with the same people. And she didn’t have any hobbies to fill her downtime: Four busy years studying hard at State had left her with few spare moments to develop them.

At the same time, Bohon noticed a rising trend in online learning and meetups for people with similar interests, but nothing directly tied to developing those interests or learning new skills. She knew she learned better in a physical classroom environment, and saw an opportunity to provide classes with a social component. “It made a lot of sense that (learning) should be something still in a community environment even after you graduate from traditional school,” she says.

So in the fall of 2015, Bohon took a plunge: She left her job to develop Charlotte SkillPop full-time. “It was something I was really excited about,” she says. “The potential was really huge and the first response was really huge … I knew it would be worth my time.”

It was – the Charlotte business has done so well that Bohon opened a Raleigh branch this past August. She is excited to expand her business to her old stomping grounds. “It’s great,” she says. “My hope for Raleigh is that it will feel a little different than the Charlotte (SkillPop). The entrepreneur community is really strong, the design community is really strong, (and) the university presence is big.”

Raleighites can now sign up for classes on hand-lettering, photography, graphic design, marketing, gardening, watercolor painting, sewing, and much more. All classes are taught by local experts, and they’re taught in a way that fosters engagement and connection between students. It’s a successful model: Bohon has even started watercolor painting.

“We’re excited about it,” she says. “The people I’ve met in Raleigh and that are involved in Raleigh are just really phenomenal people … that others enjoy learning from.” –Mimi Montgomery

Above: One of SkillPop’s instructors and founder of Sage Paper Co., Alexa Behar, teaches a brush calligraphy class at Loading Dock Raleigh.

Our Town GAME PLAN

“They know that you’re doing it from your heart, and that’s what makes it even better.”

–Mary Brown, Moore Square Christmas Day dinner organizer

For Mary Brown, the holidays are about giving, not receiving. On Christmas Day, for the ninth year running, she and a large group of friends and volunteers will serve a feast to the homeless and hungry in Moore Square.

The annual event started when Brown, Pam Stocks, Jeff Stocks, Kelly Hollis, and Wil O’Neal decided to serve food to the needy on Thanksgiving. They brought a ham, a turkey, and a few sides to Moore Square; all disappeared quickly. Brown says she’ll never forget the little girl who came for a meal after all the food was gone. Brown took her to a nearby McDonald’s.

That day made an impression, and next year, they moved it to Christmas. A lot of groups already give out food for Thanksgiving, Brown realized, and many places are closed Christmas Day. “A lot of people don’t eat on Christmas,” she says. “I got the idea we had to keep doing this.”

So did the community: “It started getting bigger and bigger, and now it’s just really big,” Brown says. Over 200 people were fed last year, and around 60 volunteers came to help. This year, she’s expecting even more.

“You’ve never seen so many people that are just happy and gracious,” says O’Neal, who is co-owner of Winston’s Grille with Charles Winston Jr., which contributes to the event. “Mary … is a wonderful, wonderful woman.”

Brown is quick to thank Winston’s and the other donors who make it all happen: Harris Teeter, Red Lobster, K&W Cafeteria, and food trucks like Ribs by Art donate food; the restaurants Mandolin and Margaux’s lend their kitchens and coolers to prepare and store food ahead of time.

The buffet stretches across the park, and it’s impressive: turkey, ham, biscuits, mac ’n’ cheese, collards, hot dogs, cake, ice cream, and even a whole pig. People are allowed to take as much as they want, and Brown gives any leftovers to local neighborhoods in need. A tin of sandwiches is left at the park, in case anyone hungry comes by in the evening, and Brown makes sure socks, gloves, and toothbrushes are distributed, too.

“I don’t do this because I have to, it’s because I want to,” says Brown. “There’s just so much love … it’s really good.” –Mimi Montgomery

Christmas Day; 12 noon - 3 p.m.; Moore Square, 200 S. Blount St.