Perry Memorial Library

The Local Skinny! Events At Perry Memorial Library 04-16-24

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The U.S. celebrates National Tea Day on April 21, and Perry Memorial Library is hosting a special tea party and book sale to commemorate the beverage that people enjoy all over the globe.  Whether you’re a faithful patron or a newbie to the library, Melody Peters and the staff invite you to join in the fun.

The tea party will be from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, and participants can sample teas from around the world, Peters said – “something other than iced tea,” she said.

Kids will have a chance to decorate some special cups and plates for the occasion – they also can create some cool party hats.

“We hope there will be a lot of activity,” said Peters, who is the library’s Youth Services director.

Whether you like green tea, a chai or a traditional Earl Grey, come have a cuppa at the library and shop for some books at the Friends of Library sale – books and tea make a great combination.

The April Kids Connect STEM program will celebrate Earth Day just one day late on Tuesday, Apr. 23 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. After a short hike around the library to pick up whatever litter may be lying around the landscape, the group will create bird feeders with cardboard tubes, twine, sunflower butter and bird seed, Peters said.

“We’ll be outdoors in nature and explore outside” the library environs, including a stroll through the Story Walk installation while they’re at it.

This program is geared for elementary school students, siblings of all ages are most welcome to participate, Peters said. No registration is required – just show up.

Visit www.perrylibrary.org/ to learn more about all the programs and services the library offers.

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TownTalk: A Busy Spring For Rebuilding Hope

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When you drive through the Rebuilding Hope campus on April 26 to pick up plates of that delicious barbecued chicken, sides and dessert, you’ll get a pretty good view of the property, which for so many years was the site of the Coca-Cola Bottling Co.

If you choose to park and eat in, Rebuilding Hope founder and director Randolph Wilson said you probably won’t recognize the interior as a place where those iconic green glass bottles were cleaned, filled and capped, but he gives a tip of the hat to the facility that has served its new owners so well over the past seven or eight years.

The fundraiser runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wilson invites the public to stop by and pick up plates; no advance ticket is necessary, but feel free to call 252.438.5132 to reserve plates. Orders of five or more plates can be delivered, he said.

“Just drive up or drive in,” Wilson said. “We’ll sell until we run out.”

At a recent gathering to celebrate the facility, located at 414 Raleigh Rd., and its new lease on life as home to Rebuilding Hope, Wilson said the president of the former owner, Durham Coca-Cola, came to see how the facility had changed.

“He was pretty much blown away,” Wilson said. “There’s not another building in this town that fits this ministry like a glove” the way the former Coke plant does.

The room that once housed the bottling equipment has been transformed into meeting space, complete with projector and sound capability.

The warehouse that used to store pallets of Coca-Cola products ready for distribution now has different areas for plumbing and electrical supplies, tools and hardware.

Trucks can drive through and get loaded with lumber. And there’s a walk-in freezer and walk-in cooler convenient to the loading dock, so deliveries of surplus food items in need of temporary storage can be easily rolled off trucks and into the coolers.

And the garage area behind the main building now is a tool shop and a storage area for shingles and other supplies for the various projects that Rebuilding Hope undertakes.

The summer Servants on Site program uses a lot of those shingles to repair and replace roofs for residents in the area, Wilson said. This year, SOS participants will gather June 24-28 to work and enjoy fellowship with others while doing God’s work in the community.

This year’s deadline to register is May 1, Wilson said. Visit https://rebuildinghopeinc.org/ to sign up your youth group.

The SOS program is an opportunity for youth groups to find out what’s going “in our own Jerusalem.”

Local youth groups are signed up so far, and another group from the western part of the state. There’s room for more, Wilson said.

“(SOS) touches their life in a way they didn’t expect,” Wilson said. “It’s amazing to hear the young people talk about what it means” to participate in the weeklong event.

At a recent meeting in Elkin, he said he heard from the dad of a previous SOS participant, who reported that the experience had been life-changing.

“We also accept volunteers year ‘round to help with projects in the community,” Wilson said. Their teams build more than 100 wheelchair ramps in any given year to allow residents easier access in and out of their homes.

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SaddleRock Farm Hosts “Henderson Spectacular” For Community On April 27

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The folks at SaddleRock Farm are gearing up for the “Henderson Spectacular” on Saturday, Apr. 27, when the property will be open to the public for a host of activities and fun for the whole family.

Farm owner Larry Johnson and his granddaughter-in-law Emily Parker are weaving in a religious theme into all the activities that will be taking place on Saturday, Apr. 27.

The event is taking place just a few weeks after Easter and they want to spread the word, especially about The Greatest Story Ever Told.

Gates open at 11 a.m. and the fun continues until 3 p.m. Come early, Johnson advised, so you’ll have a chance to enjoy all the activities that are in store.

“I’m blessed to be a part of it…I’m glad to have it at the farm – it’s special,” Parker said in a recent interview with WIZS.

“Our farm furnishes the location,” Johnson said, and New Sandy Creek Baptist Church is a primary sponsor for this year’s “Spectacular,” which will feature horse rides and hayrides, inflatables for the kids to play on, puppet shows and much more.

Then there’s the food – think carnival food like popcorn, sno-cones and drinks to go along with all the outdoor fun – “all for zero cost,” Johnson added.

The farm is a for-profit endeavor, providing riding lessons, field trips and birthday parties throughout the year. But it’s important to Johnson to give back to the community, and hosting the event is his way of going that.

“When I bought that farm, I didn’t buy it for the public, I bought it for my family. Not too long after that, God spoke to my heart and said he had provided that farm…not just for my family but for other people. So when we opened in April 2010, we had a pretty big dedication service and we dedicated that farm to the Lord and his work. We do have to make a living – the farm does have to support itself, but it is dedicated to the Lord and every opportunity we have to provide any service that people can learn more about the Lord, we do that.”

SaddleRock Farm is located at 1786 Weldon’s Mill Rd., Henderson.

Spring Street Missionary Baptist Plans Community Event

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Spring Street Missionary Baptist Church is holding a picnic at Henderson Heights on Saturday, Apr. 20 that is free and open to the public.

There will be hotdogs and hamburgers to enjoy, as well as a bouncy house and face painting for the children, said pastor AnTori D. Brown.

The church is located at 511 Orange St., but Brown said Saturday’s event is a way to minister to the larger community.

“We get inside of the church and we want to stay there,” Brown said on Monday’s segment of The Local Skinny! Having programs outside the church building is one way to let people know “that God has fallen in love with them…our objective is to reach the masses by way of ministry.”

The community is invited to join residents of Henderson Heights, the corner of Beckford and Andrews avenues, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. for a day of fellowship, food and fun.

As revitalization efforts continue in the downtown area, Brown said he wants Spring Street Missionary Baptist to be a “beacon of light” in the community. “We want to revitalize our commitment and spirituality to God,” he said.

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Learn About Child Care Options, Challenges At Upcoming Forums

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N.C. Rep. Frank Sossamon is hosting forums to discuss the topic of child care in the area – choices, challenges and access to licensed child care facilities for working families. Featured speaker at the forums is Ariel Ford, director of Child Development and Early Education at the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

The first forum will be held Tuesday, Apr. 30 at Perry Memorial Library in Henderson; the second forum will be held Thursday, May 23 at The Grand at Oxford Days Inn & Suites, 913 Martin Luther King Jr., Ave., Oxford.

The public is invited to attend the forum at 6 p.m.; there will be a session earlier – 1 p.m. – for individuals interested in opening a child care site. According to information from Sossamon’s office, North Carolina is considered a child care “desert” when it comes to infant/toddler care, with a statewide average of five families with babies competing for every available slot in licensed child care facilities.

The events seek to raise awareness to the child care crisis in the state and the need for more child care opportunities in North Carolina which support children’s healthy development and learning, allow parents to work and keep businesses running.

Last year, 278 child care facilities closed across the state and the demand for child care far surpasses the supply. A recent survey of North Carolina child care programs from the National Association for the Education of Young Children shows 60 percent of facilities are reporting a staffing shortage and 55 percent are under-enrolled due to the lack of staff. Rural counties in North Carolina are disproportionately impacted.

The child care forums are hosted by Representative Frank Sossamon. NCDHHS. Smart Start, Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce, Granville County Chamber of Commerce, Childcare Services Association, local child care centers and others participating.

TownTalk: Around Old Granville: Churches And Religion, Part 2

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Religious scholars and historians have labeled the general time frame between 1760 and 1800 as The Great Awakening, a time of religious revival that basically helped to shape – and reshape – how Christians viewed their relationship with their churches in the era before and after the American Revolution.

Granville County was established in 1746, and by the time the Great Awakening was taking hold in the American Colonies, three main denominations were prevalent here, said Mark Pace, local historian and North Carolina Room specialist at the Richard Thornton Library in Oxford.

They were Baptist, Presbyterian and Anglican – which morphed into the Episcopal Church after the Revolution, Pace said on the tri-weekly Around Old Granville segment of TownTalk.

But Methodism came on the scene in 1784, and with it, a few wrinkles.

“Methodists are interesting,” Pace said, “and it can be a little complicated.”

By the 1870’s, there were Methodist Protestants and Methodist Episcopal churches, he said. One of Henderson’s Methodist Protestant churches was located where the city’s iconic clock tower now stands; another, near McGregor Hall and the police station.

That branch of Methodism became part of the United Methodist Church when it was formed in 1939. The Methodist Protestants preferred to have individual control, much like the Baptists; they didn’t want bishops and dioceses to make decisions for them.

As for the Methodist Episcopal churches, there was a further split between the Northern and Southern churches in 1844 because of slavery, Pace said.

There was even a church of “O’Kelly-ites” in Dexter, he said, that existed until the 1870’s. James O’Kelly was an itinerant Methodist preacher who left the denomination and was an outspoken opponent of slavery as early as the 1780’s.

The Presbyterian Church took root in Old Granville in the 1760’s, again predating the American Revolution. The Mother Church is Grassy Creek Presbyterian, where the Rev. Mr. Stradley preached from 1840 until 1910 or so.

Stradley is but one example of a local pastor “that’s the heart and soul” of a community. Others include Rev. Reginald Marsh and John Chavis. Chavis, a free Black man who fought in the American Revolution and graduated from Princeton, often preached in Presbyterian churches throughout the area.

For more than 60 years – 1850 to the 1910’s – Marsh was a Baptist minister who was instrumental in the formation of Island Creek and First Baptist in Henderson, among others, Pace said.

In those days, church pews were more likely to be filled with black and white people – granted, they often sat in separate sections – but Pace said after Emancipation, there was a movement for freed Blacks to form their own churches and establish their own communities.

Shiloh Baptist Church in Henderson and Big Zion AME Zion Church between Henderson and Oxford are two of the oldest churches that fit that bill.

Many Blacks stayed with the Baptist Church and with the Presbyterian Church after the Civil War ended, but Pace said the Presbyterian Church was probably the denomination most devoted to abolitionism.

And there are a multitude of examples that still exist in the area today – Timothy Darling Presbyterian in Oxford, founded by George Clayton Shaw, and Cotton Memorial in Henderson, founded by Adam Cotton.

Walter Pattillo, a Baptist preacher, founded a lot of churches. He was born into slavery, Pace said, but it is believed he already knew how to read and write before he went to Shaw University to study theology.

Another one of those figures that gets involved in the community, Pace said: “they don’t go anywhere – they just stay here.”

No moss gathered under Pattillo, however. He is associated with establishing a long list of churches throughout the Old Granville area, including Michael’s Creek, Blue Wing near the Virginia line, New Jonathan Creek, Olive Grove, First Baptist in Oxford, Penn Avenue, Flat Creek and Cedar Grove.

Back in those early days, when most people farmed and were, for the most part, self-sufficient, Pace said the church provided the “social fabric” of a community. The church, or meeting house, or wherever the congregations met, were so much more than a place to attend a weekly service.

“People were heavily involved in the church,” Pace said, “and the church was heavily involved in your life.”

Church members could be summoned and tried before a church council for such sinful things as cursing, drinking, gambling, adultery, consistent absence from the church, or – Pace’s personal favorite – “general meanness.”

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The Local Skinny! City Council Votes To Keep B-2A Zoning For Businesses, Retail

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After receiving recommendations from a couple of different committees, the Henderson City Council voted unanimously on Monday to deny a request that would have allowed an empty retail space to be turned into a 16-bed “diversion center” for patients in mental health or substance abuse crises.

Back in November, Vaya Health officials told county commissioners that the space formerly occupied by Big Lots! on Dabney Drive was the best option they could find at the best price point. It would require a special use permit from the city, however, since the area is zoned for businesses and not hospitals or sanitoriums.

The matter was referred to the city Planning Board, which initially recommended to approve the special use permit request. But at a special called meeting in January, the City Council expressed concerns and had reservations about moving the project forward and sent it back to the planning committee for further review. The second time, the planning committee offered no recommendation.

So, the planning board reviewed the matter again in February and the Land Planning Committee weighed in as well at a March meeting, recommending the request be denied because the B-2A zoning is designed for businesses, including retail establishments and that any change could be detrimental to existing businesses.

Now, here we are in April, with the matter back before the City Council.

In reviewing the timeline of events, City Manager Terrell Blackmon said the consensus is that feel that an area zoned for business is not well suited for a hospital or sanitorium.

Council members voted unanimously to deny the request.

Vaya is looking for a location that could serve the region that includes Vance, Granville and Franklin counties, and Vaya reps told commissioners in November that they’d pitch in $1.5 million of the total amount necessary to upfit and transform the space, which would be somewhere north of $4.5 million. Vaya is looking for funding from the three counties to support the project.

WIZS previously reported that the main idea for the facility is to help take some of the heat off local hospital emergency rooms, which often aren’t equipped to handle the specific needs of individuals suffering from behavioral and mental health crises.

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