Tag Archive for: #towntalk

TownTalk: Clearview Church Plans BASS Legacy Night

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An upcoming event at Clearview Church has some interesting similarities to some New Testament accounts of Jesus and his disciples being fishers of men. Or should that be fishermen?

Dr. Abidan Shah invites the community to come to Clearview on April 29 at 6 p.m. for BASS Legacy Night to hear a group of professional anglers talk about fishing, as well as offer testimonies.

Curtis Vick, a lay leader at Clearview, also is a co-angler, which is a step shy of being a professional. Vick said on TownTalk Thursday that he hopes others will find ways to strengthen – or establish – their faith as a result of the program.

It begins at 5:30 p.m. with a meal, and the discussion with eight or so other big names in Major League Fishing circles is from 6 p.m. to about 8 p.m.

“We’re using fishing as a platform for the Gospel,” said Ryan Hill, another Clearview member.

In addition to a free meal, participants will have the chance to win prizes throughout the evening. Contact info@clearviewbc.org to learn more.

Registration is appreciated, but not required.

Organizers hope to see 250 people or more attend.

Vick, who was born and raised in Henderson, said he began attending Clearview a few years ago and learned that men should be the spiritual leaders of the household. Since then, he’s taken on that leadership role – with his family and his co-workers.

“I try to lead by example,” he said, admitting that he falls short from time to time, as we all do.

He lives in Boydton, VA, but works in Henderson now, adding that he tries to be a role model for the young people who work with him.

Planning for this event has pushed him outside his comfort zone, but he is reassured by the support he’s gotten from the church staff, its congregation and from the fishing community.

Shah said he is excited about the upcoming event. “It’s going to be phenomenal,” he said. “It’s going back to the roots of the gospel – this is how it all began,” he said.

“We are catching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

 

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TownTalk: Boyd Dealership Victim Of Vehicle Theft

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Henderson Police are investigating the theft of three new luxury vehicles from a local car dealership that possibly is related to a spate of similar thefts across the state.

In an interview Wednesday, Police Chief Marcus Barrow told WIZS that the vehicles – a 2023 Cadillac Escalade, a 2023 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and a 2023 Audi Q5 were driven off the lot of Charles Boyd Chevrolet just before 2 a.m. on Sunday, April 16. The vehicles have an estimated value of $235,000.

Three suspects, which video footage from the dealership shows were all wearing dark clothing, hoods, masks and gloves, broke a window to gain entry inside the building, located at 250 Ruin Creek Road. The whole thing occurred in just over 10 minutes.

This seems to match up with several other incidents across the state, Barrow said. “Multiple locations across North Carolina have been hit this year,” he explained. And it appears the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County area is a “homebase.”

The Escalade’s OnStar GPS system was used to locate the vehicle later on Sunday morning in Matthews, Barrow said, which is a Charlotte suburb.

“I think it’s a fairly large criminal organization doing it,” Barrow said of the break-in and larceny. His department is working with authorities in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area, the SBI as well as Homeland Security as the investigation continues.

Many car dealerships have similar setups, with keys in the same area, Barrow noted. It could be that people were watching how people and vehicles enter and exit the building over time, or they could have located particular vehicles at particular dealerships before deciding where to strike.

Barrow said the Boyd family was helpful in contacting other dealerships to figure out where thieves had struck, giving local police information to make calls to law enforcement agencies where previous thefts had occurred.

The break-in occurred at 1:43 a.m. and the vehicles were seen driving off the lot west on US 158 Bypass toward Oxford just 11 minutes later, at 1:54 a.m.

This is an active investigation and Barrow asks anyone with information to contact the Henderson Police Department at 252.438.4141, Crime Stoppers at 252.492.1925 or use the P3 app.

Financial compensation is offered for information leading to the arrest of the
responsible individuals.

 

 

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TownTalk: The Help Center Helps Those In Need

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Since Twanna Jones founded The Help Center in 2017, she has found that there are many opportunities to provide something to someone. But what she said her organization strives to do is to provide hope as well as help.

“It’s beautiful and sustainable when you give them both,” Jones said on TownTalk Tuesday.

Jones, the Help Center staff and its volunteers need only look across the street if they need reminding about the hope part: Rebuilding Hope is located just across Raleigh Road from the Help Center building.

Whether it’s the quarterly baby shower designed to provide single moms- and dads-to-be with some of the basics that they’ll need when a newborn is added to the household to the gleaning program that puts young people in farmers’ fields to help with the harvest, The Help Center North Carolina finds a place where help is needed and then goes about the task of filling that need.

Jones and her team serve Vance, Granville, Warren, Franklin and Wake counties, and they offer different programs and services in each spot.

In Vance County, the emphasis is on food insecurity and keeping a diaper bank stocked.

There’s a home delivery program that just got started – a partnership with Door Dash. It’s designed for people with chronic health issues to have weekly food deliveries since they may not be able to get out to get groceries.

All of these programs require volunteers, and Jones said she’s always in the market to have more volunteers to come and help out.

The monthly food distribution is a big one in Vance County. More than 200 families are signed up to pick up food on the 4th Monday of each month.

Then, twice a month, the Help Center opens its doors for clients to choose their own foods instead of getting the pre-made bags. Volunteers are needed for this program, too.

Food distribution Wednesday.

“It takes all of us to work together,” Jones said, giving a nod to the existing agencies in the area that also provide support to the community. “Joining together…makes our community stronger, better and healthier.”

One gap the Help Center is working to fill is getting out into the rural community. The “mobile pantry” program brings food to folks who need it, but that food delivery is just part of the contact. Volunteers deliver food, but that is coupled with making safety checks on older adults, she said. “We wanted to get out into the community and connect with people.” To do that, “you start with food.”

Visit the website at http://www.thehelpcenternc.com to learn about all the volunteer opportunities and how to make donations, or phone 919.391.7300. The office is open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Some of the immediate needs, in addition to volunteers, include donations of:

  • Bottled water
  • Gatorade
  • Baby diapers
  • Adult diapers
  • Pop-lid canned items
  • Peanut butter
  • Juice packs
  • Oodles of noodles
  • Breakfast bars

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TownTalk: Carolina United For Change Plans Scholarship Event

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Carolina United for Change will host a scholarship event on May 20 at the Gateway CDC to highlight its scholarship opportunities at Vance-Granville Community College.

The organization isn’t even a year old yet, but co-founder Joseph Brodie and others have focused on its mission of supporting the poor and needy and protecting the rights of all people.

Brodie was on TownTalk Monday to talk about the two scholarships that have been established at VGCC.

Two $500 scholarships will be awarded, Brodie said. Applicants will be asked to submit a personal essay on the topic of gun violence. Carolina United for Change board members will review the essays and will select the winners. The scholarships were established in honor of Brodie’s son, who was shot and killed in 2017.

Brodie said VGCC Foundation Director Tanya Weary has been instrumental in helping get the scholarship going. She and other VGCC reps will be on hand at the May 20 event to share details about applying for the scholarship and for registering to become a VGCC student.

There also will be guest speakers, drawing for gifts and musical performances during the program, which is from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Gateway CDC is located at 314 S. Garnett St., Henderson.

Brodie said he appreciates the collaboration with Gateway CDC, which is providing space to hold the event as well as technical assistance to the nascent organization as it continues to gain traction in the community.

He said he hopes to be able to have a centrally located space for members of the community to come to ask questions and seek assistance.

 

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TownTalk: Around Old Granville: NC Author Writes About The Revolution

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Author James Becker discusses his recent book “Secrets of the American Revolution”.

 

TownTalk: Northeast Piedmont Chorale Coming To McGregor Hall

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The Northeast Piedmont Chorale will perform its spring concert at McGregor Hall in Henderson on Sunday afternoon, April 23. The concert is free and open to the public, and Director Cindy Edwards said the concert’s theme – “What A Wonderment” – describes perfectly the selections that will be performed.

The audience will see and hear “a trend in our musical selections,” Edwards said on TownTalk, “all about the wonder about the world that we live in.”

Chorale baritones Tom Burleson and Harvey Jackson joined Edwards to talk about the upcoming performance, as well as the state of the chorale. Which is quite, good, by the way.

Since Edwards became director in 2016, the chorale has doubled in size, from just shy of 40 to close to 80. Seventy-five performers are scheduled to take the stage for the spring concert, Edwards noted.

(The chorale will perform the spring concert at New Hope Baptist Church in Raleigh on Friday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m. The church is located at 4301 Louisburg Rd. in Raleigh.)

“For next season, we’ll have an even bigger choir,” she said. “I’m very, very pleased about the size of the group.

Although there are a handful of chorale members for whom music is a vocation, Jackson said the majority are just like him and Burleson – folks who’ve sung in church or school groups, but who aren’t music majors.

Jackson, who serves as vice president of the chorale board, said the upcoming concerts are the result of “many, many hours (of practice) put in by 70-plus people. This stuff doesn’t happen by accident.”

In addition to the two-hour weekly practices, Edwards offers “sectionals,” where smaller groups can come together to practice their particular parts. And individuals spend hours and hours outside the common practice time to listen and learn their parts.

Burleson said the process is important. “It’s painstaking and time consuming,” he said. “But if we didn’t want to do it, we wouldn’t be there. There’s a great reward.”

Edwards said the group has worked hard to create what she hopes will be a memorable performance. “The choir is ready – they need an audience…they sound beautiful.”

Kristen Allred accompanies at piano for some of the musical selections, but there will be a full orchestra to offer accompaniment as well.

The concert will begin with “A Shaker Celebration,” sure to delight the audience with its processional, and handbell and drum accompaniment. The program continues with “Te deum,” which translates to “We praise thee, O God” a 20-minute master work of composer Dan Forest.

The group will perform “Alleluia For Our Time” by Raleigh composer, Jay Althouse, whom Edwards described as someone who has become a close friend of the chorale.

After a short break, the theme of the concert focuses on the world around us – earth, stars, sky and water.

The chorale will perform “Earth Song,” followed by a couple of a cappella selections.

Local musicians Wayne Kinton and his son David Kinton provide electric guitar and double bass accompaniment to the Bluegrass-style “Touch the Sky” from the movie Brave.

The chorale’s final selection, complete with full orchestra, is “The Impossible Dream.”

Visit www.npchorale.org to learn more about the Northeast Piedmont Chorale.

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TownTalk: Happy Easter

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WIZS Radio wishes everyone a Happy Easter!

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TownTalk: Kittrell Job Corps’ Positive Impact On Students

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Kittrell Job Corps Center is a place where young adults can find their way – to education, support services, training and a career. Center Director Norman Turner said there are just a few criteria that applicants must satisfy to start their KJCC journey. A

One student, Ken’Dal “Della” McCants, is currently in the CNA program and said Kittrell Job Corps just “works” for her.

Turner, McCants and Outreach Career Transition Director Vernell Milon were guests on TownTalk to discuss all that KJCC has to offer.

Turner has been working at KJCC for about 16 years, and he said there are abourt 200 students currently enrolled in one of the many programs that Kittrell Job Corps offers – from getting a high school diploma to office administration, facilities management, culinary arts and security, just to name a few.

Like so many other programs, the COVID-19 pandemic created a wrinkle how KJCC operates. The school, which has two dorms for students to live on campus, also has programs for the non-traditional college student.

“COVID put a damper on our ability to recruit students,” Turner said, “but we’re back fully open and ready to roll,” he continued. The school can accommodate 350 students.

Milon and her team of a dozen counselors and eight career transition specialists consider the individual needs of the students they work with to make sure they are successful as they continue along the path to financial independence and gainful employment.

The programs at KJCC are totally free, and there are a good number of wraparound services like medical care, clothing allowances and the like to make sure students have proper attire for jobs and can get the medical attention they need.

Milon and her team of counselors spread the word throughout the community about what the Job Corps is, what it does and who it’s for.

“It’s not just for underserved or at-risk students,” Milon said; rather, it’s for anyone between the ages of 16-24 who wants to make a difference in their lives – and find a career that they enjoy.

Not everyone is meant to go to college, Milon said, but everyone can work. And she wants all her students to have jobs that pay at least $17/hour.

“We want them to be better off than when they first got here,” she said.

McCants, the CNA student, considers herself a good fit for the Job Corps program because the teachers give you the “time and space to learn” instead of trying to get through the curriculum and moving on to the next thing.

She said her teachers are very helpful and are helping her reach her goal of becoming a traveling nurse.

The Kittrell location is one of more than 120 Job Corps programs across the country. New students are enrolled every Tuesday and Turner said there are 10 more students starting their Job Corps journey this week.

“We’re wide open,” Turner said. “We’re open for business.

Want to learn more? Contact Milon at 252.438.9116 or visit

www.kittrell.jobcorps.gov.

 

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TownTalk: Resource Fair At VGCC April 27

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Organizers for an upcoming community resource fair are pleased with how planning is going so far, and they are predicting a win-win situation for all involved – for those who provide resources and for those who are seeking information.

Huff Consulting of Oxford, along with partners Vance-Granville Community College and the Henderson-Vance and Granville County Chambers of Commerce have been planning for months.

Michele Walker, Huff Consulting’s sales and account manager, said there are 65 vendors – nonprofits, for-profit companies, churches and more – lined up to participate in the April 27 event, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the VGCC Civic Center on the Main Campus in Henderson.

“We’re very fortunate to have the community coming together for this,” Walker said on TownTalk.

Huff Consulting is a recruiting firm that works with a wide range of employees – from day laborers to corporate executives, Walker said, adding that her company has recognized the struggles that face many in the community. “Everybody has a need,” she said. And this resource festival is a way to bridge the gap between available resources and the folks who are looking for them.

Sandra Wilkerson, president of the Henderson-Vance Chamber, said this coordinated effort across county lines fits perfectly with the local Chamber’s 2023 theme “Year of Collaboration.”

The resource fair participants not only will be able to provide information to attendees, but they’ll also have the chance to build collaborations among themselves.

Having so many different segments of the community and region under one roof for the day is sure to create connections, said Lauren Roberson, director of the Granville County Chamber.

“We’re super excited to be a part of it and help in any way we can,” Roberson said.

In addition to sharing information with the community, Roberson said another goal is to shine a light on all the opportunities within the whole Kerr-Tar region, which includes Vance, Granville, Warren, Franklin and Person counties.

“You’re going to get way more done collaborating than working against each other,” she said. “We’re going to succeed by all working together.”

If people can live and work in the same area, that means there’s a greater chance that they’ll spend more time – and dollars – in that same area.

“We want to keep people in the Kerr-Tar region,” Roberson noted.

Don’t fret if you’re interested in coming out to the festival but have young children in tow – VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel said you’re in luck: VGCC’s Science Department is having an event that day as part of the NC Science Festival. There will be a Kid’s Corner where children can “come in and have fun with science,” Cissel noted.

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Smart Start

TownTalk: Week Of The Young Child Events

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Franklin Granville Vance Partnership for Children is sponsoring a variety of activities this week to observe The Week of the Young Child, but FGV Partnership Development Coordinator Garry Daeke has a simple suggestion for parents to celebrate all year long: “Love your kids, smile at them every chance you get and spend all the time you can with them.”

Daeke was a guest on TownTalk and provided details for upcoming events in the three-county area for children ages 0-5.

Wednesday, April 5 is “Literacy Day,” and FGV Partnership representatives will be stationed outside the three Walmarts in Henderson, Oxford and Louisburg to sign children up for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

“Hopefully, we’ll enroll a lot of children,” he said, adding that they’ll be giving out books to children under 5 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Parents of children between 0 and 5 don’t have to wait until Wednesday to sign up to participate – Daeke said most of the applications FGV processes are completed online. It is a simple process, the result of which is each child under 5 getting a book a month in the mail.

He said almost half of the eligible children in the three counties are enrolled in the program, which, for a rural area, is pretty darned good.

Thursday, April 6 is Safe Kids Day in Vance County, and anyone who has a car seat installed in their vehicle can stop by the Henderson Fire Department on Dabney Drive to make sure it’s installed properly.

Daeke said data shows that, despite our best efforts, most car seats need some adjustment to be properly installed. Inspectors will be set up beside the fire department to make sure the seats are safely installed.

There also will be some seats available for purchase as well that day, he said.

On Monday, April 3, about 20 students from a couple of local day cares came to “plant” a pinwheel garden outside the FGV offices, in conjunction with the  observance of National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

 

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