OVERCOMING OBSTACLES: CIS SUCCESS STORIES NOVEMBER 2011
Hayesville High School Construction Technology teacher Danny Jones and his sister Theresa Waldroup, executive director of Communities In Schools of Clay County, NC work to shape young minds through vocational and marketable skills. Watch the video in HD and read the article by clicking on the VIMEO logo! [Justin Cook]
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES: CIS SUCCESS STORIES OCTOBER 2011
Communities In Schools Success Coach Brian Walker helps Paige Lowery navigate the 8th grade and Peer Court, an alternative juvenile justice program at Cedar Grove Middle School in Supply, NC. Watch the video in HD and read the article by clicking on the VIMEO logo! [Justin Cook]
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES: CIS SUCCESS STORIES SEPTEMBER 2011
Heather Little, Executive Director of CIS of Lee County, works with volunteers and guidance counselors to provide underprivileged children with food to eat on the weekends through the highly successful and desperately needed BackPack Pals Program. The Bustamante-Calixto family is the face of the Hispanic community that CIS has taken extra steps to reaching out to and come alongside. Watch the video in HD and read the article by clicking on the VIMEO logo! [Justin Cook]
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES: CIS SUCCESS STORIES AUGUST 2011
Dencie Lambdin, Executive Director of CIS of Robeson County, spearheads the “Build A Backpack” school supply drive campaign with Walmart while UNC-Pembroke junior Rose Locklear mentors Pembroke Middle School student Sequoya Tucker. Watch the video in HD and read the article by clicking on the VIMEO logo! [Justin Cook]
FAMILY HOUSE DIARIES AUGUST 2011: Virginia Hays and Vaylene Klassen
Virginia Hays of Lumberton, N.C. finds peace in the SECU Family House as her daughter Vaylene Klassen recovers from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. Watch the video in HD and read the article about the mother-daughter duo by clicking the the Vimeo logo! Special thanks to Ted Richardson for additional video footage. [Justin Cook]
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES: CIS SUCCESS STORIES JULY 2011
Ellis Weber of the North Carolina Bankers Association helps middle school children from Communities In Schools learn life and financial skills all while having fun in the sun at Camp Challenge at the Sertoma 4-H Educational Center in Stokes County. Watch the video in HD and read the article about Camp Challenge by clicking the the Vimeo logo! [Justin Cook]
FAMILY HOUSE DIARIES JULY 2011: Ann Hartline
SECU Family House resident Ann Hartline is more than her cancer. She is a sister, daughter, friend, painter and fighter. Watch the video in HD and read the article about Ann on the Vimeo website! [JUSTIN COOK]
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES: CIS SUCCESS STORIES JUNE 2011
Bright, responsible and determined, Taylor Bryant is a reflection of CIS values taught at the Mary S. Mosley Performance Learning Center, an alternative school in Wilmington, NC. Bryant is proof that it takes a village to raise a child, and even more so to keep them on track to graduate high school. Watch the video in HD and read the article about Taylor on the Vimeo website! [JUSTIN COOK]
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES: CIS SUCCESS STORIES MAY 2011
Travis Burrell is a mentor to underprivileged students at Ferndale Middle School in High Point, NC where he grew up. Burrell has walked a mile in their shoes and goes that extra mile to keep “his kids” from falling through the cracks. Watch the HD video and read the article about Travis on the Vimeo website! [JUSTIN COOK]
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES: CIS Success Stories March 2011
Deep in the piedmont region of North Carolina, CIS of Moore County operates 11 FirstSchool Gardens, one at West End Elementary. Beyond the putting greens and manicured lawns throughout the resort town of Pinehurst, Moore County is populated by low-income communities struggling to access healthy food. CIS FirstSchool Gardens Director Kathy Byron and other CIS coordinators work to teach children in Moore County the skills they need to grow and cook their own food and make healthy diet decisions [JUSTIN COOK].
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES: CIS Success Stories February 2011
A natural leader, seventeen-year-old Jarvis Williams overcomes obstacles at Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology in Charlotte, N.C. with the help of Communities In Schools North Carolina coordinator Tavia Tubbs. [JUSTIN COOK]
A LIFE SENTENCE | DURHAM, NC
The ongoing tragedy of gun violence in Durham, North Carolina is one of the biggest social issues in the Triangle region. In 2005 alone Durham, N.C. experienced 37 homicides, a record year for the Medicine City. Many of the dead were young men, ages 16 to 30 years old, the victims of shootings related to gang violence, robberies and other unexplained crimes. Ray Simms, 30, was shot to death May 21, 2005 at the corner of Broad and Leon Streets in Durham and his killer has yet to be found. Ray left behind four kids and a mother, Joslin Simms, destroyed by his absence. [JUSTIN COOK]
ZIP CODE: 24060, BLACKSBURG, VA
Daniel Foster, 67 grew up in Madison, Wisc. and studied music in college at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisc. and graduated with a voice major. He fell in love with the violin family of instruments, because he says they are the only instruments that truly sing and can best reach the ranges of the human voice. Foster feels at home in the milder climate of the mountains and in the artistic community that Blacksburg, Virginia, 24060 affords where he handcrafts and repairs violins in his woodshed. “In the thirty years that we’ve been here we’ve seen it develop rather dramatically from a small university ‘village’ to something that could become a city,” he said. He is more comfortable with the small town feel, and that combined with the sophistication of academia and what he calls “pleasant people” that appreciate his craft, Blacksburg offers a lot to people young and old who migrate to the New River Valley from across the US to either live, work or go to school. Click VIMEO in the player to read full story! [THE ROANOKE TIMES]
DEMOLITION MAN
Brent Atwood has been demolishing cars for four years at the Nationwide Demolition Derby at the New River Valley Fair in Dublin, VA. The fair draws people from all over the valley to try their luck at crushing each other’s cars for a small cash prize and braggin’ rights. [THE ROANOKE TIMES]
GRIEVING, HEALING
Through their strong faith and the love of their daughter, Brian and Desirae Harman of Floyd County, Va. cope with the death of their son Chance, 4, from a brain tumor in 2007. [THE ROANOKE TIMES]