LUMBERTON — It takes a village to raise a child.

That’s what Rhandi Cooper and Tyrell Taylor were thinking when the concept of The Village was born.

The Village is one of, if not, the newest nonprofit organization to pop up in Lumberton targeted toward helping at-risk youth in the area.

”It started as an idea and turned into a movement,” said Taylor, the organization’s vice president. “We’ve got school teachers, a photographer, barbers. There’s a whole bunch of us, that’s why we call ourselves The Village.”

“A group of us came together and just brainstormed on what we wanted to do and how we wanted to go about helping children and empowering them,” Cooper said.

Cooper, 31, is president of The Village. She said that being a native of South Lumberton and being a single parent to her children gave her knowledge of what is needed for youth in the community. She is working toward a degree in Mathematics Education, with the goal of becoming a high school teacher.

“I have two kids, a boy and a girl, and I’ve always been inspired to help other youth,” Cooper said.

Her children’s father is deceased, and she wanted to help others who are growing up in single-parent households or in poverty, Cooper said.

“A lot of kids are raised in single-parent homes, and a lot of kids grow up in poverty, and I just wanted them to have something positive to do especially right now while they’re out of school and nothing is really going on,” she said.

Taylor, 36, has been in Lumberton for the past 23 years. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and said both cities has similar struggles when it comes to youth. He grew up “a troubled teen without a father” and his mother worked three jobs to get them through, Taylor said.

“A lot of kids are living the same lifestyle,” he said. “I’m not going to say it’s all the same everywhere but every neighborhood I’ve been from, I’ve seen the same thing — poverty, no role models, nobody to look up to — and I’ve realized if I can do something to help then I will.”

The Village is in its beginning stages, still growing its membership of youth and volunteers. Cooper and Taylor envision the nonprofit growing into a program that offers youth role models, activities to keep them busy and opportunities in the real world.

”I want them to have some positive role models,” Cooper said. “There’s a lot of bad stuff going on but there’s also a lot of good stuff and we want to bring that to the forefront so the children can see it.”

“We want to show them there’s more than what’s out there in these streets,” Taylor said. “We want to give them hope, inspiration.”

Operations are slow but steady in spite of COVID-19.

“We got a lot of ideas for The Village that we can’t do yet because of the pandemic,” Taylor said. “Hopefully things will turn around soon.”

The Village was able to host its first event, called Steering the Wheel of Life Bike Ride, recently, which involved about 20 children and five adults biking down the trail from Fifth Street in Lumberton to Luther Britt Park. Once they reached the park, youth were provided a lunch and given educational materials.

“It turned out pretty good. The kids had fun, and we had a lot of participation from kids and the adults,” Cooper said. “Adults just showed up to help out.”

For updates or more information about The Village or events, visits the group’s Facebook page “The Village,” or send an email to [email protected]. Applications will be available soon for people who want to volunteer.

“We welcome everyone, so come and be a part of this,” Taylor said. “I see it growing into something really, really big.”

Tomeka Sinclair can be reached at [email protected] or 910-416-5865.