LAURINBURG —The Rev. Michael Edds believes that love is transformative. And that the children are the future of the community. While he’s technically retired, Edds keeps busy spreading love across the county and bringing people together to help kids.
This summer, Edds and his friend, retired teacher Suellen Stanley Arnett got together to put on a nine-week program of crafts, games and stories, along with bringing in the summer lunch program to feed the kids in Washington Park.
Edds, who is a member of the Laurinburg City Housing Authority Board, received permission from the community center in the neighborhood and Arnett recruited a group of retired teachers and volunteers that make the program go. And for nine weeks, the kids in that neighborhood were fed, loved and allowed to live in their imagination for a few hours a day.
Edds said Cross Pointe Church had programs for kids in Washington Park before, but the pandemic changed everything, in-person events were canceled and Kids Night Out, the church’s outreach program was one of the events that had to be let go.
“Over at Cross Point we had singing, games and Bible stories,” he said. The church also fed the children, because they were hungry.
“A lot of people don’t know this, but Scotland County has the highest child hunger rate in the state,” he said. Edds knew about the summer lunch program, so he reached out to Pastor Faye Coates from the Restoring Hope Center to secure lunch and Arnett brought in volunteers to help with arts and crafts, tell stories, play games and sing with the children.
Arnett said this program was so rewarding. “And the response of the children was just so heartwarming. They were just precious. They would have their breakfast and we would go in about 10 o’clock and spend about an hour to an hour and a half with them, just playing games, playing with Play-Doh, painting, making bracelets and jewelry with beads. And they were so excited about everything,” she said.
Arnett said the children gave them a lot of joy.
For Lavodia Jones, who volunteered with the program, she knows that activities like this help the kids and parents alike.
“With COVID and everything that happened, a lot of kids are still lost. And for parents who can’t help their kids with some of the work, this is a great program,” she said. “You have kids that might not get a meal at home and it’s a big help to the parents.”
Jones said the cost of food and inflation takes stress off parents who may be struggling to provide meals for their kids.
“[The kids] looked forward to coming there and I enjoyed it,” she said.
Edds said this fall, the program will continue with Arnett and her team visiting Washington Park one Saturday a month to provide tutoring and arts and crafts for kids in the neighborhood.
But more than anything else, Edds said, they will be providing love to the children and letting them know that the community cares about them.
And in turn, he said this lays the foundation to build a stronger community.
“What really burdens me is we sit in our churches and in church services while the devil is out there and the gangs and the world is destroying our kids. We need to get out there and do something. Jesus said where I am, my servant will be also.”
Edds said showing young people love and giving them a better path to follow can change the outcome in their lives and make citizens who want to be a part of the good in the community.
Cheris Hodges can be reached at (910) 506-3169 or [email protected].