Vera Wilson
Vera worked for the City of Raleigh for 28 years, serving as the director of Halifax, Southgate and Apollo Heights Community Centers.
I grew up in Garner, and worked for the City of Raleigh for 28 years, retiring in 2006.
I was a Director of the Community Centers at Halifax, Southgate, and lastly, Apollo Heights. That's where I ended my days of work and retired into rest and relaxation.
I worked with all different ages. I remember going to Biltmore Hills and teaching a lot of the kids how to swim because they didn't know how. I loved working with older people. They give you so much knowledge. I worked with teenagers, basketball teams, a Girl Scout group and a girls’ drill team.
I went to school in Garner. My dad, during integration, he wanted us to get all of our education, read the right books and have the right experiences so we would go far. So, he transferred all his kids to Garner Elementary.
I was going to predominantly white schools when I was in the fourth grade. It was quite an ordeal for me. The N word was just too much. We had rocks thrown at buses. Fourth grade was the first time I encountered discrimination. I remember one time I told the teacher about something that was going on. I don't know if that was good or bad because, when you think about it, I kind of became the victim. Because she took me out in the hallway and then talked to the to the class about being so bulling.
Q: So that made you feel more ostracized?
V: Yes, more, instead of really helping.
But I grew up and I got over it. I continued my education at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. I studied Recreation. I started out in Nursing. If you wanted to be a nurse, you had to be very caring. You have to take care of people. When I decided to change my major, in my junior year, I said, now what is it that I can get into that is similar? And believe it or not, Recreation was just right for me.
I enjoyed my years here. To be able to get a job here, come back to Raleigh, that was good. I met my husband here, it’s just wonderful. Somebody asked me one time, are you still in Raleigh? And I said, yeah, I can’t help it if I was born where I was supposed to be. Watch Vera Wilson tell her story.
Yvonne Peppers
Yvonne grew up in Garner and has worked part time at Barwell Park since the Community Center first opened.
We were the first Blacks to integrate Garner elementary and high school. My sister Vera was at the elementary school, and I was at the high school.
At the high school, it was myself and three other Blacks, out of a whole high school, in 1964. The school integrated totally in 1968. The sad part is that Garner had their big Centennial and they did not include about the integration of the schools. They left that out.
Q: Vera said she experienced discrimination in elementary school?
Y: It was a lot, being that it was just four of us. I used to get notes passed to me or thrown at me, mean notes. Walking home from school, we got heckled from the all Black school, and we got it from the white school as well.
With my sister, they had her in a class where the kids were a little slower, that she did not belong in. One teacher that saw that she did not need to be in that [remedial] class and moved her into a class that was excelling
My dad was a minister. He used to say, one thing I can tell you, Yvonne, whatever you learn, you learn it. Because they cannot take that away from you.
I guess you could say we were bullied. I didn't fear what the kids said but I was afraid I was a little afraid about being pushed down the stairs. That never happened, but that was one of the one of the things that I was afraid of. But we made it through.
After graduating from high school, I went to NC Central University in Durham, and I worked as a department manager at the Hudson Belk, a big department store downtown. I worked in retail.
After I retired, I came here, I've been working here part time since they opened the doors, about 16 years. I feel like if I can greet someone with a smile and a hello. When [new families] come in, I like to think that I make them feel welcome when they come through the doors, whether they’re Hispanic or Black or white or whoever. That makes me feel good about my job.
Esther and Robert Karanja
Esther is a dental assistant and has a photography studio. She and Robert come to the park to play and see friends.
We came to Barwell Community Day so the kids could have a lot of fun. We come to this park a lot. It’s the best park we have around here. We’ve lived here almost ten years. We do a lot of competitions with family and friends.
The boys, Robert and Benecio, are best friends. They have been in the same class since kindergarten. They are in first grade together.
I'm a dental assistant. I started a photo studio in November, 2024. It is called Good People Society photo/podcast Studio, at 807 Spring Forest Rd. All are welcome. Watch Esther tell her story.
Shuntrelle and Nasir Jones
Shuntrelle is a realtor in Raleigh. She and Nasir enjoy coming to Barwell playground.
I've been in the Southeast Raleigh community for 17 years. I’m a realtor here in the area. I love serving the people in the community.
We're here to participate in some of the activities, get out Get some fresh air.
We went to the playground and the slide. We’re going to hit the ice truck.
Q: What are you excited to eat?
N: The ice cream!
Q: Do you come to this park a lot?
S: Yes, we go to the playground. And we also go to the community center
Q: Real estate seems to be taking off in this area, right? Is it hard to find houses for people that need them?
S: No, you’ve just got to be creative. Watch Shuntrelle tell her story.
Colleen Phillips
Colleen comes to Barwell for events, for meetings of her Homeowner's Association, and to vote.
I've lived nearby for four years, and I have visited Barwell Community Center for HOA (Home Owner’s Association) meetings, and I’ve come here to vote and for festivals and special events.
I moved from New York to Raleigh for the wonderful weather— I liked that Raleigh has all four seasons, and I have friends and family here. I enjoy being two hours from the beach and a few hours from the mountains. I love the walking trails in Raleigh and the fact that there is always something fun and culturally interesting do here. Watch Colleen tell her story.
Vickie Davis
Vickie had a career in banking and in social work, and now is a recreation leader at Barwell Road Community Center.
I live about five minutes down the road. I'm originally from New Bern, North Carolina, on the coast.
Q: What was like growing up there?
V: It was really nice. We are one of the oldest towns in North Carolina, New Bern, and we have Tryon Palace. Governor Tryon was responsible for making sure that we had a nice place to visit who come from out of town. They would go to Governor Tryon’s place, and it was like he was still there. They would come view the gardens. It's a beautiful place.
My job transferred me here. I got bored a little bit where I was working. I was a banker. The bank president thought that I would be a better fit here, because he said I had a bubbly personality and “you would do well floating around Raleigh going to different banks.”
I really enjoyed it, I was there for about 20 years in banking, and decided to change careers. I ended up being a social worker at Wake County Human Services, and I retired there after 21 years.
Q: What did you like about being a social worker?
V: I liked my clients. I loved helping them, and they became a part of me as well. They would, sometimes they just wanted to talk or shoulder to lean on. I was there to help and assist, and also to do the job that I was supposed to do to help them.
Now I am working part time here at Barwell Road Community Center. I am a recreation leader. I sign up people for Zumba classes, Showtokan [martial arts] open play gym, and just make them feel welcome.
I couldn't sit still long, so I decided to come here. I love working with people and families. Family here is very important. I love working with each and every one of them. Watch Vickie tell her story.
Sonya Jones and Lucius Turner
Sonya and Lucius, siblings, joined the Senior Group after they retired from Wake County Sheriff’s Department (Lucius) and NC Division of Employment Security Commission (Sonya.)
S: Our mom worked for Corning glass, and our dad worked for Brown-Wynne Funeral Home.
We lived in Walnut Terrace, Washington Terrace, on Edenton Street, Rosemont Avenue over in the Cameron village area [now The Village District.] We stayed in Kingwood Forest, in Idlewild, and Southgate.
We moved to Abiline, Texas in ’71, but we didn't have any family there. In ’77, when I graduated, I moved back here to Raleigh. Then everybody came back. My mom told my stepdad, you better find a job in Raleigh North Carolina, because my children are going to be there.
L: I went to Prairie View A& M University, in Texas, a HBCU about 45 minutes from Houston, and I went to Cisco Junior College.
S: I went to Hardbarger Business College here in Raleigh. I ended up working for the employment office[office [the NC Division of Employment Security Commission] for 36 ½ years, in the appeals department, I was supervisor of the communications unit. We scheduled the unemployment hearings. I retired June 30, 2015.
Since I've been retired, I've been catering. I also cater with my youngest son, he's a chef. We do southern food, we cater weddings, baby showers. My brother had been eating my food ever since I was eight years old, I've been cooking just that long.
L: Sonya was cooking dinners for our whole family, when she was eight years old.
S: My mom couldn't stand to cook, so when I learned how to cook, she let me cook.
L: I retired from Wake County, Sheriff Department. I worked in detention, over 32 1/2 years.
We worked with people who got arrested, you have to know how to talk to people. With the detention to jail, people are arrestees but they haven’t been convicted. They're there usually for a short while, but sometimes, depending on the charges, they may be there for a year or two, or three.
L: I used to come to Barwell Road Community Center to work out downstairs. Mr. Kevin told me about the Senior Group.
S: He joined, he told me about it, and I joined. I like the communication, learning new people, different activities that we do.
L: I’m thankful for the fellowship, that's a good thing for us to enjoy one another. We come here, we cut up and talk about different things.
Diana Bonner
Diana worked on helicopters for the military before moving to NC. She is the treasurer for Barwell Road Senior Group.
I live in Garner, about 17 minutes from Barwell Road. I’m in the Barwell Senior Group. We vote on what we want to do—everybody has a say, and most of the time everybody wants to do the activity that is proposed, so it's kind of easy to decide. I’m the treasurer.
We collect dues, $10 a month. At the end of the month, we have a luncheon that we buy out of that money.
I could have gone to the senior center near where I live, but I’d rather be in a group. We do things outside of the center, instead of sitting in the center all the time. We have flexibility to go different places and do things because we're taking up dues we can use. Senior centers, everything is inside their own center and they don't really venture out too much. I feel like we are more active.
I've been in North Carolina eight years. I moved here from Connecticut when I retired. I had friends down here, and I got married four years ago. In Connecticut, I worked in Sikorsky Aircraft, making helicopters for the Navy and Army and the Marines.
There are a lot of things to do down here. We went to the symphony last fall, they were playing Motown music at the Arts Theater in downtown Raleigh. I really enjoyed that, it was really good. My husband and I went. When we, the Senior Group, go places, we meet there, or we meet at Barwell and we carpool.
I've been a member of the senior group for over a year, and I’ve made a lot of friends. What I see is, the seniors are having so much fun. We take new members all the time. Whoever wants to come, it's open to the public.
Lucy Watkins
Lucy, a member of the Barwell Road Senior Group, is enjoying retirement after working and raising her sons in Raleigh.
I grew up in Knightdale in the country, but I moved to Raleigh about 40 some years ago. A couple of miles down the road.
I moved into the city when I was probably about 20 years old.
I had three jobs. First, I was I worked at a place called Raleigh Linen Services. I left there and went to a Duraw Manufacturing and then I went to the Research Triangle Park for Northern Telecom, where I retired from. At Raleigh Linen Services I was a linen sorter. At Research Triangle Park, I was a quality inspector.
I live a good eight miles from here. I was told, as I retired and I wanted something to do, I was told to come and check [Barwell Road Senior Group] out. And I did, and I love it.
Q: Who told you that?
L: Mr. Watson.
Q: He's a good advocate.
I have two sons that live in Raleigh. One works here part time, at Barwell.
Q: So, what are some of the things that you like to do in Raleigh?
L: Well, right now, I just like to do anything I can find to do
Q: So, you're having a great time?
L: Oh, yes, I am.
Jackie Lallo
Jackie moved to Raleigh for her job in Human Resources. She and Benicio love Raleigh’s green spaces and museums.
Community Day last April was the first time we’d been to Barwell Road park. We have not been back to Barwell Road park since Community Day in April, but we really loved it! We have great memories of that day, and getting to be a part of this project, also.
My son Benicio and [Ester’s son] Robert went to school together last year and really liked to play during recess and sometimes play video games together.
We live about 15 mins away. I am in Human Resources, and not originally from Raleigh. I moved from Wilmington to Raleigh for work. We really appreciate the green spaces and activities all around Raleigh to explore. Especially the museums! Watch Jackie tell her story.
Rachel Wiggs
Rachel does community outreach for the nonprofit Advanced Community Health, making a difference in people’s lives by connecting them to resources.
I’m with Advanced Community Health, we’re a nonprofit. Advanced Community Health has been around for over 51 years in Wake and Franklin Counties, we have several locations. We are a comprehensive health care facility-- we're like a one stop shop. We have primary care for adults, pediatrics for kids, behavioral health services, nutrition and mental health services, and an in-house pharmacy.
We help everyone despite their insurance status, We take most insurances, and then we have something called the Sliding Fee Scale, which is based on personal income and household size.
Immigration status does not matter. It's for kids and adults and seniors, it’s for everybody. We also have a pre-natal, OB-GYN program, and we are adding more services for expectant mothers. We do take walk ins, but there may not be availability, so we suggest you call first. The number is 919-833-3111.
I've been with Advanced Community Health for about four years. I started off as a temporary employee during COVID, doing outreach and helping with registration for COVID vaccine testing. Then I worked my way to the front desk, checking in patients, and then I transitioned to the marketing and outreach team doing community outreach.
Prior to that, I was working part time at the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina with the Summer Meals Program. And then I have a background in the restaurant and retail industry. I went to North Carolina Central University.
My favorite thing is being able to make a difference in someone else's life just by a conversation, by connecting them to the resources that we have within our health center, and just seeing that smile on their face as well.
Lavongue Mawley
Lavongue does outreach for SouthLight Health Care and provides peer support to people in transition.
I'm doing an outside event for SouthLight Health Care. We are doing a community event with Barwell Road Park. We are partners with them, we do this every year.
I do peer support, and I am establishing a resource center to meet people that are in transition exactly where they are. They are in transition from drugs and alcohol, we provide mental health support. We help them with management of treatment, counseling, therapy, housing, and things of that nature.
Most of our clients are self-referred. We've been around Wake County for the last 50 years, so people know that we are here. We serve 600 people daily.
We work with people with insurance or without insurance. We have people who can interpret if they don’t speak English, and we don't care about their immigration status, we won't ask them that. We help anybody who needs help, from the Penthouse to the outhouse.
We've been around for 50 years, so a lot of people know we exist. Events like I'm doing today, we're passing out information for people that might not know about us. People who come to our clinic pass the word on to other people.
I had my own personal problems, and I’ve worked professionally for 47 years. This is my way of giving back because somebody gave to me, and this is my way of giving back. It’s a no judgement zone. Watch Lavongue tell his story.
Errico Moore
Errico is a part time Recreation Leader at Barwell Road Community Center, and a full time property tax evaluation specialist for the State of North Carolina.
I am a recreation leader at Barwell Road Community Center,
This summer will be two years, so a year and a half, it's a part time job.
Q: How'd you get involved with it?
E: I came up here one day and I said, oh, this looks like a fun place to work, and I’ve been loving it ever since.
I live about six minutes away.
I am from Wilmington, North Carolina, but I've been in Raleigh since 1998. I love it.
I work full time for the State, as well. I am a property tax evaluation specialist.
I love working at the center. I love meeting people, talking to people, just engaging. I love community service! Watch Errico tell her story.
Dr. Ulysses Lang
Ulysses chairs the Southeast Citizen Advisory Council and is a member of the Community Engagement Board of Raleigh.
I'm chair of the Southeast Citizen Advisory Council (SECAC). We do a lot of work with the Southeast Raleigh community. We’re involved with a Master Plan for developing Barwell Road Park. I'm also a member of the Community Engagement Board (CEB) of Raleigh. The Community Engagement Board will help to develop, evaluate, and implement the City of Raleigh's community engagement efforts. The board works with Raleigh’s city council to affect outreach for the community on city policies, practices and projects that may impact residents. The Citizen Engagement Board is appointed by City Council. These are all volunteer positions.
I'm a retired veterinarian, from the US Department of Agriculture. I moved to Raleigh in 2002.
Barwell Road neighborhoods have changed, and will continue to change. It's one of the newer areas of expansion of growth and development in southeast Raleigh. The park has not grown with the neighborhood, but the Community Center is doing well, and the park has the community garden and the playground. The unique playground was partly funded by the Panthers.
The rest of the activities that we have for the plan has not been started yet because of funding. We have three parts of this plan we call Play, Learn and Discover. We have plans for fields for soccer or football, baseball, an aquatic center and a splash pad.
In the back part of the park where the wooded area is, we are planning a discovery area with trails and meeting places, theater or team discussions and exercises, maybe zip lines. The park is about (54) fifty-four acres all together, but we share it with the community center and the school. We want to work with the city and maybe private sector to see if we can get funding to complete the master plan.
Originally there were 19 CACs around the City. Their function is to work as a liaison between the City and residents, SECAC brings residents information about all Raleigh programs and allows residents to give feedback to the City about how programs will impact the community.
The park is one of SECAC`s projects of which I am very interested, because I live in that area. Our SECAC deals with everything, like new development in the area, when they widen the roads, any issue that the city deals with that impacts the community and residents. For example, right down the street from Barwell is the Old Towne, a new development that was planned maybe 10 or 15 years ago. It's a diverse area. We worked in partnership with the developers, residents and city officials.
I was doing outreach here at Barwell Community Day to make sure residents were familiar with the Southeast Citizen Advisory Council, and the Citizen Engagement Board, to learn how get involved and give input on issues that impact them.
As they extend the 540, from Knightdale, around to 40, we’re going to see increased growth all around that highway as the property owners/farmers sell their property to contractors that want to build. That's what we're seeing. It’s not the City, people want to sell their property to contractors and make more money. There's no one thing that's impacting our area, there's a lot going on in the city that people just aren't aware of, until it impacts them.
One of the sayings I have is that informed plus engaged, equals empowered. So at least keep you informed. And if you want to get engaged, then you can be empowered.
Emonie, Cienna, Dominique, and Corey Crosby
Dominque works for Wake County Cooperative Extension. Her kids Emonie, Cienna and CJ participate in sports and community activities at Barwell.
Dominique:
We live in Southeast Raleigh, near Barwell. I’m originally from Bronx, New York, but I've been in Raleigh for well over 10 years. Barwell is my local community center, where I participate in activities and my HOA partners with Barwell community center to do activities.
I work for Wake County Cooperative Extension, connect them with organizations that can provide resources, as well as identifying grants and opportunities for the organizations to continue this mission.
We do community gardens. Barwell is one of the sites we sponsored to create the community garden. We also have gardeners in Wake County, at our Wake County Extension office, who can help educate those who are interested in learning about gardening, having their soil tested to see if it's applicable, and helping them garden, those are resources that we provide as well.
My kids participate in summer camp and extracurricular activities at Barwell. I'll start with the oldest, Emonie is now 16, and she's interested in volunteering and working now. She likes being a community counselor, she likes to support the youth educational programs as a leader and mentor. Cienna is now 12, and she is an athlete, she likes to run and race and do track. Barwell, through the City of Raleigh, offers a track group, so she participates in that. CJ, Corey Junior, he is now 8, and he participates in football nearby, and he participates in sports and summer camp at Barwell. Watch Dominique tell her story.
JoAnn Metzler
Joanne is the Recreation Business Office Manager for the City of Raleigh. She volunteered to work at Barwell Community Day.
I volunteered to work at Barwell Road Community Day. I work for the City of Raleigh. I like to get out in the community when I can, so that's why I'm here. I am the Recreation
Business Office Manager. I do a lot of indoor administration stuff, so it's nice to get outside.
I am absolutely having fun here today. I was supposed leave at 1:00 and I'm still here.
I live about 15 minutes away from here.
I like working for the City. I like anything and helps the community.
I'm from Pittsburgh.
Q: What brought you to Raleigh?
J: I just decided to make a change. My son graduated from college, and I thought, well, what do I want to do? I put the call out a couple of places and ended up getting the job here. And this is where I landed. I had never been to Raleigh before I moved here. I’ve been here a little over a year. I just bought a house, so I'm going to be staying.
Murriel and Sariah Bennett
Muriel, an accounting tech for the State of North Carolina, and her granddaughter Sariah live in the Barwell Road neighborhood.
We got wind of the community coming together out here and we decided to come and have some fun for the day. We live in the Riverbrooke subdivision. I've lived here, pretty much all my life.
When I was her age, I don't know that this community center was even here.
You would have seen a wooded area, but that's what the City of Raleigh is known for, the City of Oaks, so we are known for our trees. And our Southern-ness.
Raleigh is a good place to grow up. Good community schools, and school activities. I'm an accounting tech with the State of North Carolina.
Q: Do you guys come to this park a lot?
M: Not as often as we would like to, but pretty much. My granddaughter is with me. We come out. We hold our Homeowners Association meetings here, also.
Dariel Dixon
Dariel volunteers at Barwell Road Community Garden, helping connect people to where their food comes from.
I’m a community volunteer here with the Barwell Road community garden. We're getting set up and we're going to start planting things. I live nearby.
I think that the cost of food has gone up so much. Gardening is a good way of augmenting that and offsetting some of those costs. And it is definitely a thing that you're more conscious of when you know where it came from.
Q: What inspires you to want to volunteer your time.
D: You have to believe in what you're doing, right? You got to believe in that there's a purpose that you're going to gain from this, there is value and something to be gained. There is always value in being paid for things. But there’s also value in doing things for yourself.
I want to make sure that not only I can benefit from this, but also other people can benefit from this.
Barbara Sutton and Barbara Ellis
Barbara S and Barbara E both moved to Raleigh from Whitakers in Rocky Mount. They are enjoying their retirement in Raleigh.
BS: I moved here from Whitakers in Rocky Mount. We have really seen some changes in Raleigh. Where we wanted to move, originally, I said I would never live there because there are no stores and there’s nothing nearby. And now it is built up.
BE: And now you wouldn't want to live over there…
BS: I wouldn’t want to live over there for the opposite reason!
BE: I moved to Wake County in ‘99. I'm from that same little town, Whitakers, North Carolina. We like living in a bigger city. I like to shop, to travel.
BS: I love to go to flea markets. We love the park, we love walking when the weather is good. The fairgrounds.
BE: Today we went to most of the vendor booths. Barbara actually won a fan.
BS: I won a fan.
BS: We came out for Community Day. We came to the one last year.
We’re retired, so every day is Saturday.
BE: Every day is Saturday. I won’t say it’s a free day, because we find something to do, but we don’t have to report somewhere.
Marilynn Roberts
Marilynn operates Sprinkles of Joy Childcare in Southeast Raleigh and is learning about the garden to share with her preschool kids.
I heard about the community fair. I wanted to come out and see what was going on. I have a childcare program, Sprinkles of Joy Childcare, and I wanted to start my garden. So I came out to look at the garden and see what you guys are planting this year.
I have five children to take care of, ranging from age infant up to five or six years old. I live very close to here.
Q: So you're hoping to integrate a garden and then the children will actually get hands on experience?
M: Yes, I'm a flower girl. Every year I do flowers, but I want to try to do a vegetable and fruit garden this year. So hopefully I'm able to accomplish that by coming here and seeing the garden.
I have a Facebook page, Sprinkles of Joy Childcare. I’ve been doing it since 2010. I really love my children. I enjoy my families. I'm just so excited to have wonderful families come in every year. Most time they stay with me from infant until they go to school age, so I love what I do.
I'm actually a preschool teacher. I love teaching. As long as they can learn, they can talk, they’re here to learn. Let's do it!
I'm from Vance County, actually. But I've been in Wake County for about 30 years now, so this is home to me. Every year, every summer I have the most beautiful yard in the whole community and neighbors say, oh you make the community look so pretty because of your flowers. I love, love flowers. This year I will definitely try to do fruit and vegetables along with my flowers. I have a separate part for them, but I am going to do my own garden for my preschool kids this year. So hopefully it goes well, like my flowers do!
Bonita Sheppard
Bonita is the team lead for the Community Action Team, working with the Southeast Raleigh Community Advisory Council to develop Barwell Community Garden.
I am here at Community Day to offer the community access to our new garden. We are the Community Action Team (CAT). I'm a team lead here, and today, we're planting with our community. This is our first project.
CAT works with the Southeast Raleigh Community Advisory Council. The Community Action Team that we work with does projects all over Southeast Raleigh.
Q: I see a lot of planting beds that have yet to get planted.
What's going to happen here today?
B: Today, our volunteers will plant some of the plants. Once they grow and we harvest them, they're free to the community.
I do gardening and houseplants. I'm actually a replant myself, from Boston, Massachusetts. I'm replanting, and I’m replanted.
Q: What are these plants going to be, these little guys here?
B: We have three different kinds of beets, and we have cilantro.
We're going to water them, we have a water pump here. We build these planters about a month ago. The community came out. They were prefab and we put them together, that was another Community Day. It was really awesome.
We will be planting more plants. Within a couple of weeks, we have tomatoes coming in. And then on this side eventually will also be another 12 beds.
We have a website. And you can look at the garden sign [on the fence of the Community Garden.] That sign has information on how to get in touch with us
Brandi Moneill Williams
Brandi is a busy mom who finds her Woosah moments working in Barwell’s community garden.
As you can see from my shirt, I’m a vegan. I have been doing it for a year going on two. Something I wish I would have realized a long time ago is, health is wealth. The best way to get your food is, plant it yourself. It doesn't get much easier than that.
Food is so simple, and we make it so hard. But you can make some delicious stuff that is so simple. It all starts from a garden.
I live five minutes away from the park. This area [in Raleigh] is lacking knowledge of plants. This is my first time having a garden and not going to buy at the farmers’ market. Here, with this community garden. It means a lot to the community, because eventually, so many people will come here and learn the art of gardening.
This is wealth. This garden will change how people perceive food and planting and gardening. They'll come by and see it and ask questions. Eventually they’ll say, oh we can come here and get some plants if we help out and plant. It's that full circle thing.
To be honest, a lot of the healthier places to get groceries are not on this side of town. Having it here means a lot.
When I'm not gardening, I do a little bit of too much stuff! I have kids, age 17, 16 and 15, they always have something going on. My son's in ROTC. My daughter's in Color Guard. I'm always doing something. I love going to try new vegan restaurants.
Q: Is there a mental health benefit to gardening?
BM: Yes. De-stress. Woosah. Fresh air. The sun. Vitamin D is so important. The sun! It's a Woosah moment. For me, it means breathe. My kids always ask, why are you always doing this, why are you always doing that, with the community of volunteers? It's a Woosah moment for relaxation. It's me time. I want to do my passion. I'm always doing stuff for them, but this is not for anybody else. I'm just doing this because I want to do it.
Gage Sheffler
Gage works for the City of Zebulon Parks and plays on the Triangle Thunder Division 3 Wheelchair Basketball Team that practices at Barwell Road Gym.
I'm currently on Triangle Thunder, which is a Division 3 Wheelchair Basketball team. I've been on it going on two years. I come here every Thursday, as much as I can.
I found out about the team from one of my police department buddies. They raised enough money for me to play wheelchair basketball, which is the career that I want to go into. They helped me out, and they found this team that's closest to me, so I ended up joining it.
D3, we just stay on the East Coast. D2 goes to Kansas, Illinois, places like that.
Q: That's the team, if you get really good, you go up to that?
G: Yes. There’s D3, D2 and D1. D3 is beginner level. D2 is intermediate. And then D1 is professional, Olympics, all that.
I'm from Pennsylvania originally, I've been living here in North Carolina for about seven years. We ended up deciding that we wanted to stay down here for a while. So now, I'm staying down here the rest of my life. I work for the Zebulon Parks and Rec, I've been working there for going on a year. And on the side, I do engineering for motors.
Q: And what's your favorite thing about Barwell Park?
G: Basketball, the community, the staff all are very nice and polite, respectful. Very, very helpful when we need it. Very outgoing, nice people.
Matthew McDonald
Matthew owns his own business. A member of the team, he practices with the Triangle Thunder at Barwell Road Gym.
I’m one of the basketball players for the Triangle Thunder. I’ve been coming here since I was in high school. I took some time before and after college, and once I finished college, I've been full time for the last three years. I live in Wake Forest, 20, 25, minutes away.
Barwell has everything, has really good people, and the facilities super nice. I love the staff. They're always friendly. It's just a good energy here
I studied criminal justice. I'm not currently working in that field. I actually own my own business as an entrepreneur, and I opened up a CBD shop,
Q: How did you get involved in that?
M: Joint pain and a lot of pain from training, basketball, working out, being physical, just having really bad joints. I needed options for recovery, and so I started using CBD products, and they were really helpful.
William Phillip Watson
Phillip, a member of the Senior Group, works part time at Barwell, and looks after Anderson Point Park.
I work part time at Barwell, on the front desk. I answer the phone—I call it directing traffic. I started in the City of Raleigh working at Anderson Point Park, off Anderson Point Drive and Arthur Rogers Lane.
Anderson Point was a large farm that was donated to the City. They grew tobacco and corn, and a man had horses on the farm, but when I started with park in ‘99, the man hadn't farmed properly in 20 years or more.
The park backed up to my place—I built a house right on the corner. So, it was easy for me to check on the horses and anything that needed to be done, and I helped with the transition from privately owned farm to it being a city park. Once the park opened, they called me the caretaker. I still do that, part time.
Mr. Anderson, the owner of the farm, lived in the cottage there. They moved the house when they built Highway 264. As Raleigh grew, parks grew, everything grew. When I had my house on that corner, the subdivision had just started. I used to drive a school bus on the same road where I later built my house, and all that was farmland.
My first job was with Lowe's companies, Lowe's hardware, in ‘65. First, I was a foreman, then personnel manager and then supervisor for delivery service. Then I went into sales, pro and consumer goods, until 1981. I was the first Black in Professional Sales for the whole company. While I worked there, I had a handyman service. When I left Lowes, I opened a private supper club. I had a towing company, a daycare, a cab and a commercial cleaning business. I was always doing something. The guys used to call me 1000 Watt. I was a farm boy! I was a jack of all trades. When you are a farm boy, you learn so many things to do.
Q: Did you love growing up on a farm?
P: I loved it. I love stuff like that. I miss planting the seeds, the growth of vegetables. We raised everything, we raised food, we had hogs with chickens and cows.
Barwell Road Park is a cultural resource. I am in the senior group that meets on Tuesdays. It’s for people 55 and up. We have speakers and reading groups. We do nutrition. We go to movies. We play Bingo. People who want to join can call or just show up.
Larry Montague
Larry retired after many years as a chemist and chemical quality assurance technician. He works at Barwell Park part time and is a member of the Senior Group.
I’ve been working at the park, part time, for about three years. I do a combination of things, answer the phones, make sure doors are locked, make sure the basketball games are going smooth. They have tournaments here, basketball and martial arts.
I am also part of the Senior Group, I joined to get out of the house, meet new people and form new bonds. We check on what's going on in each other’s lives. We go on outings. We’ve been to the farmers market, to movies, to bowling. And they serve food!
I retired from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals after 22 years. I worked in labs as a chemist, I was a chemical quality assurance technician. At Mallinckrodt, we made acetaminophen which is the main ingredient for Tylenol. We’d make it in powder form and send it to other companies. I helped test product to make sure it was alright for consumption, before it went out the door. It would go out all over the world.
Before that I worked at the State Mental Hospital for about 20 years, and I worked at Central Prison for about four years. At the mental health facility, we were called health technicians, working with patient care. It could be challenging, but I felt like if you get to know the patients, and treat them like you want to be treated, you don’t have a problem. If something happened, there was something going on with the person, and when I sat down with them, they calmed down. If you treat them well, you can deal with them and they can deal with you, too.
Of these careers, pharmaceuticals was my favorite. It involved a lot of multitasking. You have to set up your own way of doing things. They couldn't start a new project unless you got the numbers right. They could get shut down if they didn’t have the numbers right, and it could cost them a bunch of money!
