Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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SEPTEMBER 12-18, 2018 UCW 23 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Hope Mills News & Views NEWS Members Credit Union sponsors walk for ALMSHOUSE by EARL VAUGHAN JR. Photo credit: Elizabeth Blevins Jon Hamby It's time to dust off those hippie sandals in the back of the closet and dig out the tie-dye T-shirt you've got in mothballs. Saturday, Oct. 6, the Members Credit Union office in Hope Mills holds its second annual Peace-Love-Walk benefit for the ALMSHOUSE of Hope Mills. Jon Hamby, member relations coordinator with MEMCU, said a focus of the credit union's involve- ment in a community is to help with community events and community- based charities. "We already had a connection with the ALMSHOUSE, and when we were looking to add something else, we had the idea of the walk,'' he said. The walk's name is borrowed from the thrift shop operated by the ALMSHOUSE. "Most of the time when you go to a thrift store, you usually find older clothing,'' Hamby said. Using that theme, the walk was tied to the era of the '60s and '70s, and the watchwords of that era, peace and love, were added. MEMCU is covering the complete cost of promot- ing the walk, from advertising and banners to free T-shirts that will be given to all the paying partici- pants and sold at a discount after the walk is over. Hamby stressed the walk is totally noncompetitive. "It's an hour walk,'' he said. "You can walk one lap, ... five laps, however many laps you can get in.'' This year's walk will be held somewhat in con- junction with the move of Members Credit Union's Hope Mills office from Trade Street to a new loca- tion in the old Bi-Lo Shopping Center. The move should be complete around the middle of this month, and the grand opening is scheduled for Oct. 5, the day before the Peace-Love-Walk. The walk will take place at Hope Mills Municipal Park Oct. 6. Registration starts at 8 a.m., and the actual walk begins at 8:30 a.m. At 9:45 a.m., a fashion show will be held for those who've decided to come dressed in their best '60s or '70s clothing. There will also be a bounce house, face-painting and a live DJ with music. Activities do not have a set ending time, but Hamby said things usually begin to die down around noon. There are multiple divisions for people to enter. Children up to the age of 12 can register for $5 and will receive a certificate. Adult registration by Oct. 5 is $20 and includes a free T-shirt. Registration the day of the event is $25. Honor registrations to have someone's name listed on the official walk T-shirt are $100. "One of the founding principles for credit unions is concerns for our community,'' Hamby said. "We want to give back to them and that's what this does for us, helps us stay within our founding principles.'' To register online for Peace-Love-Walk and for more information, visit the website: www.memcu. com/peace-love-walk. The Gray's Creek chapter of Future Farmers of America was recently recognized at the Cumberland County Fair for having the best booth put together by an educational group or organization. Tara King, who has been the FFA advisor at Gray's Creek since the school opened in 2003, said students with the Gray's Creek FFA chapter began working on their entry over the summer. "(The judges) just want your students to interpret the theme for this year's fair,'' King said. This year's theme was "Thrills, Squeals and Ferris Wheels.'' King said the Gray's Creek FFA chapter used their booth to tell the story of the various projects their group is working on. "It gives us exposure,'' King said. "There are thou- sands of people who walk past that booth. Any chance we can get for that message, we're all about doing.'' One of the biggest parts of the FFA program at Gray's Creek is the raising of sheep and goats, which is part of the school's ani- mal science curriculum, King said. Students actually raise the livestock at Gray's Creek, working all summer to prepare them for show at the county fair. The booth at the fair displayed pictures taken over the summer of the students working with their animals. King said an animal may be on public display at the fair for about five minutes, but it took up to 50 hours of preparation time for those few minutes. "If people take a few minutes in the booth to read the descriptions, they walk away with a better understand- ing of what it takes to get an animal ready for that kind of show,'' she said. "It's not as simple as putting a halter on them and walking them around the ring.'' At one time, King said, Gray's Creek had upwards of 40 sheep and goats at the school. The students were in charge of raising and breed- ing them, monitoring the progress of pregnant ewes and eventually helping with the birthing of their offspring and giving them vaccinations. Fairs are a longstanding tradition with FFA stu- dents, King said. "I think it's a place for people at the end of the growing season, the end of the sum- mer, where they are bringing out the best they've gotten,'' she said. "It's a celebration in a way.'' She feels the fair is a teachable moment both for the students and the general public. For the students, especially, King likes that it's an opportunity to understand the importance of getting organized, putting a plan together and car- rying it out. Gray's Creek FFA wins prize at county fair by EARL VAUGHAN JR. The display helps viewers understand what it takes to get animals ready for public display at the fair. Tara King