First Baptist kids helping other kids

This is not exactly a reach-out for support by First Baptist Church in uptown Charlotte -- but a lesson of how one group is teaching children to help other less-fortunate children.

Since 2003, the children in the First Baptist's Royal Ambassador (boys) and Girls in Action programs have pedaled in a bike-a-thon around a track at Northside Baptist Church to raise money for boys and girls who live in the 14 Baptist Children's Homes across North Carolina.

The homes take in children from broken families. Most have been abused -- or hurt in some way.

This year's rally, which they call "Bike for Change," will be Oct. 17. But the event works differently from the ones you're probably familiar with. The church's children don't actively seek sponsors, who then pony up money for every mile they ride.

Instead on Sunday, during the morning service, the congregation will hear a guest speaker tell how she was abused as a child and came to the live in the Baptist Children's Home in Thomasville, near Greensboro. She's remained on the staff ever since.

Speech over, the kids at First Baptist will ask for and collect offerings from congregants.

They have given generously in the past -- handing over a total of $71,064 in six years. All the money goes to Baptist Children's Homes, which relies on Baptist churches across the state to keep its facilities operating.

"It's a really good way to give our kids a hands-on experience, to reaching out to help other kids," said Jay Westmoreland, a Baptist Children's Home trustee and director of the Royal Ambassador program. "It's a wonderful learning experience for them. For starters, they learn how truly blessed they are to have the families they are raised by.

"It teaches them about important ministry work."

They resist asking the children to recruit sponsors because they don't want to turn the event into a competition, said Westmoreland, senior vice president for wealth management at Charlotte's MorganStanley SmithBarney.

"This is basically to raise awareness for our children -- about mission work, about Baptist Children's Homes and about how fortunate they are," he said.

This year, First Bapist is being joined by children from Elizabeth Baptist Church in Shelby.

That'll mean more than 50 children from two churches lapping Northside's track next month. Yet the money -- and call to help -- will already have been raised.

Want to help? First Baptist's children aren't actively pursuing contributions, but if you'd like to send one, they'll certainly send it on to Baptist Children's Homes. Write a check to First Baptist Church, with "Bike for Change" in the memo, and mail it to: First Baptist Church, 301 S. Davidson St., Charlotte NC 28202. Or click here and then click on "Bike for Change."

Kicking off 25 years of hospitality

It is a house where guests come out of sad, painful and often tragic necessity.

They are visitors to this city, here because a loved one is in one of our hospitals. And for nearly 25 years, what is now the Hospitality House of Charlotte has given tens of thousands a free place to lay their head -- and buck up their spirits.

The house has no major corporate sponsor, or help from United Way. It's staffed primarily by volunteers, food is donated by individuals and organizations. They count on support from the Mecklenburg Medical Auxiliary, foundations, church congregations and individuals.

Yet corporate donations are down 80 percent. So Sept. 29, Hospitality House is kicking off its 25th anniversary with its first fundraising "Rise and Shine" breakfast. The celebration will climax in the spring.

"We hear constantly that Hospitality House has been a blessing and a godsend to most of the people who've stayed with us," said Susan Ross, development director. "They are brought to the Charlotte area in often emergency situations, not knowing a soul and not knowing what to do.

"They can't afford to stay in a hotel. We offer them a comfortable place to stay at no cost ... while they're supporting a loved one in the hospital."

The facility has served more than 35,000 people from 49 states and 30 countries. Its need emerged from a 1982 survey of healthcare issues by the Mecklenburg Medical Auxiliary. The city had no shelter for out-of-town families with loved ones in local hospitals. Families were sleeping in hospital waiting rooms or cars, eating food from snack machines and showering in hospital bathrooms so they could stay close.

So the auxiliary set up an endowment and in April 1985, opened a 14-bed facility on Scott Avenue across from Carolinas Medical Center. They called it MMAE's Inn, after the auxiliary endowment, and in 1996 they added 15 beds in a wing of St. John's Baptist Church.

Then last year, Hospitality House opened its new three-story, 22-bedroom home near the old Scott Avenue facility. Most nights, it sleeps the maximum 50.

Still, it eludes notice. This week, Ross and executive director Kimberly Melton are attending a conference of the National Association of Hospital Hospitality Houses in Minnesota.

"Not many people know we exist across the country, or even in the Charlotte area," Ross said. "We're working to change that."

Andre (pronounced: An-DRAY-a) Dill of the rural Bostic community in Rutherford County knows all about Hospitality House.

In June 2008, her late husband Tom was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and suddenly experienced pain in his leg and hip. He was ambulanced to Carolinas Medical Center. His wife knew no one in Charlotte and came with only the clothes she wore that day.

"I wasn't expecting to stay long," she said. "He had an infection -- I thought they'd lance and give him antibiotics."

Tom ended up staying several months. His leg was amputated on July 25, and he remained in the hospital until the following October. Andre was told about Hospitality House the night they arrived, but slept in a waiting room for about five nights. She called a couple nearby hotels, but they were too expensive. So she moved to Hospitality House.

There, she found smiles and welcoming arms -- and a "lovely room with a private bath. It was much more than I ever expected," she said. To earn her keep she swept and mopped floors, vacuumed hallways, as all guests are required to do.

Tom Dill went home in October that year, but had to return to CMC a month later. Ever dutiful, his wife checked back into Hospitality House until Tom died Nov. 29.

"That is such a wonderful place," she said. "I didn't know such kindness existed in this world. The guests hung together as family. I'd never have been able to stay with my husband if it weren't for Hospitality House."

Want to go? The "Rise and Shine of Hospitality House" breakfast starts at 8 a.m. Sept. 29 at Myers Park Country Club. Tickets are $45 and $360 for tables of eight and can be bought until Sept. 23. Michael Tarwater, CEO of Carolinas HealthCare System, will deliver the keynote. To buy tickets contact Susan Ross at 704-376-0060, ext. 2, or email her at sross@hospitalityhouseofcharlotte.org. For more information on the breakfast or the facility click here.

Convention center's double dose of do-gooding

How's this for recyling a double shot of do-gooding? Each year, hundreds of groups come to the Charlotte Convention Center for meetings, conventions and trade shows.

When they're gone, they leave behind a surplus of notepads, pens, pencils and registration bags. Now they can donate them to Classrom Central , a partnership forged by Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority and the nonprofit "store" that provides free supplies to 132 schools in the Charlotte region.

Last month, the COAL-GEN conference, which drew thousands in the coal-fired power industry, left town with 1,200 unused satchels and tons of pens, pencils and pads -- all perfectly fine for school use. This week, Classroom Central got all of it.

Score one for the green movement -- the stuff didn't end up in landfills -- and one for teachers and students who need school supplies in a difficult economy.

"We should have a very positive impact on Classroom Central's goal of providing students with the supplies they need to be successful," said Tim Newman, the authority's CEO. "Our meeting planners are increasingly environmentally concious, as well as interested in doing the right thing for the community."

Classroom Central supplies students at high-poverty schools with donated school supplies and classroom products through the free store for teachers. In its first seven years, the nonprofit has served more than 80,000 students and distributed more than $17 million in school supplies.

The idea for the partnership came from the convention center's Susan Schwint. "She said, 'we have conventions that want to give back to the host community. What they leave behid is perfect for students,'" said authority spokeswoman Molly Hedrick. "It's just another example of what can happen when someone connects the dots."

The supplies from the convention center couldn't come at a better time for Classroom Central. Already in the new school year, the nonprofit has seen a 25 percent rise in teachers using the store.

"We know these items will be put to great use," said Michelle Daley, Classroom Central's head of operations. "We're extremely excited about partnering with the Charlotte Convention Center to divert items from landfills and provide the teachers and students we serve with ... materials that can be used in the classroom to enhance the learning process."

So the next time you see a teacher or student carrying a satchel with COAL-GEN printed on it, you'll know where it came from -- and where it didn't end up.