From left, Bill May, Carlette Bledsoe, and Donna Grubbs work on applying a fresh coat of paint to the hallway walls in the main building at James Kenan High School. From August 3-10, members of Kenansville Baptist Church, with assistance from other churches, are sprucing up the school as part of the N.C. Baptist State Convention’s ServeNC week. (Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Fourteen-year-old Destini Barnes paints the bottom edge of a wall in the main building of James Kenan High School, where she will be a freshman this year. Her grandfather, Jeff Holtom, assists by holding the paint tray. As members of Kenansville Baptist Church, they are helping spruce up the school as part of ServeNC week. (Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Pastor Aaron Smith, left, of Kenansville Baptist Church, and James Kenan High School Principal Michael Holton take a break — a very short break — during a recent workday at the school. As part of ServeNC week (August 3-10), the church is giving the school a facelift just in time for students to return later this month. (Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Wielding a spray gun, Chuck Strickland, a member of Kenansville Baptist Church, makes quick work of painting a wall in James Kenan High School. (Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Donna Grubbs, missions coordinator with Kenansville Baptist Church, explains that more shelving and a freezer will be added to the expanded food pantry at James Kenan High School. Expanding the food pantry is on the church’s to-do list as its members work at the school this week. (Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
WARSAW — Students won’t return to James Kenan High School until Aug. 26, but on Tuesday the halls were already buzzing with activity as members of Kenansville Baptist Church (KBC) wielded paint brushes, rollers and spray guns, hustling to give the old brick and cinder block interior walls a fresh coat prior to the new school year.
“North Carolina Baptist has designated Aug. 3-10 to be ServeNC week, and so they want every Baptist Church to be doing something in their community,” explained Pastor Aaron Smith.
“The school’s the real heartbeat of the community in a lot of ways,” he continued. “Any time we can help here, I think it helps the community as a whole.”
The church began work at the school last Saturday and will continue through this Saturday (unless derailed by Tropical Storm Debby).
After conferring with school administration, KBC decided to focus on three areas this week: painting the interior of the main building, painting the gym, and expanding the food pantry. Upon arriving at the school, Smith added a fourth item to the list: renovating the girls’ locker room.
James Kenan Principal Michael Holton, who also serves as a deacon at Kenansville Baptist, noted that the work being done this week is but one of many ways in which the church has helped the school. “It’s an ongoing relationship year-round,” he emphasized. “They’re by far our biggest supporter and just help us in so many ways.” A few of the ways in which the church has helped in the past include: providing financial assistance for graduating seniors who needed help getting their caps and gowns, providing meals for faculty and staff during testing, and acting as prayer warriors (in a program called “Adopt a Tiger”) for faculty and staff.
“It means everything to us,” Holton said. “Having our church involved, they’ve been tremendous advocates.”
Assistant Principal Brian Jones echoed those sentiments. “It’s absolutely fantastic,” he commented. “It says a lot to have the community come into our building and that’s essentially what you’ve got.”
A few students went to the school on Tuesday to sign up for James Sprunt classes, but Jones wished even more could have been present. “I wish we had more students around to see the people actually working, trying to make the school look better, update the facilities,” he noted.
Numerous church members who are helping with the project have ties to the school, as well. Carlette Bledsoe, a teacher at Kenansville Elementary, graduated from James Kenan. Before hefting a five-gallon bucket of paint to pour some into a smaller container, she summed up her feelings about helping at her alma mater: “It’s wonderful that the school allows us to come in and be a blessing by giving the school a facelift, a fresh start for the new year.”
Another James Kenan graduate, Jeff Holtom (Class of ’83), sat cross-legged on the floor holding a paint-filled tray from which his granddaughter (a rising freshman at the school), 14-year-old Destini Barnes, dipped her paintbrush, before running the brush along the border between the wall and the baseboard. Holtom insisted that he was only a helper, while Destini was the actual worker — although both acknowledged that Destini needed a little push to participate in the workday. “She had limited options” regarding what she would be allowed to do on Tuesday, Holtom said.
He went on to describe his granddaughter as a great student and an active member of the youth group at KBC and explained that it was important to him that she help with the school’s facelift, as it helped reinforce “a sense of duty.”
Even though she may have initially been a reluctant participant, it went better than Destini expected. “I’m not gonna lie, painting’s fun,” she said.
While painting was in full-swing in the main building, the food pantry was being relocated to a small, stand-alone building that previously served as a concession stand, a move that would allow it to be significantly expanded.
Donna Grubbs, KBC’s missions coordinator, explained how the food pantry came to be. “We have worked with the social worker and the nurse and the guidance counselor this year to provide Backpack Buddies, and what we found was, there was more food insecurity and food need than we could actually address with that.” As a result, KBC, with help from other churches, began stocking a pantry at the school.
This week, more shelving is being brought in, as is a freezer donated by the Eastern Baptist Association. The freezer will be stocked with store-bought, frozen foods that are microwavable. “We’ll stock it with foods that kids can prepare with very little adult supervision,” Grubbs said.
The food pantry, she added, “is on its way to being ready.”
In addition to KBC, Pastor Smith pointed out that six or seven other churches are involved in this week’s work at James Kenan, some by providing hands-on participation, others by donating money. Over the course of the week, he expects that a total of 70 to 80 people will have put in actual volunteer hours at the school.
Principal Holton expressed his appreciation simply. “It’s very positive to have this Christ-like love spread throughout the school,” he said.
