Enlarge "Santa Chuck" spreads holiday cheer year-round.

Posted: December 16th, 2009 Meaghan Clark

On Wednesdays, Crossroads Charlotte Correspondent Meaghan Clark will give you a round-up of community-building news and events (click items for full stories):

1. Santa sightings year-round? A Matthews man often mistaken for jolly Saint Nick, brings joy to believers young and old.

2. A race-restrictive clause in a sample deed on a local homeowners association's web site has drawn the attention of the NAACP.

3. Our future is bright and green. Eco-district envisioned for low-income residents in Charlotte.

4. Is Charlotte the city that Bank of America took down? A Canadian newspaper says so.

5. Real-life princesses can gather to celebrate "The Princess and the Frog"

Got a suggestion or a resource for us to check out? Please leave it in the comments or send an email.

Posted: December 15th, 2009 Tonya Jameson

At Freedom Park on Dec. 12, children bounced in an air tent, made arts and crafts and told Santa their Christmas wishes during the park’s annual tree lighting celebration. Around them were the obvious signs of holiday cheer: lights, a humongous tree and Christmas carols.

Mixed in with frivolity was another sign of the holiday – the desire to give. Volunteers for Empowering Youth and other ministries as well as ClotheCharlotte collected donations to help the community.

Rashanda Broadway of Empowering Youth said she along with friends and other churches collected hats, scarves, coats and other items. This is Broadway’s first time participating in the celebration. With only a month’s preparation, Broadway and her friends collected enough items to fill several tables. They plan to donate the items to A Child’s Place and the Salvation Army.

“We all collaborated to give back to the community,” Broadway said.

Keep Reading

Posted: December 13th, 2009 Greg Lacour

Crossroads Charlotte occasionally spotlights individuals who are improving the city's social capital.

Nichole Jaworski moved to Charlotte from Dallas three years ago with her husband and two children. Accustomed to doing charity work, she said she was surprised to find limited opportunities in the Steele Creek neighborhood in southwest Charlotte. So over the summer, she started a blog, and began contacting her neighbors about taking on monthly charity projects. In just a few months, Jaworski has assembled a team of 16 women in Steele Creek who do way more than one project per month. They’ve worked with Crisis Assistance Ministry, Urban Ministry Center and other area charitable organizations to raise money and collect food and clothing for the needy.

Why she does what she does? "I’m really inspired by one of Gandhi’s quotes: ‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’ It’d be easy to turn a blind eye to hunger and homelessness, but I don’t want to do that. It’s easy to say, ‘Oh, I’ll just let it be someone else’s problem.' But we all have a duty to try and help out.”

What's next? Holiday projects, including a drive to gather paper products and cleaning supplies for Pilgrim’s Inn Women’s Shelter in Rock Hill and a clothing drive for Crisis Assistance Ministry in Charlotte.

Know someone who is a connector for a community?

Nominate that person to be profiled by a Crossroads Charlotte Correspondent. Email his or her name, phone number and email address and a brief description of what they do to Crossroads Charlotte. If your nominee is selected, you will be contacted by a correspondent.

Posted: December 10th, 2009 Ayofemi Kirby

Click here for more photos by Ayofemi Kirby.

Synchronized claps and heavy drumbeats filled Hampton Park Community Life Center in University City when the Ife Cultural Arts Center's Drum for Community class kicked off Dec. 5.

Each week, students will learn how to play the Sangba, Dununba, Kenkeni, and Djembe drums and explore the foundations of West African culture through storytelling.

“The first few classes are about learning how to play as one drum and not 15,” said Allen Boyd, the program’s resident artist and a master percussionist.

“They’re learning all different parts and elements which are from one rhythm and put them all together to create the whole,” he said. “The sum is much greater than the parts.”

In West African countries, drumming is important in building and maintaining communal bonds, an aspect of the culture program leaders hope to share with participants.

Keep Reading