Enlarge Sheree Harper, Martina Jones, and son, Amari Jones

Posted: January 16th, 2012 Lee Howard

It’s admittedly a rough and disparate part of town. But residents of Eagle Woods Apartments off Farm Pond Lane in East Charlotte strove to bring people together on Saturday, Jan. 14. Old and young, white, black, Hispanic, Russian and Burmese. 

The tie that binds? "Thank You" cards to the inspirational people in their lives.

“We’re here to help strengthen the community overall,” said Sheree Harper, a UNC-Charlotte grad student majoring in school counseling.

Harper was one of the coordinators of the event, held at the Eagle Woods Apartments clubhouse. She’s also a member of CHARP, the Charlotte Action Research Project, a recent recipient of a Crossroads CharlotteAchieving Community Today Projects grant. A.C.T. Projects grants were designed to fund small initiatives that connect people across lines of difference. Members of the community submitted ideas, and the public decided which groups received funding by voting on Facebook. The winners received up to $500 to implement their projects. Other recipients have included the Enderly Park Neighborhood Association and the Love Project, whose members are survivors of domestic violence.

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Posted: January 16th, 2012 Lee Howard

It’s admittedly a rough and disparate part of town. But residents of Eagle Woods Apartments off Farm Pond Lane in East Charlotte strove to bring people together on Saturday, Jan. 14. Old and young, white, black, Hispanic, Russian and Burmese. 

The tie that binds? "Thank You" cards to the inspirational people in their lives.

“We’re here to help strengthen the community overall,” said Sheree Harper, a UNC-Charlotte grad student majoring in school counseling.

Harper was one of the coordinators of the event, held at the Eagle Woods Apartments clubhouse. She’s also a member of CHARP, the Charlotte Action Research Project, a recent recipient of a Crossroads CharlotteAchieving Community Today Projects grant. A.C.T. Projects grants were designed to fund small initiatives that connect people across lines of difference. Members of the community submitted ideas, and the public decided which groups received funding by voting on Facebook. The winners received up to $500 to implement their projects. Other recipients have included the Enderly Park Neighborhood Association and the Love Project, whose members are survivors of domestic violence.

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Posted: January 15th, 2012 Ken Garfield

Xchange Sermons began Friday night (Jan. 13) as it should: Christians and Jews, blacks and whites, side by side at Temple Beth El, sharing prayers of brotherhood and songs of peace. Sharing, as Rev. Dennis Hall said to several hundred worshipers, a yearning for Shalom.

Peace.

A partnership of Crossroad Charlotte, Mecklenburg Ministries and Temple Beth El, Xchange Sermons offers clergy of all kinds the chance to preach to a congregation of a different faith, color, class or culture. Nearly 60 pastors, rabbis and imams seized the moment last year. This year, the program’s third, the hope is that many more of the region’s 700 houses of worship will participate. Visit Crossroadscharlotte.Org to get involved, and to read accounts of previous pulpit swaps.  The program runs from January to May – appropriately, given the hope that drives it, from winter to spring.

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Posted: January 15th, 2012 Ken Garfield

Xchange Sermons began Friday night (Jan. 13) as it should: Christians and Jews, blacks and whites, side by side at Temple Beth El, sharing prayers of brotherhood and songs of peace. Sharing, as Rev. Dennis Hall said to several hundred worshipers, a yearning for Shalom.

Peace.

A partnership of Crossroad Charlotte, Mecklenburg Ministries and Temple Beth El, Xchange Sermons offers clergy of all kinds the chance to preach to a congregation of a different faith, color, class or culture. Nearly 60 pastors, rabbis and imams seized the moment last year. This year, the program’s third, the hope is that many more of the region’s 700 houses of worship will participate. Visit Crossroadscharlotte.Org to get involved, and to read accounts of previous pulpit swaps.  The program runs from January to May – appropriately, given the hope that drives it, from winter to spring.

Keep Reading