Enlarge Enderly Park Neighborhood Association Darryle Williams serves up the chow Saturday

Posted: December 22nd, 2011 Lee Howard

Deanna McCain said she wants to start a photo album of events her neighborhood association puts together. Jaquisha Fisher was just having fun hanging out with her cousins and giggling over a plate of chicken and rice.

And all 9-year-old Lindrina Ray wanted was to have her picture taken.

They were among the 50 or so folks, old and young, who attended the first Enderly Park Neighborhood Association Holiday Ball on Saturday, Dec. 17. The two-hour event was at the Bette Rae Thomas Recreation Center at 2921 Tuckaseegee Road.

The goal of the event was to bring younger and older people together for food and fellowship, said Darryle Williams, neighborhood association president. The center provides programs for the elderly and for youngsters, but rarely do the two come together, he said. “The Holiday Ball is intended to bridge that gap between older and younger people in our community,” Williams said.

Enderly Park was a recent recipient of a Crossroads Charlotte Achieving Community Today Projects grant. A.C.T. Projects grants are designed for small initiatives that will connect people across lines of difference. Members of the community submit ideas, and the public decides which will get funding by voting on Facebook. The winners receive up to $500 to implement their projects.

The Enderly Park Neighborhood Association hosted the ball in conjunction with representatives from UNC Charlotte and Mecklenburg County’s Community Support Services.

Jabari Adams, a UNCC grad student studying counseling, said gatherings like the Enderly Ball are among the surest means of securing neighborhood stability. They also engender mutual respect among neighbors. “In a lot of so-called underprivileged communities there are families who still like to get out and do things together,” Adams said. “This is an outlet for them.”

Neighborhood resident Bernetta Fewell brought six of her family members, including her own daughters and cousins. The group filled an entire table and enjoyed a hearty repast of fried chicken, dirty rice, green beans and corn. Fewell said she believes that “community” means being among your neighbors, learning about them and growing personally through an understanding of others’ cultural differences. “They’re all family here,” she said.

McCain, an Enderly Park association board member, said she participates in her community because where she lives matters. She enjoys watching kids ride their bikes and romp through the neighborhood without fear of the violence that comes with alcohol abuse and drug trafficking.

“That’s why we do it,” she said. “Because we care.”

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