Monday, December 23, 2019

A helping hand for families in need

The Rev. Mark Hyde (left), the CEO of Abba's Helping Hands, and his wife Angela,
organized a toy drive at Bickford Community Center to help struggling families that
may not be able to afford gifts for their children (Photos by Wiley Henry)
The holiday season is not always jolly for families struggling to make ends meet. Many of them wouldn’t mind a helping hand. Abba’s Helping Hands, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit founded in Memphis in 2007, is doing just that – helping families and individuals in need.  
On Dec. 19, more than 40 kids from the inner city were recipients of Abba’s Helping Hands at its sponsored toy drive at Bickford Community Center, where a roomful of toys and other playthings awaited the kids for pickup.  
“We bless people with furniture, food, clothing, for example, and people who’ve been burned out of their home,” said the Rev. Mark Hyde, Abba’s chief executive officer and assistant pastor of Breath of Life Seventh Day Adventist Church in East Memphis. 
“We just try to help as much as we can in the community,” he said.
Carasha Williams, 5, carried away at
least seven wrapped gifts
Abba is an Aramaic word meaning “Father” and used by Jesus in the New Testament to express intimacy and his personal relationship to God. 
Crystalyn Bobo felt Abba’s love and welcomed the organization’s help after two of her four children were gifted with a few toys apiece. “I’m happy about getting the new toys,” she said.
Seven-year-old Hannah Jordan, a second grader at Memphis Scholars Caldwell-Guthrie Elementary School, and Monique Jordan, who is nine and in third grade at the same school, were just as delighted as their mother to receive a handful of wrapped gifts.
“It helps,” Bobo said. 
Anitra S. Huston concurred. “It’s helping a lot of kids that may not get something. There are families that don’t have much,” said Huston, whose daughters, Sasha Green, 6, and Arianna Johnson, 2, received gifts. 
Huston learned about Abba’s toy drive after receiving a call from Memphis Scholars Caldwell-Guthrie Elementary School, where Sasha is in first grade. “She was picked to get a gift,” said Huston, who lives in the New Chicago community. 
The kids were wide-eyed and eager to investigate the lot of toys and playthings all around them, including Carasha Williams, 5, who carried away at least seven wrapped gifts.
Angela Hyde, wife of Abba’s CEO and one of several volunteers, said, “There’s something about seeing people’s needs and desires fulfilled and knowing I had a small part in making that happen.”
Hyde praises God for blessing Abba’s collectively and each one of them individually. “Whether through service of giving, when the Lord blesses us, it’s good to give back,” she said, and added that God “blesses our family, churches and the community.”
In short, she said, “It’s just good to give back.” 
Hyde is a vocal coach at AngelStreet, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit housed at Bickford Community Center and in partnership with Oasis of Hope, a nonprofit organization that spawn AngelStreet, which first launched in 2014 before receiving its own nonprofit status two years later.
The Hydes counted on their volunteers to help make the kids’ holiday season a little brighter. Their names were compiled on a list to receive gifts. The volunteers checked the list once, twice, and once more to ensure that every kid was gifted something.
“We’ve touched a lot of people,” the Rev. Hyde said. He touted Abba’s outreach into the Memphis community and internationally, but heaped praise on the organizations and businesses that contributed to the toy drive.
Some of the organizations and businesses included E.H. Ford Mortuary Services, the drop-off location for donations; Organized Chaos Ent.; Metropolitan #161 NWPHGLTN-Central District; At Your Service! Facility Maintenance & Care, and The A.N.D.Y. (Assisting the Needs of Disadvantaged Youth) Project. Anonymous donors also contributed to Abbs’s toy drive.
The A.N.D.Y. Project, for example, “assists the needs of disadvantaged youth,” said Valerie Wright, the group’s president. Abba’s and the A.N.D.Y. Project are in lockstep with each other and serve the same constituents – the disadvantaged youth.
Wright was one of Abba’s dedicated volunteers who felt compelled to lend a helping hand. She understands that some youth are disadvantaged and that families lack the bare essentials to make ends meet.
Giving is a guiding principle of Abba’s Helping Hands. As the organization continues to bless the least of God’s people, the Hydes continue to call on “Abba, Father” to order their steps.

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Teen Town Singers keep memory of A C “Moohah” Williams alive

Fred Davis (standing) and Joan Patterson (right), daughter of A. C. "Moohah" Williams,
reflect on the era when they were the Teen Town Singers. (Photo by Wiley Henry)
They were the “children” of Andrew Charles “Moohah” Williams Jr., the trailblazing announcer at WDIA 1070 who used his influence to shape the lives young people.
A bevy of them, known as the Teen Town Singers, are now in their 70s and 80s and ambling along. There were hundreds of them altogether. On Dec. 7, at least 30 paid respect and celebrated the birthday of their founding father. He would have been 103 years old. 
Joan Patterson, Williams’ daughter, started the conversation by asking her fellow Teen Town Singers to give a testimony if her father had impacted their lives. She had her own memories to share as well. 
 “I was a little girl, and in those days the pompadour was very popular,” Patterson remembered. “I wanted my hair like that. But Mom didn’t feel like a two-year-old should wear it.”
Her father begged to differ. “Dad wanted to please his little girl. So he took a shoe spoon and wrapped my hair around it into a pompadour. He wanted me to feel like a little princess. I was his little princess.”
Bert Ferguson (left), WDIA's co-owner, chats with J.E.
Walker, founder of University Life Insurance Co. and
sponsor of the Teen Town Singers, and A.C. "Moohah"
Williams (right) in 1952, three years after Williams
founded the chorale group. (Courtesy photo)
Other testimonies were just as compelling and noteworthy, but mostly about the group that Williams steered to success. Some stories drew chuckles. He was their surrogate father and held them to account as he did Patterson, who sang with the group for six years.
“Mr. Williams was like a father to me. He was instrumental in me getting a scholarship for $250. That was a lot back then,” said Percy Wiggins, who used the money to attend Tennessee State University, Williams’ alma mater.
Williams doled out scholarships to other students as well. Markhum “Mark” L. Stansbury Sr. was awarded $100. “That got me through school at Lane College,” said Stansbury, who has been associated with WDIA for 62 years.
Williams was a stickler for education and frowned on wanton behavior, and tardiness, too. He taught biology at Manassas High School where he’d first organized a boys choir. While his work on the radio and in the community was tantamount to his success, he believed a good education was germane.
“All that I went through, I felt loved all the years we were together,” Mary J. Cooper said. “Mr. Williams was our dad and we were good children. That was the theme of the Teen Town Singers.”
Williams began organizing the Teen Town Singers in 1949 shortly after WDIA switched from country and western music to all-black, on-air personalities and programming to attract black listeners. 
Cathryn Rivers Johnson was the pianist for the Teen Town Singers. She taught at Booker T. Washington High School and was the musician for Salem Gilfield Baptist Church. A few in the group evoked her memory as well.
“I’ve known Mr. Williams all my life,” said Dorothy Herenton, the sister of former mayor Dr. Willie W. Herenton. “When Mr. Williams would come over to Booker T. Washington, he would visit Ms. [Cathryn Rivers] Johnson’s class.”
Herenton noted that Williams was a good man – “and he didn’t play.”   
Williams died three days before his birthday on Dec. 4, 2004. He’d worked at WDIA for 34 years as an announcer and director of community relations. Twenty-one of those years were spent organizing and directing the Teen Town Singers.
The group disbanded in 1970. They meet twice a year in honor of Williams – once in the spring and the other around his birthday. The camaraderie is heartfelt; the memories sustain them; and they keep his spirit alive.
Fred Davis, owner of the Fred L. Davis Insurance Agency, said Williams tapped him 27 years ago to chair the group. Williams was also Davis’ teacher at Manassas.
“This group means a lot to me,” Davis said. “I’ve been in this group more than any other group in this town. We still exist.”
Barbara Griffin Winfield said she had the best time in her life when she was a Teen Town Singer. “Don’t think people have forgotten about us,” she said, “because they haven’t.” 
Memphis hasn’t forgotten what Williams did to shape the lives and careers of the youth in his charge. Under his tutelage, their voices rang out over the airwaves at WDIA and they shared the stage with mega stars such as The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and others.
Cheryl Fanion Cotton thanked God for Williams. “I will love him until I die,” said Cotton, who would eventually travel across the country and participate in the Civil Rights Movement. 
“I wish children today had a role model like A C Williams,” she said.

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Kinyah Bean Braddock: ‘Chillin My Way to Success!’

Kinyah Bean Braddock serves lemonade to first-time customers Ja'Kia Washington,
11; Ja'Keria Washington, 9: and Latasia Stanley, 13, at B Chill Lemonade in
Hickory Ridge Mall. (Photos by Wiley Henry)
Kinyah Bean Braddock is “young, gifted and black,” an anthem of sort that songstress Nina Simone and others brought to America’s consciousness some 50 years ago. 
At the ripe age of 11, Kinyah is loaded with youthful exuberance and imbued with an entrepreneurial spirit that reflect the meaning of Simone’s inspiring message of empowerment and self-confidence.
Kinyah is indeed empowered and confident in her role as proprietor of B Chill Lemonade, LLC., a small business first created the night of Jan. 16, 2017, when the budding entrepreneur was merely eight years old.
She’s also empowered and confident in her role as author of “Chillin My Way to Success!” “It’s about kid entrepreneurs and how I started my company, B Chill Lemonade,” she said. “It’s about creating a blueprint to inspire my generation to explore entrepreneurship and to become entrepreneurs.”
Demetrius Braddock, along with his wife Valerie Braddock,
pose for a family snapshot with Kinyah Bean Braddock, 11,
and seven-year-old Demetrius Braddock at
B Chill Lemonade.
“Chillin My Way to Success!” was published by Noah’s Art in California and released Feb. 24, 2018.
Motivation to launch such a business enterprise began earlier when Kinyah’s doting parents, Demetrius and Valerie Braddock, seized the opportunity to tap into their daughter’s creative mind and her propensity to flesh out an idea. 
“At the age of six, my dad challenged me to be an entrepreneur. I took the challenge and ran with it,” said Kinyah, a six-grader learning the rudiments of operating a small business. Her mother also home-schools her.
Kinyah has since become a bona fide entrepreneur who is rather mature for her age. “It’s great being an entrepreneur,” she said, “because it opens up so many doors that you won’t go through if you weren’t.”
On Nov. 1, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony, maturity was on display when Kinyah introduced herself and the 18 products and eight flavors that she offers at B Chill Lemonade in Hickory Ridge Mall’s food court. The store first opened in April. 
“During the ribbon cutting, we let the public test the lemonade,” said Kinyah, touting the various flavors, including original, coconut, peach, mango, blueberry, strawberry, pineapple, raspberry. Diet lemonade is also on tap.
“Kinyah is the youngest certified business owner and entrepreneur in the state of Tennessee and the youngest [member] of the Greater Memphis Chamber,” Demetrius Braddock said. 
The Braddocks are Kinyah’s pillars of support. They keep her grounded and lifted up. He is the chief financial officer of B Chill Lemonade. She is the chief executive officer. It’s a family business. Even seven-year-old Demetrius Braddock II has a stake in the business.
“I manage the company and make sure everybody is on track,” he said. “I take care of the employees.”
Employees? It’s all hands on deck. Everybody works to some degree. “This is no cookie-cutter,” said Demetrius Braddock, who teaches personal finance and business management at Memphis School of Excellence High.
Valerie Braddock once studied law in Mississippi. She taught school as well in Nashville and Memphis and resigned in April to open the store in Hickory Ridge Mall. Now she works full-time with and for her daughter.
“I handle day-do-day operations,” she said. “I handle brand development and look for opportunities. I’m the driver, shopper and banker. Most of all, I’m the mother.”
“We work hard so we can play hard,” Demetrius Braddock said. “And we pray every day.”
They pray incessantly and try to strike a balance between being Kinyah’s parents and working for her at the store. 
“She knows we are her parents. [And] she’s a very respectful kid,” Valerie Braddock said.
“It’s difficult for a father to have a child that is an entrepreneur,” her father added. “Now I’m following her directions. She gives us the vision and we have to figure out how to make it happen.”
Kinyah says she can do this forever. “My ultimate goal is to have my lemonade on all seven continents. That’s the plan,” she said. “I want it to be a point where my company can run without me.”
With so much on Kinyah’s plate, she still finds time to give back. With Edward Bogard of BOGARD Footwear & Apparel, she has designed a shoe that pays homage to breast cancer survivors.
The deep pink tennis shoe with half of a stylized bee on each shoe is marketed through BOGARD’s non-profit called “SoGiv.” 
“When you put your feet together, it creates a bee that shows unity,” Kinyah said. She also sells pink lemonade to create awareness.
Kinyah is indeed young, gifted and black – and on her way to success. She is exactly what Simone alluded to in that awe-inspiring anthem.