Christmas Parade in Raleigh Ushered in Holiday Spirit

Sandy Cheeks, who belted out a rap song during the 
opening of the Christmas Parade in Raleigh, mixed it up 
with young parade-goers who seemed to know the lyrics  
to her song "Booty Club."

The Raleigh Egypt Marching Band and their majorettes were
one of several marching bands and high steppers performing in
the Bluff City Christmas Parade. (Photos by Wiley Henry)

MEMPHIS, TN – Sandy Cheekz was in rare form Saturday (Dec. 14, 2024) morning when she belted out one of her popular songs before a bevy of listeners who braved the inclement weather and amassed along both sides of Austin Peay Highway to watch the Bluff City Christmas Parade in Raleigh.

Donning rain gear, in some cases, with a few umbrellas hoisted over their heads, men, women and children assembling near the grandstand waited patiently for the procession of parade participants to file past them in their snazzy outfits — but not before Cheekz finished singing “Booty Club.”

Lil’ Rounds, a finalist on the eighth season of American Idol and another one of Memphis’s musical sensations, performed a number herself prior to Cheekz’s cheeky rap song to kick off the Christmas parade.

“In the history of the Raleigh community, I’m the first person to plan a parade and to have them (Memphis Police Department) shut the street down,” said Dr. Telisa Franklin, the parade organizer and reputed businesswoman.

While the slight drizzle coated the parade route down Austin Peay Highway, parade-goers and the organizers refused to allow the weather to dampen their holiday spirit. Franklin said she was determined to pull it off — come what may.

“I wanted to give the community an opportunity to showcase themselves,” Franklin said. “It was everything for me. I came for the children,” she added, “which models what my theme is: ‘I Came for the Community,’ That’s what it’s all about.”

About 40 schools, organizations, businesses, ministries, clubs and more geared up for Franklin’s fourth annual Christmas parade. She rolled out the first Christmas parade in the Hickory Hill community in 2021. Parade-goers watched happily while participants strutted their wares. During the subsequent years, they were just as fervent.

This year, Memphis Mayor Paul Young lauded Franklin and her fourth Christmas parade during the ribbon cutting ceremony to usher in a new era for the Raleigh community. 

Austin Peay Highway — where the hustle and bustle of commerce along the stretch are prevalent and widespread — was once home to The Raleigh Springs Mall, just north of Interstate 40.

The enclosed mall first opened in 1971 and was once teeming with business from walk-in traffic and more. But then in the early 2000s, the mall had reached the end of its lifespan. After multiple court challenges, the city of Memphis razed the property to make room for The Raleigh Civic Center. 

Shelby County Commissioner Charlie Caswell and State Rep. Antonio Parkinson, both sponsors of the Christmas parade and both longtime community activists in Raleigh and Frayser, pointed out from the grandstand that more development is underway for the proud community.

Memphis City Councilwoman Rhonda Logan, who represents District 1 on the City Council, and Memphis City Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas, representing District 7, rounded out the list of parade sponsors.

Parkinson, representing District 98 in the Tennessee General Assembly, was one of the parade’s two grand marshals. The other one was Memphis Shelby County Schools board member Stephanie P. Love, who represents District 3.

Caswell, representing District 6 on the Shelby County Board of Commission, served as host alongside Franklin and DJ Q, a community leader and reportedly the youngest disc jockey at HOT 107.1 FM, a “Tru (sic) Hip-Hop” radio station.

Franklin said this year’s Christmas parade was just as nice or better than the other three. She said she was content just to see the eyes of the children “light up” when school bands marched, blew their horns, and thumped their drums while majorettes danced to the beat.

Also on view were immaculate corvettes and other dainty vehicles rolling slowly down Austin Peay Highway and tossing candy and other goodies to children, who ran into the street and along the sidewalk to scoop them up. 

To Franklin’s delight, the parade participants made the children’s day just a little brighter this holiday season. 

Copyright 2024 TNTRIBUNE. All rights reserved.

‘Christmas With a Cause’ Made the Holiday Season a Little Brighter for Families

Keilah Jones, 28, took advantage of a Christmas shopping
spree that enabled her to take home a boxful of merchandise
for her children for a mere $25. Photos by Wiley Henry

Tiara Caswell (right), executive director of Legacy Impact 
Community Resource Center and daughter of Commissioner
Charlie Caswell, mingles with shoppers who came out for
“Christmas With a Cause.” 

MEMPHIS, TN – When Keilah Jones learned that families with limited resources could shop for pennies on the dollar, she took her two children to Legacy Impact Community Resource Center in the Frayser community on Dec. 16 to take part in “Christmas With a Cause.”

From noon to 4 p.m., parents and their children made their way to the resource center, where thousands of items were available for their choosing and to help make the holiday season a little brighter – particularly for the children.

Hosted by Shelby County Commissioner Charlie Caswell Jr. and radio and TV personality Dr. Telisa Franklin, Jones and other parents donated $25 at the door in exchange for merchandise valued at $100 or more.

“We are raising funds to finish the renovation of the Legacy Impact Community Resource Center,” said Tiara Caswell, the executive director. She also heads Legacy of Legends Community Development Corporation.

The 58,000 sq.ft. facility serves as a hub for resources and houses the Reverend James E. Smith Freedom Fighters Gallery, the Keiya Graves-Garrett Training Academy, the Legacy Impact Performing Arts Center, and more.

It is home to other organizations and programs as well. 

The sponsors of “Christmas With a Cause” included the S.O. What Foundation, Legacy of Legends CDC, Beyond Educating Foundation, I Am She, and Caswell Group Consulting. 

“I thought this was a very awesome event for kids to be able to get things for Christmas at a very affordable price,” said Jones, 28, an Orange Mound resident and reset teacher for Shelby County Schools.

On display were a mix of new shoes, books, jewelry, bicycles, clothes, undergarments, toys, household items, and other merchandise that parents like Jones were all too happy to receive.

The merchandise – clearance sales and out-of-season items valued altogether in the thousands – were provided by Walmart, Burlington, Target, and other stores, Caswell pointed out.

The public was asked to donate items as well.

“We're using this to be able to give our residents in Frayser the opportunity to have brand new items that are conveniently located in their neighborhood and not [sold] at a retail price,” she said. 

Caswell, 27, is the daughter of Commissioner Caswell, who represents District 6 in Shelby County. He is a pastor, founder and CEO of Legacy of Legends CDC, and a longtime community activist in Frayser. 

“We understand that Frayser is like the second poorest zip code (38127) in the city of Memphis,” the commissioner said. “And being here for so long, we know there are many struggles that families and children deal with daily.”

He said the idea is to help families and to give them hope at Christmas time.

“Economically, we know that many people in this community suffer from poverty,” said Commissioner Caswell. “This is a blessing to the community…to be able to give them the capacity to get more for less.” 

Jones took home a boxful of gifts for her daughter, Cailey Owens, 9, and her 5-year-old son, Cortez Taylor. “It helps me out a lot to get a lot of things at an affordable price,” she said.

Caswell reflected on his youth when he and his 16 brothers and sisters went lacking many times at Christmas. 

“We were such a big family,” he said. “So, I know that feeling on Christmas not to have much.”

Copyright 2023 TNTRIBUNE. All rights reserved. 

Four churches in Frayser unify for ‘Saving Souls Sunday’

Four congregations in Frayser converged on July 31 for 'Saving Souls Sunday.'

 “It’s important that we work together,” said Tennessee’s 9^th Congressional District Rep. Steve Cohen, who set the tone for a collaborative worship experience in the auditorium of Martin Luther King College Preparatory School on July 31.

 “It’s about people coming together to solve our problems,” said Cohen, referencing the Democratic National Convention last week in Philadelphia as an example of factions pulling together for a common cause. “We can do that in Memphis.”

That’s what the pastors of four churches in Frayser had in mind when their congregations converged at the school at 11:30 a.m. to call attention to the needs of the community. The collaborative worship experience was called “Saving Souls Sunday.”

Apostle Ricky Floyd, senior pastor of The Pursuit of  God
Transformation Center. (Photos by Wiley Henry)

 “We came to collaborate and to change our community,” said the Rev. Barron Martin, senior pastor of One Faith Christian Center Church at 3389 Dawn Drive and the other location at 4393 Pleasant Ridge Rd. in Millington, Tenn.

Martin shared the podium with Apostle Ricky Floyd, senior pastor of The Pursuit of God Transformation Center’s two locations: 3171 Signal St. and 114 Henry St.; the Rev. DeAndre D. Brown Sr., senior pastor of Lifeline To A Dying World Ministries at 1647 Dellwood Ave.; and the Rev. Charlie Caswell, senior pastor of Union Grove Baptist Church at 2285 Frayser Blvd.  

Each pastor spoke on a different topic. Brown’s message to the audience was about “serving.” He referenced the Old Testament story of Jabez – who asked God to bless him – to make a point that being a servant is “important in the house of the Lord.”

Like Jabez, Brown asked God to bless him after his return from prison. He was chided, he said, when he started cutting grass for free. Now he is the executive director of Lifeline to Success, an outreach ministry that helps ex-offenders.

Caswell followed with the theme “unity.” His message, “serve and obey,” was derived from John 17:1 and Ephesians 4:1. He said God’s people should come together in unity and added that the ‘7 P’s’ – Pastors, Politicians, Parents, Police, Principals, Proprietors and Partners – will help revitalize the community.

An ardent community activist, author and founder of the 3V Leader program, Caswell read from Ephesians 4:1: “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.”

“Does the world believe you have been sent by God?” he asked rhetorically.

“Where there is no vision the people perish,” said Martin, referring to a number of scriptures – Proverb 28:18, Genesis 1:1, Jeremiah 1:5 and 29:11, and Philippians 1:6. – to support his argument that God’s people should be “obedient,” the theme of his sermon.

“God will give you the insight, the mind, and the thoughts of God,” Martin told the audience. “The vision of God has not stopped. God spoke what He wanted to see…”

Floyd posed three questions – “Do you love God? Do you love yourself? Do you love your neighbor?” – that coincided with his message of “forgiveness and love.” And there is a difference between love and lust, he explained.

He said most people don’t know what love is, and added: “You got to forgive if you want to live.”

“There are no words to describe how four congregations were able to come together for one service. It was truly unified,” said Wanda Taylor, CEO/president of Ladies in Need Can Survive, Inc. (LINCS), a home for troubled women in the Frayser community. 

“When there was altar call, people were weeping, crying. They were healed and set free,” she said.

Added Ashley Lucas, a LINCS’s resident: “I felt the spirit. It was overwhelming. It was amazing. You really need ‘service, obedience, unity and love.’ You can’t get what you need from God unless you have all them.”

Activist goes to Washington for solutions to rebuild Frayser

The Rev. Charlie Caswell and activist Christine Grandberry find common ground
in a discussion about saving the community. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

     The Rev. Charlie Caswell Jr. loves his community and advocates to restore the splendor that was diminished over the years by rampant foreclosures, a dilapidated housing stock, failing schools, wanton violence, insufficient business investments, blight, and poverty.

Frayser was once a thriving community of the working class. Now the working poor comprises as many of the 50,000 residents living in one of the highest crime-ridden areas in the city of Memphis. Caswell, however, is not deterred by such dour statistics. Instead, he’s determined to rectify the problem.

He is the senior pastor of Union Grove Institutional Baptist Church in Frayser and regarded as its quintessential community leader who is motivated by the partnerships and collaborations he’s forged and nurtured to bring an end to Frayser’s economic drought and grim outlook. 

His love affair with the community and never-say-die attitude prompted a move by members of the Frayser Neighborhood Council (FNC), of which he is a member, to tap him to represent Frayser in Washington D.C. and to discuss the Frayser 2020 Plan, the framework of a revitalization effort.

Caswell is the FNC’s go-to activist whose activism is spreading beyond the boundaries of Memphis. He’d presented the group a proposal called “Unity in the Community,” and it was a given that Caswell would be the flag-bearer and catalyst for change in Frayser.

The proposal, said Caswell, “basically addresses getting more people involved through training Frayer’s ambassadors to work in the community, as well as becoming block captains and working with the Neighborhood Watch coordinators in their community.” 

On June 8-10, Caswell and a contingent of Memphis activists and community leaders trekked to the nation’s capitol to take part in the Obama Administration’s Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (NRI), “a bold new place-based approach to help neighborhoods in distress transform themselves into neighborhoods of opportunity.”

Frayser was one of eight communities in five cities chosen for the NRI’s Building Neighborhood Capacity Program (BNCP), a hands-on, technical assistance initiative. This was Caswell’s second trip to Washington. He was in the nation’s capitol earlier during the year to address and seek solutions for Frayser’s wide-spread problems. The BNCP program, he said, targets three communities in the Memphis area – Frayser, Binghampton and Soulsville.

“It entails helping residents to identify assets that are available to them in the community and helping to build upon those assets, service providers, and other partners in the community using basically the assets that they have in helping to make them better to serve the community better,” said Caswell.

The Memphis contingent worked with top officials from the White House-led interagency collaborative that included the departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Education (ED), Justice (DOJ), Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Treasury in support of local solutions to revitalize and transform neighborhoods. Meetings were held at The Department of Justice.

“What we went back to Washington to tell them what the ‘7 P’s’ are about – Pastors, Politicians, Parents, Police, Principals, Proprietors and Partners – and how it’s going to help serve the residents in our community,” said Caswell, author and founder of the 3V Leader program, which focuses on creating a collaborative of parents, children and stakeholders in the community.

“In this work, it helps me to understand…we can do more together than separate. So I think the big picture for us as a community is for those who don’t just look at the dollar amount, but the human capital of us unifying, coming together and sharing the resources that we have and the knowledge that we have,” he said.

“As a leader in the community, that’s been my charge.”