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- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 17 Dec 2010.
Ice slowed the day but not shopping time
(c)2010 NPT PHOTO BY DAVID POPIEL
Susan Bell is one of the local Habitat for Humanity directors and likes to visit, shop, and support the Woodlawn Avenue ReStore operated by the non-profit Habitat for Humanity.
Author: David Popiel
Thursday morning's ice storm startled a lot of people who couldn't remember anything like it in our hometown for at least the past 30 years yet shoppers bounced back on Friday with a week left until Christmas.
If you thought it was cold two weeks ago, you were mistaken, and winter doesn't officially arrive until the full moon on Dec. 21. The temperature dropped into the low teens on the mountains where snowfall was deep, lingering for more ice mid week. Then on Tuesday the temperature dropped to five degrees, freezing the ground and setting us up for the ice pack.
In early December, a sad note came across my desk from Kim Gregg, who lives with her husband, retired postal worker Paul Gregg, at Eastport. She announced the closing of her four-year-old business, the Grooming House. A former Newport Animal Shelter director, she got her grooming license and built up a base of about 200 customers. You may recall reading about her and the pooches in my column. I asked why she suddenly decided to quit. It was not an easy decision but her neck was really getting to be a pain. Kim suffers from bulging discs and her grooming work kept aggravating the neck nerves. She also developed carpal tunnel from this. She and her customers shed a lot of tears and she will miss the relationships built during the years. As she said, "Thank you for sharing your precious pets with me."
Here's some future stories you will read about with some of the information I'll round up next week. Annette Mason has been working at the former Bella's Country Kitchen where Dale Hux had reopened. Now I hear there's a new owner and new things going to be happening at the Hwy. 25/70 restaurant. We also printed a notice about the reopening of the Del Rio general store located across from the Del Rio Post Office. Tommy Dean Jones called to invite us out for the grand opening on Saturday, Dec. 18. You will hear more about this venture. And, also in Del Rio, I noticed someone had cut down a lot of scrub brush along the highway t the former Legacy Furniture plant. Willie Strange told me that his brother, Gary Strange, bought the large former factory for his future honey distribution. I hope to visit with him soon.
In late November, we talked about the growing interest in Newport's ReStore, a project of the local Habitat for Humanity. ReStore is located off Woodlawn Ave. behind Flowers by Wilma in a building Habitat bought about a year ago when it first opened. Sam Moscato, a fellow Kiwanian, shared the idea more than a year ago urging the board to take pup the project. The main purpose of the venture is to raise funds through sale of donated items with these funds used to build houses. These are not give-aways but financed in such a method to be more affordable for the new low-income homeowners. Nancy Bryant, an executive with Newport Federal Bank, fist made me aware of ReStore and I visited to check it out. I've met some of the volunteers and board members. Here are a few more you know: Josh Lloyd, Jason Knight, Joyce Hopson, Tim Williams, Phyllis Combs, and Linda Owens. I mentioned meeting board member Carlene Robinson on my first visit. Linda spends most of her time at the ReStore with volunteers. Another behind the scenes volunteer with Habitat is Debbie Fowler, who helps Habitat at a desk in an office at First Baptist Church.
One thing you should know about Linda is that she wants others to get the recognition and not herself. So, she would mention the many folks who are now getting behind ReStore to make it successful. One of those is Derinda Cantrell, whose husband is a pharmacist at Food City West. They work with the Newport Restoration Church. On a second visit to ReStore, I got to meet Derinda and also learn of a problem with the Angel Tree. Betty Footen, who has worked with the soup kitchen, did it last year but the program requires at least 2,000 square feet of storage space. They do not have the space and no wish tree is up. Perhaps you can give Linda some ideas. Derinda said she and Mike Cantrell are from Louisiana and moved here in 2002. "We felt the Lord moved us to Cocke County." She also volunteers at the bigger ReStore in Jefferson City and knew Linda from their work together at On God's Wings.
The Newport store has gotten some technical advice on does from city codes enforcer Mark Robinson who "has been a real great help to us." The store looks better, is more organized and has the potential of doing $100,000 in annual sales. As I noted you never know who or what you will find there. I found a small pair of cats, red and yellow, that are salt and pepper shakers. Among other folks you know helping are Sharon Richards and her daughter, Shauna Estes. Sharon lives in Bybee but came here from Florida being born in Tampa and moving to the mountains in 1999. She started with ReStore on Aug. 29. "You get to meet a lot of interesting people," she said. They like the team concept; there is no boss and all work towards the same goals, which they are achieving.
One of the store volunteers who is tagging and sorting shoes and clothing is Phyllis Cureton, who will directly benefit from the store sales. She and her daughter hope to be the next residents of a Habitat for Humanity Home. Phyllis is a housekeeping supervisor at the Camp Carson Center at Carson Springs.
When I last visited ReStore, folks were in the backroom sorting new items. There I found Phyllis, quietly at work. There are at least four families in line for homes and the local Habitat has built around 20. She and daughter, Mariah, 15, will live in the home. Phyllis is a Hall from Jefferson County and, as mentioned, has been with Carson Center for the past four years. Mariah is a CCHS student. In Oct., Phyllis began volunteering with ReStore as part of the agreement she work as a volunteer and on her new home for 450 hours-sweat equity. Linda says that Phyllis is way ahead of everyone in ticket sales on a quilt to be given away in December during open house. She has sold more than 400 tickets at one dollar each. How did she get interested in Habitat? "I heard a co-worker talking about the program and applied," she said. That was in 2009. "I feel really blessed. It's something we have been praying for three years." Working at ReStore she saw some furniture and purchased a bedroom set for her future home. You may know some of her family. Her mother is the former Estelle Gunter Hall of Chestnut Hill. Phyllis helps take care of her Mom. Dad is the late Hubert "Bug" Hall, who worked with ConAgra. He lost an eye because of a yellow jacket sting as a boy and hence got the nickname "Bug." Another of the family you may have met is Uncle William "Doc" Hall who used to race stock cars. When leaving ReStore, a familiar woman walked in. Susan Bell is a board member for Habitat for Humanity and has been involved with it since the 1990s. Susan tells me she is also active in Rivers of Living Water, a Hispanic Church that meets at Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church. Susan teaches English as a second language.
In plain talk, many transitions take place at the end of a year making it a time to reflect and rejuvenate.
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