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About now, the Anita Stroud story might be one many of us need to hear.
With the country still mired in the worst recession in decades, hundreds of thousands of us have been forced into unemployment lines. A good chunk of us have lost our homes. Some who never dreamed they'd be in this position now must seek help from food banks. Most of us aren't paupers but we struggle to pay bills and meet other obligations after losing much of our savings and wealth in the stock market debacle.
Yet, consider Anita Stroud.
She was born in poverty and lived in it all her life. She was abandoned as a child and grew up in a tenant farmer's shack near Chester, S.C. She was doing backbreaking work in his fields by the time she was 7.
Her dream for other children was spawned then. She wanted them to have a life unlike hers. The big farm house she envisioned owning would provide a warm and safe place for other unwanted children. It would be a place where they'd get love as they learned, and be encouraged by the one bright light she encountered as a child - Bible stories a neighbor told her and other kids while sitting on a hilltop.
She never got that farm house, but the dream soared. It started in a cramped public housing apartment in Fairview Homes after she moved to Charlotte at 19 to clean houses. It became an after-school Mecca for neighborhood children, children who needed what Stroud had yearned for as a child - love, acceptance, support and stability.
In 1974, Stroud's work became the Anita Stroud Foundation. And though she never got past third grade and worked as a domestic much of her life, Stroud helped hundreds of Charlotte children change the trajectory of their lives. They became teachers, principals and real estate brokers. They work in banking, marketing and the pharmaceutical industry.
On Thursday, the voices of those children - now adults - rang out from a documentary unveiled publicly for the first time at a luncheon at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church where Stroud had been a member. The documentary, "You can be somebody," is a timely testament to the power that one person has to do so much for others - even people who have little financially themselves.
It's been 25 years since Anita Stroud died. But the after-school program that began in her public housing apartment, moved to a donated trailer, then to four renovated Fairview Home apartments and finally to the current Anita Stroud Youth Development Center at Oaklawn at the Park (which replaced Fairview Homes) lives on.
The continued success is due in large part to Geraldine Powe, who has worked with the foundation for more than 25 years and became its executive director in 1990. She became emeritus director in 2006 and interim director in the spring. Powe is the powerful engine still driving the work of the foundation. Like Stroud, she is an example of the power that one committed person has.
Of course, the Anita Stroud Foundation has survived because many individuals committed to doing what they could. Even at the start, it wasn't just Stroud opening her apartment, but churches and individuals giving food, books and money. Through the years barbecues, an annual radiothon and other fundraisers have helped keep the doors open. On Thursday, an anonymous donor gave $10,000 toward the group's efforts.
Money is always needed to sustain these kinds of programs. But the lives of Anita Stroud and Geraldine Powe should remind us that making a difference doesn't require much. If each of us would do what we could, it would be enough.
As many of us struggle to regain our bearings - and our financial stability - Stroud's story and legacy is a reminder of our own power in trying times. We can help someone in need. Anita Stroud has shown us the way.
