You can hear the passion, the sincerity, and love that emanates from Amy Pearson, Executive Director of FirstWorks - a tutoring program in the Highland Heights community. She takes a moment to speak candidly regarding the great work that FirstWorks@The Corners does as part of Communities of Shalom. Moreover, she highlights the amazing gifts, assets, and potential that are so alive and vibrant in this historic neighborhood.
Carl Awsumb was so excited on that Saturday in July, when more children showed up than ever before. With fifteen to twenty children and few adults it was almost too much of a good thing. They picked one hundred pints of blackberries – the most ever – and sold them at a local Farmers’ Market with the help of GrowMemphis. One might think it is the profit share of up to five dollars an hour that keeps the children from the local Binghampton neighborhood coming back to McMerton Gardens early every Saturday morning. But it is so much more. You can see it in the faces of the children and the volunteers hoeing, weeding and harvesting the beautiful fruits and vegetables. There is a pride in th
