Religion B6
FOCUS
Community service has become
Lee Faye Mack's reason for being
By ROBIN BARKSDALE
Community News Editor
Years ago when the woman from the Experiment in Self-Reliance
knocked at Lee Faye Mack's door, peddling hope for a better life and self
improvement, Mrs. Mack issued a firm "no, thank you" and dismissed the
visitor.
But the woman wasn't about to take no for an answer and boldly
returned to Mrs. Mack's home. Today, Mrs. Mack is grateful that the
woman from ESR was Louise Wilson, whom she said truly cared about
helping community people.
"Louise Wilson started me working in the community and I didn't
want to get involved at first," Mrs. Mack recalled, lowering her voice as
she mentions the late Mrs. Wilson. "I was like these women tjiat come to
the Back to Life Center. I was at that low point when Louise came to my
house. I always respected her for knocking on my door and everybody
else's that was like me. She got turned away from my door at first I saw
her as a middle class doctor's wife who wasn't about dealing with real life.
"People have been sitting in positions for years
doing nothing. There are people sitting in big jobs
in the name of helping the poor and they're noth
ing but poor people's pimps. They don't like me
for saying those things but that's all right. It does
n't bother me, because 1 feel I'm speaking the
truth. What bothers me is when people hear the
truth and won't take heed." ?
Evangelist Lee F aye Mack
I was always miserable and I saw her as a person that wasn't aware of that
misery. But one of the things I respected about her was that she came
back. She could have gone away and not come back but she did come
back."
Those initial encounters with Mrs. Wilson helped to turn Mrs. Mack's
life toward community service work, and she has stayed on that course
ever since.
Although she won't elaborate, she said that she "going through a try
ing-time" when ESR sent Mrs. Wilson into the eity's low-mcomeneigh
borhoods to see what programs were needed.
A native of Bishopville, S.C., Mrs. Mack came to Winston-Salem
with her husband in 1957. She was not working when she met Mrs. Wil
son, and she was so impressed by her persistence and sincerity that she
began to feel the need to do something in the community. Mrs. Mack's
work in community service began at ESR after she got to know Mrs. Wil
son. She later worked for the city and spent 11 years at the Urban League.
Her work in each position allowed her to develop community service pro
grams.
"This is my life. This has been my life. I was chosen, not by Lee Faye
or anybody else, but by the Supreme Being," she said. "Even when I was
working with the Urban League, I was on the paid staff but I didn't belong
to the Urban League. My work didn't end when the Urban League's day
ended."
Mrs. Mack, who was ordained as a minister in 1987, has
dedicated her life to serving others. She makes the statement
matter-of-factly but said that there is nothing particularly
noble or saintly about her devotion to helping people.
"1 had a calling. It's as simple as that. There is a differ
ence between being called and being hired," she said. "I
appreciate the years I was with the Urban League, ESR and
the city, but I also knew that there was a calling. I hacj to go
beyond my job."
Mrs. Mack is not sympathetic to social workers who
have the responsibility of helping the less fortunate but who
insist that budget and staff restrictions will not allow them to
address everyone's concerns. Having worked on the other
side of the fence, Mrs. Mack said that she is aware that there
are rules and regulations but that those rules can sometimes
become a crutch for unenthusiastic workers.
"I get frustrated sometimes but I also understand the sys
tem," she said. "I maintain that no social worker should ever
leave a problem that they can t solve. Education should make
the difference but it doesn't always take book education to
solve a problem. Sometimes it just takes common sense."
Not one to tolerate complacency on the part of social
agencies, Mrs. Mack has no qualms about speaking her mind
to the powers that be. She watches and questions funds that
are received and spent on behalf of the disenfranchised. If she
disagrees with an issue or the treatment of the less fortunate
? slie says so. And she is heard.
"People have been sitting in positions for years doing
nothing. There are people sitting in big jobs in the name of
helping the poor and they're nothing but poor people's
pimps," she said, lifting her voice in anger. "They don't like
me for saying those things but that's all right. It doesn't bother
me, because I feel I'm speaking the truti). What bothers me is
when people hear the truth and won't take heed."
While she is hard on agencies that don't meet their
responsibilities, Mrs. Mack is equally firm with residents
whom she said are allowing their Afro-American cities to be
destroyed by drugs and crime.
!lJelLpeople^the~truth, Sometimes it-hurts. I may have Krtctt them to
get their acts together. They may get upset then, but they come back and
thank me sometimes," said Mrs. Mack. ,
Mrs, Mack believes in some things with a passion, as demonstrated by
her determination to make the Back to Life Center a reality. She received
the house as a gift after mentioning to someone her dream to open such a
facility. She and the community spent time removing debris, snakes and
discarded drug paraphernalia from the premises, and Mrs. Mack lived at
the house herself for weeks before it was ready for opening. It was the
same kind of determination, she said, that sustained her through raising her
six children and watching them all attend and graduate from college. In
retrospect, she said, it was those six individuals that motivated her to con
tinue her work and to make a difference in her community. She said, too,
that because her children were able to succeed against the odds, she is con
cerned that the children of other Afro-American mothers have the same
photo by Mike Cunningham
Evangelist Lee Faye Mack: "I had a calling. It's as simple as that. There is a
difference between being called and belna hired."
opportunities. But in order for that to happen on a large scale, Mrs. Mack
said that ihc Afro- American community, from the ministers to the politi*
/ y
cians, will have to speak out for what it needs.
"We have mothers, grandmothers who are being beaten by drug users
and their own children. We've got to stand up. We've got to say If you're
going to deal drugs, go somewhere else, because we're not going to stand
for it in our community, " she said. "I'm a hard person on the ministers. A
lot of people take issue with me on that. But I maintain that black minis
ters have people in their congregation who say they are all saved. Then
those aren't the people who need them. The people who need those minis
ters are the people out here wfro aren't saved and who are straggling. A lot
of times, ministers stand in the pulpit and tell people how to live a heaven
ly life, but they need to help them live on earth, too. Ministers are nothing
but servants, but we'll make ourselves kings and queens. When are we
going out into the valley to help people? I heard one minister say he had
been to the valley but we don't ever get free of going to the valley to help
somebody. I just hope I can be a light in the window and help somebody."
The Back to Life Center: A bridge to better times
By ROBIN BARKSDALE
Community News Editor
East 21st Street winds to a
dead end just after the 900 block.
Ironically, it is right at that dead
end that some members of the com
munity are finding a new begin
ning.
Situated there is the Back to
Life Center, its huge banner
appearing to issue a challenge to
the "Dead End" traffic signs that sit
4 just outside its doors. The traffic
people who have reached the end
come to find their way back.
The Back to Life Center actu
ally is a house that, with the excep
tion of the banner hung across its
front porch, appears not very differ
ent from any other house on the
street. But this house is a communi
ty house. And the house itself has
been resurrected from its days as an
abandoned structure that was used
primarily as a shooting gallery by
neighborhood drug traffic. Now, it
photos by Mike Cunningham
Regular Family Morals workshops are held at the Back to Life
Center. The sessions focus on teaching young children proper
etiquette and manners.
signs have been there for years, belongs to everyone and its doors
The center is a new component in are open to any and all who are in
the neighborhood - a place where need of help. On any given day,
there are homeless persons in
search of food, clothing or shelter.
There are neighborhood wives and
mothers who come to discuss ways
to keep drug dealers away from
their children, and there are chil
dren of working parents who can
not afford traditional day care ser
vices.
Founded just a little over a
year ago by Evangelist Lee Faye
Mack, the Back to Life Center
caters to whatever is ailing its com
munity. It is different because its
programs and services are not pre
arranged. If the community has a
and openly discuss their problems.
From that need grew a women's
support and counseling session
which meets twice each week. The
women in the group meet to talk
about such issues as teen-age preg
nancy, how to keep drug dealers
trom recruiting their young chil
dren and male/female relationships.
They are frank, honest and open
discussions that allow room for
praise when earned and point
blank, but constructive, criticism
when warranted. At a recent ses
sion, the women wanted to discuss
the problems facing Afro- American
we can talk about
that other people
same things. I may not
Mack tells me but I listen
me something to think
to tell it to me straight
's Support Group member
need, the center creates a program
to service that need,
"This is a vision and a dream
that God has given me. We felt that
the community needs to be
involved in deciding some things
for themselves," said Mrs. Mack.
"In order for them to be apprecia
tive and to take care of this, they
need to be involved with what
kinds of programs are offered. We
want to give them what they need
to help them get back into the
mainstream of their community and
society in general."
One of the services members
of the 21st Street community want
ed was an opportunity for a support
group which would allow people
with common concerns to come
men and women in their relation
ships and what each could do to
keep their families together. There
were questions about how to deal
with the peer pressure that a spouse
or companion may give in to. There
were questions about how to get a
mate to accept responsibility in the
family and how to react if the mate
does not accept that res~ visibility.
Mrs. Mack serves as moderator
for the discussions but not as judge.
She poses possible causes and solu
tions and the group takes it from
there.
That particular discussion of
family relationships led to the issue
of drug dealers and the contact that
they have with young children in
the neighborhood. One group mem
- ? tT*vr* iTim? i r &Aia? MM
Lee Faye Mack leads a discussion during a Women's Support
Group session at the Back to Life Center.
ber commented that something
should be done about the pressure
dealers put on kids. But she was
quickly reminded that she should
take responsibility for teaching her
children to absolutely denounce the
drug trade and that she should not
allow her children to travel to areas
that are known for drug trafficking.
"You've got to stay on top of
what's happening," group members
told her. "You are responsible for
your child. It is best that we know
where our children are. It's not a
matter of trust anymore."
The group is nothing if not
candid in their discussion and their
terminology. Little is glossed over
or sugar-coated and that's the way
they like it.
"I like coming here because we
can talk about anything we want
and we find out that other people ,
are feeling some of the same
things," said one participant. "I may
not agree with everything Mrs.
Mack tells me but I listen and it
may at least give me something to
think about because she's going to
tell it to me straight and I appreci
ate that."
"I think it's the atmosphere that
they like," Mrs. Mack said. "People
feel free to say what they have to
say. They don't have to be worried
about the grammar they use or
about if they say things right. They
just say what they feel. They feel
comfortable."
In addition to the women's sup
port group, the Back to Life Center
offers drug prevention programs,
intake and referrals to social service
agencies and motivational semi
nars. The center also has features
which are unique to their particular
mission.
There is the Life Line, which
Mrs. Mack said "helps people get
back to a productive life." Under
the Life Line program, persons who
have been displaced from their
homes for one reason or another are
placed with families who agree to
provide them with room and board
until they are back on their feet.
Mrs. Mack said that the individuals
in the program are heavily screened
and that the concept is a carryover
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