Newspapers / Amco News (High Point, … / Nov. 1, 1995, edition 1 / Page 4
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Page 4 November 1995 A Sense of Service You can judge a person or a people by the regard they have for their fellowman, by the time they spend doing good for others. The people of Adams-Millis have that reputation and sense of service. In this issue and coming issues of Amco News, some of those individuals will tell their stories on these pages. Those who are featured in this issue rep resent only a small percentage of those who give their time and talents to worth while activities beyond our doors. The Amco News applauds all of you. There’s a new spirit glowing in Barnwell, South Carolina, and an Adams- Millis employee is working to make it brighter. Rogers Smith is secre tary of the Big Seven As sociation, a group of nine African-American men in Barnwell who are dedi cated to improving their community and serving the people who live there. He also is a member of Adams-Millis’s Commu nity Affairs Committee, which helps the company select community activities to support. “All of us feel the need to put something into the community, not just take from it,” says Rogers, who has been in the Big Seven for five years. Our creed is ‘So far to go, so little time.’ As time passes, problems arise. We, as members of the Big Seven Association, will do our very best to stand tall and in unity to better our community.” The Big Seven Associa tion sponsors a number of events during the year, us ing several of them as an opportunity to bring differ ent races closer together. The entire community was invited to a Labor Day event this year that pro vided a free meal including chicken, sausage and hot dogs. Rogers said that a number of white citizens were among the approxi mately 500 people who came. The group sponsored a senior citizens banquet in April that was attended by 170 seniors, 40 more than had attended the first ban quet in 1994. It also at tracted a growing number of white citizens. Programs like this are supported by fund-raising activities like candy sales. Other projects during the last year have included a “Feed-a-lhon,” through which the association col lected and distributed gro ceries and other necessities to needy people in the com munity; a foster care pro gram in December in which members spent approxi mately $50 of their own money to buy a Christmas gift for a foster child; $200 scholarships for high school seniors; building bleachers at a community park; and an Adopt-a- Highway program to help keep the highways clean. While Rogers is a realist about race relations, he sees hope for the future in what he feels are improving re lations between white and black residents in Barnwell. FRAZIER SMITH He feels that the Big Seven Association has taken the lead in that effort. For many students, the transition from college to work can be as traumatic as the transition from high school to college. Rudy Frazier, manager of Industrial Engineering at the Administrative Offices in High Point, has been working for the last seven years to help make it easier for seniors who attend North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro. Frazier serves on an In dustry Advisory Group that meets monthly with the en gineering department fac ulty at A&T. The group provides projects on sub jects like ergonomics and material handling that offer a real-world problem for the students. “I usually have a plant engineer assist the student during the first semester to scope out the project for work during the second semester,” says Frazier. “Many of these students are working their way through college, and some are holding down two jobs to pay expenses. Even though they are working, few of them have exposure to a business environment other than places like McDonald’s. We help them understand basic things like how to conduct themselves in a meeting or how to dress for the job.” Erazier says that the group also provides other services for the students that A&T is unable to in clude in its curriculum. The group has arranged for training in communica tions, career path planning and how to interview for a job, for example. “We usually have from two to four students each year who come to Adams- Millis. One year our stu dent received an award for the best project; ‘Regres sion Analysis in Order Picking.’ It involved some pretty high math work. “A&T has an excellent engineering program. In the time I have been volun teering I have seen a sharp upturn in the quality of stu dents at the school.” * % % Michelle Ryals, who works in Engineering at the distribution center in Kernersville, also channels much of her volunteer ac tivity to areas in which her daughters, Renee and Lauren, are involved. “When I was a child there were five kids in the family, so my mother didn’t have a lot of time to spend with me,” Michelle says. “That’s why I want to spend time with Renee and Lauren.” Renee is heavily in volved in the Girl Scout troop at Pine Grove United Methodist Church in Kernersville. Lauren is old enough to participate in scouting, but she chose dance lessons instead. “I’ve been assistant leader in the troop for five years, and I enjoy ev ery minute of it,” Michelle says. RYALS When Sherri Eorrest was in high school, a friend (Janice Simmons) pre dicted that they someday would coach girls athletic teams. Today, after ap proximately 15 years, that prediction has come true. They have coached girls between 8 and 12 years of age in softball and basketball. “The first basketball game we played that first year, we got dogged,” she says. “I told the girls after Continued on page 5
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