would you vote for these guys? Celebrating ) years of Toys See Opinion/Forum pages on A8&9 Volume 44, Number 11 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. THURSDAY, November 16, 2017 Co-op grocery store recruiting Larson BY TODD LUCK THE CHRONICLE SHARE Cooperative of Winston-Salem is recruiting members to help open its Harvest Market grocery store in the Peter’s Creek area. SHARE (Supplying Honest and Respectful Engagement), which is an initiative of Freedom Tree at IDR (Institute for Dismantling Racism), held its first member recruitment meeting at Philo-Hill Magnet Academy. It’s looking for the community to support its effort to open a co-op grocery store in a food desert, which is an area where fresh, healthy food isn’t available. Lifetime memberships can be purchased for just $100 and will give members a vote in the direction of the store and will also include coupons and monthly “owner deals.” Co-ops are democratically run by members, which should let it put principles over profits, according to SHARE organizers. The nonprofit’s goal is to have 300 members by March 2018 and 1,000 members before the store opens, which organizers hope will be in a year. The $100,000 equity raised from members will help the group acquire loans and grants for the rest of the $2.5 million it’ll need See Co-op on A6 Photos By Todd Luck SHARE organizer Rev. Gary Williams asks attendees to join the SHARE Cooperative of Winston-Salem dur ing a meeting held last week, at Philo-Hill Magnet Academy. _ , I I ■■ ■■ §fp SiHi 'My .„iiaSSSi£ Photo by Todd Luck Veterans eat during a luncheon and symposium held at the Winston-Salem Urban League on Friday. Veterans symposium focuses on mental health BY TODD LUCK THE CHRONICLE The Winston-Salem Urban League held a Veterans Services Symposium with an emphasis on mental health on Friday, Nov. 10. Held at its headquarters the day before Veteran’s Day, the symposium and luncheon were part of the Urban League’s mental health initiative for underserved minori ties. It showcased just how many services of are available to veterans. It also showed the need for them, hoping to dispel stigmas by encouraging veterans to get the benefits they earned and the mental health services they need. . Several veterans shared their stories of dealing with the traumas of war. Jerry Dodd, a Vietnam War veteran, said he thought he was fine when he came home. Then he found he couldn’t go out on a quiet street by himself because he was afraid something was going to happen. He started experiencing health problems, which he found out was due to his mental issues, and eventually saw a psychi See Veterans on A7 County blacks affected by GOP redistricting plan BY CASH MICHAELS FOR THE CHRONICLE During the third, Special Session of the NC General Assembly last month, the Republican-led House passed HB 717 - a bill to redraw all judicial districts across the state. Sponsored by Republican lawmaker Rep. Justin Burr (R-Stanly), who claims that his only goal is to make judicial elections fairer, the law will radically change the way District Court judges are cunently elected. But according to many judicial analysts, Burr’s plan not only seeks to get more Republicans elected to the bench statewide, but specifically targets District Court judges of color. Hartsfield Banks-Prince As reported by The Chronicle in October, Isela Gutierrez, associate research director with the non-parti san, nonprofit Democracy North Carolina, charged that judicial redistricting isn’t just about getting more Republican district and superior court judges elected to the bench, but, just as with legislative and congressional redistricting, lessen the influence of black voters in overall elections. With the passage of HB 717, there was also a new judicial redistricting map that Gutierrez alleged takes resources and important programs, like alternatives for incarceration for many people, away from large black communities in Durham, Mecklenburg, Forsyth, Guilford, See GOP on At Former Bank of America Building WR5I0N-SALEM. NT Winston-Salem, NC 27101 J22 ASSURED im STORAGE We Rent U-Haul Trucks! www.assuredstoragews.com Professional self-storage 4191 Bethania St;