Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / Aug. 31, 1995, edition 1 / Page 14
Part of The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
BERT. ’ ¥ Jodi Benton is returning to Haiti on a medical mission trip with other volunteer nurses and doctors from Cleveland County. Local mission team to return to Haiti Volunteering in tin-top cinder block clinics in Haiti villages with- out electricity and water is a labor of love every summer for two Cleveland County doctors and a registered nurse among those serv- ing on the Haiti Mission outreach project. Dr. Michael Barringer, Shelby surgeon, Dr. Joe Minus, Shelby pe- diatrician, Jodi Benton , Shelby nurse, and Dr. Richard Maybin of Lawndale all worked at hospitals and clinics in Limbe and Cap Haitien in the northern part of Haiti last year and are going back this year. Other doctors and nurses, a den- tist and other volunteers were in the group last year and this sum- mer Jodi plans to return on October 13 for a week and on December 29 for two weeks. Some of the members of the team dug wells for fresh water at the clinics and staffed clinics, see- ing thundred of children with in- testinal problems and worms and giving measles vaccines to hun- (dreds of children under the age of | two. During one week's time Dr. Barringer performed 79 surgical procedures. The staff worked in 105 degree temperature most of the time, us- ing interpreters in the Creole lan- guage. Jodi said she quickly learned how to tell the children to roll up their sleeves and not to cry. She said that education for mothers is desperately needed. "We tell the mothers to breast feed their babies because there is no freshwater and they drink water from the same river that they bathe in and wash their clothes." Theirs is a real sanitation and health problem. The mission team is housed in the Hotel Beck, a cinder block building which has a 20-watt bulb hanging from the ceiling which is turned on only from 6-11 p.m. for light and a ceiling fan. There is running water and a bathroom and the bedroom is occupied by four people. Most of the patients have gastric related ailments, accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea. Why did Jodi volunteer her va- cation from her emergency room duties at Cleveland Memorial hos- pital to spend in faraway Haiti? "I wanted to give back some- thing to the less fortunate because I found in Cleveland County a new life," said the single parent of 16 years who lives at Lake Montonia and is engaged to marry Tom Adams, the resident manager she has dated for eight years. They plan to be married at Lake Montonia in November before her third trip to Haiti. She is trying to raise $2500 for the three week trip and gave pro- grams at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church and Central United Methodist Church where youth groups are packing pill packages for the Haiti people and accepting donations from local people for medicine. Jodi went back to school and earned her nursing degree after stopping to raise three tecnagers. She worked at Kings Mountain Hospital part-time and went to school at Gaston College and then went to work at Cleveland Memorial Hospital over four years ago. Her first stint in the medical field was in respiratory therapy for ninc ycars and she also operated a dance studio in the castern part of the State. . Jodi and her three children moved to Lake Montonia in 1986 in the house her grandfather Oscar Sappenfield built in 1936. Her mother remodeled the house in 1975 for year-round living and sold it to her daughter in 1992. Brad Benton, 23, is in optician school in Durham and lives in Raleigh. Jeff Benton, 21, finished school at Gaston College and is a student at UNC-G. Katie Benton is a senior student at Kings Mountain High School. The former Jodi McArthur, daughter of Kathryn Baker of Crouse and Robert McArthur of Asheville, grew up in Asheville dreaming to dance with the Radio City Rockettes. She started danc- ing at age four and studied with Beale Fletcher and Lynn Jackson Fisher and was one of the six dancers who trained for the Rockettes. But Jodi grew in stature and at five feet 11 inches tall ‘was two inches taller than the required five feet six to five feet nine for au- ditions. She was voted most talented in the 1965 Miss Gastonia Pageant and was a protege of Nancy Kitchen of DanceMasters. "Dancing really helps a person in so many ways and I gained 80 pounds after I quit dancing," she said. Besides her nursing job, she has joined Jamie Lakey in opening a new dance studio in downtown Kings Mountain. The clinic-type setting of the medical missions is associated with L'Hospital Le Bon Samaritan, pro- viding inoculations and vaccina- tions to all who need their care, says Jodi. The program is sponsored by the Cap Haitien circuit of the Methodist Church and donations to assist in payment of the fees for the members of the medical team are tax deductible contributions. The Haiti Mission is an outreach program of Providence United Methodist Church in Charlotte. The humanitarian program is Jodi's way to say thank you to God for her blessings. She estimated that cost of major surgery in America for their pa- tients would be about $195,000 and the Haiti people get the benefit of trained physicians, new equip- ment that remains at the clinics and medicine. "I could not imagine how so few volunteers could do so much for so many when I joined the team," said Jodi. She said one evening the rain prevented the team from traveling the all-dirt roads and the team con- ducted sick call at the hotel where they stayed and saw more than 1500 patients, including policemen on duty to keep the peace in the Bahamas and Caribbean Islands. For the medical missionaries theirs is a labor of love. Special services at Rudisill Chapel Rev. Pruella Kilgore-Sanders, pastor of Adams Chapel AME Zion Church, will be evangelist for revival services September 11-15 at Rudisill Chapel AME Zion Church. Services will be held nightly at 7 p.m. service on September 10 at 3 p.m. will be Rev. Clinton Feemster, pas- tor of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Kings Mountain. Speaker for the Homecoming fi j Chirping excitedly, wings fluttering at full throttle, a Sunday congregation of sparrows flock to the feeder. “Hurry,” they Psalm call in bird-banter, “first come, first served! Sure is good, but 38 Thursday + it'salmostgone!” ; Monday John : God gives the birds the instinct to nest and forage for Mark 1a food. “Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a 1:1-8 Friday nest...” (Psalm 84:3). God provides us with even more. — John Surely, our Father gives us strength for our daily bread, but Yuesta 9:35-41 He also gives us a source of food for our soul ... a place where Jane we may congregate enthusiastically to feed upon His Word. : Saturday As the Sabbath bells chime, God seems to say, “Hurry into Wednesday Jone My sanctuary, where you may replenish your strength with John the seed which I have sown.” In John 4:36, the Lord invites us ... “He who reaps, gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may féjoice together.” God's fruit is good and His love is everlasting. Worship this Sabbath. Even if you are a bit late, there is plenty for all. 9:1-12 % Pa ¥, f Si wh t ’ ot : 4 hk " 5 i 3 Scriptures Selected by The American Bible Society Copyright 1995, Keister-Williams Newspaper Services, P. O. Box 8005, Charlottesville, VA 22906 i It is the Desire of Area Pastors and the Community Minded Firms Listed Here That GOD Be Taken Into The Solution of ALL Our Problems. Worship HIM In Church Regularly. First Carolina Federal Amity Finance Savings Bank Of Kings Mountain Since 1907 739-4781 + 482-0222 + 865-1111 739-1311 Hardee’s Of Kings Mountain Harris Teeter Supermarket and Employees Plonk Tire Wray and Tim Plonk 739-0193 Kerns Trucking, Inc. You Call - We Haul 739-4747 Allen’s Flower Kings Mountain Cablevision Shop, Inc. H id G Cleveland and York Management and Staff era aston, Cleve an an or Counties Grover Mac’s Grocery Parkdale Mills, Inc. Industries 900 N. Piedmont Ave. #5 & #19 739-3391 “Where Friendly People Work” Management and Employees The Printin’ Press Canterbury Road 739-0333 Peggy’s Restaurant 415 N. Piedmont Ave. 739-7361 Wade Ford You Can Count on Wade Kings Mountain Hospital 739-3601 Harris Funeral Home, Inc. Ollie Harris and Staff Nationwide Insurance 306 E. King Street 739-3953 The Sub Factory 1 24 A. West Gold Street 739-4255 Quick Way Cleaners 110 N. Cleveland Ave. 739-2422 Loves Fish Box 1104 Shelby Road
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 31, 1995, edition 1
14
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75