What's Up? with Merlene

Despite growing up here, John and Laura Gallaher hadn’t interacted with people in north Lexington until about seven years ago when he became the youth pastor at The Rock/La Roca United Methodist Church on North Limestone Street.
That’s when the couple began reaching out, getting to know area youth and their families and learning to love the neighborhood.
They bought a house in the area and settled in.
Shortly after, the financially struggling church laid off staff members, and the couple began doubting the calling they believed God had placed in their hearts.
Were they really supposed to minister in north Lexington? Maybe God was telling them to move on.
“It was a difficult decision, but we decided to stay,” John said. “I decided to fundraise my salary.”
By asking family, friends and others to support their mission to stick with the children in the area, he was able to raise money for his salary.
“That was confirmation,” he said.

John and Laura Gallaher – photo by Pablo Alcala

By the time La Roca merged with Embrace Church in 2011, the Gallahers had already decided to start a non-profit which would focus on education, recreation, leadership development and spiritual formation for the children along North Limestone and around Castlewood Park.
The couple quit their jobs, learned how to start a nonprofit and created Common Good Community Development Corporation, complete with a board of directors, some of them from the community.
Talk about walking out in faith.
The Rev. Rosario Picardo, the lead pastor of Embrace, was supportive of the separate nonprofit and offered them space at Embrace Church Epworth Community, formerly La Roca.

Laura Gallaher, left Jimmy Orozco Cordova, age 5, Hope Iranzi, age 5 and Emmani Bolia prayed during Common Good’s afternoon activities at Embrace Church . Photo by Pablo Alcala

Before long, slots were filled for their four-day after school program for 50 students and a six-week summer program which is held from 1 to 5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, and there was a waiting list.
The quick success was due to their previous involvement in the neighborhood, John said.
“We were working and living in the community and listening to what the needs were,” he said. “We were not outsiders. We had been to their homes and they had been to our home. The needs of the community had become our own needs.”
Laura, a social worker, said of all the decisions the couple has made over the past five years, moving into the community was the most important. “It helped us build relationships with these families,” she said. “We get to know their successes, joys, needs and failures.”
Many of the diverse group of youth are refugees and immigrants, and some are failing at least one academic subject in school; some are failing all of them. So the education component in the program is very important, she said.
Dor’cas Kaindu, 16, said she was having difficulty understanding geometry this year.
“Teachers and college students come by and they helped me,” she said, adding that she passed the course.
Dor’cas, whose family is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia, enjoys the music component of Common Good, taking voice lessons once a week.
Cristian Juarez, 15, rides his bike from west of Rupp Arena to North Limestone whenever the program is in session, regardless of weather. The Gallahers gave him a bicycle when his family moved out of the neighborhood.
He especially likes the college tours the older youth take and he likes the service projects the group undertakes, such as helping to clean and organize at the nonprofit The Nest Center for Women, Children and Families.
“I get a better feeling about the neighborhood,” he said.
Definitely one of the highlights of the summer program is the Service, Education, and Entrepreneurship in Downtown Spaces program which is a partner program sponsored by Seedleaf, a program that works on increasing the amount, affordability, nutritional value and sustainability of food available to people at risk of hunger in Central Kentucky.
The middle and high school youth meet twice each week during June and July to plant, weed, harvest and prepare the food they have grown in the nearby garden. At the end of the program, the youth are awarded a gift card for their work.
The Lexington Art League sponsors free classes year round, and the middle and high school students go to Aldersgate Camp & Retreat Center in Ravenna in the summer where they get to swim, fish and stay in a cabin.

Cristian Juarez and Dor’cas Kaindu

Dor’cas and Cristian agreed they wouldn’t have experiences like this were it not for Common Good.
“With other programs you would pay a lot,” Dor’cas said, “but here, you pay $10.”
The program has about 40 mentors of all ages who volunteer at least four hours a week, but they could use more. Commitment is essential and required.
“We need committed volunteers willing to build relationships,” John said.
Cooks are needed to prepare meals, and, of course, money is always welcome and needed.
“And we need prayer,” John said. “Continue to pray for our community.”
Laura agreed.
“Sometimes when people describe what we do, they focus on the needs,” she said. “But we celebrate the strengths and the potential.”
Common Good is a program initiated by two young people who want to improve the lives of children in their neighborhood.
In their case, familiarity breeds love.

How to help
Common Good Community
Development Corporation
Donate online: Kentucky.nationalchristian.com/578
By mail: Send checks to National Christian Foundation, P.O. Box 175, Lexington, KY 40588. Put “Common Good” in the memo.
For more information: Email: commongoodcdc@gmail.com

June 19, celebrated as Juneteenth in many parts of this country, will mark the 149th anniversary of Gen. Gordon Granger’s march into Galveston, Texas, freeing what is considered the last group of slaves in America.
Other slaves had been freed at various times beginning with the Emancipation Proclamation which set Jan. 1, 1863, as the deadline for slaves in Confederate states to get their first taste of freedom.
If it is left up to Yvonne Giles, that anniversary will be celebrated every year in African Cemetery No. 2, at the gravesites of dozens of men who served in the military during the Civil War.
“Had it not been for these men who sacrificed their lives, there would be no Juneteenth and none of us would be free,” said Giles, director of the Isaac Scott Hathaway Museum and member of the cemetery board.
This year, the 11th for the celebration, five youth from Main Street Baptist Church will portray the founding pastor of the church, the Rev. Frederick Braxton, and his wife, two of their sons, and a long-time church member who served as deacon, trustee and interim pastor in the early 1900s. All of them are buried in the cemetery at 419 East Seventh Street, as are 62 known Civil War veterans.
Delphine Ridgeway, who is coordinating this event and who helped research the history at Main Street Baptist Church, said that in the presentation, Braxton, portrayed by Matthew Moore, 18, recounts how he organized the Independent Baptist Church after breaking away from the First African Church in 1862. That church later was re-named Main Street. Elisabeth White, 15, portrays Braxton’s wife, Kesiah.
Landon Love, 17, and his brother Langston Love, 14, will portray Cpl. Charles Braxton and Pvt. Merritt Braxton, the minister’s sons, who enlisted in the U.S. Colored Troop 116th Infantry Regiment at Camp Nelson in 1864.
In 1865, the brothers participated in the fall of Petersburg, Va., on April 2; the pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee April 3-9; and the surrender of Lee’s army at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9.
Leander Ridgeway, Jr., 15, portrays the Rev. Richard C. Speed, the interim pastor, who was a member of the church until 1952.
The Rev. Braxton’s gravesite is unknown, but the church put a memorial headstone near the grave of his son in the cemetery last summer.
Five tents will be set up at key monuments in the cemetery Saturday and the history of some of the veterans will be told by cemetery board members, Giles said. Visitors will receive a stamp at each tent and when they have collected all five, they will be treated to a camp-style meal of water and hardtack, she said, laughing. Hardtack is a very hard biscuit made of flour and water, and salt if you were lucky.
I asked her if that is supposed to be the big draw?
She laughed harder.
“That was what they carried with them in case the chuck wagon could not reach them,” Giles said. “This is the adventure of discovery. You can find out how hard they had to live, walking for miles and they had to eat cold food.”
Giles added there would more items on the menu than hardtack for those of us in the 21st Century.
“Highlighting the Spirit of Freedom” starts at 10:30 a.m. June 15.
Several of the veterans in the cemetery have interesting stories. For example, Spencer Peterson Young, a native of Jessamine County, enlisted in the 122nd Infantry, and later became an Ohio minister before being named pastor at First Baptist Church in 1881. He conducted the 10th wedding anniversary ceremony for Isaac and Lucy Murphy in 1893 and presiding at his funeral in 1896.
Another, Howard Miller, was 18 when he joined the 5th Cavalry and was soon promoted to sergeant because he could read. His regiment participated in the Stoneman’s Raid at Saltville, Va.
And, then there is George T. Prosser, a private in the 54th Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment, composed of freed men. He was a prisoner of war for 19 months, captured at the failed Union assault at Fort Wagner, S.C., on which the movie Glory was based. He was freed in a prisoner exchange near the end of the war.
That is a part of history that has been forgotten, like Juneteenth, Ridgeway said.
“It is history and no one knows about it,” she said. “And folks don’t know about Juneteenth. I’ve been to a couple of ceremonies at Camp Nelson and they have been packed with people of all colors and all kinds.
“People need to be made aware of the significance of Juneteenth, as well,” she said.

IF YOU GO
Highlighting the Spirit of
Freedom, a Juneteenth
celebration.
When: 10:30 a.m.- noon, June 15.
Where: African Cemetery No. 2,  419 East Seventh St., Lexington

For two years, Vanita Allen was filled with guilt and frustration over the behavior of her granddaughter, Asia Mitchell.
Allen shed her addictions 12 years ago so she could care for her six grandchildren after her daughter was murdered.
Because of that, Allen blamed herself when Asia ran away from home several times and was fighting and failing at school. Nothing Allen tried seemed to work.
“So, I took her to court and then I met Linda,” she said.

Asia Mitchell and Vanita Allen – Photo by Photo by Tessa Lighty | Staff

Allen filed a “beyond control” order against Asia at the Court Designated Worker CDW office and the case was referred to Linda Harvey, director of Juvenile Restorative Justice, for mediation and resolution.
Not only did the family have sessions with Harvey, but Allen joined a mothers’ support group and Asia took part in a “circle group” of discussions with other middle school girls.
Now, nine months later, Allen is a support group leader and Asia has opened up, calmed down and learned how to deal with her anger.
“It helped me be a better person,” said Asia, 14. “I don’t get into trouble every day and I’ve learned how to keep calm, laugh and just walk away.”
Not only have the mediation tactics worked with juveniles in the family court system, but they are working in middle and high schools throughout Lexington and other cities nationwide, before an issue reaches the court system.
“My vision is to get the schools to use restorative justice rather than suspensions,” Harvey said.
Now entering its third year, JRJ was created in 2010 at the request of Building a United Interfaith Lexington through Direct-Action. BUILD was seeking ways to help juveniles in the court system who were using drugs and alcohol. The group turned to the Family Court judges and Harvey for the professional help needed to explore family dynamics, individual needs and reasons the juveniles have taken a wayward path.
The program has evolved since then. JRJ not only conducts circles in middle and high schools, it also conducts mediation conferences that bring together victims, offenders and their parents for reconciliation when public or criminal offenses occur, Harvey said.
“We have done 100 status (non-criminal) court cases since January, 2010,” Harvey said. “That is not including public offenses, school cases or CDW cases.”
This is where we all should be on our feet, applauding the government’s wisdom in funding such a valuable program. But don’t bother.
Harvey pays the $200 a month rent on the crowded, one-room JRJ office and a nearly depleted grant pays for space at The Plantory for peer circles and mediation sessions. Neither Harvey nor any of the 18 interns who have worked at JRJ have ever received a paycheck or stipend.
“We are serving the court for free,” she said.

Linda Harvey – Photo by Photo by Tessa Lighty | Staff

Fayette Family Court Judge Lucinda Masterton said Harvey is almost her own worst enemy.
“She does the work so beautifully without getting paid,” Masterton said. “Every day she gets up and solves problems. I worry she will wake up and say I don’t want to do this anymore.”
Harvey fills the gap between the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the Department of Juvenile Justice, Masterton said. Harvey, who has worked in the restorative justice field for two decades, is respected worldwide for her work in alternative dispute resolution, but is relatively unknown in Lexington, she said.
“What we really need to do is recognize what she is doing is saving families and coincidently saving us money by keeping kids out of the system,” she said. “We ought to figure out how to pay for this. She is not going to be able to do this on her own forever.”
Mariam Levy, who has been doing her practicum at JRJ while earning her master’s in social work from the University of Kentucky, leads many of the circles because of her previous experience in Boston.
In the all-girl or all-boy circles, the youth are given an opportunity to say what is on their hearts without fear. Only the person holding the “talking piece” is allowed to talk and the others listen respectfully. Some of the circles are held at the CDW offices and some at The Plantory.
“We try to create a space in the circle where they can come together to be their authentic selves,” Levy said. “That is really difficult to do in middle school.”
“It is like an empowerment thing,” Harvey said. “It is not counseling. It is not education. It is just a group for them to feel safe.”
Levy said the student participants are equally divided between rich and poor, black and white.
“Before we started circles, there wasn’t any way to get these kids together. It is an interesting mix.”
In the mediation sessions, the youth learn there are consequences for their actions and they learn to have empathy for those they have injured. Victim and offender are face-to-face, unlike the anonymity afforded by cyber space.
“They don’t really realize what they have done until they see that person in front of them and they have to pay medical bills,” Harvey said.
Sometimes, though, the families have problems that can’t be resolved through mediation. Sometimes there are financial emergencies or transportation issues or other individual needs and reasons the juveniles have taken a wayward path.
Harvey initiated Make A Difference, an email list of individuals and religious organizations that Kabby Akers maintains with donations to fulfill the needs of families that pass through JRJ and the family court system.
“Everything we do is holistic,” Harvey said.
To Masterton, it is further evidence that Harvey “can build an airplane while it is still flying.”
But that plane is running very low on fuel. Somehow, some way we need to ensure JRJ continues to fly. Families need it. Our troubled youth need it. This community needs it.
How we treat our youth is a direct reflection on us, and Harvey is trying to make us look as good as possible.
“The thing about Linda is she is always a decade ahead of everyone else in the community,” Masterton said. “Mediation is now an enormous part of our justice system. When she first was talking about it, no one understood. She is always doing something cutting-edge.”
Allen would agree.
“Asia is in a stable place right now,” she said. “She has been such a sweet child. I am so thankful. Linda is just a darling. She really is.”

How to help
To donate to client families: Write a check to Mary Queen of Holy Rosary with Make A Difference (MAD) in the subject line.
To donate to operating costs, mediation training and materials: Write a check to The Center for Human Entrepreneur Solutions (CHES), the non-profit fiscal agent for JRJ, and put JRJ in the subject line.
Mail all checks to: Juvenile Restorative Justice, 219 East Short Street, Lexington, KY 40507.
For more information: Call (859) 408-0114, or (859) 333-8593 or email lexjuvenile.rj@gmail.com.

There is no doubt in my mind that after my death there will be hordes of people in line to recount my many faults and misdeeds.
But that is because I am not Joan Neal Taylor.
By all counts, Taylor was ever ready with hugs, encouragement and a broad smile, all of which could lift spirits and brighten cloudy days.
Taylor died Thursday in Lexington after a long illness, leaving many people wondering how to fill that void. She was 79.
“The world doesn’t feel as safe without her in it,” said Betty Griffin, a retired Kentucky State University professor who knew Taylor for nearly 30 years. “She was mother, big sister, aunt and colleague. Joan didn’t know strangers. Once you were hugged by Joan, you were hugged.”
Those hugs were preceded by a loud greeting that convinced the person it was directed at that he or she was the only reason the sun was shining at that moment.

Joan Taylor

Our concerns were more important than hers and we greedily accepted the attention while falling woefully short of returning the favor.
I’ll try to do some of that now.
Taylor was born in Lexington and followed in the footsteps of her mother, Jennie Neal, an activist who had a reputation for caring for children and the community.
Taylor attended Dunbar High School and received a bachelor’s degree from Howard University. She taught schools in Chicago and Lexington before broadening her focus on education through Lexington’s employment and training program and then statewide as a member of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.
“I knew her from the Prichard Committee where she served for 26 years,” said former Lexington Mayor Pam Miller. “She was very active before she lost her health and she was a strong advocate for children, insisting that all kids could learn if give the right opportunities, particularly inner-city kids.”
Pam Sexton, whose late husband, Robert Sexton, served as executive director of the Prichard Committee, said Taylor was not timid.
“She was a spark plug,” Sexton said. “She would speak up and out. She always had the interest of not only African American kids, but also all kids. She really knew what it took for kids to thrive and do well.”
Taylor’s advocacy didn’t stop with children. She fought for equal rights for all.
From 1984 to 2004, Taylor served as a liaison for the Office of the Governor making sure no important event was overlooked. She did the same for Lexington mayors.
“When I was mayor and vice mayor, she would call about many issues and give her point of view,” said former Lexington Mayor Teresa Isaac.
When Isaac learned of Taylor’s death, she felt “complete sadness. We were just recalling all the people she has influenced and all the good she has in her life for this state. There is a hole in this community.”
Retired state worker Lee Jackson said Taylor was always available to give advice.
“When she worked in the governor’s office, I could always call her and she would give me sound, solid advice about various issues,” he said. “She was a mentor and a mother figure to me. She never really focused on herself; she focused on others.”
With all that going on, Taylor made time to be one of the founders of the Lexington Black Achiever’s Program and the University of Kentucky NCAA Nationals Sports Camp for economically disadvantaged youth.
But most of all, she made time for her family.
Vertner Taylor, her husband of 54 years, said there was so much about his wife that was good.
“She was the loving mother and the philanthropist,” he said. “I’ll miss her so much as my wife and my kids will miss her as their mother.”
The couple’s daughter, Dr. Janet E. Taylor, a psychiatrist who serves as a consultant on various national TV programs, was the first to suggest her mother might have Parkinson’s Disease after seeing her slowed movements following heart valve surgery.
Still, Joan Taylor tried to keep up the furious pace she that had come to be her life. But her body began to fail her even though her mind was still focused on others.
“My mother was a woman of significance in the sense that she knew who she was,” Janet Taylor said Friday. “Because of her humble nature to make others better, she continued to give her best, thanking the nurses and working hard to be strong.
“For me, this is unchartered territory,” she said. “I take solace in her strength.”
Smith & Smith Funeral Home is handling the arrangements. Janet Taylor said she and her brother, former Tates Creek High School basketball standout Vince Taylor, who assisted head coach Tubby Smith at the University of Minnesota, plan to make the farewell to their mother a celebration.
And that is just as it should be for a woman who gave so much love and encouragement to others.
“Never in my life have I heard her say a negative word about anyone,” said Griffin who had known Joan Taylor since 1985.
“They don’t make them like that anymore. She was such an encourager. You would never have thought she had any problems. She was always positive.”
If she was that positive in life, we should not allow her death to be a discouragement.
“We should remember her as a woman who lived life,” said Juanita Betz Peterson, a friend of nearly 30 years. “She was a dignified, caring person who everyone respected and really, truly loved as a human being.”
Indeed, that is someone to celebrate.

Visitation will be held at Consolidated Baptist Church, 1625 Russell Cave Rd. 40505, on Tuesday, June 4 from 5-8pm. At 7:30pm, the Delta Sigma Theta Alumnae Chapter will hold its Omega Omega Service followed by resolutions and tributes. Funeral services will be at noon at Christ Church Cathedral, 166 Market St. 40507, on Thursday, June 6. Burial will follow in Lexington Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Joan C. Neal Taylor Memorial Scholarship, YMCA Black Achievers Program, c/o Roxanne Brown, Director, YMCA Black Achievers, 239 East High St., Lexington, KY 40507. Services by Smith & Smith Funeral Home.

My youngest child was out of work recently for about two months.
At first, he beat the pavement every day, thrusting his résumé into hands of anyone who was hiring, or sending out information online. After about three weeks, he knocked on fewer and fewer doors, and applied less and less often online.
It was the longest time in years that he had not been a student or employed, and that situation slowly changed his countenance.
He had learned what many of us already know: We need a reason to get up in the morning, and we need to make a living.
The economy is gradually improving, but there still are a lot of people out of work, and there are a great many people who are working at jobs that don’t pay enough to keep the family budget above water.
So while some in Washington have made a cottage industry of repealing ­Obamacare or magnifying another scandal, folks at the SHARE Center in Lexington are hosting their second annual jobs fair.
“We have been passing out flyers throughout the neighborhood,” said Saburah Dixon, the center’s executive director. “We have 13 companies coming, and one company is hiring 200 workers.”
SHARE, an acronym for Services for Human Advancement and Resource Enhancement, is a social service and advocacy center for social justice that is sponsored and run by the Lexington Islamic community. Its programs are open to everyone.
Those programs include food and clothing banks, a computer room and classes, GED classes and employment services.
Located at 572 Georgetown Street, the center also hosts Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and a re-entry program for ex-offenders that offers help with résumé writing, job leads and appropriate clothing for interviews.
Dixon calls businesses and asks about their policy on hiring ex-offenders so ­clients aren’t sent on ­fruitless searches.
“There are a lot of people who have been beat down and they are tired of ripping and running looking for jobs,” Dixon said. “Even those who don’t have charges are having a hard time finding a job. If we can be of assistance, then great.”
The job fair is open to everyone, she said, not just ex-offenders.
Timothy Ellery, who works at the center while studying for his GED, said the jobs fair is a godsend for ex-offenders and for those who have grown discouraged with the job market.
“There are people out there willing to help you,” he said. “It is so easy to get sidetracked. This is an option for me to take advantage of, and I’ve got to be smart enough to take advantage of it.”
People make mistakes in life, said Ellery, a recovering alcoholic. The center is about helping people correct those mistakes.
“If you are coming from being incarcerated, the job fair gives you strength to get back on the horse,” he said.
The jobs fair will be from noon to 3 p.m. in the Oteria O’Rear Community Center in Douglass Park, 726 Georgetown Street.
The 13 confirmed employers and employment agencies include Crown Services Inc., GTS Staffing, Lexington Clinic, Aerotek, Speedway, The Hamilton-Ryker Company, Dairy Queen and Home Instead Senior Care.
“Bring copies of your résumé,” Dixon said. “If you don’t have one, come to the SHARE Center soon, and we can help you with that.
“Dress to impress,” she said. “There is plenty of work available.”

IF YOU GO
What: SHARE Center’s second annual Jobs Fair.
When: Noon to 3 p.m. May 30.
Where: Oteria O’Rear Community Center, Douglass Park, 726 Georgetown St.
Information: Call (859) 270-9402 or email sharelex@insightbb.com.

When I attended the 10th Annual Nehemiah Action Assembly back in April, I found myself wondering why the faith community continued to push for social change that politicians weren’t delivering.
The assembly is the mega event at which members of the Building a United Interfaith Lexington through Direct-Action group bring constituents together to hear elected officials try to dodge questions. Knowing that, few politicians manage to attend.
This spring’s event, which drew 1,680 people, focused on two issues: affordable housing and helping long-term jail inmates obtain necessary identification before they are released.
Of the four Lexington council members who attended, only two —  Councilmen Chris Ford and Steve Kay, At-Large — supported the establishment of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which would be subsidized by a 0.5 percent increase in the fee levied by the local government on insurance premiums. The money would be used to create safe housing for struggling residents.
That same issue has been on the BUILD agenda for six years with no resolution and the problem continues to increase as paychecks decrease.
So, I asked the Rev. Joseph L. Owens, a longtime BUILD leader, why the 22 congregations in the organization don’t simply take up a few collections and fund the trust themselves.
That’s not what BUILD is all about, he said.
“We don’t provide programs. We churches are coming up with what those residents can’t afford, like paying the light bill.
“What we are doing is stopgap,” he said. “The crack has to be fixed or more and more people will fall through.”
And the government has the resources to fix those cracks. The increased fee amounts to a few premium coffees, a small price to pay for our neighbors.
BUILD’s job, Owens said, is to keep the pressure on elected officials to do what’s best for their constituents. Too many council members think the issue of affordable housing doesn’t affect the people they represent, he said. Some council members say, “My dog is not in that fight,” he said. “But they are not just council members for one district. In BUILD, we have all sides of town represented and we don’t want people treated that way. Collectively, we are not going to let you do that to your citizens.
“We are going to stay on it because too many people are being affected by (unsafe housing),” Owens said. “It doesn’t have to be luxury, but it does have to be affordable and decent.”
I assume we’ll be revisiting that issue again in 2014.
The second issue, identification for ex-offenders leaving jail, isn’t quite as cut and dried.
Owens wants anyone leaving jail to have the proper ID that will enable him or her to find housing, get a driver’s license or find employment. He said this is necessary because some forms of IDs expire while long-term inmates are serving their time in the Fayette County Detention Center.
Without identification, ex-offenders have a difficult time acquiring birth certificates and Social Security cards, and the Circuit Court Clerk can’t issue IDs without the proper paperwork.
Fayette County Circuit Court Clerk Vincent Riggs said there is only so much he can legally do about that.
“I sympathize that it is problematic,” he said. But “we do what the Transportation Cabinet and the General Assembly says we can do.”
While the state Department of Corrections works all that out before prisoners are released, local facilities don’t always have the personnel or wherewithal to do that.
But Owens said Rodney Ballard, director of FCDC, was already working on re-entry issues.
Ballard soon will be hiring a re-entry coordinator with a background in social work and education, who will not only ensure all paperwork is completed, but will also be conducting a risk and needs assessment for inmates before release and doing follow-up afterward.
His plans include a computer lab so inmates can produce a properly formatted résumé, and training programs that would help in future job searches.
“We can no longer warehouse people,” Ballard said. “Some dangerous people, but a much larger number is people who have done dumb things. We want to work with those folks and get them back on the right track, try to turn being in jail into a positive.”
At the BUILD assembly, Riggs and Ballard agreed to work together to iron out any wrinkles in ex-offenders getting IDs.
Riggs, a jail representative and members of BUILD, will explore the Indianapolis Re-entry Educational Facility in June to see how it works and perhaps bring back some ideas.
“I’m going on my own dime to see what they are doing,” Riggs said.
Ballard said the re-entry coordinator won’t be on the job that soon, but another employee will go.
So, BUILD’s record this year is 1-1.
“Every little bit helps,” Owens said. “Biblically, we are supposed to be sure that justice is done. This is not a sideline. Not just about mercy, or feeding people when they are hungry. It is about what keeps them poor and marginalized.”

There were more than 2,100 students graduating from the Bluegrass Community & Technical College on May 12, having earned a certificate, an associate’s degree or diploma that they hope will lead to a better future.
Among them will be honor graduate Megan McCormick, a highly motivated woman who will be receiving an associate’s degree in education in hopes of landing a full-time job and independence.
That achievement is all the more significant because McCormick has Down syndrome, a genetic disorder that could have been a roadblock to her goals. Instead, it has become almost a sidebar, overshadowed by the long list of accomplishments she has mastered in her lifetime.
Although BCTC officials could not say for sure, others believe she is the first student with Down syndrome to earn an associate’s degree with honors.
“Our project works statewide,” said Jeff Bradford, director of the Supported Higher Education Project which helps students with intellectual disabilities like McCormick to attend college. “She is the first person I know of with Down syndrome who has completed a two-year program in Kentucky. I’ve been in this field over 20 years.”

Megan McCormick, center, posed with her parents, Drs. Malkanthie McCormick and Jim McCormick, at their home in Lexington. Photo by Pablo Alcala

McCormick, 24, wants to work as a para-educator at the kindergarten and elementary level.
“I want to be independent, I want a full-time job, and I want to drive my own car,” McCormick said. “And I want to work with children, serving as a role model for them.”
And what a role model she is.
Megan straddles social boundaries previously established for Down syndrome, Bradford said.
“She has one foot in both worlds,” he said. “She doesn’t fit in the little box that society put her in.”
That little box could be one that shelters her. But highly capable Megan will have none of that.
Because of Down syndrome, “I tend to have a thought process delay,” she said. “But I am trying to think like a typical person, like my parents, like my siblings. I do have a lot of friends with a variety of disabilities, including Down syndrome. I just have a higher education.”
Mind you, she has had to work hard and has had help along the way, starting with her parents, Drs. James and Malkanthie McCormick of Lexington.
“We had the same expectations of her as we did our other five children,” Malkanthie McCormick said.
Added James McCormick, “The worry is that when we are gone, she wouldn’t know how to do the things that other kids pick up naturally.”
When their daughter was born, Malkanthie McCormick admits, the diagnosis was a shock.
“However, a co-worker who came to see me when my baby was born said, ‘Why are you so anxious? You have had children before. Don’t you know how to raise children?’”
It was just what she needed. The couple decided Malkanthie would work with physical and occupational therapy issues and James would concentrate on health issues.
The couple stopped looking for milestones and started capitalizing on their daughter’s strengths. They withheld sweets from her diet, giving her fruits and vegetables as she grew up to counter potential problems with obesity.
They noticed their daughter could concentrate for long periods of time and that she was patient with discovering things. So they bought puzzles and worked with Megan, soon noticing their daughter recognized the shapes without seeing the pictures.
Physical therapy started when Megan was 2 to address her muscle weaknesses — a common characteristic of Down syndrome. The couple monitored her hearing and eyesight and then began working on her ability to read and comprehend.
“If she couldn’t do something, we looked to find a solution,” Malkanthie McCormick said.
“She has taught us more about raising children than we knew before,” James McCormick said.
Malkanthie McCormick became an advocate not just for her own child but for others with disabilities.
“She ought to be teaching other people how to advocate,” said Veronica Dale, counselor at the Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. “She is like a pit bull. She would call President Obama if she thought it would benefit Megan.
“I can’t stress enough that parents should have expectations for their child with disabilities for them to achieve their full potential,” Dale said. “She is the top mom.”
Bradford agreed.
“She plays so many roles,” he said. “She will go and meet with professors and she and Megan have presented to legislators. She is not just advocating for her daughter. She is truly one of the most remarkable women I have ever met. She put together a great team.”
Malkanthie McCormick is overjoyed that her daughter will be graduating and that it is happening on Mother’s Day.
“With her graduating, “she said, “Mother’s Day was so special.”
But she doesn’t take credit for Megan’s successes. The couple gives credit to the help they received from Fayette County schools, Voc-Rehab, SHEP and a host of tutors who supported Megan’s willingness to work hard.
“This not just a feel-good story,” Bradford said. “Megan is graduating with honors. If you give people the proper support and they are motivated, you can see people excel at a higher level. That is the same for all people.”
James McCormick said he knows of other people with Down syndrome who are high functioning in other areas. “They don’t all have Megan’s gifts, but they are very high functioning. Some are gifted singers,” he said, adding, “And these are not doctors’ children. It is not because we were physicians. We were very ignorant physicians.”
Megan has excelled, but she still has other goals. She recently got her driver’s permit and she lives in an apartment in her parent’s basement. Now she wants a job. She has spent hundreds of hours in pre-school, kindergarten and elementary classrooms working with children to earn her degree.
“I’ve had teachers who have given me their support and influenced my ability to be successful,” Megan said. “I want to be able to pay it back.”
I can’t think of a better role model for children with disabilities than Megan. I can’t think of a better example for parents with disabled children than Megan and her parents. And I can’t think of any reason Megan wouldn’t be a great para-educator in our public schools.

Since 2004, Cindy Turley hasn’t had many mornings when she could roll out of bed pain free and full of energy.
In fact, to varying degrees, Turley’s day is enveloped in a cloud of pain and fatigue that she fights off through shear determination.
“The fatigue is unexplainable,” she said. “It is not just being tired. You get to the point your body just collapses. Your mind can say you will keep going, but your body makes you stop.”
Turley, 50, was diagnosed with lupus erythematosus nine years ago after a bout with bronchitis. Since then, instead of living life to its fullest, she is resigned to doing what she can. She takes about 13 medications daily, in addition to chemotherapy.
Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system malfunctions and creates antibodies that attack healthy tissues and organs. The result is swelling, damage to joints, skin, blood, kidneys, heart and lungs. It is not contagious or cancerous.
Some 24,000 people live with lupus in Kentucky, and about 1.5 million struggle with it nationwide. According to Lupus Alliance of America, more people have lupus than cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, sickle-cell anemia and cystic fibrosis combined.
Although anyone can get lupus, about 90 percent of lupus sufferers are women, with black women three times more likely to have the disease than white women.  Hispanic and Asian women are two times more likely and Native Americans are close behind.
Lupus is also a disease of flare-ups and remissions, and either can last for months. No one really knows what causes lupus.
Turley wanted me to tell you all that because not many of us know anything about the disease or its effect on our neighbors or co-workers.
“People look at you from the outside and don’t see that anything is wrong with you,” she said. “But on the inside I feel like my core temperature is on fire.”
The one tell-tale sign for most people living with lupus is a facial rash resembling the unfolding wings of a butterfly that spreads across both cheeks.
Shannon Rodriguez learned she had lupus when she gave her medical records to an internal medicine physician she worked with. She never got over feeling tired after giving birth to her daughter in 1999, but she only half-heartedly followed up on it and didn’t really expect the doctor to come back with any startling news.
He did, however, ordering a kidney biopsy for her and later hospitalization when it was determined that more than 50 percent of her kidneys were dead or damaged. She said she was three months from kidney failure.
“I didn’t know if I was going to live or die,” she said.
After chemotherapy, steroids and other medications, Rodriguez is managing the disease.
“I expect to hurt when I wake up,” she said. “My hardest time is when the fatigue is extreme. It’s like you are in a fog. You can’t concentrate and it happens for a week or two at a time.”
During those flare-ups, Rodriguez, 41, is careful to make lists and then check off items throughout the day so she won’t miss doing anything at work. Outside of work, Rodriguez feels guilty about missing out on fun times with her daughter.
Most people with lupus are hypersensitive to sunlight. It can cause lesions or trigger flare-ups. The windows of Rodriguez’s car are tinted and she tries to make sure her arm is covered when she drives.
Both Turley and Rodriguez have also had the florescent lights changed in their offices because UV rays can burn them.
But Rodriguez so desperately wanted to be with her daughter on a beach and at a water park, she decided to chance it. She donned protective sleeves, a hat and a lot of sunscreen just to spend quality time with her daughter.
“It was the best day I ever had,” she said. “The next day I slept all day. The sun really drains you and there was a rash from the sun. I think when the sun hits your body, the immune system thinks something is attacking and it starts attacking you,” she said.
Still, neither Turley nor Rodriguez is looking for your sympathy. They are supported by their family, friends and faith. They just want you to know there are a lot of people near you who are suffering silently with a disease that grabs very few headlines.
Both women are members of The Lupus Foundation of America, Mid-South chapter, a nonprofit voluntary health organization dedicated to finding causes of and a cure for lupus. The group provides services including support groups, information, referrals, literature and educational seminars.
May is Lupus Awareness Month. Members of the local chapter will have an information table at the Legends game on May 10 and they want us all to wear purple on May 17 to show support.
Their annual fundraiser, Walk to End Lupus Now — Lexington, is scheduled for Aug. 17 at Keeneland Race Course.
But more importantly, if you have lupus or know of someone living with lupus, or if you just want to know more about the disease, attend a meeting of the Lexington support group.
“If you know of someone who has (lupus), even though you can’t see it, try to understand it is a disease that greatly impacts their daily lives,” Turley said. “Explore it, learn more about it and find out how you can support those who are close to you a little more by getting involved.”

To learn more
The Lupus Foundation of America, Mid-South chapter has a local support group for people with lupus and their friends, family and neighbors.
When: 7 p.m., May 7.
Where: Lexington Public Library, Eagle Creek Branch, 101 Eagle Creek Dr.
Information: Contact Nancy Bishop by email at nancy.bishop@windstream.net, or visit national website at Lupus.org.

Either because they are unaware or because they don’t consider themselves worthy, a lot of veterans don’t take full advantage of programs available to them through the Veterans Administration.
That is just wrong.
If the men and women who joined our armed forces can serve this country, then surely our country can serve them. And if getting to a VA facility is the obstacle, then the Veterans Administration is making a concerted effort to be more accessible.
“We are taking the entire VA to the community,” said Carl White, a veterans benefits adviser. “A lot of  them don’t realize what we have to offer, and some work during the week and can’t get over here.”
A Vets First Healthcare & Benefits Bazaar will be held at the Charles Young Community Center, 540 East Third Street from 1-6 p.m. Saturday. Organizers plan for this to become an annual event to reach out to underserved veterans, White said, adding future events may be held at other sites.
Any veteran who has served in any branch of the military, active duty or reserves, is invited. Information about all the programs and health care benefits for them will be available, as well as a chance to socialize with other veterans.
The event is coordinated by the Lexington VA Medical Center Veterans Outreach Committee of which White is a part
Registered nurses and physician assistants will be on hand for health screenings such as blood pressure checks, too. Representatives with the retraining and assistance program, which helps veterans 36 to 60 return to school to learn new skills, will be there. The Department of Labor will help them find employment.
If substance abuse has been a longtime problem, the compensated work therapy program will help the veteran transition to a work environment through on-the-job training.
There are eye care programs, preventive medicine measures, mental health and crisis intervention programs and housing assistance. Veterans need to know about that.
Some older veterans may have a negative view of VA programs because of inefficient services in the past. I’ve heard of veterans making morning appointments with doctors and not being seen until late afternoon. And there were complaints of not seeing the same doctor with each visit.
“That was the old VA,” White said. “Now it is streamlined.”
Now, veterans are assigned primary care physicians who follow them throughout their care and prescriptions are filled quickly, White said.
“I wouldn’t take anything for the care we provide now,” said White, a Vietnam War veteran.
It used to be that veterans were released without knowing about all the services available to them, White said. Recent veterans are made aware before their discharge. But just in case they have forgotten what they were told and just in case the older veterans never knew, the bazaar will be the best chance to get informed.
In 2009, President Obama said this country owes our veterans the best programs and services we can offer. “It’s a commitment that begins at enlistment, and it must never end,” he said.
Despite falling short of that in the past, White said the VA is taking a giant step to correct that with this event.
Now, all that’s needed are the veterans who have earned what the VA has to offer.

If you go
Veterans Healthcare & Benefits Bazaar
When: 1 to 6 p.m., May 11.
Where: Charles Young Community Center, 540 East Third Street
Information: Visit www.lexington.va.gov, or call Carl White at (859) 233-4511, Ext. 4363.

For more than 14 years, Dr. Antronette “Toni” Yancey tried to get America to move more.
Yancey created a program called “Instant Recess” in which workers in ­corporate America and people in churches, neighborhoods and schools take about three 10-minute exercise breaks during the day.
Last fall, Yancey and other public health researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles were awarded a $20 million, five-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to take their program throughout the country.
In Lexington, UCLA chose Ahava Center for Spiritual Living to lead the project.
“UCLA hand-picked us,” said Louise Tallen, who was to be the director of the program in town. “Then the CDC said no.”
Tallen said the CDC refused them because it wants proof that a variety of community partners from the education, corporate, community sectors are on board. Before re-submitting her proposal, she needs to submit demographics detailing the amount of physical activity and healthy eating habits of the targeted demographics: racial and ethnic minorities in Lexington.
The problem is, the CDC notified her Friday, and the proposal must be returned by May 31.
“Usually, you have four to six months to present a grant proposal,” Tallen said. She said she has gone from taking baby steps in contacting leaders who have inroads into the minority community to an all-out race to the finish line.
But the program is worth it, she said.
Yancey, a former athlete, model and poet, co-founded the Fielding School’s UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity and was committed to ensuring that research was related to community programs that would change lives.
Research revealed that exercising for 30 minutes five days a week, and sitting for the rest of the day either in front of a TV or at work, didn’t have the effect needed to ward off chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
What worked better was 10 minutes of aerobic bouts of exercise through the day.
“Today, lack of movement is a fundamental part of ­dying,” Yancey said. “We move as human beings when we have to move. We’ve got to make it obligatory.”
Short bouts of physical activity, what she called “Instant Recess,” results in a shrinking waistline, lower blood pressure and decreased percentage of body fat. The exercise also suppresses appetite and increases our desire for fruits, vegetables and other water-bearing foods and beverages.
None of that means much unless people get up off their duffs. And that’s where the grant comes in.
Yancey was diagnosed with lung cancer a few months before the grant was awarded last year. She died in April at age 55, one of a growing number of young non-smokers to succumb to that disease. Tallen doesn’t want Yancey’s vision to die as well.
Yancey wrote a book, Instant Recess: Building a Fit Nation 10 Minutes at a Time, and there are videos on YouTube.com of players on the WNBA’s Los ­Angeles Sparks team creating ­exercises.
In the office, the result has been that employees take fewer sick days. Yancey sold the recess breaks as, “What is good for the waistline is good for the bottom line.”
Ten to 15 organizations that can get started quickly in their communities will be selected to reduce chronic-disease disparities experienced by African Americans, Latinos, American Indians, and Asian Americans, according to the proposal.
“This is a strength-based project,” she said in a YouTube video promoting the program. “You work with people’s strengths and find out what is working right, and improve on that. We want to tap into existing programs.”
If you have a program that targets obesity in minority neighborhoods, Tallen hopes to partner with you to make Lexington one of a national network of community-based organizations that tries to change social or cultural norms.
“Instant Recess is a powerful and important tool that can change lives and communities,” she said. “I will do my best to get this started.”

To help
If you know of an organization, agency or company that can help bring Instant Recess, an obesity-fighting exercise program and lifestyle change, to Lexington, call Louise Tallen at (562) 833-7993, or email her at tallen.let@gmail.com.