The 70- and 80-year-old volunteers operating a local nonprofit charity say they’ll work as long as they can, but the help of younger participants would be appreciated.
“On first Saturdays I stand for three or four hours frying fish,” said 88-year-old Eunice Rooks.
Ms. Rooks’ efforts are among many that help the Good Neighbors charity raise the $10,000 a year it uses to help more than 200 people with rent, clothes, food or emergency shelter. Governments provide no financial assistance to the organization, charity officials said.
“It’s all fish fries, yard sales and donations,” Ms. Rooks said.
A fundraiser and membership drive for the organization is set for 4 p.m. today in the Bessie Smith Hall. The event is held as a tribute to Dr. William “Bill” Whiteside, who founded Good Neighbors more than 50 years ago.
TIMELINE
1951 — Maudette Whiteside hears of neighborhood children who need food and buys groceries for them and others.
1952 — Good Neighbors Inc. formally is organized at New Hope Baptist Church as a locally supported charity.
1957 — The state of Tennessee grants a charter to Good Neighbors to function as a tax-exempt charitable organization.
Early 1970s — Purchased East 10th Street building for $15,500 for Good Neighbors office
1979 — Built Whiteside’s Faith Manor for the elderly
1987 — Built New Testament Church as a chapel for the people at Whiteside’s Faith Manor
2002 — The Rev. William “Bill” Whiteside dies.
“Mr. Whiteside was the epitome of a good neighbor,” Ms. Rooks said. “He couldn’t look at a situation and walk away. He had to get involved.”
The fundraiser will include a dinner, several local singers and dance groups and a history of Dr. Whiteside’s accomplishments, according to organizers.
“This is for us to keep Mr. Whiteside’s dream alive,” said Joan Campbell, executive director of the homemaker and nutrition program at Good Neighbors. At age 60, she is one of the youngest volunteers in the group, she said.
Dr. Whiteside and his wife, Maudette, started the organization in 1952 after Mrs. Whiteside learned of a family in dire financial straits. At the time, Dr. Whiteside was a manager for the Chattanooga Housing Authority and Mrs. Whiteside did housekeeping on Lookout Mountain, Ms. Campbell said. The couple began buying food to provide for the needy family, and the effort spread to include other families, she said.
The couple later appealed to congregants at New Hope Baptist Church for donations, Ms. Campbell said.
Good Neighbors once had 18 sites where people could seek help, but that number has dropped to nine, officials said. The locations are at various churches in the Avondale, Glenwood and Brainerd areas.
The organization also is struggling to fund its hourlong radio outreach ministry that broadcasts at 11 a.m. Saturdays on WNOO-AM. The Rev. Ronnie Bullard of Washington Hills Baptist Church is the host.
Reuben Smith, a Good Neighbors volunteer, said he is concerned about the aging and dwindling number of volunteers.
“I remember when we were strong,” he said. “If you see it spiraling downward, you ought to be concerned.”
Ms. Campbell said younger volunteers are needed, but the group will continue to operate no matter what.
“We’re going to be here until the last Good Neighborhood individual dies out,” she said. “This organization will survive.”
Yolanda Putman has been a reporter at the Times Free Press for 11 years. She covers housing and previously covered education and crime. Yolanda is a Chattanooga native who has a master’s degree in communication from the University of Tennessee and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Alabama State University. She previously worked at the Lima (Ohio) News. She enjoys running, reading and writing and is the mother of one son, Tyreese. She has also ...
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