Center offers a summer respite

Lessons, fun, meals and good company go to children in rural area of western Charleston County

Melissa Haneline
The Post and Courier

Felicia Wright (center) shares a moment with volunteer director Albertha Carroll while her 17-year-old autistic son Onrai Wright (left) reads in the corner. She said the summer programming at the Wiltown Community Center is a blessing.

Melissa Haneline
The Post and Courier

Three-year-old Ty'Riq Mitchell takes a sip of milk during lunch at the Wiltown Community Center in Parkers Ferry.

ADAMS RUN — Onrai Wright looks pleased as he talks to himself and mingles among 19 other children at the Wiltown Community Center.

Felicia Wright, his single mother, smiles as she watches her 17-year-old autistic son. She's comforted to see him accepted in this place, this refuge from their difficult lives during the summer months.

It might not look like much, but this community center is vital to the welfare of this small, rural and poor community in the doldrums between when school ends and begins again. It's the place where needy children find free meals, educational lessons and fun. It's the alternative to children watching TV all day or hanging out on street corners, and it's a gathering spot for a tight-knit community to find and give support.

For Wright, the center helps her shoulder a burden under which many others would break.

Wright gave up her hairstyling shop five years ago because she didn't have anyone to help her take care of Onrai. Her older children moved away; one is overseas and about to go to Iraq. She tried to work with Onrai in her beauty shop, but "he calls for a lot of attention" and that didn't work, she said.

Wright and her son live with her mother, and the pair walk nearly one mile to the community center because her car isn't working. She said she's too proud to accept food stamps, and money is tight. The center helps by providing free breakfast, lunch and snacks to its children, courtesy of a federal program that allows agencies nationwide to feed children in poor areas during the summer. This program fills a void until school resumes in the fall.

"I'm trying to survive on my own, so something like this helps out a lot," she said. "This has been a blessing for me."

In addition to his physical well-being, Onrai is taken care of and treated like any other child during the program, Wright said. He learns, sees positive role models and has fun, she said.

Volunteers run the center's summer program, and they ask families to pay a nominal $30 weekly fee to cover costs such as field trips, tutoring, arts and crafts and gardening. Some families can't afford to pay, and their children still are allowed to come, said Albertha Carroll, the volunteer director of the summer program.

Jerrilee Mitchell, a bus driver for the school district, is another of the nearby residents who comes to this center in the summer. Her husband died more than a year ago, and her daughter died four months later. Mitchell is raising her daughter's three sons: a 3-year-old, 11-year-old and 12-year-old.

The center provides good meals, entertainment and education for her grandchildren, she said. Without it, she doesn't know what they would do during the summer — other than drive her crazy at home. The free meals help her stretch her budget, and the convenient location ensures she can get to them quickly, if needed, she said.

"It can be tough," she said. "It's just a great, big help."

Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@ postandcourier.com.