Girl Scouts introduces 24 badges – The Robesonian

Posted: July 26, 2020 at 4:57 am

July 25, 2020

LUMBERTON It takes a village to raise a child.

Thats what Rhandi Cooper and Tyrell Taylor were thinking when the concept of The Village was born.

The Village is one of, if not, the newest nonprofit organization to pop up in Lumberton targeted toward helping at-risk youth in the area.

It started as an idea and turned into a movement, said Taylor, the organizations vice president. Weve got school teachers, a photographer, barbers. Theres a whole bunch of us, thats why we call ourselves The Village.

A group of us came together and just brainstormed on what we wanted to do and how we wanted to go about helping children and empowering them, Cooper said.

Cooper, 31, is president of The Village. She said that being a native of South Lumberton and being a single parent to her children gave her knowledge of what is needed for youth in the community. She is working toward a degree in Mathematics Education, with the goal of becoming a high school teacher.

I have two kids, a boy and a girl, and Ive always been inspired to help other youth, Cooper said.

Her childrens father is deceased, and she wanted to help others who are growing up in single-parent households or in poverty, Cooper said.

A lot of kids are raised in single-parent homes, and a lot of kids grow up in poverty, and I just wanted them to have something positive to do especially right now while theyre out of school and nothing is really going on, she said.

Taylor, 36, has been in Lumberton for the past 23 years. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and said both cities has similar struggles when it comes to youth. He grew up a troubled teen without a father and his mother worked three jobs to get them through, Taylor said.

A lot of kids are living the same lifestyle, he said. Im not going to say its all the same everywhere but every neighborhood Ive been from, Ive seen the same thing poverty, no role models, nobody to look up to and Ive realized if I can do something to help then I will.

The Village is in its beginning stages, still growing its membership of youth and volunteers. Cooper and Taylor envision the nonprofit growing into a program that offers youth role models, activities to keep them busy and opportunities in the real world.

I want them to have some positive role models, Cooper said. Theres a lot of bad stuff going on but theres also a lot of good stuff and we want to bring that to the forefront so the children can see it.

We want to show them theres more than whats out there in these streets, Taylor said. We want to give them hope, inspiration.

Operations are slow but steady in spite of COVID-19.

We got a lot of ideas for The Village that we cant do yet because of the pandemic, Taylor said. Hopefully things will turn around soon.

The Village was able to host its first event, called Steering the Wheel of Life Bike Ride, recently, which involved about 20 children and five adults biking down the trail from Fifth Street in Lumberton to Luther Britt Park. Once they reached the park, youth were provided a lunch and given educational materials.

It turned out pretty good. The kids had fun, and we had a lot of participation from kids and the adults, Cooper said. Adults just showed up to help out.

For updates or more information about The Village or events, visits the groups Facebook page The Village, or send an email to thevillagelumberton@gmail.com. Applications will be available soon for people who want to volunteer.

We welcome everyone, so come and be a part of this, Taylor said. I see it growing into something really, really big.

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Girl Scouts introduces 24 badges - The Robesonian

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