These eight community members champion a ‘doing good in the neighborhood’ mentality through food drives, pet rescue photography and more
By Anna-Rhesa Versola | Photography by John Michael Simpson
Turquoise LeJune Parker: founder, Mrs. Parker’s Professors Foodraiser
Durham Public Schools educator Turquoise LeJeune Parker sparked a movement of compassion in 2015 with a single text sent to every contact listed in her phone: “I’m trying to send each of my 22 kids home with a bag of nonperishables to help their families with them being out for Christmas break. If you know anyone wanting to donate, let me know.”
Turquoise was a second-grade teacher at Eastway Elementary School at the time, and a student’s mom had asked for help sourcing food for her family during the holidays. “I talked with my husband when I got home, and we got her everything she needed, but I was still really struggling with the fact that she had to ask this question, and if one parent is experiencing that, there are probably lots more who need help,” Turquoise says. So, she sent out that text message. Two days later, she had enough donations to give every student in her class a bag of groceries for the school break. “It was amazing to see the community move like this,” she says. “It was just beautiful. It’s not cool that people have to go hungry. The next year, I was ready to do it again, because it felt good to be able to help people.”
Today, Turquoise is a media coordinator at Lakewood Elementary School, and her calls to action have grown exponentially beyond one classroom. What began with about $585 in donations to help a handful of families has grown into “Mrs. Parker’s Professors Foodraiser,” which raised more than $103,000 to fill more than 5,200 bags for students in a dozen public schools in 2021. Turquoise even added a spring break foodraiser in 2019 to keep kids nourished during that time off from school, too. In 2022, the donations collected in March and December combined amounted to $206,000. This year’s winter foodraiser will be held Dec. 5-8 in the Lakewood Elementary gym.
“It takes a lot of community and a lot of organizations to come and spend their time helping us,” Turquoise says. After monetary donations are collected, groceries are ordered from Costco; for the past two years, the company has also donated 500 book bags for the kids. Fruit, yogurt and smoothie pouch company GoGo Squeez donated about 6,000 of its products last year to the delight of many students, Turquoise says.
Two 18-wheeler delivery trucks will pull up to the school, and volunteers will transfer the goods into the gym, where an assembly line forms to fill paper grocery bags. Service-based organizations like the Boy Scouts and businesses like Lowe’s Home Improvement send local members and staff to come and help pack supplies from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Turquoise’s husband, Donald Parker III, leads the logistics and operations to distribute the thousands of bags to Durham schools with high percentages of students enrolled in DPS’ free or reduced-price meal program.
“We choose foods that are going to be able to be used no matter the living situation,” Turquoise says. “If they’re living in a place where they don’t have heat or a stove, but they have a microwave, they can still make use of all the things that are in the bag. The only thing that expires fast is the bread. Everyone gets cereal, peanut butter, baked beans, black beans, green beans, corn, canned chicken, canned tuna, ramen noodles, mac and cheese, popcorn, oatmeal, packs of crackers and granola bars.”
“Some families are moved to tears,” she says. “It’s just overwhelming. They just can’t even get words out to express how grateful they are for this blessing that somebody really cares.”
These acts of care and kindness that Turquoise began nearly nine years ago haven’t gone unnoticed. In early October 2023, she was named one of 40 community leaders in the Triangle who received the Joseph R. Biden Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of exceptional leadership and more than 4,000 hours of volunteer service.
“This is so beautiful,” Turquoise says about the generosity she sees from the community. “Every year, it just blows my mind. It really makes me speechless sometimes, because it all started with trying to help one family, and this turned into a really big thing that’s helping a lot of people.”
Ashley Sherrow: photographer, Assorted Poppies Photo
Ashley Sherrow is an animal rescue and welfare supporter living her dream as a pet photographer. “Aside from seeing my daughter, it is the highlight of my week,” she says about volunteering her time at animal shelters and rescues like the Animal Protection Society of Durham and Hope Animal Rescue. She also photographs events like Barktoberfest for Beyond Fences and Santa Paws for Durham Parks and Recreation, with all proceeds going to respective organizations. “I can’t tell you the love I feel for [these cats and dogs] and the feelings you get when you meet them.”
She first picked up a camera as a high school senior and continued her education in photography at N.C. State University’s College of Design. “I think photography is just such an important tool,” she says. “It freezes a moment. And a moment can say so much.”
In 2014, Ashley was working as a manager at The Streets at Southpoint’s Anthropologie store and regularly posting her photos of merchandise on Instagram. Then, customers began asking her to take their family photos. “I was like, ‘OK, well, this is kind of fun,’” she says. Ashley welcomed an assortment of assignments, from family portraits to newborn photos and “whatever came to me.” By February 2018, she officially registered her aptly named side hustle, Assorted Poppies Photo, which also paid homage to her dog, Poppy, who passed away in 2019. Ashley’s path continued to push her toward this profession, she says. “I couldn’t be more happy because now I’m a full-time photographer, and it’s giving me joy every day.”
Ashley now has two dogs, Cloud, a Great Pyrenees, and Shasta, a German shepherd-Airedale mix, at home with her and her husband, Ian Kelly, and their 15-month-old daughter, Lennon June Kelly. She regularly volunteers with APS of Durham, helping to manage social media for the nonprofit. “When the pandemic happened, everything went online,” Ashley says. “We would take photos outside, wearing masks and doing as much as we could. It was a lot of teamwork. We still gotta keep going and promote our animals as much as we can.”
Ashley sets up her portable studio with lights and a backdrop at APS twice a week. On the average Tuesday, just a few furry friends might need photos, so the rest of the day is filled with social media updates. On a Thursday, triple the number of animals might be ready for a picture.
Ashley usually needs two key elements for a successful photo session: an assistant to wrangle the dog or cat and lots of treats. “Before we start getting any animals, you always get your bag of hot dogs, your hard treats and a few Kongs with peanut butter,” Ashley says.
Sitting on the floor, Ashley starts each session with individualized attention. “The first thing I do is literally just hang out with them and give them some love,” she says. “I let them know that everything is OK. I talk to them in the dog-baby voice that we all have. Give them plenty of nicknames – by the time I’m done, they probably have like, 10 different nicknames. And then I use treats, hot dogs and peanut butter. And, I make a lot of noises – a ton of noises. If you just spend a few moments with them to establish a connection and let them know who you are, then you really can get them to do quite a lot.”
The proof is in the portraits – bright, happy, smile-inducing images that get sent out on APS’ website, social media and to outlets like Durham Magazine and other news organizations to highlight adoptable animals in need. Hundreds of pets find their forever homes every year thanks to Ashley’s charitable work – and that’s worth quite a few tail wags, indeed.
Niccolo Roditti and Freddy Perkins: co-program directors, LGBTQ+ Youth Center of Durham
Freddy Perkins remembers how he felt growing up in Durham as a Black queer man, searching for those safe spaces where he could truly be himself. His co-program director, Niccolo Roditti identifies as a nonbinary, Latino immigrant with neurodivergence. Together, they are building a caring community for LGBTQ+ youth between the ages of 12-24.
“Our aim is to make sure [marginalized youth] have a space where they can come and be themselves,” Freddy says. “If their house is not that space, if their school is not that space, if they don’t have the opportunity to build up systems of support in friends or other external resources, we set ourselves up to be an option as that resource.”
Freddy carried out a predecessor’s idea for the LGBTQ+ youth center and turned it into a reality despite pandemic limitations in 2021. “It required a lot of innovative thinking and collaboration,” he says about developing social programs in a time of physical distancing. He described different outdoor events held at various parks throughout the city, like Durham Central Park and Piney Wood Park. More recently, the center is tackling mental health concerns in the wake of legislation that bans gender-affirming care for kids younger than 18, prevents transgender athletes from competing in sports and mandates schools to report changes in name or pronouns.
Freddy, a Jordan High School alumni who is entering a master’s program in clinical mental health counseling at North Carolina Central University, also has a master’s in music therapy from Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. His professional career began in classrooms with special education students in nonprofit organizations in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Eventually, Freddy was drawn into mental health work in community settings outside of schools.
Niccolo, who was born in Ecuador and grew up in Rhode Island and North Carolina, has a bachelor’s in psychology and international studies from N.C. State University plus a master’s in community development and action from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. They joined the center in 2022 and became co-program director this past August. Niccolo’s early work, which began in housing and domestic violence and education, evolved into positive human development on the community level.
‘Adulting 101’
Freddy says he wants to bring back a lecture series he offered in 2021, which covered a variety of topics he believes every young person should know to prepare themselves to be independent. “A lot of youth who are in that transitional age of 18-24 are missing a lot of [basic skills] or were never given opportunities to learn,” he says about key competencies like how to do taxes, how to open and manage a bank account or how to organize a home. “I want them to be able to take care of themselves,” he says. “I want our youth to be set up for success.”
The youth center, which moved to 1007 Broad St. in September 2023, also offers drop-in support groups, a growing summer camp program and a variety of social events, including its first-ever queer youth prom, which was held at The Fruit. Grants help fund projects such as the Project Fellow Employment Program where two UNC students encourage students,18 to 24, to take part in support groups. As the youth center broadens its reach through social media and community events, Freddy and Niccolo expect to engage in local business collaborations, like with a local optometrist who wants to offer free eye exams and glasses.
“There’s a lot of intention behind what we do,” Niccolo says. “And really, it comes down to funding. Without donor support, all of our ideas remain limited.” They hope to prioritize grant-writing and fund-raising efforts and continue building the center’s varied programs.
Bridging the Generational Gap
Freddy and Niccolo regularly hear from parents about real concerns over race and gender. “Fear is such a big thing as a parent,” Freddy says. “I’m not a parent myself, but I assume fear just never leaves the body no matter how old your child gets.”
“How do you act in spite of that fear?” Freddy asks rhetorically. “Learning to accept the fear for what it is, and to know that’s just gonna be a part of beginning a process, but I’m not going to let that impede upon my child’s ability to live their life, or my ability to love my child and support them in the direction that they’re going. We are here to have those conversations with parents. We’re here for the youth. We’re also here for the families in whatever they need.”
New N.C. Laws That Affect LGBTQ+ Youth
In July, Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed three legislative bills that impact LGBTQ+ youth statewide.
In August, the Republican-led General Assembly voted to override the Governor’s action, immediately making those bills law:
House Bill 808 severely restricts the use of surgical gender-transition procedures, puberty-blocking drugs and hormone therapy to minors, defined as someone younger than 18.
House Bill 574 requires transgender athletes at the middle, high school and college levels to play on sports teams assigned by their “reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
Senate Bill 49, colloquially known as the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” limits instruction of gender identity and sexuality in kindergarten through fourth-grade classrooms. The legislation also mandates that schools notify parents and legal guardians “prior to any changes in the name or pronoun used for a student in school record or by school personnel,” which LGBTQ+ advocates say will force educators to out students.
Heather Bryce, Rebecca Bliss and Susan Saenger: Parkinson’s Movement Initiative instructors, American Dance Festival
Avis Afshar stood rigidly in place until a familiar song filled the air at American Dance Festival’s Samuel H. Scripps Studios. He began to sing, and his feet remembered how to move.
“It’s like magic,” Avis says. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease six years ago and is now one of 56 registered students in ADF’s Parkinson’s Movement Initiative. The program was founded in partnership with ADF in 2017 by Susan Saenger and Lindsay Voorhees of NC Dance for Parkinson’s and Meg Poe of Poe Wellness Solutions. Thanks to funding from William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust, RTI International, the Parkinson’s Foundation and individual donors, the cost-free weekly movement classes are held in person and virtually for people diagnosed with Parkinson’s and their caregivers. More than 300 people with Parkinson’s have participated in the PMI program since its founding.
Susan, a board-certified dance movement therapist, taught movement classes since 2013 before establishing the PMI program at ADF, which formally welcomed the movement classes as a way to help people cope with the daily physical challenges associated with disorders like Parkinson’s. “In dance therapy, we are guided by goals, but are always responding to the client,” she says. “There is not a specific movement that cures a specific problem. Every body is different.” Susan, who also owns Spry Fitness, works with older adults, helping them have the strength, energy and mobility to enjoy an independent, active life.
About 60,000 people are diagnosed annually, and nearly 1 million people nationwide are living with Parkinson’s, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation. The disease typically affects older adults, and more men than women are diagnosed. “It makes people ‘small’ – their handwriting, their gait, their facial expressions, even their voice (they may speak very quietly and not even realize it), and it affects their balance as they have less access to core support,” Susan says.
Another teacher, Rebecca Bliss, first started teaching in the PMI classes at ADF five years ago. A dancer and a licensed physical therapist with a doctorate in physical therapy from Drexel University, she helps other dancers recover from injury and also works with Parkinson’s patients to improve their balance. “Maintaining movement is an essential piece of the puzzle when it comes to living life with PD,” Rebecca says. “That’s a big part of why it’s so important that we offer accessible community classes. I am so inspired by our participants who show up each week.”
After working with people with Parkinson’s, Rebecca learned that her grandfather had had the disease. “I was young when he was alive,” she says. “I always attributed the mobility changes I saw to [his] post-polio [symptoms]. After talking with my mother and grandmother, I understood that these changes were due to Parkinson’s. Their stories and my memories gave me greater empathy and understanding of what families go through. I wish he had access to classes like the ones offered at PMI; I am so grateful to be a part of these classes now.”
Susan primarily uses freestyle choreography based on a teaching model developed by the Mark Morris Dance Group in Brooklyn, New York, as well as PWR!Moves, which is a more prescriptive movement program.
Heather Bryce is the newest teacher to join PMI after moving to the area from New York City this past summer. She is the founder and artistic director of Bryce Dance Company and has expertise in working with people living with dementia, students who have special needs and individuals who have movement disorders.
“Once you turn on the music, folks are kind of grooving to a rhythm,” Heather says. “It really changes things for them. They can suddenly do things that they maybe didn’t realize, because they’re able to not think about it and let it go. I learn from my students constantly.”
For Avis, the dance classes this year helped build his confidence for his daughter’s wedding reception in September. When Dean Martin began to croon “You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You” for the father-daughter dance, Avis’ feet remembered how to move.
Derek Rhodes: founder and executive director, Durham Success Summit
Making connections is what fuels the engine of success for Derek Rhodes, the founder and executive director of Durham Success Summit. The Durham native initially expected to go to college out of state, but his Durham Academy Upper School counselor encouraged him to apply to Duke University, and recruitment events convinced him to attend.
“It was an entirely other world that I hadn’t previously known about or been exposed to despite being right here in Durham,” he says. At Duke, Derek discovered how mentors are essential for career development, leading to formative opportunities like internships and early-career experiences.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in public policy studies in 2015, he snagged his first corporate job with Google in New York City. He then moved to Florida for a job with the Miami Heat as a manager of innovation and strategy and later as director of business strategy. At the Obama Foundation in Washington, D.C., Derek worked in strategic initiatives and operations for a program called My Brother’s Keeper Alliance.
It was during his next gig, working as a chief of staff at Microsoft in Seattle, when he realized his true calling was in the nonprofit sector, helping young Black men find resources and mentorship to prepare themselves for productive careers. “Almost every opportunity I had was the result of networking and relationship building or having introductions from former bosses,” Derek says of the need for social capital.
Busting Stereotypes, Building Futures
In 2019, Derek and some friends offered a one-day conference at a local church. Seven young men turned up. Forty came the next year. By 2021, more than 200 young Black men were asking Derek for help. He founded DSS – which offers a free, 12-week program for professional development, entrepreneurship education and leadership training – that same year and opened the Workforce Development Center on Mangum Street, where Black male high school and college-enrolled students ages 16 to 24 can walk in to access local resources, this past August.
An important characteristic of DSS’ team is that it reflects its intended audience. “We are all young Black men who grew up in Durham,” Derek says. The average age of program staff is 30 years old, which offers relatability. He says an estimated 70% of young Black men between the ages of 16 and 24 are unemployed or underemployed in Durham. “How do we make a significant dent in youth unemployment so they are more confident and stay on a path or trajectory to provide for their families and for future generations?” Derek asks. “Not everyone’s going to college. We want to start with that piece and connect [these young men] to organizations after we feel that [they] have that sort of economic footing.”
Derek is familiar with the stereotypes that Black men don’t want to work, aren’t dependable or aren’t showing up for a class or a job. “What we [at DSS] are seeing is that it’s not necessarily specific to young Black men; this is a problem we’re seeing with youth in general,” he says. “On the nonprofit side, we believe that because we are filling a gap among the school system, our workforce and our economy, we need the cross-sector collaboration that the nonprofit structure provides. We want the government to have a seat at the table, to hold us accountable for our goals, but also to share resources, information and best practices, and be involved. We want companies to have a seat at the table. It’s not about how we make more money for us; it’s how we make sure more families are supported and more young men have pathways that are leading them to better outcomes professionally.”
Value Propositions
DSS crafts development plans customized for each individual participating in the 12-week program. The young men are introduced to partners at different companies to create networking opportunities. “We take our young men directly to job sites for employers,” Derek says. “We have had mock interviews on site with leaders of Fidelity [Investments] who are in charge of hiring and decision making, who provide a tour [of the office] and talk about their entry-level experience. That exposure is rare and important.”
Of course, not everyone wants to become a business entrepreneur or go into biotech. “There’s something for everyone,” Derek says. And DSS is not just a way to connect to jobs; it’s also a support network. “We’re with you for life,” Derek says about the long-term commitment to each person’s holistic success. “You’re not just in a 12-week program [that] you graduate, and you’re done. There are 16-year-olds who’ve started with us, and they’re now in college. Or, those who started with us as college freshmen and are graduating this December. We’ve been with them … [for] three years. That is really where I think we, as a team, love seeing
the connection, the growth and development over time, or seeing a young man who was 16 do our program once and come back at 19 to do it again, because he’s in a different space. That’s our value.”
There are 175 alums across DSS programs, which have delivered more than 2,180 hours of professional instruction. Of those who had participated in previous development programs, 87% found DSS more helpful, Derek says, and 94% of last year’s cohort saw an increase in the number of professional opportunities available to them.
Inclusive Progress
So why attempt this mission in Durham? “Because we have so much opportunity,” Derek says, pointing to the pace of economic expansion in the area. According to the Kenan Institute’s American Growth Project 2022 report, this area experienced the fourth-fastest gross domestic product growth rate in the nation. Historically, Derek says, in cities like Durham that are going through similar development, economic and workforce changes, most marginalized groups find themselves on the outskirts of that growth; in particular, young Black men have been excluded from the workforce.
“With so many eyes on this city right now, we need to show a model that is inclusive, that works and that reflects us as Durham,” Derek says. “With our history, our culture has always been one that includes minorities as a hub for Black people to succeed. I just can’t think of a city that I truly believe is capable of being that modulation and showing it, so that’s the driver.”
Derek says he continues his outreach in schools, community barbershops and churches to help young men who are in need of services. He estimates that about 80% of applicants are referred to DSS by program alumni. “It’s been such an unexpected, celebratory outcome to know that our biggest advocates are alums,” he says. “That’s our outreach team. It means we’re doing good work and that they want to talk about it in their circles.”
Presidential Proclamation
President Barack Obama stands at the podium at a White House press conference celebrating Duke Men’s Basketball‘s 2015 NCAA Championship.
“So, it’s good to see the Blue Devils again,” he says. “This is the second time that I’ve hosted them here at the White House. It is. My old body man, Reggie Love, played for Coach K – helped me win a lot of pickup games. And then there’s Derek Rhodes. Where’s Derek? Derek was an intern here last summer before being head manager for the championship run. So, a little White House magic rubbed off on this team. I’m just saying.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever forget that moment: I was terrified,” Derek says, remembering when the president called out his name, referencing the years he spent as a manager for the Duke men’s basketball team while he was an undergraduate student.
Derek interned at the White House in 2014 during Obama’s second term and had been a public affairs intern in the U.S. Justice Department during the summer George Zimmerman was found not guilty for fatally shooting 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February 2012. The verdict sparked nationwide outrage, triggering the “Black Lives Matter” movement in 2013.
“I had the opportunity to go over to the White House to sit in on meetings during that time,” Derek says. “And then the following year, [I] was [at] the White House. I kept ending up in Obamaland. It was seriously such an amazing experience.”
