Proud to call Kinston home

Theresa Williams Bethea’s office in the Kinston Enterprise Center is not too far from where she was raised.

Among dozens of plaques, certificates, and hand-made thank you cards from children that decorate her work space, she proudly displays a photo of the home in East Kinston she grew up in.

Despite what that part of town has been through in recent decades, she is extremely proud to have grown up there, though others sometimes fail to see the potential.

“I like Kinston, but I don’t necessarily care much for the criticisms that I hear about it,” she said. “I am an advocate for East Kinston. … I grew up in East Kinston.”

Bethea left her hometown after graduating from Kinston High School in 1976 to attend UNC Chapel Hill. At the time, she did not exactly envision herself moving back.

“I don’t think I ever said, ‘I’ll never go back to Kinston,’ ” she said. “I just never imagined it would happen. It was just nothing that was on my radar screen.”

After living in Charlotte for 25 years, where she was active in the community, Bethea moved back to Kinston in 2008 to be closer to family after her three children — Carl, April and Ellena — all graduated college and scattered across the Eastern Seaboard.

She began working with Young Women of Promise/Kinston Youth Enrichment Project — which provides after-school and summer activities for youth — and also coordinates Kinston Promise Neighborhood, working with children from birth to college and seeing them into stable careers.

“I gradually started getting involved — I had no idea I would be this involved — but it’s a good thing,” she said. “It keeps me busy. I care a lot about my community. I’m one of those that I hope can serve as an example for my peers and others to really consider coming back home and helping to make a difference here in the community.”

She also works Project Promise Mentoring Alliance, where she meets with Rochelle Middle School seventh graders twice a week and will follow them until they graduate from high school in 2017. She never stops seeing the enormous potential in every child she meets.

 “I think every child deserves a mentor,” she said. “I think every child at least deserves one person in their life that really cares about them. … Every child needs someone who shows an interest in them, and really from that interest, they can do just about anything. It’s really our responsibility as adult allies that we do all that we can to help them reach their full potential.”

Bethea has been helping area children reach their goals in part by using some of the skills she acquired while working around the state.

Bethea has written more than $1 million in successful grant proposals since moving back home. She also helped start the Latino organizations La Voz ENC and N.C. Field to complete initial paperwork and gain tax exempt status and organized Kinston’s Martin Luther King Jr. annual observance.

 “I’ve been organizing Martin Luther King events for the past 10 years — I did it for five years in the Cabarrus County area, and I brought it with me when I came back home,” she said. “We successfully held five annual observances (in Kinston). Each time, we’ve been able to recognize individuals in the community who are having a positive impact. It gets my year started off on a nice note every year.”

As positive and optimistic Bethea remains, she received news two years ago that not only threatened her activity in the community but potentially her life.

“In June 2010, I got a cancer diagnosis,” she said. “I spent quite a few months in denial, but it is a reality in my life, so it’s changed a little bit the way I do things.”

Bethea is undergoing chemotherapy for multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells in bone marrow. She is staying hopeful and said her doctors say the prognosis is good. She will eventually have to undergo a bone marrow transplant which will take her out of commission for a few months.

“It’s important that others are willing to step up to the plate and assume some of the responsibility with what we’re doing,” she said. “I’m not saying I’m planning on leaving anytime soon, but I do have a serious cancer and I just wanted to make sure that the work doesn’t end with me. … I just want to make sure we’ve got people and we’re grooming people for leadership to help take over this work.”

Bethea said as long as she is able, she will continue to dedicate her time and efforts to better the community and influence youth to come back to their hometown as she did.

“I’m a product of the community,” she said. “I know a good number of professionals who are products of the community who are doing well in other communities, but I would certainly would like to see more people come back home. So, our focus is with the ones that we’re working with now, letting them know what they have to come back to.”

Jane Moon can be reached at 252-559-1082 or jmoon@freedomenc.com.

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Volunteer

To volunteer with projects around Kinston, call Theresa Williams Bethea at 252-939-5587