Jones Senior maintains relationship with school that aided after Floyd

TRENTON — Dressed in a black-and-white tuxedo with a bowtie around her neck, Anne Hicks sliced a turkey and heaped the glistening meat onto the plates of students, teachers and administrators lined up in Jones Senior High School’s gymnasium.

Hicks, a child nutrition manager, and about 30 East Chapel Hill High School and Phoenix Academy High School students ladled an entire Thanksgiving feast of turkey, corn, green beans, bread, cookies, cakes, ham, chicken and drinks onto the plates of the 380 Jones Senior students and their teachers on Thursday.

They served the meal as part of a tradition that started in 1999, when East Chapel Hill High adopted Jones Senior High to provide the students and staff with school supplies, money and other materials after Hurricane Floyd devastated Eastern North Carolina.

“People poured out their hearts in support of us,” said Joletha White, a retired school administrator and a former Jones Senior principal. During Thursday’s assembly for the students, White recalled the impact of Floyd.

“It’s unimaginable what people gave us,” she said.

White said that because of the “unbelievable” flooding, parts of Trenton and Pollocksville were submerged and weren’t accessible. Anything that the water touched had to be destroyed. Trenton Elementary School needed new carpeting and furniture, and some classrooms smelled of mold.

The Jones County school system received furniture for entire classrooms, along with books, supplies and a trailer full of clothing. East Chapel Hill High gave Jones Senior cases of paper and boxes of pencils, as well as a “feast to remember,” White said.

“It was an awesome time, but it was a time when people came together,” she said, before she and Jones Senior Principal Pascal Mubenga and teacher Debara Blackwell honored Anne Hicks. Jones Senior thanked Hicks and presented her with a plaque, and Trenton Mayor Gladys Mae Meadows gave her a certificate of appreciation.

 “What’s so awesome about this is these are young people just like you,” White said to the Jones Senior students. “They had to get up really early to prepare this for us. But that’s what Thanksgiving’s all about. We have to take care of each other.”

Hicks is also the leader of East Chapel Hill High’s culinary arts club that meets during lunch on Thursdays. In the club, students learn to prepare 30-minute meals and food art, such as chocolate roses or nut clusters.

Hicks said she only had four students in the club in 1999 to help prepare the food for Jones Senior. But the club has since grown, and she has continued the Thanksgiving feast tradition.

 “I feel that if you share your wealth and you sow a seed and maintain your faith, then all is well,” she said.

Austin Dixon, Sasha Dorsey and Laura Chavez, seniors at Jones Senior, ate together Thursday. The students said that they look forward to the meal each year because it gives them a break from class and the opportunity to enjoy good food and meet students from other parts of the state.

 “I think it’s all good,” Dixon said of the food, adding that he especially liked the macaroni and cheese.

Some Jones Senior students were so touched by the East Chapel Hill and Phoenix Academy students’ generosity that they cried during the assembly.

Jones Senior art teacher Deborah Lightfield said she believed the meal showed the beauty of giving because the school was not meant to feel it was a handout.

“They really made this out of love,” she said.

Laura Oleniacz can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at loleniacz@freedomenc.com.