CBC Executive Reads To Support Education

Young authors from the Heritage Park community had their writing featured at the community breakfast.

Raleigh's Community Learning Centers, Inc. (CLC) kicked off its 2001 annual fund campaign with a community breakfast featuring readings by local executives at the Heritage Park Learning Center on Wednesday, March 21. "Touching Lives…One Life At A Time" will seek to raise $800,000 for CLC to enable them to continue their mission of giving educational help to children living in Raleigh's public housing communities.

CBC Vice President of Community Relations Paul Pope read an excerpt from "After Breakfast" by Leila Merritt as part of the program. The stories, including the one read by Pope, were written by youth who live in the Heritage Park community. Other business leaders participated as well, including executives from Verizon, SAS, Time Warner, CP&L and more.

CBC Executive Paul Pope visits with author, Leila Merritt.

Pope read from Merritt's story, "After Breakfast."

Capitol Broadcasting Company supports CLC as a Champion Circle contributor. A grant by the A.J. Fletcher Foundation helped start the RHA Scholarship Fund, a fund created with the vision of Jessie Copeland, a community organizer and longtime president of the Chavis Heights Community. That scholarship program later evolved into the CLC.

Pope speaks with EasyWeb President Erroll Reese.	Shemikia Ferrell (left) had her story read by Katherine Thomas of Progress Energy.
Verizon Exec Steve Toler (left) and Erroll Reese (right) partake in the breakfast buffet.	Classy Preston, CLC President & CEO, gave an overview of the organization's mission.

This non-profit organization strives to "provide community-based resources for at-risk children to help them achieve educational and personal success." The CLC has partnered with Wake County Public Schools over the past few years to help achieve this goal.