Seventy-two-year old Thomas Hatcher was found dead in his
home in July.
Police say Hatcher’s daughter-in-law and her brother killed
the elderly McDowell County
native for $1100 he kept hidden in the home – money they stole to buy drugs.
Residents describe how wide-spread drug addiction and drug
–related crimes are throughout the region.
But despite the fear of this epidemic, a small group of
residents continues to work tirelessly for change and community improvement.
“We’ve had unbelievable overdoses and deaths, children that
are raising themselves now. It breaks my heart,” said Marsha Timpson,
Co-Executive Director of Big Creek People in Action.
“I say we’ve survived the floods, we’ve survived the coal
industry going down to what it is, unemployment being so bad, the housing issue,
the economics as they are, and I’m so afraid drugs are what will do us in,” she
said.
“It is so rampant; people I never thought in my wildest
dreams are on drugs.”
Big Creek People in Action was established in 1990,
originally to fight for a better water system for southern McDowell
County.
After a new water system was achieved, the non-profit organization
turned its attention to education and literacy programs, volunteer services,
home rehabilitation and weatherizing, community events and other improvement
endeavors.
Drugs have changed not only individual users, but those who
surround them, and an entire way of life here, according to Timpson.
“What I hold dear is that sense of community,” she said. “I
grew up in a little holler called Warrior Mines; there was no better place in
the world to grow up.”
“It’s not the coal camp my children grew up in; they grew up
in a coal camp where almost everyone is on some type of check, a disability
check, a welfare check, some kind of check,” she continued.
“There is a sense of hopelessness for so many people here,
and I think they cope by just zoning themselves out with the dope, instead of
facing it, they just zone out and erase their emotional pain as well as their
physical pain with these drugs.”
Timpson says that’s not what Big Creek People in Action condones.
“I don’t believe in hopelessness. I believe in ‘keep on keeping
on,’” she said. “And keeping the faith.”
‘This coal camp will never be what it was when I was growing
up. But we can be better than what we are today,” said Timpson. “And so that’s
what Big Creek People in Action is all about, it’s what I’m about, I want
things better.”
“I want the youth to make changes, I want the youth to
realize it can be better, and not to fall in that trap of thinking everything
is hopeless. We have to put that faith in our young people. They’re our
future.”
Scotty Wayne Perez is the jobsite supervisor for Big Creek
People in Action. He’s also maintenance and program support, safety director,
grounds keeper, and janitor.
“Last year alone we rehabilitated 75 homes,” said Perez. “We
built handicap ramps, built rooms, installed floors and bathroom fixtures, secured
walls, hung sheet rock, and painted the houses.”
“Big Creek People in Action helps those who help themselves,”
he said.
“Now we have a new motto: Be the change you wish to see;
live, play and learn everyday, to build a stronger community.”
“We kind of live by that statement,” said Perez.
The Stenson family of Berwin is a current recipient of some assistance
from BCPIA.
The couple wants to adopt their grandchildren who were
removed from their parents’ home, but Child Protective Services’ decision to
support adoption is pending because it deemed the Stenson home to be unsafe.
“They’ve built two rooms for us and they’re in the process
of building 2 more,” said Ellen Stenson. “I just can’t explain how thankful I
am, how appreciative we are.”
“It’s a very hurtful situation, it’s hard because this is
about our grandchildren, and the Big Creek in Action People, they’re such a
blessing.”
BCPIA is bringing into McDowell
County this summer multiple
university and church volunteer groups from throughout the country. In
addition, the organization provides parenting and literacy programs. It has established
a public computer lab, and organizes the yearly Christmas party for needy
children, the disabled, and seniors.
“I think we’re making a huge impact on our community,” said
Timpson. “We have come so close so many times to having to close our doors
because of not having the money to keep it open.”
“But I think God takes a hand in that, I really do, and
something always happens to make it possible for us to leave our doors open.”