HeartWorks: An after-school haven for kids

A minivan and the small HeartWorks school bus take turns picking up seven car-loads of kids, kindergarten through eighth grade, from the public schools. One by one, the vehicles stop inside the HeartWorks facility gate and kids jump out in various moods. Some kids hug teachers, giggle and drag oversized backpacks behind them. A blond boy with freckles frowns, arms crossed. Some kids look tired. Most of them are a blur, running to their classrooms—or, as HeartWorks calls them, pods.

“We still have people coming to the office thinking it must be the place to go for heart work,” says Karen Prince, the director of HeartWorks, with a smile. Before all 150 kids arrive, Prince tells me the history of the center which is the only free after-school program for grade-schoolers in the county. In a county where 28.4% of the children live below the poverty line, way above the state average, dependable child care is much-needed.

“Sue Lee and her husband, Rod, started all of this,” Prince says while looking at the moss-green building. Her phone rings and vibrates in her pocket nonstop. “She was a pediatrician here in the county. She saw the disparities that hadn’t been addressed and the lack of resources for so many children and families in this county. She started StillWaters (a counseling service for children and families) in 2002 in her office.”

Eventually, Lee added this after-school program in the old Hardy Chevrolet car dealership in Bayboro, brought Prince on board and called it HeartWorks.

“At first, it was crazy,” says Prince, pointing to what is now the cafe and theater area—once the showroom of the old dealership. “In 2009, there were 150 kids all in this one room; classrooms were separated only by dividers. It was so loud.” She points to a divider that looks like a chalkboard on wheels.

In 2019, HeartWorks secured funding through grants and donations for a renovation. Six pods were built behind the gymnasium-like showroom, all connected by a covered outdoor walkway leading around a play area and courtyard with young oak trees. The facility also has an outdoor basketball court and a state-of-the-art security system with fencing and cameras. The classrooms, all different, are filled with natural light, cubbies and wood paneling accents on the walls. The building is easily the best-designed business in the county, simple and functional.

The next day, Friday, is rainy and windy at HeartWorks. Even still, the kids are outside playing basketball, passing a football and chasing each other in the open-air walkways. The noise of over a hundred excited kids is surprisingly quiet. The sounds of laughter and basketballs disappear into the air.

Inside Pod 1, teacher Harry Tiller, sporting a baseball cap and holding a clipboard, addresses each kid in the kindergarten and first-grade group. They stand in line in front of him while he asks each one for their first and last name in an overly formal tone—for fun—as if conducting a military roll call. The kids love it.

Most of the other pods are headed to the cafe; they eat right away. Everyone who comes to the after-school program gets free food, which mostly comes from Walmart and the Feeding America Program, but also from the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. Then the students clean their tables, line up and walk back.

Kimmy Lipford, the teacher for Pod 3, for third, fourth and fifth grades, brought her South American chinchilla to class today, as she does every Friday. The rabbit-like animal was a gift from one of last year’s students. Every student waits patiently for a chance to pet or hold the animal, with its twitching whiskers and long tail.

Normally, classes participate in “Readers Theater” and “Math and Movement” programs, which are designed by program director Debbie Stribling to make math and reading fun. But today is free-form Friday. Classroom activities, from hand puppets and sports to dry-erase board conversations are in full swing. No one looks bored.

Volunteers are often at the center, bringing their “special gifts” to kids in the school. An application and a background check are required. The application can be found on the center’s website here.

HeartWorks is possible with help from the 21st Century Community Learning Center, United Way, the Perry Griffin Foundation, Harborfest (their only yearly fundraiser) and individual donations.

Six p.m. marks the final pickup. Parents, grandparents, relatives and foster parents arrive one by one to get their child. The pickup system, complete with radios and sign-out sheets, looks seamless. Kids hug teachers goodbye. Off they go.

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