- [Announcer] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

- Just ahead on "Carolina Impact."

- There is fresh produce on the menu in your kids' school cafeteria.

I'm Jeff Sonier in Rowan County.

We'll show you how local farms are helping keep school lunches local too.

- Plus, getting a second chance, we'll explore how a Hickory nonprofit helps former inmates find jobs, and we take you to an art studio where you can paint a masterpiece regardless of your experience.

"Carolina Impact" starts right now.

(upbeat music) Good evening, thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Amy Burkett.

Local ingredients fresh from the farm to the table, that sounds like a recipe for success at your favorite restaurant or maybe cooking at home in your kitchen, but how about in a school cafeteria, where better lunches could also mean better learning?

Carolina Impact's Jeff Sonier takes us out to the farms and inside the schools that are benefiting from North Carolina's Farm to School program.

- Yeah, so it's all about turning what they grow here in these fields into the meals that your kid eats in the cafeteria.

Local farms providing local schools with the best and the freshest local produce they can get.

- So this is our late grape tomato fields, and we do cucumbers, and we do strawberries in the spring.

- [Jeff] Doug Patterson's 550 acre fruit and vegetable farm was founded by his grandfather in 1919, and they've been putting Patterson Farm produce on Rowan County tables ever since.

- There's no better quality crop than what's grown right here where you're standing.

Everybody knows that fresh vegetables, the fresher they are, the more nutrients you'll receive out of those fruits and vegetables.

They're not shipped half across the country, they're not refrigerated for weeks, so they're gettin' them fresh right from the farm.

- [Jeff] And those same homegrown farm fresh fruits and veggies, the ones they weigh on the scale here at the Patterson's Rowan County Farm Store, well, they're also on the menu here at the Rowan Salisbury schools and other nearby school districts too.

- It's good, it's all local.

It's people that we know, and it was a way that we could connect with the kids in North Carolina, so they would know where their food came from.

- Sometimes students will stop in ask what that smell is, that it smells really good, and it just gives that aroma, and it just makes it feel like home.

- School Nutrition Director Lisa Altmann says here at Overton Elementary in Salisbury, their talented cafeteria cooks are also mixing up and browning up and serving up a big batch of these scratch made Sloppy Joes for lunch with the fresh ground beef they're using also from North Carolina farms.

- It's actually really good, very high quality.

We made 100 servings of that, and at the end of the day, we only had like 20 left.

- Yeah, that's great news.

Yeah, we love to hear that the kids love it, and I kinda want a Sloppy Joe right now.

- [Jeff] Jamie Ager works up an appetite talking with us here in the big barn at Hickory Nut Gap Farm near the mountain town of Fairview, with four generations of family farm photos hanging on the barn's old wooden walls, where you can also take in the views and hear the moo from the farm's brushy hillside pasture.

- We raise grass fed beef.

We raise pasture raised hogs.

We do some pasture raised chickens and turkeys as well, and we sell all of our products locally.

- [Jeff] Including this ground beef from Ager's farm and several other family farms, all part of North Carolina's Farm to School program.

- We were just really lucky to be able to work with the school system and be able to sell some meat and do a lot of business.

And then B, like we have three boys that go to public schools, and it's nice to be able to know that some of the meat that they eat is comin' from the farm.

We need to connect the dots between farms and food, and the school system's a great place to kinda build some education.

- [Jeff] And this is where food education meets food transportation, the Farm to School warehouse, with truckloads of North Carolina tomatoes and other homegrown crops rolling in from the growers.

- The schools order, and we go out and purchase and pick up fresh produce from North Carolina farmers and businesses, 'cause some of it is minimally processed, and then we distribute it to the schools.

And we typically do this every two weeks, so they have a constant supply of whatever is in season and local.

- Distribution Director Walter Beal says more than 100 North Carolina school districts participate in Farm to School and other buy local programs.

The packing and shipping of all that fresh food is paid for by the State Department of Agriculture.

And here's where the education comes in, these Farm to School lesson booklets and other learning tools that the state also sends out to classrooms and the School to Farm field trips that bring those lessons to life.

- And it is actually helping us teach the kids what you can buy local, so they know where the food comes from, and when you buy local and it was just picked a few days ago, freshness and everything makes a big difference.

- All that's good marketing.

It's a good education.

It's a good program all the way around.

- [Jeff] And growers say Farm to School is good for the farm business too.

Those school orders a welcome constant that farmers can depend on to help make their fields more profitable.

- It's an order that we can plan for in advance.

Usually, we get our strawberry orders a week to 10 days in advance, which is really good.

Strawberries are very perishable, so if we can get that order in early and can plan ahead for it, it really helps us out.

Same with the grape tomatoes and the cucumbers that we grow.

We'll get that order almost a month ahead, and that helps us plan for our crop and for our sales.

Farming is something you can see your results daily.

It's satisfying.

It's satisfying every day because you're seein' progress.

- [Jeff] Not just higher yields in the farm fields, but also more smiles in the aisles of a local school cafeteria, where eating healthier also means learning better.

And where today's test might just be a taste test of something new and fresh and homegrown.

- And it's just neat to see the kids at the table, talking about some of the food.

I truly believe if it's kid tested, they're gonna eat it.

It's about the child, so we wanna make sure that we're giving them the best quality we can.

- By the way, every child here in the Rowan Salisbury schools, as well as lots of other school districts, well, they all qualify for no-cost breakfast, lunch, and after school meals, either in the cafeteria or the classroom, with North Carolina fresh from the farm Sloppy Joes and tomatoes from Rowan County making those meals better, Amy.

- Thank you so much, Jeff.

Here in Charlotte, CMS also received a grant from the State Department of Agriculture for $541,000 to purchase minimally processed food from local small farmers in North Carolina.

You can find out more about North Carolina's Farm to School program on our website at pbscharlotte.org.

Well, we all make mistakes, right, but for some of those decisions, they'll put people behind bars.

When those people are released, they're looking to start over, find a fresh part of life, but society isn't always willing to help, especially when it comes to employment.

Carolina Impact's Dara Khaalid and videographer John Branscum show us how a Hickory nonprofit helps former inmates land on their feet.

- [Dara] It's another day full of assignments for Darlene Sanders, as she walks into her office at Exodus Homes.

- [Darlene] First, I'm the Lead Site Manager over the residents.

I am the Women's Site Manager.

I'm the Front Desk Manager.

I'm the Finance Assistant, I'm the Education Coordinator, and I'm the Housing Inspector.

- [Dara] These are titles that she cherishes, because she remembers when her addiction to crack cocaine cost her everything.

- It was a time in my life, my daughter didn't allow me nowhere near her house because of what my addiction was doin' to me.

- [Dara] Sanders says her life spiraled out of control so much that she found herself behind bars for 13 months for probation violations.

Immediately after she was released in 2015, she came to Exodus Homes.

- I wouldn't change nothin'.

And you see tears running because that's the joy.

It is joyful tears.

Nothin' sad about it.

- [Dara] Even though Sanders is now employed, she still remembers the obstacles that stand in the way for many with a criminal record.

According to national research, nearly 75% of people who were incarcerated are still jobless a year after being released.

- When you fill out the application, you let 'em know you have any felonies, you're a criminal, you ever been arrested.

Of course, we have, and they look down on that.

Then the next thing they'll say to you, "Okay, we'll give you a call."

You ever get that call?

No.

- [Dara] This harsh reality is what makes Sanders grateful for Exodus Homes.

Thousands of other program graduates have landed jobs too, some with the organization and others outside of it.

It isn't a process that happens overnight.

- We put them in our Social Enterprise program, Exodus Works, and we have a chance to look at them, their work ethic.

There's somebody supervising them.

- [Dara] This period takes between 90 days to six months.

People complete tasks like painting, landscaping, and moving furniture, all in exchange for fully furnished housing, free laundry, and direct access to employers who are hiring.

- We have about five or six companies that work with us.

They know they're hiring formerly incarcerated people.

They're formerly incarcerated friendly.

They give these guys and girls a chance.

- [Dara] Reverend Reggie Longcrier founded Exodus Homes in 1998.

He spent time behind bars as a young man for a total of 15 years for various crimes, including armed robbery.

- Finally came to the crossroads of my life.

My whole life went before me, like in a panoramic vision, the people I'd hurt, the wrong I'd done, the prisons and jails I had served time in, the drugs I'd used.

- [Dara] Longcrier still remembers the day he vowed to turn his life around, but many employers who saw his record didn't give him a chance, so he created an organization that would help former inmates find jobs.

- A job is more helpful and more contributing to a person's rehabilitation than most anything else, because it gives them a sense of belonging.

It gives them a sense of involvement.

It raises their self-esteem knowing that a, I can make a contribution.

- [Dara] And contributions are exactly what people are making, just ask 81 year old Bill Ireland, who works at New Life Thrift Store, which is part of the non-profit.

- They got me here.

Same day I got outta prison, I came here.

I've been volunteering for a little over two years, and they done a lot for me.

- [Dara] He was released in 2021 after serving 20 years for second degree murder.

He says his job has given him a family and a sense of purpose.

- They give me a place to stay, give me a job and everything, and I really like it here.

- [Dara] Those who've been through the program aren't the only ones being impacted by it.

- They have families, a lot of 'em have parents, a lot of 'em have children, and it's more than just these souls.

It's the people who love them and the good that they can do in the future once they are back in society, once they have a chance to be full citizens again.

- [Dara] Attorney Lyndon Helton with Helton, Cody, and Associates has been hiring workers for over a decade to do various tasks for him, like moving items, painting, and shoveling snow.

But there's a personal reason why he connects so deeply with the workers.

- These men remind me of my uncle, so he had very limited periods of incarceration, usually related to DWIs and public drunkenness, that sort of thing, but it was still sorta the same thing.

Most of these folks have had addiction issues.

I don't know all their histories.

I don't ask their histories when they come to work for me.

- It's never too late for anyone.

There's always hope.

You can learn a new way to live.

You can overcome addiction and incarceration.

- [Dara] For the staff at Exodus Homes, that will always be their message, as they help give people a second chance.

For "Carolina Impact," I'm Dara Khaalid.

- Thank you so much.

Dara.

The staff at Exodus Homes also tells us their organization has reduced crime in Hickory neighborhoods where their homes are located.

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not very artistic.

Our next story is for all of us wanna be Picassos.

A Charlotte business can help us bring out the inner Jackson Pollock.

Splatter Charlotte is an interactive art experience that allows anyone to create on canvas, even if we don't have any artistic background.

Producer Russ Hunsinger takes us to a messy but colorful group encounter.

- All right, three, two, one, throw.

Mix whatever colors you want, let's make some art, okay.

Let's do it, guys.

The only thing that you cannot say in this room is, "Oh, I ruined it," because you can't ruin it, 'cause it doesn't look like anything, it's just colors.

Give this canvas the business.

This is not for the faint of heart.

I mean, throw it.

- [Participant] Oh yeah, that's a good one.

- They get to show up, make whatever colors they want out of the paints that we have available, and then throw them at large scale canvases to make one of a kind works of art that nobody's ever seen before.

I tried it myself.

I wanted to be a part of a art experience, where I was in it, making it myself.

I thought it was really fun to throw paint at these canvases because it didn't really take any, like artistic background or know-how, how to do it, and so there gotta be people just like me, who wanna make their own art, who wanna experience things.

You come here, you're an artist, all right.

- [Participant] Very nice.

- I'll talk to them about how to paint.

Make sure that they understand like what colors make what when you mix them together.

They get protective material to put on, if they so choose.

Otherwise, they can get a little bit messy, if they'd like.

If you get paint on your clothes, it's never coming out, so just go forward with that mentality.

And then I take them through how to throw paint at this canvas.

Throw it down from your hip and go out like this, okay.

They do it one time, and then they are off to the races.

They get to do whatever they want to their canvas.

But once the paint leaves your cup, remember, there's nothing you can do about it, so just let it go, right.

If you throw something, and you're like, I don't love the way that came out, throw something over it, okay.

The people who come to Splatter Charlotte are all different groups of people, including families.

We've got day dates, anniversaries, birthday parties, two friends gettin' together.

If you wanna come solo and make something brand new for your own apartment or house, absolutely.

Are you guys havin' a good time so far?

- [Group] Yes.

- Good.

It's really interesting to watch people sort of figure out on their own, oh, maybe I could just drizzle it on the campus.

Maybe I can scrape it along the canvas.

And they come up with all these different techniques, so it really is their piece of art.

And we've done small companies of four people.

We've done medium sized companies of roughly 20 people, all the way up to companies of 150 people, all making big pieces of art together.

With every team building session that we do, we put your logo right in the middle of that canvas, and then everybody paints over it, and then once it's fully dry, we peel that logo away and reveal it in the negative space of the canvas.

- It was really good.

It was a lot of fun.

It's different.

I don't think we've ever done anything like this before.

Can get dirty, but we love that.

- It was exciting to see like, okay, what's gonna happen after the next one?

And then, see what you can do with with what we have.

Even though you don't know what's gonna happen, just know it's gonna be good.

I think it's cute.

- When people see the canvas after it's fully finished, they are sort of amazed that they made it themselves.

Reception's been great.

I've got hundreds of paintings that have been created just this year from people who either think that they're an artist or think that they're not.

They come here and they make something brand new with a loved one.

Also, with companies that come here, they always end up having a great time.

Throw.

I hope that Splatter Charlotte customers understand that everybody is creative, everybody has something interesting that they can add to a creative conversation, an artistic conversation, whether they think they can or not.

If you think you can't draw a stick figure, then this is the place for you, because it shows you, yes, you can be creative, if you just get out of your own way for like an hour, stop judging yourself so hard, you can make something that you love.

The way I see it is that without any one of you being in this room, this would not be the same painting.

If any one of you wasn't here, every throw mattered effectively, right.

In the same way, that when you're thinking about your practice, the company culture you guys are building together, sometimes you might be thinking, like, does the thing that I do really matter?

But I think it's important to remember that without you, it wouldn't be the same company.

Nicely done, give yourselves a big round of applause, good work.

(group claps) - Okay, I've got to try that.

I'm not an artist, but I think I could be with that story.

Thanks so much, Russ.

If you or your business are local, the painting will be delivered after it dries.

Now, Splatter Charlotte can set up as many as four canvases to accommodate larger groups.

They're also mobile, if you'd like to use your own space.

Well, finally tonight, there are fundraisers and then there are fun-raisers.

Recently, the NASCAR Hall of Fame Foundation held its annual Over the Edge fundraiser.

Carolina Impact's Jason Terzis joins me now to tell us all about it.

- It's a unique one.

It really is, and I think our viewers are gonna enjoy this.

All right, so here's one for all of our adventure enthusiasts, would you ever consider rappelling down the side of a building?

Would someone have to pay you to consider doing it, or would you pay for the opportunity?

Well, that's what nearly 60 people just did in Uptown Charlotte.

The 1960's television series, "Batman," a true American classic.

The crime fighting duo was known for a lotta things, one of them, climbing and rappelling tall buildings.

- [Robin] When you think Batman, with people in weird outfits, like the four super crooks hangin' around here, it's amazing someone hasn't already reported this place to the police.

- [Jason] If you didn't know any better, you might think the Caped Crusaders were back and in Charlotte, rappelling down the Embassy Suites.

- [Announcer] And that's the other half of the dynamic due of Charlotte Creative Mornings.

- [Jason] It was all part of the NASCAR Hall of Fame Foundation's annual fundraising event.

- It's the 5th year that we've done it.

- I think giving back has been a big part of NASCAR, long before I was around.

- [Jason] Instead of doing your typical golf outing or dinner fundraiser, they've decided to mix it up.

- So the NASCAR Foundation brought the idea to us to have a unique fundraising opportunity.

- [Jason] Partnering with Over the Edge, a Canadian based organization, that since its inception in 2008, has helped raise more than $135 million for non-profits worldwide.

- They kind of approached us initially to be a partner of theirs, and we just continue to feel like we're offering a really great experience for people that you're not gonna have anywhere else.

- [Jason] With a DJ spinning tunes and crowds gathering on the Hall of Fame Plaza to watch, participants slowly rappel down 10 floors from the Embassy Suite's roof.

Those signing up each raised a minimum of $1,000, which gave them the opportunity to go over the edge.

- Oh, I loved it.

Definitely it was nerve wracking, I'm not really a heights person, not really a rollercoasters person, won't go skydiving like my husband, but I knew I was in safe hands.

- [Jason] Those taking part geared up with all the safety features from harnesses and clips, helmets and gloves.

Then it was time to go up the stairs to the roof, some final instructions from the Over the Edge team, and then, it was time.

- The scariest part is when they tell you, they're like, "Go up to the edge, "just put your feet at the edge," and it's like, oh my goodness, I'm on the edge of a building.

But afterwards, once you get started, it's just really fun.

- I was nervous a little bit once I got up there.

I was kinda talkin' a lotta junk on the way up the elevator, saying that I was a little underwhelmed with the height, but yeah, it turned out to be just great.

- [Jason] Step by step, down they came, with each rappeller controlling his or her speed.

As they scaled down the building, Jordyne Dixon and Jamel Roberts had their own cheering section.

- Our team from our company came out to support us and then some friends and family as well.

- [Jason] And father daughter tandem, Bill McMillan and Carson Little, also rappelled together.

- Heard about it, word of mouth a few years ago, and it's been five years here in Charlotte.

I've done it four, Carson and I have done it two together.

- A lot of it's definitely your mindset.

You have to be able to just kinda go with it and know that you're in safe hands.

It's a national organization, so you know that you've got all the safety equipment up there.

You've got about five people checking you from each station point, so you definitely feel like you're in good hands.

- It's really so easy to do, and I would encourage anybody to do it.

- [Jason] This year's event had 57 rappellers, who raised a combined total of more than $122,000.

Those funds then allow kids to attend field trips at the Hall of Fame at a significantly reduced rate.

- So the foundation raises funds to support our scholarship program.

That scholarship program offers children who are in Title One schools or who have a greater than 50% on free and reduced lunch, the opportunity to come to the Hall of Fame for 25% of the actual cost.

So the foundation's covering 75% of that field trip, making it just $4.50.

- [Jason] And in just a few years, the number of kids taking advantage of the program has skyrocketed.

- We've got an education program, that last year did somewhere around 13, 14,000 kids, which is very strong comin' out of COVID.

We have done as many as 17,000 kids, and our foundation subsidized over 4,000 students, with over $47,000, just in the last fiscal year alone.

- [Jason] While the kids enjoy a fun field trip and look at the vintage race cars when they come to the Hall, what they're really getting is an education in STEM, science, technology, engineering, and math.

- If you really think about it, NASCAR and the NASCAR Hall of Fame is a STEM laboratory.

Everything about NASCAR is about science, technology, engineering, and math.

These cars are purpose-built cars.

There's a lotta technology that goes into it.

We also have a lot of interactives, simulators, pit crew challenge, things like that, so they can have fun while they're learning, and that's something that teachers wanna be able to do.

And the fact that our programs are all tied to the North Carolina and the state standards of education, so it's very helpful to the teachers, as well as it is the students.

- Hearing about all that the NASCAR Hall of Fame does, I wouldn't have thought that, I would've just thought racing, but they have a lot of cool programs and a lot of cool science programs that go into like cars and how much advances they have, and all of that kinda rolls into STEM, so I think it's a really cool and unique way to get kids to know about STEM.

- When you use STEM-based education, they don't even know they're really learning because it's just fun.

- [Jason] And knowing they're helping children learn while having some fun themselves, makes it all the better.

- Being able to come down this building here, and at the same time, support kids and serve my community, I thought that that was a really unique way to unite both of those things, living and serving at the same time.

So it really kind of catapulted me to get out here.

- My mom's a teacher, and so I've seen her throughout the years try to educate and put all her resources towards the next generation, and so I thought this was a great way to kinda contribute to that.

- So, we love being a part of that and giving back to the community.

- Jason's with me now.

Now, that is truly a unique fundraiser.

I've never seen anything like it before, but where does the money go that they raise?

- The money, it's interesting how they do this.

Well, in each of the years that they've done this, the Hall's Foundation has raised anywhere between 125 and $150,000, so far this year they've added up about 122.

So once expenses are paid, everything that's left goes back to the Foundation's education program.

Also, I asked all those rappellers that were out there that I talked with, "If they could do it again, would they do it again?"

Every single one of 'em said, "Absolutely."

Some of 'em were like, "Hey, if I could raise the money right now, "I'd go back and do it right now."

- It seems a little terrifying to me.

Not sure, we're always looking for unique fundraising ideas, but I don't think we'll be having our PBS Charlotte donors rappel anytime soon.

- No, and that's one thing with Over the Edge, because of what they do and because it's so unique, they only wanna do one event per town.

So the NASCAR Hall of Fame Foundation, they've partnered with them, so you will not see Over the Edge doing another fundraiser with any other group in town.

That's it, one a year, one per town.

- I think our donors might be breathing a sigh of relief over that.

Jason, another great story, thanks so much.

- Absolutely.

- Well, if you have an interesting story idea, we would love to learn about it.

All you have to do is send us an email at stories@wtvi.org.

Well, before we say goodnight, I wanna recognize the amazing folks from the Matthews United Methodist Church who came to be in our studio audience today.

They asked the best questions, and they're my new best friends.

Well, that's all the time we have this evening.

Thanks so much for joining us.

We always appreciate your time and look forward to seeing you back here again next time on "Carolina Impact."

Goodnight, my friends.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.