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

(soft music) - Just ahead on, "Carolina Impact."

- How can Charlotte churches help solve Charlotte's affordable housing problem?

I'm Jeff Sonier.

We'll show you how the answer could be in the church's own property.

- Plus you'll meet one of our neighbors who grew up not having enough food.

Now she works to prevent others from going hungry.

And we'll take you to a business full of classic video games that's sure to make you feel nostalgic.

"Carolina Impact" starts right now.

(upbeat music) Good evening.

Thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Amy Burkett.

There's no easy fix for Charlotte's affordable housing shortage.

Rising rents and mortgage rates mean higher monthly payments for so many plus land and construction costs are higher too.

But now Charlotte area churches are partnering with local government and developers to build their own high quality and low cost housing often on church property.

"Carolina Impacts," Jeff Sonier and videographer Marcellus Jones show us how these houses of prayer are helping build affordable houses and apartments.

- Yeah, Greater Bethel, AME Church is one of several Charlotte congregations that are practicing what they preach, answering the call to do good and to share with others by using their church property and church funds to fight that Goliath of a problem that's facing so many Charlotte families.

How to find a place to live they can afford.

♪ My hope is built on nothing less ♪ ♪ Than Jesus's love and righteousness ♪ - [Jeff] Like a single voice that leads a choir, a single church can have a voice too.

- It's gonna be like throwing a pebble in this pond back here.

It's going to have a ripple effect.

And so this plan came together.

- [Jeff] A plan to turn this 10 acre church parsonage into a new neighborhood called Hope Springs.

♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪ - [Jeff] The announcement of 30 new habitat homes here on church land has that feel of an old church picnic with salad and sweet tea on the table and a tent for shade.

- So I thank God for the opportunity to participate.

- [Jeff] As Greater Bethel Pastor Abdel Knox uses this podium as his pulpit.

- And it is through that direction of doing good that hope will spring forth.

- [Jeff] The Hope Springs Project also has another church covered in Presbyterian and Dilworth providing $400,000 in funding with more churches planning and building their own housing projects.

- And to be where we are to be who we are and not do something would be a sin.

And so we want to do our part.

- [Jeff] Dr. Dwayne Walker is pastor of Little Rock AME Zion Church on the edge of Charlotte Skyline, where they're finishing up this five story affordable apartment project named after the AME Zion Church founder James Varick, on church property right next door to the church itself.

- It's a no brainer.

We're located right uptown Charlotte in the midst of all of this.

♪ We've come to pray ♪ ♪ We've come to pray ♪ Aware of the need for housing in this community and approach the city letting them know that we wanted to be a part of solving the problem and thankfully they were willing to partner with us.

- Amen.

- And to be able to be where we are and to be able to be a part of something like this is something that the congregation has embraced with open arms - [Jeff] Walker adds that many members of his congregation have been displaced themselves by growth in Charlotte.

Now offering affordable apartments is a way for others to stay.

- So Varick on 7th will be 105 one, two and three bedroom units.

All inclusive, a household of any income level will be able to afford to live in this community and I think it'll be a great living opportunity.

- [Jeff] Project developer Dion Nelson takes us five floors up so we can take in that uptown view and just one peak out these windows tells you how much this church property could be worth.

- I mean, this is one of the most ideal locations in the city of Charlotte.

This is valuable land and they had many opportunities and many options as to what they could do and how they could approach this development.

- [Jeff] Nelson explains though that when partnering with churches like Little Rock on affordable housing, making a profit is often less important than making a difference.

- But I'm a believer that you can do good and do well at the same time.

They are not mutually exclusive.

We will provide housing for 52 affordable units.

That's 52 families that will have access to an amazing opportunity and an amazing building that is affordable to them that they may have never otherwise had access to.

- [Jeff] Quality wise this is gonna look as good, feel as good as any other apartment complex in this neighborhood.

- Absolutely.

Absolutely.

This is the new approach to affordable housing not the approach of the past.

- [Jeff] A mile away at Caldwell Presbyterian Church the congregation is converting this century old education building.

- [John] There's a stained glass window on the second floor.

- [Jeff] Into affordable housing for the homeless.

- Congregations are beginning to look at that look at their land, look at their building.

And there's no question the movement is taking off.

Charlotte is a pacesetter and I'm aware of at least four or five emerging projects in Charlotte that haven't made the headlines because they're in the early stages.

- [Jeff] But Pastor John Cleghorn, who's also writing a book about churches in affordable housing warns there are lots of questions to answer first.

- Their neighborhood, what will it allow?

What will their zoning allow?

You run into nimbyism, not in my backyard for affordable housing, but it's a brilliant calling for churches to pursue this because they do have choice properties.

Churches should not do this if they want to simply monetize their land and put some money in the bank or think it's gonna attract new members.

Those are the wrong reasons to do this.

Church housing projects tend to take five to 10 years and an enormous amount of work.

It's not for people who aren't committed to the outcome.

We feel that that's what the gospel calls for.

Charlotte has a chronic homelessness issue and a chronic housing issue and we either are gonna address it now or it's gonna spiral out of control.

Everybody's gonna have to put a brick in to solve it and churches can be a big part of that.

(soft piano music) - Pastor Cleghorn adds that his church's project and other churches affordable housing projects are what he calls hard but possible.

And when churches do build affordable housing well he says it is what many here in Charlotte are often longing for and waiting for and praying for, Amy.

- Thank you so much Jeff.

And I also wanna thank Nan Walker, our viewer who sent us that story idea.

We love getting story ideas from our viewers.

Well on our website we've got a link to one of those church supported affordable housing projects that's already taking applications from future tenants.

You'll find it online at pbscharlotte.org.

Well, sometimes the toughest times in our lives help make us the person we're meant to be serving others as a way of life for one local woman who started a food bank almost 20 years ago in tonight's, "Meet Your Neighbor," segment, "Carolina Impacts," Dara Khaalid and photojournalist, Russ Hunsinger introduce us to Guadalupe Montoya.

♪ Neighborhood with you ♪ ♪ So would you be mine ♪ ♪ Could you be mine ♪ ♪ Won't you be my neighbor ♪ ♪ Hi neighbor ♪ - (speaking in Spanish) - [Dara] Every week this is where you'll find Guadalupe Montoya eating a home cooked meal with her husband and daughters.

- (speaking in Spanish) - [Dara] For Montoya, having a full plate of food is something she doesn't take for granted because there was a time when she couldn't afford it.

- I came here when I was 12 years old and I am from Mexico.

- [Dara] Montoya remembers the pain of coming to the United States in 1979 and watching her single mother struggle to provide for her and her five siblings.

She says it's a hardship that many immigrants are still facing.

- Sometimes they don't have someone can help them because they just came from another countries and they don't have nothing to start here.

- [Dara] So instead of standing by watching people go hungry Montoya decided it was time for her to help feed others free of charge.

- I start in 2004.

I find this lady outside of the insurance office that she was receiving groceries from Metrolina Food Bank.

She told me to get whatever I want.

So I got some groceries bags and I make like about 15 bags of groceries and I start giving away to people that was in need.

- [Dara] What started with just a few people almost 20 years ago has now turned into cars aligning the block for at least a mile on WT Harris Boulevard to get the food Montoya gives away at the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

- Today I got for the free food 'cause I'm struggling.

So this place is wonderful.

- [Dara] Lana, an immigrant from Ukraine is someone you'll see at the food bank every week loading her car.

She tells me she was living a good life until unexpected family issues stopped everything, even her education.

- Last eight or nine months I have to be here 'cause my mama 81, she's sick, and I just cannot leave her.

- [Dara] Lana isn't alone in her battle to feed her family.

- In our 24 county region, we have 14 counties in North Carolina and then we dip down and cover most of the upstate of South Carolina.

There are close to 500,000 people living at or below the poverty level.

Over 150,000 of those are children.

Over 50,000 of those are seniors.

- [Dara] Kay Carter, CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina tells me these numbers are alarming and they push her organization to continue partnering with people like Montoya.

- And so most of the families that we deal with are working many times they're working multiple jobs but they're just not earning enough to take care of everything they need to take care of.

So any crisis creates a problem.

- [Dara] For Nicole Rivera who moved to the US from the Dominican Republic, she remembers how not having enough money put her family in a bind.

- We didn't have enough to like live comfortably.

So they told us about this food bank and like, I don't know they welcomed us so easily.

They were like, oh, like you guys can like help out here.

And they would give us food.

- [Dara] And the same way Montoya's Food Bank provided for her family, Rivera has been paying it forward every week for almost three years, filling up cart after cart as a volunteer with the group.

- It feels really good 'cause you feel like you're blessing others and you don't really expect anything in return.

- [Dara] With inflation causing more than just food prices to rise, Montoya says they're also giving out other essential items too.

- Some people come and ask for diapers, toilet papers, towels, hand towels, laundry soap.

Even if it's not the day that we give away, during the weekend, there's people that need and they always call the director or call me.

- [Dara] Even after being in the US for almost 45 years and creating a better life for herself and her family, Montoya says the hardship she faced when she first arrived will always remind her that every person she helps and every meal she eats is a blessing.

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

- Thank you, Dara.

Montoya's Food Bank operates between three and 5PM every Tuesday and Wednesday.

To find out more, head over to our website at pbscharlotte.org.

Well, now it's time for us to take a little walk down memory lane.

Did you know that video and arcade games aren't just for kids?

Research shows that the average gamer in the US is 35 years old.

Videographer, Marcellus Jones takes us to a game bar in Charlotte where adults get to be kids again.

(techno music) - Abari is a play on words for Bar and Atari, right?

I can't take credit for that.

My girlfriend is the one who basically is like you should call it Abari.

(upbeat music) You know, originally we were off of North Davidson Parkwood.

We opened there in about 2016.

- I heard about it when it first opened years ago.

There was a post that a barcade was coming.

(upbeat music) - Late summer 2020 I really started to look for other locations.

So I got lucky.

A friend of mine was like, hey my friend's a leasing agent for this building.

He's like, you should go take a look at it.

So I kind of came in here and just from the beginning, like it, this is completely different in here now, but that kind of like helped get my creative juices going a little bit more.

And you know, from there, I signed the lease and got to open the new spot here in Belmont.

Rhythm Game is kind of like DDR, Guitar Hero.

You know, you're listening to music and you're kind of matching a beat.

So this is one of our newest rhythm games.

We have to import these from Japan, which is sometimes not the most fun process.

It takes a while, but you're not gonna be able to play this many places in the US.

(upbeat music) - I'm 36.

I, again, like it just brings me back to childhood.

You know, you walk in a place like this, the smell, the lights, the noises, everything just kind of brings you back to that golden age.

- One of our regulars, Amar, he made this game and then what we did is we made the cabinet for him.

This is actually an old blitz cabinet that we changed into this crab volleyball cabinet.

So this was originally a one of a kind piece.

- The drink options are really good.

The game options are really good.

They'll let you bring your own console if you want to play upstairs.

We're playing Street Fighter Six now, too.

So we got a little bit of everything.

It's fun, it's a fun environment.

- You know, the first, like my fondest memories are my parents' house was being built.

We were living in my grandmother's basement.

I kind of knew I was addicted at that point because you'd be like 4AM 5AM sneaking up getting the TV playing Super Mario Brothers Two, you know and that's a really early core memory for me.

(upbeat music) (people chattering) - My favorite nostalgia game here at Abari is definitely just pinball in general.

That's something that I played as a little kid.

Every time I went to the movie theater, every time we were at a restaurant or something that had one in the back I had to be ripped away from it to focus on whatever my family was there to do.

But all I wanted to do was play pinball.

- As a guy who grew up mostly in the 90s you know, born in the mid 80s, arcades to me were what I think this bar is.

- It's a good vibe, it's fun, it's really fun, like it really is.

- The biggest challenge playing this game as a kid was playing it for more than a minute.

As you can see, I just played through three balls in about 45 seconds there.

So not much has changed over time.

- When I was quite a bit younger the older kids would never tell you the moves.

They were kind of kind of keeping it secret and you couldn't really look 'em up back then, you know you just kind of had to play or know or read a magazine or something like that.

Now everything's online.

- The people you'll meet here are gonna be some of your best friends for life.

I promise you it's a place for everyone.

We have people who don't even care about gaming who come in here just because they like to hang out.

- Thanks so much Marcellus for that little trip down memory lane.

I recognized some of those video games but I was never good at video game playing.

Well, Abari has pinball leagues, gaming tournaments and even the world's largest game boy.

Finally tonight here in, "Carolina Impact," we pride ourselves on connecting you to your community.

As part of that effort, from time to time, we like to feature an area artist who's creating something special.

But one thing we have never shown you is where all of those art supplies come from.

"Carolina Impacts," Jason Terzis made the drive up to Statesville to find out.

- Well people are drawn to all different types of art from painting and photography to sculptures and drawings.

Just last week we featured here on, "Carolina Impact," the former sports broadcaster who's turned his entire driveway into a painting canvas.

Now we often think about the works created and the artists behind them.

What we rarely think about is where all of those art supplies come from.

There's a pretty good chance they come from right here in North Carolina.

(machine thuds) (jazz music) The sounds can be a little deafening, earplugs, a must, long rolls of metal feeding in on one side, industrial size machines, then hammering away, and out on the other side comes tiny little metal pieces.

Each piece identical to the others.

It's all part of the fabrication process, cutting, bending and assembling.

- We've grown 400% in sales.

We're a very complicated little company.

- [Jason] What this particular machine is cranking out are the interior components of a pen nibs, as they call 'em.

- You know, we make various styles of pen nibs for engineering, cartooning, drawing, calligraphy, illustration.

- [Jason] It's all happening inside this nondescript building just off I-40 in Statesville.

The company is Speedball Art.

- The main foundation of our success is our people.

They're extremely gritty, extremely tough.

- [Jason] Inside the 210,000 square foot facility over 3,000 items are produced and it's not just pen parts, it's a plethora of art supplies, everything from paper products to printing rollers getting handles, paint jars getting filled and lids twisted on.

- All our inks and paints we make ourselves - [Jason] And no matter the part, each one is meticulously inspected for quality control.

If it doesn't measure up the standards, out it goes.

- Inspecting these pens just to make sure that the slit is straight up the middle and that when the pen is flexed and I let go of it, it closes back tightly so the ink does not seep through.

- And you can look at every one of them through an eye loop and they're perfect right down the middle.

- [Jason] What's perhaps most amazing is some of the machines in use like the ones you see here date back nearly 100 years to the 1930s.

- I have a few that are 1938.

- [Jason] When something goes wrong, it's not like there's some 800 number to call or website to order from.

- When parts finally break, I have to make whatever, you know, you can't just order it.

- That's where Speedball's tool and dye manager David Langston comes in.

(door squeaks) When something on one of these old machines breaks down, David fixes it.

- It's like working on a '57 Chevy instead of a brand new Ferrari (laughs).

I just enjoy working on the older machine.

- [Jason] And if he can't fix it David will recreate the part from scratch.

- And a lot of times I get with our maintenance guys and they you know, they tear the machine apart and then they'll say, you know, we need this and can you make that and I'll make up a drawing and make what they need.

And they put it in there and it runs.

- So he's one of the most critical people here.

And without him we would've a hard time making pens.

He's been with the company like 40 years.

- [Jason] If David's job is technical then you might say Shannon Bowies is scientific.

He's Speedball's color department manager and oversees the mixing and filling for inks, paints, glazes and fluids.

- Once we feel like it's mixed well we will then take a sample of this into the lab.

The lab will use it like the artist use it.

They check the pH, they check the viscosity and they will also check a overnight viscosity.

- [Jason] Kishon James is assigned with running those tests.

- While I was out there, I pulled my sample, I get my cups I pull my samples.

What I do is I come in here, we have a test on the batch order and it tells you what pH level it should be and the viscosity should be.

So right now I'm gonna be testing the pH level.

- And for professional artists like Maria Frati who specializes in block print making having this type of company nearby is huge.

- I think they really care.

Honestly that sounds kind of trite but I think they really care.

They support, they're really supportive of this art form.

(upbeat music) - Speedball Art's roots can be traced all the way back to get this 1899 long before the days when pens were equipped with ink cartridges.

- It's called the Speedball pen because it held twice as much ink as any pen nib at that time.

So you could write faster and then dip less.

Okay, so everybody basically used dip pens at that time.

- [Jason] It originated in Camden, New Jersey as the Hunt Pen Company, cranking out nearly 45,000 pens a day.

- I don't know how they survived particularly, except I always assume they had grit just like we do.

And then they made an acquisition of the Boston Pencil Sharpener Company from those pen nibs, they became a $350 million company.

- [Jason] In 1957, Speedball left New Jersey moving to its new home in Statesville.

That's former North Carolina Governor Luther Hodges on the left doing the ceremonial ribbon cutting when the company opened its doors.

Today, Speedball employs just over 100 people, many of whom have been with the company for more than a decade.

- I believe in people, you know, it's all about the people.

I have all kinds of sayings about people and we've built a culture that is all about people.

- You take care of the company, the company will take care of you.

- Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

You ever hear that saying?

Yeah, our culture is killer and that's why we are successful.

- [Jason] Speedballs products are found in places like Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Staples, and Office Depot.

You might think a company that did all of this would have multiple distribution warehouses but know everything from concept to creation to shipping is all done out of the Statesville location.

- A lot of times when we're on the phone speaking with consumers they don't realize like we're just one location.

They think that, oh we have different locations and you know maybe this is just the main headquarter location and they find that hard to believe.

- Jason joins me now in the studio and Jason let's talk a little bit, I hate to go back to the pandemic time because I don't like to think about it but a lot of business were put in a negative situation because of the pandemic but that wasn't the case for this business.

- It wasn't because what happened was is so many people were at home working or just at home when that pandemic first hit.

Speedball Art closed its doors for five weeks like a lot of businesses did.

Fortunately, they were able to continue paying all of their employees, but with so many people at home and working from home the demand for art supplies skyrocketed.

Speedball had a record year in 2021 and they're just now getting caught up after all the various supply line issues.

So they're still filling all those back orders but the demand for everything has gone up since the pandemic.

- You know, it's not something I ever gave a lot of thought but everyone I knew who was working from home was talking about making jewelry, doing this, taking up hobbies, doing a lot of art things that helped fill the days and who knew that some business benefited from that.

- It's really interesting how certain things like the demand for bicycles went up all of a sudden 'cause people are home or the demand for sports memorabilia.

A lot of people had then had time to open up the closet see what they had, and all of a sudden like the value of baseball cards and that sort of thing started going up because people had a chance to get back into it and like, oh yeah, I've got this stuff.

- You always have something unique to share with us.

Jason, thanks, we appreciate it.

- Absolutely.

- Well, we love sharing the stories of amazing places, people and businesses here on "Carolina Impact," and here's your chance to play producer.

Let us know some of the great people you know that might make a wonderful spotlight here.

Email us your ideas to stories@wtvi.org.

That's all the time we have tonight.

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.

(cheerful music) - [Narrator] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.