(uplifting music) - [Announcer 1] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

- [Announcer 2] "Carolina Impact" is brought to you in part by Bragg Financial, serving high net worth families with portfolio management and planning advice.

Bragg Financial is committed to our clients and our community.

BraggFinancial.com.

- Just ahead on "Carolina Impact," runners log their miles while four-legged partners race toward adoption.

Plus volunteers bring games, laughter, and human connection directly to patients.

And faith sparked a dream.

Friendship fueled it.

Three decades later, NarroWay Productions still commands the stage.

"Carolina Impact" starts right now.

(uplifting theme music) Good evening.

Thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Amy Burkett.

Each Sunday morning, runners hit the road, chasing exercise, while four-legged partners chase something much bigger, "Carolina Impact"'s Chris Clark visits a local run club where every leash leads somewhere different.

(dogs barking) - [Chris] On Sunday mornings on Toomey Avenue, there are runners, there are walkers, and then there are the ones who haven't decided yet.

- You got the squished face on the camera.

- What's great about Zoomie Toomey is you can be either.

- [Chris] Around here, finding your pace starts with finding the right partner.

Brianna found one who occasionally has other priorities.

- This is Harry Pawter.

He's been a great run-walk companion.

He likes to stop off and get kisses every once in a while.

- [Chris] Some people fit Zoomie Toomey into their Sunday.

Tenley Nystrom rearranged hers.

- I was just in Europe for the last week and I was supposed to come home today, but I actually changed my flight and came home yesterday because this is the reopening of Zoomie Toomey.

You ready to run?

- [Chris] But here's what you may not see.

(dog barks) Back inside, this can be the same dog.

- They know immediately they're gonna go out for a walk.

(dog whining) - [Chris] Matthew Scott works at the shelter and he's watched what happens before a walk and after.

- They're so more relaxed.

They're not as stressed out.

(dog panting) - [Chris] The difference isn't just something they can see.

It's something they can use.

- Every time we run them, we're learning about them.

We get to create notes which end up going on their profiles.

- Do they keep the pace?

Are they gonna be good with a runner or are they gonna be more of a couch potato?

- [Chris] Every trip outside fills in another blank, sometimes a pretty unexpected one.

- We believe he may be bilingual.

He responds to Spanish commands.

- [Chris] Blue, it turns out, speaks a second language, and these walks can tell a second story too, because not everyone holding a leash came here just for the dog.

- Hanging out with these dogs, getting to see them be happy, and, you know, you're getting them a good home, that's such a good feeling.

- [Chris] Oscar Barriga, this was his first Sunday here, but a few strides in, something about it felt painfully familiar.

- I just recently put my dog down two weeks ago and I used to always love taking him out to run.

So just having the opportunity to take another dog out, let 'em be free.

- [Chris] Oscar came here for the first time.

These days, he has plenty of company, but Holly Hayes remembers when there wasn't a line at all.

- [Holly] It started out very small.

- There's five people here and they're all running the dogs.

- We had a couple of internet gurus who put it out there on Instagram and TikTok and it turned into a lot of people.

- [Chris] But before all this became a crowd, it was just Ricky Highsmith and a marathon to train for.

- I would pull one dog at a time.

My guy Phoenix hasn't been out in two days.

He is pumped.

I would run them about two miles.

Seven-minute mile.

This boy has got to be more careful!

Spin 'em around, run 'em inside, give them their Kong, their water, and then another one.

- [Chris] One dog, then another, until one named Cooper gave Ricky an idea bigger than the next two miles.

- Brought him out here and it just clicked to me.

I was like, "We're going to start a run club, Cooper."

Come on, my boy.

Let's go clock a mile or so.

And I just started running and never stopped.

(dog panting) - [Chris] That was 2024.

What started with Cooper kept on growing.

- I thank you guys for coming out.

If this is your first time, please do return and have a great time.

- [Chris] So did Ricky's hope that one particular person would come see what it had become.

- My son's name is Zamar Highsmith.

He was a very compassionate kid.

♪ Remember when I used to take your baths ♪ ♪ When you was like four and five and a half ♪ Whether it was siblings, his friends, little brothers, especially animals, you know, he tried to keep that part away, but just as much as love as I have for these dogs, my son did as well.

- [Chris] He never got the chance.

About a year ago, Ricky's son died by suicide, and suddenly the man who spent every Sunday getting dogs outside struggled to get himself out.

- I try to be as strong as possible and push forward, but it's not the same as when it started.

Everything that I've built here, it just, it felt like nothing once my son wasn't here.

(traffic distantly rumbling) - [Chris] There are Sundays he still doesn't want to come, Sundays when a run club feels very small compared to what he's lost.

- I never wanted to let them down.

I always show up, but there are many, many Sundays where I just... I don't want it.

- [Chris] Maybe that's the part nobody standing in this line can see.

Ricky thought he was showing up for them.

- There are quite a few volunteers that were the backbone of everything that I was doing, who were everything when it came to keeping me afloat without knowing they were keeping me afloat.

- [Chris] And maybe that's why this place works.

A dog comes out of a kennel (dog barks) and somebody learns who they really are.

A person comes carrying stress or loneliness or loss.

(group chuckles) - Don't eat that.

- [Chris] And gets something back too.

- You see them and they are either terrified or shaking or they could be barking really loud, and then you take them out and they just want to be loved.

It's just like a whole other dog once you take them out.

- [Chris] Every once in a while, one of those dogs reveals something in the person holding the leash too.

Taylor knows one of her walks started with a dog named Banks.

- I was like, "Oh, there's just something about his eyes."

He has these beautiful, brown, like, inviting eyes.

And I was like, "Okay, I want to take you on a walk."

Took him on a walk.

I fell in love.

- [Chris] That walk ended.

Banks never came back to the shelter.

He went home with Taylor.

Ricky started this trying to get shelter dogs out for a run.

What he couldn't have known was how much he'd one day need them to get him out too.

- I don't really know where I would have went if I would have never found these dogs, found the shelter.

Getting these guys the homes that they need in time, that's a little more important to me.

- [Chris] Every Sunday, the gate opens.

The dogs head for the door.

One dog, one mile, one Sunday at a time.

For "Carolina Impact," I'm Chris Clark.

- Thanks so much, Chris.

Those dogs look so cute.

Zoomie Toomey welcomes runners and walkers alike while the shelter offers dog lovers several ways to help.

Guests can choose short walks, fostering, or other activities.

Well, that same spirit of service reaches nonprofits and countless community organizations.

Volunteers give their time, talents, and compassion to help others.

Roughly 43% of all nonprofit organizations rely entirely on volunteers.

Their service helps food banks, disaster relief groups, and other organizations expand programs and reach more people.

"Carolina Impact"'s Jason Terzis introduces us to one local organization rethinking volunteer service.

- Hospital stays can quickly grow boring for patients and visitors.

Doctors and nurses handle the medical care, but long stretches of downtime can leave patients searching for entertainment.

A new Novant Health Volunteer Initiative now tackles that boredom through personal connection.

(mellow jazz music) (knocking at door) - Come in!

- [Jason] He knocks and enters.

- Howdy.

I'm Dan with the Fun Committee.

- [Jason] Dan Wooten visiting patient Maria Navis.

- I've got games, magazines, a deck of cards.

- Dan is not an employee at Novant Health Matthews Medical Center, but he is one of its valued volunteers.

- Oh, no, thank you.

I'm sorry you have to be in the hospital.

- It's an opportunity to bring a lot of joy.

- [Jason] Hospitals can sometimes feel like cold, lonely places, so that's where Dan comes in.

- I always carry a deck of cards.

I'm a mean rummy player.

We'll do seven-card.

- It's like making a friendship and they look forward to that.

- [Jason] It's all part of a larger program Novant is calling Comfort And Cheer.

- Being in the hospital sucks.

As good, as much as we try to make it, you know, no one actually wants to be here.

I mean, maybe if you're having a kid or something, but even then, that's a process.

- [Jason] The idea, help patients, not with traditional medicines and treatments.

They, of course, leave that to the professionals, but with simple human interaction.

- The goal is to get rid of all the cards in your hand first and you get a bonus 50 points.

- Sometimes we notice, let's say a patient doesn't have any family coming and going or someone seems really chatty, but sometimes the nurses can't stay so long or the doctors and all of us, and we're like, "Wow, they really would like more company."

So that might be someone we're like, "You know, I bet they could really do, you know, a visit from Dan would be awesome."

- [Jason] Carrying an activities tote filled with games, puzzles, and cards, Dan makes his way around the hospital, visiting with patients.

Whether they play a game or just sit and talk or a little bit of both is completely up to them.

- Magazines are a big hit with a lot of people.

Like, not everyone wants to chat at the end of the day.

They might be tired or whatever, but, like, a lot of them want a magazine.

So I always make sure I'm stocked on the magazines.

- [Jason] On this visit, Dan and Maria played a game of Rummy.

- So, technically, you draw first and there's always a card down.

- It was amazing.

Probably the best 30 minutes of the day.

So it's a great thing that he's doing.

- [Jason] And in this game of Rummy, Maria pulled out the victory over Dan.

- Did I win?

- Yes, dad-gum it.

Congratulations.

- I think he let me win, but that's up for debate.

(group chuckling) - [Jason] It's just one of the many games Dan will play and interactions he'll have with Novant patients.

- Not long ago, I sat with this one patient who, you know, was just having a bad day and needed someone to complain to, and even that was, you know, interesting and enjoyable for me.

It's just, it's part of, you know, her story.

- It's like a little blessing.

It's an angel that comes and plays with you and allows you to forget that you are not feeling well and that you're not home.

- The patients, I think, really feel very respected.

They feel valued.

They feel seen.

They get excited to know someone's coming.

Like, there was one little boy who he had to be here several days, but he didn't have anyone to play with.

So we sent our volunteer or sent in Dan, let's say, and, you know, they played checkers together and the kid's off the moon.

- [Jason] As for Dan, he has quite the background, and perhaps not quite what you'd expect from a hospital volunteer.

- Well, I went to college.

I went to grad school at UC Berkeley for a while.

I lived in Manhattan.

I lived in Denver.

I mean, I've lived in Seattle and Chattanooga and Knoxville.

I got my PhD in nuclear engineering.

- [Jason] But he ended up coming back home to Charlotte and pivoting to finance.

- For a while, I knew I was gonna end up doing finance because I grew up in Charlotte, and I was like, "No, I'm gonna be a nuclear engineer."

Now I work for a major bank.

I'm a data scientist for Capital One.

I have one younger brother by two and a half years, yeah, and he still lives in Charlotte, so he's a big part of the reason I came back.

- [Jason] Working online from home, Dan's own personal human interactions are somewhat limited.

- I'm at my house all day with my three big dogs, and I love the dogs, but I think that lowers the activation barrier to getting up and leaving the house.

- [Jason] So volunteering and visiting with people at the hospital is not only therapeutic for the patients, but, in a way, for Dan as well.

- Especially being a remote worker, I knew I needed to get out of the house more, just like set plans to see actual humans rather than just on a Zoom call, and it's more on a personal level, a one-to-one where, you know, you can hear a story, hear something about someone's life.

- [Jason] He's learned and shared a lot with strangers from all walks of life who then became instant friends.

- I guess maybe my grandmothers inspired this.

My grandmothers are in their 90s and, you know, they need help and they get bored from watching TV all day.

So just sitting down and doing a puzzle with them makes their day, and I think I just put that two and two together like, oh, I'm sure there are people in the hospital who want to play a game of checkers.

- [Jason] A simple idea that's turned into a success for everyone involved.

- And you know that it's really cool when, afterwards, the patient will ask, "So when will you be back to see me again?

When are you gonna come see me again?"

Or, "Will you be back tomorrow?"

Or, you know, "You can come back again."

- That said, you're in luck.

- [Jason] Showing that even small moments of attention can make a big difference for those who need it most.

- Okay.

What a great combination.

Get someone who works from home out of the house to help some folks who could use a little joy, but as I understand, he's got a game that he hasn't pulled out of the- - Yeah, the little bag yet.

- Out of the bag yet?

- Yeah, there's one game that's just been sitting there the whole time.

Well, patients often choose card games and checkers, but Dan still has not unpacked the backgammon board.

He says even seasoned board game players often don't know the rules, so I did a quick little research.

Backgammon's popularity surged nation-wide during the 1920s and again during the '70s, but since then, interest has steadily declined.

I know you were just saying, like, you used to play.

- In the '70s with my grandfather.

- Yeah, yeah.

- My grandfather taught me how to play backgammon.

It looked like a briefcase.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- It was a lovely set that snapped up, and I'd carry my briefcase over to Grandpa, sit in his chair, and we'd play backgammon, but I just bought one for my mom who's in a nursing home.

- Okay, so maybe- - And my brother-in-law, no one knows how to play it and I can't remember.

- But interesting how games, whether it's video games or classic board games, how games have their ebbs and flows of popularity, yeah.

- Thanks so much.

- Mhm.

- That same desire for human connection fuels our next story.

As digital screens dominate daily interactions, one bookstore owner encourages face-to-face connection.

Producer John Branscum introduces us to a unique Camp North End space offering more than books.

(upbeat music) - We are currently in That's Novel Books, my indie bookstore, which is located in Camp North End.

I love books.

I love books and I love connecting with people over books.

My name is Alyssa Pressler and I am the owner of That's Novel Books.

(upbeat music continues) We have our regular book club, the Oh You're Reading Again Book Club.

That is the traditional one where we all read the same book and discuss it.

We have our Warhammer painting build night.

We have Novels and Needles Craft Club.

We have Silent Book Club.

We have Writing Club.

When COVID hit, we were kind of forced to only be online, and I think that might have been novel at first, but, very quickly, people became tired of it and missed that face-to-face interaction and missed those in-person events.

I'm a millennial, so my generation kind of saw the rise of the creation of online communities, and I love online communities, but I think there is still this really intense drive to meet people in person and to have those face-to-face interactions and connections.

Hi, you guys.

Welcome to Silent Book Club.

Thank you guys so much for being here tonight.

A silent book club is a book club where you bring whatever book you want to read and you silently read with others.

We're gonna get our silent hour of reading started.

We are silent.

Sometimes our surroundings are not, but just do your best to focus on your book and enjoy your focused reading time, and I will awkwardly interrupt you in one hour.

(mellow music) - [Ashley] I'm an introvert, so being able to read quietly together is, like, my ideal social situation.

- Silent Book Club is not a concept that we came up with.

It is actually its own organization and there are over 600 chapters worldwide, and we are just very grateful to host the largest North Carolina chapter.

- For school, I'm taking online classes, so I'm on the computer.

I do have a slight addiction to my phone, and so being able to just pick up a book, and the feel of a book in my hand, like, I love it.

- [Maria] The moment it goes silent, it's almost like a calm, and it's easy just to get lost in your book.

- There's energy in that silence of just a room full of strangers respecting each other's time, their space, their books, and the stories that they're enjoying.

- It's weird to be like, "We're excited to be quiet."

- It brings so many different types of people together.

We're all here together doing the thing that we love to do.

- I can be having a bad day or be stressed or sad or need a pick-me-up, and I'm never sad when I leave Silent Book Club.

- All types.

I get questions all the time.

Can my dog come?

What's the average age?

I'm 70.

Can I come?

Can my kid come?

And the answer is yes.

Anybody can come to Silent Book Club.

(crowd chattering) (upbeat music) I want to create these third spaces where anybody is welcome to do something that they're passionate about, and the barrier for entry is very low.

Writing Club is a chance for folks to kind of do the same thing that we do at Silent Book Club.

We come and we silently write together.

- It's sometimes distracting to sit at home or alone in a coffee shop, but when you come here and write, it kind of forces you to put all those distractions away and just focus on the craft.

- We might not be working on the same thing.

Some people are working on science fiction.

Some people are doing poetry.

Some people are just journaling, but everybody is in the same space for an hour and a half and we're all just focused on writing or being creative, which it kind of creates a really cool atmosphere.

- I always say the time is yours.

You can write whatever you would like.

We will have people who come and just sit and journal.

We will have people who come and are working on their fantasy novels, are writing poetry, are working on their dissertation.

We've had several folks who have published things that they worked on in Writing Club.

- My second book that I just self-published this past year is called "I Probably Should have Gone To Therapy," and it's a poetry collection of stuff that I worked on here.

- It's been super helpful to kind of just streamline my thoughts into one place and just finding ways and new ways to articulate my thoughts.

- It really is easily the best part of my job to be able to pour into the local author and writer community.

I feed off the energy for sure.

Any time I think, "What am I doing?

Gosh, I should just close it all down and go work for somebody nine to five.

My life would be so much easier and so much less stressful and I'd have more time with my family and my kid and to do things that I love."

And then somebody like Dara comes in and says, "You've changed my life," or, "What you have provided for me is so important and so healing."

And I'm like, "That's it.

That's why I do it."

It's more than a bookstore.

It's more than a bookstore to me, and I'm glad that it has become more than a bookstore to others.

- Thanks so much, John.

The Silent Book and Writing Clubs typically gather twice monthly.

Owner Alyssa Pressler says the largest Silent Book Club gathering drew about 150 readers.

Well, we just learned how stories can connect strangers.

Now, we see how shared passion has led to decades of impact.

30 years ago, two best friends followed a calling they couldn't yet see.

Today, their dream packs a Fort Mill stage with music, families, and even a few four-legged friends.

NarroWay Productions now draws thousands while training a new generation of performers.

"Carolina Impact"'s Dara Khaalid and videographer Russ Hunsinger trace one friendship that grew into a community.

(upbeat music) (keyboard clacking) - [Dara] A blank page, (uplifting piano music) a few notes, and two best friends.

For three decades, those simple ingredients have helped Rebecca Martin and Yvonne "Birdie" Clark turn stories of faith into song, movement, and theater, but their stories started long before NarroWay Productions ever had a name.

(Yvonne laughs) - All right.

Take two.

- [Dara] The two grew up just 20 minutes apart, went to rival high schools, and never met.

Their paths finally crossed in college.

Friendship followed, then faith deepened their bond.

- We were best of friends.

Birdie wasn't a Christian.

I was able to help to lead her to the Lord and become a believer.

So, before we were ever, we were first friends and then we were spiritual friends.

(tender piano music) - [Dara] They graduated, headed to seminary, and started creating musicals together.

Rebecca found the words.

Birdie found their song.

That rhythm still drives their partnership today.

- The best thing in the whole wide world.

We are truly like sisters.

We don't agree on everything.

If she doesn't, she will clearly, loudly say it.

Then you'll see where I changed and moved the bridge down here.

- Okay.

- [Dara] That sisterhood eventually planted roots in Fort Mill.

NarroWay incorporated as a nonprofit in 1996, 12 years after Rebecca says she first heard the name NarroWay Productions from God during a drive with Birdie.

(actors indistinctly shouting) Today, their Christian dinner theater pairs chef-prepared meals with Broadway-style productions, sometimes featuring 60 to 100 performers on stage, and the people serving the dinner, well, they hop on stage minutes later.

More than 500 volunteers power the cast.

Attorneys, IT workers, stay-at-home moms, and other community members swap their day jobs for costumes, choreography, and characters.

(group laughs) Sharron Bates drives about an hour from Mooresville to watch them.

The cast already knows her and her favorite spot.

- Every time I come, they know my seat.

They know who I am.

So it's like visiting with family.

Every production that I've been to, they leave it all on the stage.

- [Dara] Some of those performers have hooves.

Meet Solomon.

The camel may steal the camera, but Lora McCoy knows the personality hiding behind that big, loving face.

(brush rustling) She's cared for NarroWay's animals throughout its 30-year history.

- Incredibly fulfilling, absolutely.

It truly is my life.

You're a good boy.

Animal care, a huge part of it, because they just truly are my family.

- That family also includes rescues, two donkeys.

Chester and Sugar found a home here after Sugar once rode a trailer headed to a slaughterhouse.

Now, they've both transformed into gentle stage performers.

The animals help turn biblical settings into something audiences can nearly step inside, but NarroWay's impact doesn't stop when the curtain falls.

So I've shown you the production side of what NarroWay does, but now it's time to take a look at a different part of their impact here in the Fort Mill community, and it's right here at the shops at NarroWay.

(upbeat music) NarroWay purchased the shops in 2018, then started flipping the property into a family-friendly destination.

Today, businesses, a welcome center, a gift shop, and bakery help extend the experience past theater doors.

Alisha Hutchens says that experience also brings visitors and their dollars into the region.

- We have people fly in from California, drive in from Texas to see us.

(triumphant music) - [Dara] NarroWay had more than 43,000 visitors last year.

The organization says 81% came from outside York County, generating at least $1.2 million in local economic impact.

- [Cast] One, two, three, four!

♪ What can you buy for a penny ♪ - [Dara] But perhaps their biggest investment doesn't come with a dollar sign.

It comes with small feet, big voices, and growing confidence.

NarroWay launched its education department with fewer than 20 children per summer camp.

This semester, 311 students fill 15 classes, learning musical theater, dance, show choir, and aerial arts.

- It means everything to me that my theater love and my love for Jesus get to hold hands in this way.

♪ Happy holidays ♪ - [Dara] For Lindsey, that legacy lives particularly close to home.

Her daughter, Cayden, started here as an eight-year-old.

Now, she teaches the next generation.

- Cool is the best way to say it.

It doesn't encapsulate it, but it's just so cool because, like, I know I have always had that passion, and getting to see other kids that have the same passion as me and get to pour into them and build them up.

(uplifting music) - [Dara] 30 years ago, two friends poured their faith, talent, and friendship into an idea.

(children chattering) Today, others pour what they learned into someone else.

One generation teaches, another takes the stage, and the story Rebecca and Birdie started writing together still has plenty of blank pages left.

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

- I have been to NarroWay Productions many times and I love it.

Thanks so much, Dara, for sharing that story.

Well, NarroWay already plans its next chapter.

A three-phase, $25 million expansion will add theater, lobby, and restroom space, plus a dedicated education facility, while leaders also envision a new theater seating more than 500 people.

Well, that does it for us this evening.

We're out of time, but we always appreciate your time.

Thanks so much for joining us, and we look forward to seeing you back here again next time on "Carolina Impact."

Goodnight, my friends.

(bright theme music) (bright theme music continues) (uplifting music) - [Announcer] A production of PBS Charlotte.