“I was blessed with a mama who wanted the best for me; she taught me to do what’s right and to share. Mama didn’t get her high school diploma, but she got her GED the year that I got my bachelor’s degree.

I don’t have any biological kids to love and pass down the example Mama gave me, so I call everybody ‘my kids’. My life is helping them.

After college, I spent a year visiting my brothers and sisters. They are much older than me and live across the country. I returned home to Yazoo City and worked in the admission department at the hospital. I went to the police department to register my bike and asked why they didn’t have any Black people working in the office. The chief came out and said, ’Why don’t you work here?’ I had a degree in English and a minor in communication, so I became the communication specialist. I went back to school to take courses in criminal justice and social work and created a youth leadership and character development group encouraging young people to become involved in crime and violence prevention and other areas of law enforcement.

I started the Lifesavers program in 1997 with a friend to address the challenges faced by the youth in my family. It grew into a team of diverse volunteers enriching the lives of children and youth and building up families in our community. We teach character development and leadership by talking with kids instead of at them.

The kids call me the ‘Lifesaver Lady’, but most don’t know what that name means to me. I used Lifesavers candy to quit smoking, a bad habit I started in college. Whenever I wanted a cigarette, I popped in Lifesaver instead–they were a lifesaver for me. How could I tell kids not to use substances while I was smoking?

One of ‘my kids’, Neal Arp, graduated from Yazoo City High School and became a member of the prestigious Morehouse Glee Club. I went to watch him perform with Smokey Robinson at the United Negro College Fund Annual Gala in Atlanta. Neil got to know Coach Ken Carter at an event at Morehouse, and Samuel Jackson had recently played Carter in a movie about his coaching career. Coach Carter is also from a small town in Mississippi.

Neil helped me convince Coach Carter to visit Yazoo City and talk with our kids. Coach Carter voluntarily stopped by in 2007 when he had a speaking engagement in Mississippi, only asking for homemade macaroni and cheese. He presented segments of his widely-known ‘Average Is Not Enough’ youth leadership program and took an interest in the youth at an apartment complex, a place known for drugs, crime, and violence.

People heard the bad stories about that, but they didn’t see the good in the kids. Early one morning, I saw kids picking up trash and asked them what they were doing. They said, ‘Ms. Owens, everyone says we live in a bad area. We don’t use or sell drugs or throw out these empty beer cans, but we are cleaning it up.’

With Coach Carter, the Lifesavers, and the Gateway MAP Coalition agency, we launched The Cleaning Up My Space program. Coach Carter continues to provide a wide range of resources, services, and opportunities, including field trips for youth in Yazoo.

These kids deserve someone to believe in them. One lady living in the apartments stood up to drug dealers and spoke up for the kids, so we started calling her Mama Graystone. After she raised her four daughters, she went back to school and got her master’s degree in social work.

Sometimes we get to hear about the difference we make. I recently went to a medical appointment, and the anesthesiologist pulled down his mask and said, ‘Ms. Owens, you don’t remember me, do you? I was a little boy participating in a program in Yazoo City, and you gave us Lifesavers candy. Thank you for helping us.’

That young man was one of ‘my kids’. He told me years ago in Head Start that he would be a doctor one day, and he did it. That makes all of the time and work worth it.

I have worked in schools, hospitals, banks, and law enforcement agencies since I was 16. I was working as the Community Development/Prevention Specialist at Warren-Yazoo Behavioral Health when I took early retirement in October. I had to slow down because my diabetes left me in bad shape after COVID.

I am not sure how retirement will go because I don’t know how to not work and give freely of myself to help others. I keep a bunch of blankets, clothes, socks, snacks, and Lifesavers candy in the back seat of my car for homeless people. I could easily be one too.

I always remember what Mama said: ‘Being good to others is being good to yourself’.”

Gloria-Elayne, part two

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Gloria’s story is a part of a series about the Weavers—people stitching our communities together, solving problems, and showing how to care for our neighbors. Send a message to Our Southern Souls to suggest a Weaver from your community to be featured on Souls.