Crowning Achievement

Model Member is an occasional feature of an SVEC member who carries out the Seventh Cooperative Principle of Concern for Community. If you would like to nominate someone making a positive impact on the community, please email svecpr@svec.coop.

by Lydia Weaver, Community Relations Specialist

I meet Audre King on a drizzly, quiet morning at the West Luray Recreation Center, fondly referred to as “eREC.” He pulls up with two miniature four-wheelers and a handful of bikes in tow: new entertainment for the many children who connect in this community space.

Quiet seems to be a contrary description to a building that is typically known for the vibrancy of kids running around, but that activity comes after school is dismissed. For our morning interview, King’s positive attitude provides the liveliness of the space.

King works for Washington Gas in Washington, D.C., commuting from his home in Page County, and he is the minister at Eternal Restoration Church in Luray. Despite the schedule of juggling two jobs, King is active in the community. Thanks to his personal involvement, those community connections extend to eREC.

Founded by King and funded by his nonprofit Living Legacy, eREC partners with other community groups for unity among those providing support in the town. Page Alliance for Community Action, Choices, and the Town of Luray work with eREC directly, and a number of individuals who provide access to other organizations do as well. Partnerships exist with the superintendent of Shenandoah National Park facilitating group hikes and Page County High School National Honor Society students offering tutoring.

King won’t say no to anyone who wants to help, whether it’s enlisting donations for new ideas, like the addition of their gym, or teaching dance or baton twirling. If someone has something to offer, he’ll find a spot to t them in.

“Whatever it is that you can help with, every little bit helps to work together to do what we do,” he says. “Know what your lane is and operate in it. ere are some people who really want to cook, but they can’t stand being around kids. at’s OK. You should cook and I’ll supervise kids.” at acceptance facilitates growth and allows more opportunities for the kids. King says he doesn’t necessarily choose who he partners with: “they pick us.” His original goal of providing a peaceful place for youth to hang out organically drew in locals wanting to provide the addition of structured development.

When speaking on the progress of kids’ behavior, King uses the analogy of weather and climate. The day-to-day actions of children may have ups and downs, like how the weather varies. However, King sees the overall upward progress in their personal climates, despite occasionally having a rough day. Learning to recognize their own triggers, showing compassion and service for others, and increasing their manners are just a few examples of positive changes in the lives of the kids spending their time at eREC. Most of them come to the center from poverty, domestic violence or trauma looking for a sense of peace and somewhere to have fun, but they end up learning along the way, even if they don’t necessarily want to.

“A lot of them don’t want to do (mentorship), but they do want to be here. So, they would sacri ce whatever learning we’re trying to give them as a substitute of being at wherever home is,” he says. “ That lets me know, that although they show it in different ways — they don’t know how to show love, some of them — they don’t show it the same way we would like it reciprocated, there’s a relationship. ey do value and want to be loved; we just have to show it to them unconditionally.”

From a weight room to a computer lab, eREC offers something for all interests. The average age of the children attending is somewhere between 11 and 14 years old. However, any given day can bring kids as young as 5 and as old as 17. Learning how to garden, studying for school and honing artistic talents are just a few of the ways youth spend their time at eREC. Coming soon to the growing list of activity options will be a playground, basketball hoops, soccer eld and a splash pad.

King strives to show kids what opportunities exist beyond eREC’s building and Luray’s borders as well. He recently took a group of children to New York City and has another trip to Ocean City, Md., on the agenda. “If you want to be here, then make your home in the Valley, but it’s important to understand that there is so much more out there,” he says.

Another project within eREC’s walls stems from the history of the building itself. e building is the former Andrew Jackson School, which King worked to have designated an historical landmark by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources during its renovation. e building originally served as a Rosenwald school, founded for Black children to attend. e former chairman of Sears, Julius Rosenwald, partnered with Booker T. Washington to provide schoolhouses across the South for Black children. Luray’s Rosenwald school was one of over 5,000 built in the early 20th century. e name Andrew Jackson was given a er a Black businessman and shopkeeper, rather than the more-known president of the same name.

Keeping the history of the building and its intention of helping children intact sparked the Living Legacy nonpro t. King founded Living Legacy to oversee fundraising and program support for eREC. Inside eREC’s walls is a museum room displaying relics of the building’s history. is memorial museum has a collection of photos and artifacts, including a school workbook found in the walls of the structure during renovation. Books were used as insulation, and the owner of the one discovered, now in her 90s, still lives in Luray just a few streets over.

When it comes to mouths to feed, King and other volunteers are finding no shortage. Not only does eREC feed about 57 kids daily after school, but the ER Church, hosted in the same building, provides hot meals to 150 families per week as well. About one-third of the families served by the church live in hotel rooms. e food recipients are from Page and neighboring counties, and the list continues to grow weekly as word-of-mouth travels. eir volunteer cook, called their church mother, has a budget of $500, but manages to stretch the funds to feed about 700 families per month, preparing meats, vegetables and starches for each meal.

King grew up in Luray but moved away as a young adult. Upon coming back to serve in the area, he says: “I didn’t want to come back and just be another person here. I didn’t want to come back and not make a di erence. My goal is to show that there is another way.” His heart for volunteering came as an adult when he says he found the Lord, recognized the cycles of poverty in the area, and wanted to make a difference.

King’s advice to young people interested in volunteering is to have a vision. “A dream is an idea that stops when reality hits, but a vision is when you take an idea, and you create a plan out of it,” he says.