Cocke Countians can be counted on to help

BY EDDIE WALKER

It can never be said that the people of Cocke County are blind to the needs of the community and its citizens. Time after time, when a need arose here, our people have risen to the occasion to help in whatever way they could. The records of the many civic organizations would show the many programs and fund raisers sponsored by the organization to help.

C.M. Boyer operated a wood and coal yard here for many years. On Nov. 25, 1914, his proposal for a People’s Charity Fund was published in The Newport Plain Talk.

It was his goal that the Board of Mayor and Aldermen oversee this program in a way to help the needy in the community from Dec. 1 to April 1.

Also, at this same time there was a drive for Newport to have a hospital. A local women’s civic group, the Serio Sabio Club, embraced that cause. They published a cookbook and designated the proceeds towards the hospital fund, as well as those from a musical “Two Old Confederates” which they produced at the Opera House [on the corner of Broadway and McMahan Ave.] on March 6, 1914. Both Union and Confederate veterans were given free admission. (Unfortunately, this hospital drive did not succeed.)

Many churches support national and international mission programs within their respective denominations, but they also have projects that help people close at home. One such program is that of Northport Baptist Church, which has offered a Christmas dinner to the needy in Cocke County since 1986. The church members organize and prepare the meals with the help of other churches and all the volunteers who step forward to deliver them. In the year of the pandemic, a local Italian restaurant, Milano’s, came forward to help.

Another successful church-affiliated charity has been the Christmas shoeboxes filled with toys, candy, toiletries and clothing which are sent to children across the world.

The First United Methodist Church began this program in Cocke County in 1996 with 21 boxes taken to the collection site at Montreat, North Carolina. Each year the project grew, and with other local churches participating, the number of show boxes has grown into the hundreds. The First Baptist Church became a collection site and they took the responsibility for delivering the boxes to North Carolina.

Charities, such as the March of Dimes, Heart Fund, Lung Association, conducted drives which involved going door-todoor. Those who participated would tell that scarcely anyone refused to donate. It might be a nickel, a dime or a quarter, but they recognized a need and were willing to do their part. The solicitors would also tell that the patrons in the taverns along the Morristown Highway were the most generous.

Local people can be creative in fundraising.

When Newport had a tobacco market, one of the charities set up a booth and the workers asked each seller to donate one hand. These leaves were then all loaded on a basket and sold with the proceeds going to the charity. (A hand is a certain number of leaves of tobacco that are bundled together.)

Sickness and death seem to bring out the best in our folks. At those times, it never seems too hard or too much to what is needed to help out. Food is cooked and taken and assistance for whatever is needed is offered.

In at least two incidents, probably more, neighbors came together and cut tobacco crops for farmers who were unable to do so. In another incident, the wife and mother of a family was bedridden and they were living in a converted granary. The community went together to erect the family a new house.

Today, nearly every month in one of the local communities a benefit meal/auction is conducted to provide financial support to one of its citizens who has medical issues or has suffered a devastating loss.

The Newport Rescue Squad has been the ideal combination of consideration, volunteerism and service in the community since its inception here in 1958. No matter the need, no matter the time, no matter whom it might be, the squad members have responded with no expectation of compensation. When it comes to donations, few Cocke Countians hesitate to contribute to the Rescue Squad. Their name defines their mission. In their years of service here they have dealt with such situations as drownings, plane crashes, fires, medical transportation/deliveries traffic accidents, fallen trees, lost hikers/ campers, floods, train wrecks, fallen trees, as well as providing traffic/ crowd control and first aid stations, bulldozing roads and even retrieving animals from dangerous positions. The Crewettes were ladies who provided food and drink for the squad members during these working events.

Even though it had not been questioned, the Newport Rescue Squad proved its mettle in July 1964 when a United Airlines flight crashed near Trentham Hollow Road in Parrottsville, killing 39 passengers. The local squad was the first rescue unit on the scene and they worked for the next several weeks in the aftermath.

In addition to the squad’s work, United Airlines recognized other help. (1) Six area homes gave up their telephones in order to have emergency communication service installed, which local linemen had completed within five hours of the crash. (2) Mrs. Mae Trentham, on whose property the crash occurred, turned her house over to officials as a headquarters and baked them “a good cake” each day. (3) The offers of chainsaws came forward with the need to clear cut the area.

(4) Lynn Allen opened his office supply store at 3 a.m. so that a small, but necessary item could be purchased at a cost of $4.

(5) Lions Club furnished breakfast to the workers.

(6) The American Legion furnished coffee. (7) A local furniture company sent its crew to help install air conditioners for the Memorial Building where the morgue was located. (8) A motel owner provided rooms for United officials.

When it was over, Dale Medlin with United Airlines said, “We’ve always had cooperation but nothing like this. You’d have to go a long way to find anything to compare to the friendliness and desire to help that we have found here.”

The Rescue Squad was presented a Jeep and $1,000 in appreciation from United Airlines.

Mr. and Mrs. Dave Godshalk and their family came here with

Sonoco. After settling in, Mrs. Rolfe Godshalk was impressed by Newport’s uniqueness and felt that there needed to be something for newcomers to learn about the positives of Newport and Cocke County – its history, its communities, its culture, its opportunities. She enlisted the aid of her club, the Clifton Club, to undertake the project. With her as the author/ editor, the club went into the community and from the citizens gathered the information and the pictures which were compiled into a book entitled Newport which was published in 1970. Wilma Dykeman, one of the club members herself, wrote of the book in her column in the Knoxville News Sentinel and said, “Newport helped the author write Newport.” It isn’t just adults who can get behind a project of helping others.

On Sunday, Nov. 10, 2002, a tornado ripped through Morgan County, Tennessee, devastating lives, homes and hopes. The next day a Knoxville television station featured a little boy whose home was destroyed who said he also didn’t get to have his birthday party. Some Cocke County High School students who saw that broadcast were

Countians

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 stirred to act. Why couldn’t they give him a party? With Emma Cagle as president, the CCHS Beta Club began planning and making arrangements. It grew into a school project and enough money was contributed so that every child in the little boy’s class received a present. The club members from Newport motored to Wartburg. The boy’s mother had been told about the party and was at the school. After the excitement calmed, the boy looked at his mother and said, “You said I wasn’t going to get any birthday presents.”

It might be difficult to say who benefitted from this more – the Cocke County students or the Wartburg students.

In the history of CCHS, there have been two occasions when the local people, many of who were alumni, came forward to help with a project. In 1966 a drive was begun to build the present stadium at a cost of $200,000. A challenge was issued. There were some large industrial donations, but the citizens did their part, as they did with renovations of the auditorium, which were completed in 2019. Then there are the people who quietly and anonymously go about helping others – the teachers who see that students have shoes, coats, the necessary materials, ladies who notice hungry children and see that they have something to eat, a doctor who stops at a home to check on a sick child who is not even his patient, gruff old men who will deny being emotional but will slip money to help someone with a problem, a child who’ll give a favorite toy to another child who may be hurting – all of these can be found in Cocke County. Remember the parable of the widow’s mite that emphasized that it is not the size but the spirit in which a gift is given that matters? American author Napoleon Hill once said, “If you cannot do great things yourself, you can do small things in a great way.” Whether the deed be great or small, if it helps others, it has been successful, and you have made a difference.