The most important activity to Merie is the group’s choir, of which she is the director. “The choir began after I went with a friend to a senior citizens’ home in Fort Worth. They had a small choir, and we invited them to come to our church and sing,” Merie said. “They couldn’t, so we decided to start one! At first we had about 15 members and now we’re up to about 50. We have a lot of people who love to sing, but thought they were too old. We don’t have any trouble recruiting. People come up to me and say ‘Mrs. Skinner, I’ll be 55 next month!’”

This year as co-chairs, Frank and Cathy are hopeful that Battle of the Nines will bring in more money than ever before to help those in need. Relying on the abilities and knowledge of the Battle of the Nines committee, Frank and Cathy know they will achieve their goal. “We have phenomenal people backing us, and we know how good they are. They know what they need to do and they do it great,” Cathy said.

Throughout his life, especially while working as a traveling printing press technician, Todd sang country or gospel tunes, mostly to himself, just to keep himself motivated. “I’ve always liked the song ‘When the Roll is Called up Yonder,’ ever since I was a young ladster,” Todd said. “I would say the words: ‘I’ll be there.’ If we didn’t have hope, we wouldn’t have anything.” Growing up

After serving his country, Eddie understands the Fourth of July and the American flag to represent a lifestyle of sacrifice. “We’re the only country in the world that opened our arms to the huddled masses, the only country where you’re free to celebrate the resurrection of Christ and offer up the soldier who’s willing to die for the freedom to do that. The flag symbolizes everything this country stands for,” he said. Staff Sergeant Jeremy Smith, a member of Mansfield’s American Legion Post 624, recently came home under a flag. Eddie, a self-confessed fixture at the same post, rode in the Patriot Guard for Jeremy. With motorcycles 12-deep, they escorted his body to Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery and stood ready to be a barricade between his family and any protestor.

Eddie remembers what it was like to be a dutiful citizen and then to return to United States soil alive, at the age of 19. “We were happy to make it through the next day,” Eddie said, “knowing that there was a day out there when we’d get on the freedom bird for the world. ’Cause where we were was not even of this world.”

Coming home was nearly as scary for Eddie as fighting in Vietnam. “When I got off the airplane, I couldn’t remember what anyone looked like. I went over there at 185 pounds and came back at 145. I did not have anything that fit,” he said. “I came back at end of June, and Fourth of July was frightening to me, for a while, fireworks in the distance. When your life is in danger consistently for a long period of time, you forget a lot of that civilian stuff you grew up with.” This year for Fourth of July, Eddie and his wife, Yvonne, will stay at their house out in the country, relaxing with family, remembering those who sacrificed for freedom and giving thanks for their own.

Much of his free time, Eddie dedicates to helping the veterans who are members of his post. “A lot of these fellows don’t have any family, and if it wasn’t for this post, they’d have nowhere to go at holidays,” said Eddie, who sometimes acts as chaplain at American Legion Post 624. “After our Easter egg hunt for the kiddos on Saturday, I did the sunrise service this year — my favorite kind: short, sweet and to the point, but heartfelt.”

Eddie’s tattoos attest to his focus on four things: love, peace, joy and faith. He is also a faithful supporter of the four pillars of the American Legion. Since its creation in 1919, the American Legion has focused on fostering a strong national security, taking care of veterans, mentoring the youth of our nation and promoting patriotism and honor. Under the leadership of Eddie and former commanders Al Robart and Ron Bowman, the American Legion Post 624 on the southwest side of Mansfield diligently serves the local community. They give presentations for military excellence and scholastic achievement to the Junior ROTC programs at Legacy and Mansfield High Schools. They host Flag Day to honor veterans. They lobby, as necessary, on behalf of veterans’ families. “Our preamble begins ‘For God and country,’ and we have to put our money where our mouth is,” Eddie said. “A lot of that stuff in Scripture about the Great Commission and going out and feeding the country and healing the sick and clothing the naked — that’s what we do. We do it for veterans, widows and orphans, and we do it in the community.

“We are not perfect and don’t declare [ourselves] to be, but we’ve been consistent. The economy has been terrible, but we have been consistent about giving,” Eddie said. “It’s really stunning what needs are out here within a five-mile radius. We took Christmas to a family nearby where the dad had lost his job and the wife had heart surgery. It wasn’t because they weren’t doing what they were supposed to do; it was the curveball they got thrown.” When Post 624 showed up with toys for their children, folks in the neighborhood came out in the street to applaud the help this family was given.

Belonging to and participating in events that are bigger than any one person requires teamwork. While Eddie acts as finance officer for Post 624, he needs the help of Yvonne to keep up with record-keeping, Web site development and even the final report on one of the most visible activities at the post — the American Legion Military Appreciation Celebration (ALMAC). To honor veterans who have served and are in the hospital, remember veterans who are serving currently and celebrate those who have died, Eddie and the folks at Post 624 organized the first ALMAC six years ago as a barbecue for veterans from the VA hospital in Dallas. People at the post volunteered live music, meat and items for an auction. When all was said and done, proceeds totaled $3,200, and the money was spent on care packages for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Every year since, the donated funds have doubled. “We raise the money for the kids, because they’re the ones who will come back and try to fit in to society,” Eddie said. Last year, American Legion Post 624 sent 9,878 pounds of a variety of items for 2,000 troops. Every one gets a brand new, clean pair of white socks, beef jerky, eye drops from Alcon and Ramen Noodles. The post receives letters and cards thanking them as much for the gifts as for the moral support. “When their morale is down, it’s not the beef jerky or fruit. It’s [the fact that] people made homemade products, with cards from kiddos in the school district, total strangers who are demonstrating by their actions their support for them.”

Eddie was elected Post Commander this summer, and he and his pals at Post 624 are working hard to throw a party local veterans will enjoy. Their preparations will involve barbecuing 350 pounds of brisket for the October 1, 2011, ALMAC. “When I am asking myself why we are doing this and

how it happened and who it is all for, I remember,” Eddie said. “It’s for a gazillion giggling babies from coast to coast. That’s who will be the face of our country 20 years from now.”

Written by Melissa Rawlins.

For more information about the American Legion Military Appreciation Celebration, visit www.alpost624.org.

He raised bees in high school, as part of Future Farmers of America (FFA) education, but would not dare raise bees now. He has not lived on enough acreage to keep the bees happy since he left his father’s farm and joined the service in 1949. “I stayed for three-and-a -half years, and got out because I wanted to go to college. Thanks to the Korean GI Bill,” Rex said, “I was the only one in my family fortunate enough to finish college. Now my daughter has her degree.” Rex worked 41 years as an aircraft designer, retiring 14 years ago.

Hard work has not hurt this man. “I’m a share cropper’s kid. I started doing a man’s work when I was 12, driving mules while my dad drove horses. We farmed 90 acres up in Oklahoma, raising corn, wheat, oats, milo (sorghum) and cotton,” Rex recalled. “We had livestock and a garden. Mainly you raised your crops for feeding the stock. We raised cotton in some bottom lands, and that was for sale.

That gave us some cash, but not much.” The most money Rex ever saw his dad have at one time, after the last bill was paid and seed was bought for next year’s planting, was $300.
“Everybody else I knew was poor, but we didn’t know we were poor,” Rex said. In addition to a roof over their heads and clothes on their backs, the family had plenty of food to eat: green beans, potatoes, peas, carrots, turnips and parsnips. “Mother made bread, and we had livestock plus wild game, squirrels, rabbits and quail. We raised our own sorghum, made our own molasses. I had honey bees, and we’d get fish out of the creek. We had a good variety. We had plenty.” They ate big because they worked hard. His father preferred using only horse and human power on his farm, and Rex is therefore skilled with the use of the saw and axe.

“The only thing that came on our property was a thrashing machine, because that was a community-type event with every one helping everyone during harvest season,” Rex remembered. “My dad was an organic farmer before they coined the word. We didn’t use pesticides because they didn’t exist at that time. We used arsenic of lead strictly for potato bugs. Everything else was the manure out of the barn and mulching your crops. My mother had a garden and was consistent about keeping the soil in good health. Organic is getting your soil like it was originally, the way God made it.”

Accomplishing this in Texas is no small task, although Rex believes it is more economical. “Anytime you’re doing business outside, the weather controls what you’re going to do whether you like it or not,” Rex said. “You till the garden, prepare the soil, get it planted — and that’s always a guess to keep from planting too early and then getting it frosted. The weeding and watering and picking and cleaning and getting it to market is a big-sized task if you have a large plot.”

Knowing Rex had the knowledge to help local farmers get their produce to market, his friend, Russell Zimmer, called Rex 10 years ago to help organize the farmers market in Mansfield. Joining forces with John Cox, Vicki Asher and James Hudson, they found full-time produce farmers willing to offer their harvest to Mansfield shoppers. Now, Nancy Markos and LaMarilys Doering help supervise the market. Busy as bees, their community effort still pays off.

This is the closest Rex has come to a farm environment since he moved off the farm at 17. The soil where he lives now has never been used except for a small garden plot used to grow corn and squash, but has lain dormant the last four years since the passing of the love of his life, Opal Rose. The couple moved to Mansfield in 1977, and their great neighbors and strong church friends have supported his efforts to adjust to being single. Hanging on his dining room wall is a beautiful set of Harvest Plates Opal painted. They are a symbol not just of his happy, hard-working youth, but of work that requires dedication and planning. As a member of the Mansfield Lions Club, Rex has contributed time and energy to their projects that help handicapped children and vision-impaired people. “I’m old-fashioned,” Rex said. “I don’t just haphazardly go and join something, because it doesn’t make sense to join a service organization and then not participate.”

In more ways than one, Mansfield is reaping the harvest of Rex’s desire to do something useful. “I enjoy the people who participate in the farmers market, too, and because of my background I feel like I’m doing something worthwhile even though I’m not growing anything,” he said. But Rex is able to judge the quality of the produce. “Most people who do that kind of business are really conscientious about what they present.” It works, as evidenced by the other farmers markets in Dallas, Grand Prairie, Arlington and Burleson.

As people become more aware of health issues, consumers are experimenting with organic produce. Rex feels the value of organics is rising. “If you’ve studied anything about what it takes to raise those homegrown tomatoes, you can value them despite the fact they do not look as nice as those that have been dyed and sprayed with a little wax coating,” Rex said. “And if you’ve ever gone out in the garden with a salt shaker and picked a tomato off the vine, you’ll never forget that taste — and you haven’t lived until you’ve had fried green tomatoes.”

At the end of each Saturday, Rex loads up his trusty white Toyota pickup and hauls the farmers market’s infrastructure back to his garage. This type of work keeps him strong. Once home, he can relax with magazines like Birds & Blooms and A Backwoods Home Anthology, and get busy planning his fall garden.

Written by Melissa Rawlins.

Phil and Jackie Stover moved to Mansfield from Houston in 2005 following retirement. After years of dedicating themselves to their jobs, the Stovers began using most of their time to volunteer. Shortly after moving, Phil took over as the president of Kiwanis, a club founded in 1915, whose purpose is to serve the children of the world. Jackie became the volunteer coordinator at the Wesley Mission Center, a community outreach program supported by First United Methodist Church (FUMC) of Mansfield. The Stovers spend at least 15 hours a week at the center. “I set up a workshop at my home so that I would have a good place to work on the computers,” Phil said, indicating he is a certified Microsoft refurbisher. “Once I get rid of all personal information on the computers, I repair them, install new software and bring them back to the Wesley Mission Center Thrift Store. Some of the computers we don’t sell have been donated to a mission in Mexico or used here at the center as part of our job assistance program.”

The thrift store was started in 1979 when FUMC had a lot of donated items left over from their Lord’s Acre sale. After decades of growth, the store led to the creation of the Wesley Mission Center (WMC) in 2000. Now, the WMC serves members of the community by providing counseling, food, clothing, financial and job assistance. “All of the money we make at the thrift store is given back to the Wesley Mission Center so that we can assist others,” Jackie said. “We operate on that money and donations.”

As the economy took a downturn, and the unemployment rate grew, the WMC and other food banks across Mansfield saw a rapid increase in need and a decrease in donations of nonperishable goods and funds. Keeping up with demand was becoming more difficult, especially during the summer months when parents had to worry about finding breakfast and lunch for their children, who take part in Mansfield Independent School District’s (MISD) free and reduced lunch program during the school year. Phil and his fellow Kiwanis members met with Common Ground Network, Inc., a nonprofit organization made up of churches and agencies to coordinate assistance programs for local low-income families, to find a way to meet the community’s need. In 2007 both groups formed Feed the Kids for Summer and provided bags of breakfast and lunch food for children of low- income families in the district.

The summer program was initially a suggestion from MISD. Nurses and teachers had noticed students coming back from vacation malnourished and disruptive. Since the program was started, these same teachers are witnesses to its success. “The nurses and teachers have

told us that the kids on the program are coming back each fall nourished and ready to learn,” Phil said. “There are government programs that would have taken care of these students in the summer, but since MISD is so far spread, we didn’t have a central location to serve them.” During their first summer they distributed over 2,000 bags. Each consecutive summer, they have seen a dramatic increase in distribution. They are preparing to hand out over 6,000

bags this summer. The program runs for 10-12 weeks depending on the length of summer vacation from school. Each school notifies eligible families. With the increase in demand and limited funding, families are approved on a first-come, first-served basis, so it is important to apply as soon as possible.

Phil and the other volunteers spend days planning, buying and organizing for each weeks’ distributions. Before he can go shopping, the order must be completed and faxed to Sam’s Club on Monday morning. Each item has to meet the guidelines of the program. They must be easy to open, nutritious and if there is cooking involved, it must be microwavable. A typical bag contains three drinks, three snacks, three desserts, two boxes of cereal, one soup, one pasta meal and a can of tuna fish. “If funds are available we try to provide fresh fruit, which can be difficult to keep fresh,” Phil said. “If they want it, families are given one jar of peanut butter each week, too.”

On Tuesdays, Phil drives the truck to Sam’s to pick up the pallets of food they ordered. The cost is around $2,500 per week above donations of nonperishable goods to fill their order. They stretch the food as far as it can go, but are still not reaching all of the hungry children in Mansfield. This year, there were 11,000 students enrolled in the free and reduced lunch plan at MISD schools.

Wednesday is the designated day to assemble all of the bags. Feed the Kids for Summer does not have a site of their own at this time. Since it is made up of several churches and organizations, they meet at one designated location, First Baptist Church in Mansfield, to prepare the bags. Volunteers arrive at 10:00 a.m. and unload the truck. Later that same evening, community families come together to fill the bags before the seven food banks arrive around 7:00-7:30 p.m. Families in the program pick up their bags at the food bank to which they are assigned on designated days.

Two days are needed for the Wesley Mission Center’s food bank to distribute their bags. “We’ve had a great number turn out in the summers to help,” Jackie said. “Kids are out of school, so families can serve together. It’s a great activity for families and a way of giving back.”

The need for volunteers, young and old, in the workforce or retired, is great. Operation costs are at least $25,000 each year for Feed the Kids for Summer, and that doesn’t meet all of the needs in the community. A donation of $5 will fill a local child’s bag with food for a week. More volunteers like the Stovers are needed for day-to-day operations in local food banks and organizations like FUMC’s Wesley Mission Center. Volunteering as little as 30 minutes can help fill over 600 bags on the Feed the Kids for Summer Wednesday night assembly line. A little time goes a long way to feeding a hungry neighbor.

For more information, call (817) 473-6650.

Written by Sydni Thomas