Community center honors fathers
Alfred Poe of Carver High School, a legendary head basketball coach, was surrounded by family, friends and former players.
The staff at the Carl H. Russell Sr. Community Center honored the father’s in the community on Saturday, June 3, when they held their 15th annual “Honor your Father” program.
The Father’s Day program included a meal along with appreciation from the children to the fathers in attendance. There were also gift drawings and lessons shared from the children about how their fathers have prepared them to make it in life.
Carl Russell Supervisor Ben Piggott said, “A program like this shows young men and women the value of the father in the home or having a father figure away from the home.”
Alfred Poe, called one of the greatest coaches in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County history, came to the program. He was a long standing coach at Carver High School. Piggott and Sean Hawkins talked about how Poe was a great father figure in their lives while attending Carver. They said he always pushed education even though he was the basketball coach and not a teacher.
Over 30 people came out to enjoy this special event that Piggott says seeks to push positive family values. Piggott said fathers and father figures deserve their day of recognition because of the things they do inside and outside of the home, such as working and providing for the family.
“Sometimes, the father does not get the acknowledgment for the things he does,” said Piggott. “This is the reason that we had this program and in here we know the father may not be in the home but is still active in their kids’ lives.”
Piggott says he was very honored to have the opportunity to bring a smile to faces of some of the fathers in the community.
For him this program means a lot because he is a father figure to many of the young kids that have come through the center over the years.
