Please enjoy this fantastic and very inspiring article, published in Davie County Enterprise Record. 
"In the midst of COVID fatigue, there is a bright light shining in Davie County.   
The Davie Respect Initiative returns with new, more inclusive features..." Click here for more.

Be encouraged and uplifted by witnessing the kind and thoughtful acts of Journey Bowman in this new article.

Check out this new article by Mike Barnhardt in Davie County Enterprise Record about Mia Clair Myers, the 2019 DRI award recipient, and her ways of implementing her DRI idea. Inspiring!

Read our new article in the recent issue of Davie Life magazine.

Madi Rogers and Bella Brown are two of the 10 winners of 2018 DRI Challenge. They were invited to share about their respect projects with the Home Builders Association of Davie County on 4/25/19. The Home Builders Association made a grant to Bella's project of starting a Cam's Coffee Kiosk at Wake Forest Baptist Health-Davie Medical Center. Not only was a grant for materials provided, also Brad Rogers Construction Inc volunteered to build the coffee cart!  Madi's project of Banishing Bias Bingo cards where the players must meet others who are different from them has had amazing responses/ results from all 3 Davie Middle Schools. 
If You or your organization would like to hear a presentation or learn about ways to support respect projects initiated by the DRI youth, please let us know by writing to [email protected].

​Enjoy this inspiring video, made by Bella Brown, one of the 2018 DRI winners. It was a part of Bella’s application for the 2018 DRI Challenge, where she presented an idea of opening a coffee house that would primarily be staffed by young folks, who are “differently-abled”: with challenges like autism, attention deficit disorder, and more. This was inspired by Bella’s witnessing her brother being involved with an innovative program in Winston-Salem called Cam’s Coffee.
 
Progress update, spring 2019: Bella has all the pieces in place for the Cam’s Coffee idea to manifest in Davie County. Now it’s just a matter of helping the Cam’s Coffee folks raise capital to open this second location. Bella says that she had ideas before about helping people but didn’t really think she could actually do it. She’s learned that if you care enough and work hard, you can actually do things that make a difference. If you’d like to support this venture, feel free to reach out to us and we’ll gladly connect you with Bella.

On her DRI application, Kayla wrote, “My idea is to go out in the community and offer to do yardwork for those that cannot do it themselves or have difficulty doing it themselves. I think this will show respect for elderly people and also let them know that people are thinking about them and are willing to help.”  Kayla’s DRI crew, members of her church’s youth group, were eager to give back by doing this yard work for free. Offering seniors a list of projects to choose from, they collected the supplies needed to fulfill those projects and got going!
They've already completed a project for Lynda Seymour. She had just lost her husband, and did all of the yard work.
"My friends were happy to help in any capacity that they could," Kayla said. "I asked friends at school and also the youth group friends. I go to a church that is very service oriented so it was not hard to find volunteers."
Seymour's husband was a Vietnam War veteran, and predisposed to prostate cancer due to exposure to Agent Orange.
"I know the Seymours and she mentioned being overwhelmed and wishing that her yard was fixed, but she did not have time to worry about it then. I asked her if she wanted us to come and do some yard work for her and she was so happy."
Helping Kayla were: teens Sally Boger, Savannah Jones, Kaitlyn Roscoe, Logan Wagner, Jaxon Beaty, Connor Rains, Chandler Alford, and adults Amy Roscoe, Greg Baity and Robbie Roscoe. 

A few months later, who could have imagined that something similar would arise across the globe in Zimbabwe?  Lamiel Phiri, the youth overseer at the Church of Central Africa, Presbyterian, Rugare, has visited the US several times.  He received a copy of the Davie Enterprise with the DRI story on the front page from a friend.
Inspired by the idea of bringing respect into their small community, he refocused his efforts to inspire local youth.

​The Davie Respect Initiative has inspired the creation of the Zimbabwe Respect Initiative. The ZimRI began by cleaning up a church building and its grounds and other local projects. These young people are finding that service done for free can be energizing and inspiring. The church’s minister had difficulty getting help from his mostly older congregation. When the ZimRI offered to get involved, all he could say was, “I am humbled and short of words. In this era, I never thought we could find a group of young people who can come together and help out at my church and community.” When the young volunteers returned the next day, three of his youth members were already out slashing grass.
​The joyful work of raking leaves, pruning trees and helping seniors has given these young people, a world apart, an experience of serving others.
Can we imagine where else this example of respect may lead?
For more information about the Davie Respect Initiative, email [email protected].
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This article was first published in Davie County Enterprise Records on 3/28/2019