A Cherry Log nonprofit that encourages reading and storytelling for kids and adults, started out as a little group of people helping other people, said the son of its founder.
Marking its 20th anniversary this month, the Craddock Center grew from humanitarian efforts of late Cherry Log Christian Church founder Dr. Fred Craddock and his wife, Nettie.
The center was founded in 2001 with a mission to bring educational and cultural programs to children, families and communities in southern Appalachia.
“He always used to use the phrase ‘everyone needs a leg up.’ Like when you’re riding a horse, and somebody gives you a leg up. That’s what he saw a need for up there,” said John Craddock about his dad, Fred.
“As he saw these people and their kids, he realized some of these kids were in a bad situation to start with. His thoughts were basically what could he, we and the community do to help those kids get a leg up on life.”
‘Still the basis of what we do’
Before founding Cherry Log Christian Church in 1996, Fred Craddock was on the faculty of Emory University’s Candler School of Theology and retired as the Bandy Distinguished Professor of Preaching and New Testament in 1992.
Like the Craddock Center, formation of the Cherry Log church just kind of happened with one thing leading to another, John noted.
“When he retired from Emory, I don’t think he had any plans whatsoever of starting a church or a nonprofit center. But, as he spent time in the mountains, he saw there was a real need for the kids,” John explained. “He started having a service once a month at the pavilion in Cherry Log. One person told another and, pretty soon, he had a hundred and something people showing up for church.”
What would eventually become the Craddock Center started as a way to provide assistance to people who needed help with such things as paying their power or water bills, John remembered.
“People would approach him about whatever need they had, and it kind of grew out of there,” he added.
A leadership board was appointed for the fledgling center, the scope of which soon grew to include various storytelling and literacy programs including the annual Songs and Stories event, which welcomes guest musicians and storytellers, and the Helen Lewis Lecture, a guest speaker lecture named for anthropologist, author and teacher of Appalachian studies, Lewis.
Reading and storytelling were abilities that Craddock, the author of numerous books, picked up as a youngster and used well the rest of his life.
“He started off as a poor kid and had four brothers and one sister. Their family wasn’t wealthy whatsoever,” John said. “He started reading and getting into books. He had scarlet fever growing up and was restricted to the house. He had nothing else to do, so he started reading. He realized that was kind of a way to open the world up for him, and it surely did.”
Several of the Craddock Center’s programs, including the delivery of free, unused books to school children and bringing storytelling into schools, likely sprang from that realization.
Craddock passed away in 2015, just prior to the center moving its physical location from next door to the church to its current home just off Highway 515.
Although some programs he helped start have been discontinued, several others still remain part of the center’s offerings to the community.
“The vision that Dr. Craddock had of building a program around the Appalachian traditions of songs and storytelling, that’s still the basis of what we do. We’ve changed some things through the years, but that part has not changed,” said Beth Roberts, a longtime volunteer and current Craddock Center board president.
About Craddock, Roberts recalled, “He was such a powerhouse in a small package. His interests and involvement with the center continued literally till the day he died.”
Since the beginning, all the center’s programming has been given free of charge, either to the public or to schools and Head Start programs in the southern Appalachian area.
“Priority is given to schools with the highest percentage of children on free or reduced lunches,” said Kirk Cameron, the center’s executive director.
The Craddock Center’s Children’s Enrichment Team has long brought storytelling to pre-K and Head Start classes. Before the COVID-19 pandemic brought a temporary halt to that activity, the storytelling team visited schools in a nine-county service area that includes Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. Gilmer is among those nine counties.
“They tried to come up with a way to get kids excited about the content and make it some type of play from a Dr. Seuss book to spur their interest,” John said. “COVID has kind of put a hurt on everything, and we are really ready to get back into that program, which is a strong point of what we do.”
Roberts said the storytelling team is gearing up for a return to schools this fall.
“They’ve added puppetry to what they do. We also have two characters we call Happy and Hope, who wear great big bear costumes. They occasionally go into the schools, too,” she added.
Roberts said volunteers are also eager to continue bringing books to kids at schools and public events.
“We try to give age-appropriate books to kids, (particularly those) who may not have access to a lot of books in their homes. They are new books that they can take home and keep,” she added. “Even during the pandemic, we’ve delivered books three times to the schools. That’s probably the most fun (for our) volunteers, working with the books and taking them out to the children.”
The annual Songs and Stories event will go on next year with a return visit from previous guest performer, Atlanta-based multi-instrumentalist, folk singer and author John McCutcheon.
“Sometimes we have a storyteller and a musician, but John is so entertaining in that he does both,” said Roberts. “It’s a free program for the public and it’s held in the winter because Dr. Craddock felt like there wasn’t much to do in the winter, and people needed some form of entertainment.”
Roberts said other services the center offers include Camp Craddock, a literacy-building and entertainment program that travels to summer nutrition program sites, and The Living Room, which provides used furniture and household items at no cost to people in need.
John said new volunteers are always welcome.
“We’ve been lucky to have had a lot of very talented retired and not retire people from up in that area. There are a lot of people who see a need and are looking for a way they can contribute and help. I think that has been a good platform (for them),” he added.
“We’ll take as many as we can get.”
Looking for your stories
Cameron said the nonprofit has provided 120,000 brand new books and 10,520 hours of storytelling to 22,000 children throughout southern Appalachia in its first 20 years. Currently, it serves 1,100 pre-K and Head Start students, he added.
Upon its 20th anniversary, the center is welcoming feedback from children, parents and others who’ve benefited in some way from any of the Craddock Center’s programs.
“Are you one of those 22,000 children? Are you a parent of one of those children? Are you a teacher whose classroom they provided programming? Have you served as a volunteer? Have you attended one of the ‘Songs & Stories’ events? Have you been touched by The Craddock Center in some way? We want to hear from you,” said Cameron.
To share your Craddock Center story or experience, contact Kirk Cameron at 706-632-1772 or kirk-craddock@tds.net.