This week’s Spotlight is Eartha Cunningham, Eartha was born and raised in Walterboro and graduated from Walterboro High School in 1978. After high school she attended Claflin College in Orangeburg and got herBA in Social Science and Psychology graduating in 1982. Cunningham is married to Roman Cunningham, and they have three children: Devon, Serrenda, and Kendric.
Cunningham began working in the community when she graduated. She says, “I started working at Low Country Community Action Agency in Charleston County and worked there for several years. I then went to work for Head Start on Johns Island. I also worked with the drug and alcohol youth program at Fenwick Hall, which was a phenomenal experience. After a number of years, I came back home. I did teen pregnancy prevention in the schools. We used the curriculum that was proven to be successful. I did that for a while and started working for Colleton County in 1999 and was assigned to the Recreation Center.”
Another role she took on in 1999 was Summer Feeding. Cunningham explains, “I started with the program. I remembered summer feeding from when I was growing up, because my mom had been in it many years ago. And so when they asked me about working summer feeding, I just could not believe it. It became a passion, because it’s with kids.” Summer Feeding is a USDA Program designed to feed kids after school is out of session. They feed children from birth to 18-years-old the entire summer. The program concludes when the children return to school. Cunningham continues, “We have mobile sites such as churches and parks. We started with five sites and have grown to around 80 sites. Its just a wonderful program, and I was blessed that the county really supported that program, because without them, it would not have been possible. You would be surprised how many kids actually depend on Summer Feeding for their food. A lot of people think that there’s no hunger here, but there is. It’s bad out there.”
Summer Feeding has a well-rounded menu, “So sometimes we do a salad such as a ham salad or a chicken salad. We have all kind of sandwiches, philly cheese steak, cheese sandwiches, as well as peanut butter and jelly. We have tried to do these so the children can take it home. We prepare items such as chicken, steak, potato and broccoli, etc. We try to be creative with a different kind of foods so that people will be happy and continue to come to the sites. We were able to introduce a wide variety of menu items in the program to expose the children to items that they might not normally eat.”
The Summer Feeding Program has 12 trucks and has a staff of around 50 people. They recently moved into a newly renovated building next to the Colleton Museum. This gives them more space to work.
Eartha’s other passion is the Recreation Center. She says, “I love the Rec Center, because I used to work there. I enjoy the kids and do volunteer work out there sometimes. We recently had the midnight basketball. People donated items and were excited about the program which went on without any problems.”
Cunningham also volunteers at the Solicitors Office, “I do arbitration for the office in Hampton. When the kids that get in trouble in school, they send them to me. Right now, I’m the only arbitrator, but I like that, because I’m able to see some progress. Whoever gets in trouble at school, has to come to the arbitration program. The Solicitor’s Office gets it through the Department of Juvenile Justice and then they decide, we want to give them a second chance. I come at that spot, and I do arbitration. What I do all the time is I give them community service, and they must come to our program.”
When asked what she would like to do if time and money were no object Cunningham said, “I would probably like to travel. I would say just spend time with my grandchildren, go different places, see different things, eat in various restaurants, and visit old friends and spend some time with them. “
Cunningham offers this advice to parents, “We do get frustrated as parents, but then we just have to stop and just listen. And when we listen to hear them, if we listen and hear them, we’ll know more how to help them. So, I would say parents, we just got to listen. Sometimes, they’re not always going to do the right thing, but we just have listen, so that we’ll know better how to help them.”
Good advice from someone who has spent her career changing peoples lives.
