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Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Preservation Alliance of West Virginia responds to AmeriCorps cuts by DOGE
CLARKSBURG, (WBOY) — Following last month's cuts to AmeriCorps by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that impacted 250 people across West Virginia, organizations that benefited from the cuts, like the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia (PAWV), are trying to figure out what to do next. 'This will have a big impact on our program, our organization, and just overall on the sites that we've been working with,' PAWV Executive Director Danielle Parker said. The cuts also affected 22 members who worked across 20 historical sites under the PAWV's 'Preserve WV AmeriCorps Program.' Parker said that although PAWV has been working with 20 historical sites this year, they work with hundreds around the state, often having members do service projects at sites that aren't actually hosting AmeriCorps members. 'For the preservation and cultural heritage tourism industries that we have in the state, they are gonna be severely impacted,' Parker added. 'Because we're being affected on many different fronts here.' Parker said that the PAWV utilizes arts and humanities funding a lot and that this funding is also being proposed for elimination. She told 12 News that the organization has also been using AmeriCorps members for over a decade to help staff some of these sites so that they're at capacity. 'Unforgiving cuts in Washington' could force Clarksburg History Museum to close 'Keeping these places open is now going to be a much harder thing to do because there is no mechanism,' said Parker. 'It's very challenging for counties and communities to obtain money from their county commission or their city government to support these sites.' Parker said that members of the PAWV are concerned about deferred maintenance of sites that are publicly-owned, as well as what'll happen to collections. Overall, she said that these funding cuts will affect the organization's reach and its ability to go out and assist other sites. According to Parker, the PAWV recently established a historic trades team with members on its statewide site to do hands-on projects. However, due to the elimination of this AmeriCorps funding, the organization is having to pull some of these people back while looking for other avenues to help support them. 'We're seeing that we're going to be stunted in the growth of training historic trades professionals as well for our state, where we're already seeing a decline in available craftspeople,' she added. Once the organization found out about the cuts last week, it notified the affected sites right away so that they could begin planning. Parker said that the sites losing their members are trying to find ways to keep them on, with some of these sites, like the Clarksburg History Museum, even resorting to fundraising. 'We are trying to transfer members to other programs that have not been defunded yet,' said Parker. 'So that's a little tricky because you're still seeing that maybe the sites will still lose their members. So maybe they move to another program that's in their community, but they're doing something entirely different.' Parker added that the PAWV is trying to consider the option of transferring sites and members to programs that overlap with their programmatic area(s). She said that there are currently two programs in the state that could possibly take on a site, but the organization is still in the process of working through those details. When asked if the organization was given a reason for these cuts, Parker stated that the reasoning they received wasn't definitive. 'We were told that we no longer align with the administration's priorities, but not why we no longer align,' she added. Parker stated that since the PAWV is doing workforce development through the AmeriCorps program, she would think that they would be in alignment. She added that she's not sure what the program did that no longer follows suit, and that it makes things difficult to plan for the future. 'Sometimes funding priorities change and you know, you try to work through that,' said Parker. 'So, we're trying to figure out how we can do that right now.' Parker encouraged the public to take a look at the full list of the sites affected by these cuts. The historical sites in north central West Virginia are as follows: Arthurdale Heritage in Preston County Clarksburg History Museum in Harrison County Morgantown History Museum in Monongalia County Northern Appalachian Coal Mining Heritage Association in Marion County 'If you've visited any of these sites, please know that they are under threat from multiple angles right now and that this is a time to try and support them if you're able to,' Parker added. 'Whether you're volunteering, donating, learning more about what they do.' You can find more information about the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia and the entities that they serve on the organization's website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
New Salem Baptist Church restoration gets big boost
On a snowy early March day in the old coal camp community of Tams, three friends lifted their voices in song while discussing a historic Black Raleigh County church and community presence. Sherrie Hunter, Queenie Schoolfield and Minister Lynn Halstead sang a portion of 'Jesus Built This Church On Love' as they celebrated another milestone in a church restoration project that has been ongoing since 2011. Last fall, the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia (PAWV) wrote and submitted a grant to Preserving Black Churches, a project of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP). Local officials were recently notified that the New Salem Baptist Church, built in 1921 for the Black community of Tams, emerged as one of the awardees in a 'very competitive' program and will receive $200,000 for church repairs. 'We found out close to Queenie's 88th birthday (Feb. 27) that, out of 622 applicants, there were only 30 (awardees) nationwide, and New Salem will receive $200,000,' Hunter said. Among the other capital projects on the 2025 African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund list are St. Mark's Presbyterian Church of Cleveland and the Dickerson Chapel AME Church of Hillsborough, N.C. The funds will be utilized locally for water infiltration, repairs to the bell tower, exterior work and efforts to secure the building envelope, Hunter said. Hunter discussed the funding allocation and the ongoing renovations of New Salem Baptist Church at the Feb. 25 regular meeting of the Beckley Common Council, which she serves as a councilwoman-at-large. 'Thank you, City of Beckley; thank you, everybody,' she said. • • • 'The community of Tams, no longer exists,' said Halstead, who has delivered messages and participated in services at New Salem and other historic churches in Raleigh County over the years. 'This is the last building standing in the community. And, I feel it's important to the building, to the community at-large, especially to the people that were raised in Tams and moved away, that this place would be preserved because it's part of their history. 'And, if we let our history die, we forget where we came from.' According to Halstead, the church was established on Sept. 25, 1921. 'The original pastor was Mr. (Burton Linwood) Ziegler. The services ran from that time up until the time that the pastor, Donald Cook, passed away (2022). The funds to build the church were provided by 'Major' Tams, the coal operator here. The community paid every dime of it back to him, so now they have a church here. 'Queen Schoolfield is the oldest surviving member. She will tell you that Major Tams made no difference between the white people and the Black people. What he provided for the white people, he provided for the Black people. 'He built or had built four churches — the church here at Tams, the church at Stotesbury (a white church), and down at Wyco, there was a Black church and a white church built, because this was the time of segregation. All of them are historical parts of the community.' 'It's a joy to be involved in this,' he continued. 'The restoration has been a community effort, it's been an effort by many parties. The main reason we're here today is because of Sister Queen Schoolfield (keeping a promise to her mother to keep the doors of the church open).' She has sold hot dogs at various locations in Beckley over the years 'just to pay the utilities of this place, to keep this place open,' Halstead said. At a time when 'there was no road to Beckley (and) the only way in here was to come through Mullens,' he said, the coal operator 'had to provide everything for the community' and 'He was faithful to provide this church, this church right here that we stand in today.' • • • 'We started the restoration in 2011,' Hunter said. 'I worked with Donald Cook, the pastor here, at the recycling center, and an unknown man was on the Burning Rock Trail and saw the church. So he saw that Donald Cook was the preacher, and he said 'I need to reach out.'' The man gave Cook $500 to have the church painted, Hunter recalled. Fred Lovell, the plant supervisor at the recycling center and a fellow work colleague of Hunter's and Cook's at the Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority, pointed out to Hunter that the church — in addition to a new paint job — was in need of a new roof. Back then, Hunter enlisted the aid of Dawn Dayton and The Register-Herald newspaper to publicize the fundraising needs, and Hunter wrote a grant to Beckley Area Foundation in which the foundation agreed to match $2,500 if the community raised a similar amount. 'Well, we raised $11,000,' Hunter said. 'In 2013, we finally got the roof on the church. Susan Landis (of the BAF), she lived to see that we got a new roof.' Another $6,000 to $7,000 was raised to provide for the soffit. In addition to grant funding and grassroots aid from other outside agencies and businesses and the community in general, one of the past contributions, according to Hunter, came from 'a Black gentleman in a nursing home who sent in $2 in an envelope to help buy a shingle.' The funding assistance and the community interest has been 'transformative,' said Hunter. She acknowledged the inspiration of individuals such as Cook, Halstead, Schoolfield, Pastor Paul Chapman and Gary Hosey, the latter of Beckley Praise Church, over the years. 'And it all started with Donald Cook and Fred Lovell and the Beckley Area Foundation, The Register-Herald for doing that unbelievable story (by Andrea Lannon in April 2011 entitled 'New Salem Restoration Project'...' 'And Sherrie Hunter is where it started,' chimed in the voice of a woman seated to Hunter's right on the front church pew on Thursday, March 6, the unwavering voice of Queenie Schoolfield. 'She always leaves herself out, babydoll,' she said of Hunter. 'If it wasn't for her, this wouldn't be going on now. And I thank God for her every day and every night before I go to bed. She's the one that has kept things going.' Hunter said her father, Quinn Barbera, was 'the milkman (Blossom Milk) for Tams, WV' in the 1950s. 'That means all the world to me; praise God from whom all blessings flow,' Schoolfield said of the ongoing preservation efforts. 'I appreciate this lady (Hunter), and I appreciate all these people.' • • • As the years progressed, those involved in the restoration work also knew the church should be recognized for its historical significance. 'We knew we had to get it on the (National Park Services' National Register of Historic Places),' said Hunter. With assistance from the PAWV, that process was initiated. 'David Taylor, an architectural specialist, came down and met with Queenie and David Sibray, of the Preservation Alliance, and he (Taylor) submitted an unbelievable comprehensive plan to the Department of the Interior and to the National Park Service.' Hunter, her husband, David Hunter, Sibray and Taylor found out in April 2023 in Charleston that the church was to be entered into the National Register. 'I was emotional,' she said. Hunter said Taylor then wrote a grant to the William C. Pomeroy Foundation for a historical marker on the grounds, which was unveiled in 2024. After that, the PAWV's Danielle Parker contacted Hunter to launch the process that resulted in the newest grant funding outlay. New Salem Baptist was also included in the National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of the 11 most endangered historic places in the nation for 2024, an annual program that raises awareness of the threats facing 'some of the nation's greatest treasures,' according to the PAWV website. Hunter detailed other agencies or individuals who have provided funding or assistance over the years, including the Coal Heritage Authority and Christy Bailey for providing a $5,000 matching grant, and the Raleigh County Commission for supplying $5,000 for that match. Those funds paid for major exterior work and landscaping for the church grounds. 'Also, we have had wonderful help from Dyane Corcoran and Beaver Coal.' Blair Frier, of ZMM Architects and Engineers, helped assess the church free of charge, Hunter said. Recently, the local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter donated $600 to the effort, she added. 'It's been a collaboration,' Hunter said. 'It's everybody working together to preserve this wonderful church.' • • • According to an entry in e-WV, an online encyclopedia of the West Virginia Humanities Council, 'Major' William Purviance Tams Jr. (May 19, 1883 to August 3, 1977) 'was recognized in southern West Virginia as the last of the old-time coal barons. Tams was born in Staunton, Va., and studied engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg. He went to work for entrepreneur Samuel Dixon in the New River coalfield in 1904. With the support of Dixon and J. O. Watts of Lynchburg, Tams launched his own company, Gulf Smokeless Coal, in the new Winding Gulf coalfield in 1908. He established the company town of Tams, Raleigh County, as his headquarters, and later acquired Wyoming Coal Company in neighboring Wyoming County. He invested in other mines as well and was a leader in industry associations.' • • • Although the church doesn't currently host regular services, homecoming services have been conducted there each July since 2023. There have also been two candlelight services, and a service is planned for 2 p.m. on the Sunday before Easter, with Chapman and Halstead officiating, and homecoming will return on the first Sunday in July. And, Halstead and Chapman will stage occasional services as the restoration process continues. The public is invited to attend the services. For her part, Schoolfield, who lives in Beckley, definitely plans to be there to honor a critical part of her past and future. 'I haven't missed a Sunday,' she said. 'I never have joined another church.' She also attends other churches, obviously, and says she has likely been to more churches with Halstead than she has with anybody else. The larger church community has been her community, she said. 'I lost my first son, and he didn't have insurance. All these churches raised money for me to bury my son.' Going to church back in the day gave her a solid path for her life, she said. 'During those days, our parents brought us (family of seven) to church,' she said. 'We didn't come on our own then; we were so young. We had to be at church for the 11 o'clock service, had to be right here.' 'After Sunday school, our Dad used to always ask us what we learned,' Schoolfield added. 'We had to tell him that. Each one of us had to say something ... and had to repeat a Bible verse (always different from the others) before we ate.' She 'learned so much' from that raising, she said. And, she gained knowledge and wisdom from the church and the community. 'We learned so much from the community,' she said. 'We had to love everybody. We learned more about the Lord then. 'Yes, Jesus Loves Me' was our favorite song.' Good memories such as Sunday school downstairs with 'coal heat and a big pot-bellied stove,' prayer meeting on Wednesday and church on Sunday, and choir practice on Tuesday evenings are still with her. 'I just enjoyed every bit of it.' She also remembers having a favorite seat in the back of the church at one point. 'My aunt said, 'Listen, you don't sit in the back. When the Lord comes, He gonna be up front.' From then on, I sat up here in the front seat.' That has resulted in her having a front seat to viewing history unfold.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
New Salem Baptist Church restoration gets big boost
On a snowy early March day in the old coal camp community of Tams, three friends lifted their voices in song while discussing a historic Black Raleigh County church and community presence. Sherrie Hunter, Queenie Schoolfield and Minister Lynn Halstead sang a portion of 'Jesus Built This Church On Love' as they celebrated another milestone in a church restoration project that has been ongoing since 2011. Last fall, the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia (PAWV) wrote and submitted a grant to Preserving Black Churches, a project of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP). Local officials were recently notified that the New Salem Baptist Church, built in 1921 for the Black community of Tams, emerged as one of the awardees in a 'very competitive' program and will receive $200,000 for church repairs. 'We found out close to Queenie's 88th birthday (Feb. 27) that, out of 622 applicants, there were only 30 (awardees) nationwide, and New Salem will receive $200,000,' Hunter said. Among the other capital projects on the 2025 African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund list are St. Mark's Presbyterian Church of Cleveland and the Dickerson Chapel AME Church of Hillsborough, N.C. The funds will be utilized locally for water infiltration, repairs to the bell tower, exterior work and efforts to secure the building envelope, Hunter said. Hunter discussed the funding allocation and the ongoing renovations of New Salem Baptist Church at the Feb. 25 regular meeting of the Beckley Common Council, which she serves as a councilwoman-at-large. 'Thank you, City of Beckley; thank you, everybody,' she said. • • • 'The community of Tams, no longer exists,' said Halstead, who has delivered messages and participated in services at New Salem and other historic churches in Raleigh County over the years. 'This is the last building standing in the community. And, I feel it's important to the building, to the community at-large, especially to the people that were raised in Tams and moved away, that this place would be preserved because it's part of their history. 'And, if we let our history die, we forget where we came from.' According to Halstead, the church was established on Sept. 25, 1921. 'The original pastor was Mr. (Burton Linwood) Ziegler. The services ran from that time up until the time that the pastor, Donald Cook, passed away (2022). The funds to build the church were provided by 'Major' Tams, the coal operator here. The community paid every dime of it back to him, so now they have a church here. 'Queen Schoolfield is the oldest surviving member. She will tell you that Major Tams made no difference between the white people and the Black people. What he provided for the white people, he provided for the Black people. 'He built or had built four churches — the church here at Tams, the church at Stotesbury (a white church), and down at Wyco, there was a Black church and a white church built, because this was the time of segregation. All of them are historical parts of the community.' 'It's a joy to be involved in this,' he continued. 'The restoration has been a community effort, it's been an effort by many parties. The main reason we're here today is because of Sister Queen Schoolfield (keeping a promise to her mother to keep the doors of the church open).' She has sold hot dogs at various locations in Beckley over the years 'just to pay the utilities of this place, to keep this place open,' Halstead said. At a time when 'there was no road to Beckley (and) the only way in here was to come through Mullens,' he said, the coal operator 'had to provide everything for the community' and 'He was faithful to provide this church, this church right here that we stand in today.' • • • 'We started the restoration in 2011,' Hunter said. 'I worked with Donald Cook, the pastor here, at the recycling center, and an unknown man was on the Burning Rock Trail and saw the church. So he saw that Donald Cook was the preacher, and he said 'I need to reach out.'' The man gave Cook $500 to have the church painted, Hunter recalled. Fred Lovell, the plant supervisor at the recycling center and a fellow work colleague of Hunter's and Cook's at the Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority, pointed out to Hunter that the church — in addition to a new paint job — was in need of a new roof. Back then, Hunter enlisted the aid of Dawn Dayton and The Register-Herald newspaper to publicize the fundraising needs, and Hunter wrote a grant to Beckley Area Foundation in which the foundation agreed to match $2,500 if the community raised a similar amount. 'Well, we raised $11,000,' Hunter said. 'In 2013, we finally got the roof on the church. Susan Landis (of the BAF), she lived to see that we got a new roof.' Another $6,000 to $7,000 was raised to provide for the soffit. In addition to grant funding and grassroots aid from other outside agencies and businesses and the community in general, one of the past contributions, according to Hunter, came from 'a Black gentleman in a nursing home who sent in $2 in an envelope to help buy a shingle.' The funding assistance and the community interest has been 'transformative,' said Hunter. She acknowledged the inspiration of individuals such as Cook, Halstead, Schoolfield, Pastor Paul Chapman and Gary Hosey, the latter of Beckley Praise Church, over the years. 'And it all started with Donald Cook and Fred Lovell and the Beckley Area Foundation, The Register-Herald for doing that unbelievable story (by Andrea Lannon in April 2011 entitled 'New Salem Restoration Project'...' 'And Sherrie Hunter is where it started,' chimed in the voice of a woman seated to Hunter's right on the front church pew on Thursday, March 6, the unwavering voice of Queenie Schoolfield. 'She always leaves herself out, babydoll,' she said of Hunter. 'If it wasn't for her, this wouldn't be going on now. And I thank God for her every day and every night before I go to bed. She's the one that has kept things going.' Hunter said her father, Quinn Barbera, was 'the milkman (Blossom Milk) for Tams, WV' in the 1950s. 'That means all the world to me; praise God from whom all blessings flow,' Schoolfield said of the ongoing preservation efforts. 'I appreciate this lady (Hunter), and I appreciate all these people.' • • • As the years progressed, those involved in the restoration work also knew the church should be recognized for its historical significance. 'We knew we had to get it on the (National Park Services' National Register of Historic Places),' said Hunter. With assistance from the PAWV, that process was initiated. 'David Taylor, an architectural specialist, came down and met with Queenie and David Sibray, of the Preservation Alliance, and he (Taylor) submitted an unbelievable comprehensive plan to the Department of the Interior and to the National Park Service.' Hunter, her husband, David Hunter, Sibray and Taylor found out in April 2023 in Charleston that the church was to be entered into the National Register. 'I was emotional,' she said. Hunter said Taylor then wrote a grant to the William C. Pomeroy Foundation for a historical marker on the grounds, which was unveiled in 2024. After that, the PAWV's Danielle Parker contacted Hunter to launch the process that resulted in the newest grant funding outlay. New Salem Baptist was also included in the National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of the 11 most endangered historic places in the nation for 2024, an annual program that raises awareness of the threats facing 'some of the nation's greatest treasures,' according to the PAWV website. Hunter detailed other agencies or individuals who have provided funding or assistance over the years, including the Coal Heritage Authority and Christy Bailey for providing a $5,000 matching grant, and the Raleigh County Commission for supplying $5,000 for that match. Those funds paid for major exterior work and landscaping for the church grounds. 'Also, we have had wonderful help from Dyane Corcoran and Beaver Coal.' Blair Frier, of ZMM Architects and Engineers, helped assess the church free of charge, Hunter said. Recently, the local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter donated $600 to the effort, she added. 'It's been a collaboration,' Hunter said. 'It's everybody working together to preserve this wonderful church.' • • • According to an entry in e-WV, an online encyclopedia of the West Virginia Humanities Council, 'Major' William Purviance Tams Jr. (May 19, 1883 to August 3, 1977) 'was recognized in southern West Virginia as the last of the old-time coal barons. Tams was born in Staunton, Va., and studied engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg. He went to work for entrepreneur Samuel Dixon in the New River coalfield in 1904. With the support of Dixon and J. O. Watts of Lynchburg, Tams launched his own company, Gulf Smokeless Coal, in the new Winding Gulf coalfield in 1908. He established the company town of Tams, Raleigh County, as his headquarters, and later acquired Wyoming Coal Company in neighboring Wyoming County. He invested in other mines as well and was a leader in industry associations.' • • • Although the church doesn't currently host regular services, homecoming services have been conducted there each July since 2023. There have also been two candlelight services, and a service is planned for 2 p.m. on the Sunday before Easter, with Chapman and Halstead officiating, and homecoming will return on the first Sunday in July. And, Halstead and Chapman will stage occasional services as the restoration process continues. The public is invited to attend the services. For her part, Schoolfield, who lives in Beckley, definitely plans to be there to honor a critical part of her past and future. 'I haven't missed a Sunday,' she said. 'I never have joined another church.' She also attends other churches, obviously, and says she has likely been to more churches with Halstead than she has with anybody else. The larger church community has been her community, she said. 'I lost my first son, and he didn't have insurance. All these churches raised money for me to bury my son.' Going to church back in the day gave her a solid path for her life, she said. 'During those days, our parents brought us (family of seven) to church,' she said. 'We didn't come on our own then; we were so young. We had to be at church for the 11 o'clock service, had to be right here.' 'After Sunday school, our Dad used to always ask us what we learned,' Schoolfield added. 'We had to tell him that. Each one of us had to say something ... and had to repeat a Bible verse (always different from the others) before we ate.' She 'learned so much' from that raising, she said. And, she gained knowledge and wisdom from the church and the community. 'We learned so much from the community,' she said. 'We had to love everybody. We learned more about the Lord then. 'Yes, Jesus Loves Me' was our favorite song.' Good memories such as Sunday school downstairs with 'coal heat and a big pot-bellied stove,' prayer meeting on Wednesday and church on Sunday, and choir practice on Tuesday evenings are still with her. 'I just enjoyed every bit of it.' She also remembers having a favorite seat in the back of the church at one point. 'My aunt said, 'Listen, you don't sit in the back. When the Lord comes, He gonna be up front.' From then on, I sat up here in the front seat.' That has resulted in her having a front seat to viewing history unfold.
