Mothers Club gives children a sense of community
Photo credit: Heather Walsh | Executive board members of The Mothers Club of Wheatley Heights are, first row: Tonya DeVille and Leslie Vaughan-Wilson; second row: Deborah Horne, Michele Cole and Khadijah Starling; third row: Michelle Richards, Victoria Gumbs Moore, Kisha Fowlkes and Felicia Thomas-Williams at their monthly meeting at the Wyandanch-Wheatley Heights Ambulance Corps in Wyandanch. (Feb. 5, 2013)
The saying "It takes a village to raise a child" is not just idle talk for residents of Wheatley Heights.
In 1980, African-American families in that community, particularly mothers, worried about the impact that the closing of a neighborhood school would have on their children. They feared that the students would be isolated from their peers and neighbors and lose a sense of their common heritage.
Despite...
