Letter: A life of service
Published 9:17 pm Sunday, October 22, 2017
- Kids do a performance about violence for the Stop the Violence Summit at Livingstone College in Salisbury on March 18, 2017. Kristi Craven/Salisbury Post
I am pleased that we have several excellent candidates for City Council and support several of them. None, however, can serve the city better than Al Heggins.
Al has lived a life of service. She served in the military for 19 years. She was honored by President Barack Obama as a White House Champion of Change for exemplary work in integrating immigrant and non-immigrant communities into greater High Point. She was recognized for remarkable service to Latino communities by the Institute for the Study of the Americas at UNC-Chapel Hill. She was recognized in a recent book on community activism.
She organized the Stop the Violence series of public meetings in Salisbury. She serves the community as a teacher.
Al is well prepared for engaging in city governance. She has completed the municipal and county administration course at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Government. She is a fair housing specialist. She is a trained mediator. She served the city of High Point as human relations director.
Her impressive background, however, does not completely capture what Al will bring to the council. Al cares deeply about people and listens to what they have to offer. She brings people together in ways that create bonds and commonality.
She does not hesitate to call out what is unjust, offensive, inaccurate even with her friends, but is never offensive herself. She is exactly what is needed to help the city rise above individual interests and old quarrels.
Your vote for Al will help move the council and the city forward in equity, efficiency, and collegiality.
— Nan Lund
Salisbury