Karen Kistler

karen.kistler@salisburypost.com

 

SALISBURY — Food, fun, fellowship and information was on the menu for the June 3 gathering held at the Yadkin House Apartments on North Lee St., Salisbury.

Residents were being treated to a cookout on this day by staff of the Building Blocks Center, a local behavioral health agency that provides a variety of behavioral health services as well as providing community support, which is what they were doing on this particular day as members of their community support team was there.

Kevin McCullough, Darrell Fox and Levi Adams, who are part of the human resources and community support teams, were manning the grill preparing hamburgers and hot dogs for everyone to enjoy.

People were sitting outside enjoying the day as they waited on the food, which smelled good, said Sylvia Smith and Reneau Watkins.

Smith said she enjoyed events like this because “it gets us out here because some of us get stuck in our rooms and don’t come out. It entertains us. We talk to the other people that live here. We all get along.”

Watkins added that they try not to just stay in their rooms. 

“We try to come out and congregate.” 

This was the first year they have done this, said McCullough, adding that “we want to do it again. We hope they enjoy it.” 

The plan was to have the cookout last week, said Adams, as it was noted by staff members that May was Mental Health Awareness Month; however, the rain hindered them from being able to have it at that time.

“But we are here today, and we’re just enjoying it and hopefully everyone will get a good meal,” said Adams, adding that he hopes he can get the guys together and do something like this again for them.

“We just enjoy doing what we’re doing, coming over here, doing something for these seniors, and they’re so appreciative and we just enjoy doing stuff like this,” he said. “It just makes me so happy and all of us to be able to come out here and do this for them.”

Fox noted that sometimes when people get older and family have things going on, and “people feel like they have been forgotten, sometimes just a kind gesture like coming out and cooking can help them to feel relative again. So it’s just a really big gesture when you can kind of just sweeten the pot.”

Community outreach, which is part of Building Blocks’ mission, brought the group out to provide the cookout as well as to make the community aware of mental health and how it impacts people daily, a member of the staff noted.

Tajuan Kyles, who serves as one of the qualifier professionals, said she works with the teams to assess needs and help implement the strategies they want to use to support people and give them the care that they need.

She said that during the event, in addition to the meal and fellowship and information provided and referrals taken, they would be helping to “uplift this community.” Noting that some may not have family and may not often have visitors, they wanted “to give them a day where they can have fun, interacting with them, talking with them, lifting their spirits and letting them have a great day today.”

She had games for them to play after the meal, including Bingo and cards.

At a table where Kyles was seated, she could take referrals or provide information to people, and a flier was available that shared some of the services of the Building Blocks Center. These include adult and children outpatient therapy services mental health and substance abuse; couples, group and family therapists; intensive in-home services; community support team; medication management; peer support services; DWI service – N.C. Licensed provider and out of state reviews.

It was also noted that the community support team provides services to help people reintegrate and rehabilitate back into the community providing appropriate housing and help support basic needs of food, clothing and shelter.

Building Blocks Center is located at 225 N. Main St., Salisbury with corporate offices in Monroe. More information can be found at www.buildingblockscenter.com.