KIMBERLY BELLAMY
A dinner, gifts, fellowship, and inspiration to move forward were all things that Pinetops native Quenesha McNair gave the families of women reported missing or dead in Edgecombe County.
McNair’s non-profit organization, beGlobal, gathered the women’s 17 children and their guardians together at Golden Corral in Rocky Mount on Christmas Eve to give them a free meal, courtesy of the restaurant and Conetoe Chapel Missionary Baptist Church; gifts for the children, and a chance to turn their attention away from their deceased or missing loved ones during the holidays.
“It’s people like her (McNair) that make you believe in the next day,” said Jackie Wiggins, whose daughter Nikki Thorpe was murdered in 2007.
Wiggins is now raising four of Thorpe’s children and has adopted three of them.
Other women who were found murdered or missing include Jarniece Hargrove, 31, Elizabeth Smallwood, 33, Taraha Nicholson, 28, Ernestine Battle, 50, Melody Wiggins, 29, Denise Williams, 21, Yolanda Lancaster, 37, Joyce Renee Durham, 46, and Christine Boone, 43. Thorpe was 35.
The event changed the outlook of the holiday for 13-year-old Latrevier Nicholson, who mother Taraha Nicholson was murdered in March.
“I think it’s going to be a good Christmas. At first, I thought it wouldn’t have been the same,” Nicholson said.
Latrevier’s grandmother, Diana Nicholson, expressed appreciation for what McNair did for her grandchildren.
“They were so excited … they couldn’t wait to get here,” Diana said as she was holding Nicholson’s two-year-old son, Jamarius Nicholson.
“It’s been hard by she being gone … it’s just so touching. Someone was out there that was caring, and it met a lot to me,” Diana said.
Four SouthWest Edgecombe students involved in beGlobal, Jasnique Clayton, Donneshia Sweet, Mercedes McNeil and Jessica Randolph, all pitched in for the event by wrapping gifts and talking with the children to make them feel more comfortable.
“This has made me realize that I’m blessed to have the things I have, and it makes me more thankful for the things I have,” Clayton said, 17.
Conetoe Chapel’s pastor, Rev. Richard Joyner, said that his church will continue to provide support to initiative, beGlobal tackles past them helping fund the meal for the families.
“The needs of the family are not met by one day, but how we live every day,” he said.
The investigation for the children’s mothers continues as a task force comprised of local, state and federal agencies work together to find out who is behind the deaths and absence of these women.
The only murder case that has gotten some closure is Nicholson’s when Antwan Maurice Pittman, 31, was charged with her death in September.
