community service

Lane Street Project: the season’s last service day.

The workday’s shoutouts:

  • to the veterans who visited Odd Fellows Cemetery Saturday morning to place flags for Memorial Day;
  • to Will Kinsler, who came back with friends Haley of Fayetteville and Savannah and Dustin of greater Raleigh. They spent a full shift hacking new wisteria from trees and clearing the tree line to aid our mowing efforts; and
  • to the inimitable Senior Force — Castonoble Hooks, R. Briggs Sherwood, and William Hooks — our foot soldiers month in and month out.

Finally, a resounding thank you to everyone who came out to help this season. Each of you made a tremendous difference in the reclamation of Odd Fellows Cemetery, and we are honored that you chose to spend a Saturday morning with us when you could have been doing anything else.

Big things are coming, and we hope you’ll continue to support us as we put the generous gifts we’ve received to work. Though our official cleanup season has ended, we may call on you for specially scheduled service days this summer or fall related to upcoming projects. Thanks again!

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, May 2026.

Signal Boost: One Love Neighborhood Empowerment Walk.

I didn’t see this flyer until after the fact, but I’m sharing it so you’ll be motivated to find out when One Love Neighborhood Empowerment Walk is again planning to traverse the heart of Historic East Wilson, beautifying our streets and getting in steps.

Lane Street Project’s own Senior Force stalwart Castonoble Hooks was invited yesterday to deliver a few history words to the volunteers gathered. I know he made sure they know they were walking through the neighborhood Samuel H. Vick built. 

Lane Street Project: March 28 recap!

Another heart-filling service day at Odd Fellows Cemetery!

Special thanks to our out-of-town guests Will from Fuquay-Varina and Emily and her son Seb all the way from Brooklyn, New York!

Mark your calendars now for our April 11 and 25 service dates!

Photo courtesy of Chris Facey.

Lane Street Project: next service day — March 28!

March has been a fantastic month for Lane Street Project! First, we welcomed our friends from Greenfield School:

Then, Wilson City Council adopted a positive plan for Vick Cemetery’s near future, one that included the additional ground-penetrating radar we have long urged.

Please help us keep us the momentum going by coming out to Odd Fellows Saturday, March 28, at 10:00 A.M. for our next cleanup service day. Greenfield students made tremendous progress clearing dead brush and high weeds in the interior of the cemetery. We want to continue that work, which is especially important as warming weather awakens the wisteria that infests the space. We also need to mow the front section of Odd Fellows as the grass begins to green up.

A couple of hours of work by a couple of dozen people make a tremendous difference. We hope to see you Saturday!

Excerpt from “Greenfield volunteers support cemetery cleanup,” Wilson Times, 24 March 2026; photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2026.

Lane Street Project: the March cleanups.

The weather has not been kind this cleanup season, but March is here with the promise of balmy weather. Our service days this month are the 14th and 28th.

We have specific goals we need to achieve over the second half of the season, and we encourage you to come out to lend a hand. There’s work for every level of ability, and we welcome you.

In preparation for a future project, we need to clip all the weeds and vines to the ground. Ideally, they should be low enough to keep them in check with a heavy-duty lawnmower.

We want to raze this clump of weeds between the Vick and Mincey plots.

We want to clear out the privet (the green stuff) and the dry weeds here. Try to avoid trampling the daffodils though, and watch out underfoot, there’s an old brick vault in this area.

We want to scalp this back to the tree line. Please don’t lean on grave markers.

Also, don’t cut the yucca. They were planted 100+ years ago to mark graves.

Any other little vine or sapling you see is fair game though.

Do you have a heavy-duty weed whacker? Perhaps with a brush cutter attachment? We really need your help!

Remember: SAFETY FIRST. Wear long pants and heavy boots or shoes. Gloves and goggles. There are tripping hazards at ground level, so please keep an eye out. Thank you!

Congratulations and gratitude, Castonoble Hooks!

Lane Street Project’s Castonoble Hooks is getting his flowers this month, and we are here for it! This past Sunday he received Mount Moriah Community Church’s Community Impact Award, one of three such honors bestowed upon him by area churches this month. We add our thanks to Cass Hooks for his dedication to the preservation and uplift of our history.

Photo courtesy of Jocelyn Drawhorn.