Waddie Welcome & the Beloved Community

Our purpose is to tell a story. A story about a man named Waddie Welcome. There are five points to make up front. . . . . .This telling of Mr. Welcome's story began as Tom Kohler joined slides and written materials with a reflection written by Susan Earl to create a talk for people concerned about community building, and especially about community building as it is done by people associated with Chatham-Savannah Citizen Advocacy, as Mr. Welcome was. Response to the talks led to this book. You will see Lester Johnson, a citizen advocate, in this story, but this story is bigger than that. It is the story of Mr. Welcome's eighty-seven years. . . .We would not usually be telling a person's story in such detail; people's lives are private. But Mr. Welcome became in the latter part of his life a public figure and a man who felt his life had a message. Mr. Welcome's great nieces have seen the story and think that it is respectful. This is the story of a remarkable man and the people who surrounded him to make their whole community stronger. It is a life lesson in community building from people who became masterful by doing it. It is a treasure story with amazing photos. "The beloved community is not a utopia, but a place where the barriers between people gradually come down and where the citizens make a constant effort to address even the most difficult problems of ordinary people. It is above all else an idealistic community." - Jim Lawson