Willie's Words of Wisdom: Summer 2016

You may have noticed an exciting and electrifying energy that has taken over Towncreek Vision Corporation. We are working on future plans with a vengeance and I could not be more pleased! 

The concept of Towncreek Vision was placed on my heart during my tenure as president of the International Longshoreman Association. This role allowed a small town country boy the opportunity to travel all across the country! Although my career was tremendously rewarding, I couldn’t help but notice the multitude and variety of resources and activities available to kids and adults in urban cities and compare them to a distinct lack of those same resources within my own community.

The turning point that prompted me to action was a seemingly small denial of resources. In 1991 the churches in our area decided to form a softball league. During that time the only softball fields available for use were the ones located within the county parks. There was a park about two miles from our community that we assumed we could use.  However, when we requested to use this facility for our league we were refused. Although this didn’t stop the softball league from playing and practicing, it forced us to go about ten miles outside of our community to Wilmington to use their fields for our practices and games.

Deeply disturbed, I began speaking with other members within the community about the situation. Having served as County Commissioner, I was no stranger to public service and was asked to take the lead on the project. My initial response was to refuse. However, after much prayer, encouragement and assurances of support from community members, I decided to embrace the challenge and have never looked back.

Having served as President for the past 25 years I am proud of our accomplishments. We’ve been able to build that softball field to serve our community and also a community center for events.  Our list of accomplishments also include opening a Food Bank, providing job training and a summer youth food program. 

Although our accomplishments often times looked easy, each and every one of them presented its own set of challenges. As with many non-profits, the primary challenge is always funding.  We’ve been serving our community for many years using very limited budget and a dedicated staff of volunteers. However, change is not only inevitable but necessary to moving our organization in a new more sustainable direction. 

We look forward to bringing you along on this brand new journey towards providing even more programs to the Towncreek Community that will allow us to exceed our greatest expectations of service. We appreciate your continued support and look forward to future partnership opportunities.

Willie E. Sloan
President