T'Asia Bobbitt shines as Odum Home volunteer

Temika Bobbitt
Photo Editor 2004-2005

Sophomore T'Asia Bobbitt has really let herself shine when it comes to volunteering. After signing up to volunteer at the Odum Home for her own personal social reasons, she just couldn't walk away.

"I was looking for volunteer work so that I could join a social sorority. They said that it looks good on your application to have at least 40 hours, but I have been there since January," said Bobbitt at the end of the spring semester.

Bobbitt said she learned about Odum Home when she was in a Pembroke doctor's office with her older sister who overheard a conversation with one of the teenagers at the Odum Home and a social worker.

"My sister was also looking to volunteer, but we just could not find anywhere that our personalities could shine through," Bobbitt said.. "Luckily, Temika was being nosey, but both us and the wonderful people who work at the Odum Home consider it fate," Bobbitt said.

The Odum Home is located across the street from the Chavis University Center in Pembroke. The Home is financed through the Baptist Church and houses young adults that are in difficult situations or in the custody of The Department of Social Services.

"Both my sister and I were sent over to Elmore Cottage," Bobbitt explained.

The Odum Home is spilt into cottages for different situations and levels of the program. There are five cottages which are separated by gender. There is an emergency cottage for young adults that are there for a short time.

"I will never forget the day my sister and I went to Elmore Cottage," Bobbitt said. "I was so nervous on what to say to them and how they would feel about me coming to their home to offer tutoring and just someone closer to their age to talk to. They warmed up to me in no time and now they don't want me to go. I don't look at it as volunteering but as hanging out with some of my girlfriends."

Two women serve as "mothers" to the girls, Cathy Locklear and Cathy Lee. They alternate between the two of them every Tuesday. Both women stay six days to care for the girls. They shop, take them to school and after school functions; they help them to grow up to be independent women.

"Ms. Locklear and Ms. Lee are some of the best people in the world to take on such a job as watching over the girls. I really commend them and am happy to assist them in anyway I can. I cannot imagine giving up a big part of my life to care for strangers, but they do," Bobbitt said. "I look at the girls like sisters and I really care for them now. I am so grateful to have been part of someone's life and I hope they remember me as well as I will remember them for the rest of my life," she said.

Bobbitt is still volunteering at Elmore Cottage.