Thank you, Nancy Oates!

LETTERS TO TE EDITOR

I have known Nancy for 23 years, first as a neighbor & friend. In addition to being a writer, she is a child advocate. She has a graduate degree in Psychology from Columbia University and has served as a probation officer & parole officer with youthful offenders and adults, and pioneered an alternative to incarceration project. She understands what poverty does to the heart, mind, body, & soul, and seeks compassionate, healing, creative ways to remedy those challenges that she has seen lead to self-destruction, lost lives, and crime. She has seen first hand that being outside in nature & green space is healing to those who are living in “concrete jungles” and/or poverty and can’t afford to pay for recreation. She will not sacrifice green space for affordable housing, and will work to make both possible because they are both essential for a healthy & diverse community. She seeks to provide Hope to those who feel they have none. She has also served as a volunteer with her children’s scout troops and with Habitat for many years. She is an advocate for preserving and nurturing neighborhoods–including historic ones. She is an advocate for providing affordable housing for our work force and retired work force and for providing parks and green space and safe places to play for people who don’t have the money to pay for recreation. Nancy is an advocate & a public servant committed to protecting and nurturing neighborhoods, nurturing and protecting the natural environment and benefiting the diversity of people who live and work in Chapel Hill. I will miss her voice & presence on our Town Council, and am grateful for her service, and hope she will continue to serve our community. We need her voice.

Molly McConnell, child advocate, volunteer, 73 y/o lifelong resident of North Carolina, living locally in modestly priced rental housing since 1970.