Nelda Gibbs, cafeteria manager for Mathews County Public Schools, and 21-year-old cafeteria employee Julia Campbell have developed a special relationship over the past couple of years. That relationship has led Nelda to hold a barbecue fundraiser to raise $5,000 to help Julia through a tough time financially.
The fundraiser will be held from 5-7 p.m. next Thursday, May 31, at Mathews High School. The menu is pulled pork or barbecued chicken, cole law, baked beans, homemade desserts, tea and lemonade. Tickets are $10 and will be sold at the door.
“It’s all homemade, and we’ll have plenty,” Nelda said.
Nelda and Julia met when Julia was a high school student working in the kitchen at MHS through the school’s Employment for Everyone program. Something about her “really pulled at my heart,” Nelda said.
Usually, EFE students who work during high school “sort of disappear” after graduation and no one hears from them again, said Nelda. But Julia was different.
“I felt like she had a lot of potential,” said Nelda. “The employees embraced her, and I felt very drawn to her.”
When Julia graduated, Nelda offered her a part-time job. Julia was happy to be able to continue working, and her grandmother, the late Marianne Campbell, was relieved. Marianne was the only mother Julia had ever known. She adopted Julia as an infant and was thereafter simply “Mom.” She was the only family Julia had in her life.
“Marianne was very loving and nurturing to Julia,” said Nelda. “She wanted a good life for her.”
Nelda did extra little things for Julia, such as coaching her through the driver’s education manual so she could pass her test, and recruiting her husband, Stuart Gibbs, a former driver’s ed teacher, to help, as well. Three churches paid for Julia to go to driving school—Central United Methodist, Mathews Baptist, and Salem United Methodist—and Nelda and Stuart gave Julia some behind-the-wheel experience. When she passed her test after taking it a second time, they celebrated at Chick-fil-A.
On Feb. 1 this year, Julia was offered a full-time position in the high school kitchen, and life for her seemed to be getting better.
But just 10 days later, on the night of Feb. 11, Julia’s life was shattered. Nelda received a distraught call from Julia. She had found her grandmother lifeless in her bed.
Nelda and Julia’s other co-workers, along with friends such as Mary Ann DelRosso, helped Julia get through the following days and weeks and months, taking her grocery shopping or bowling or to the movies. Meanwhile, they had to deal with another crisis. Marianne had a reverse mortgage on her home, and Julia had to get out. Nelda was able to find her a place to stay—a mobile home owned by Michael and Diane Hall—and DelRosso helped her move in.
But Julia is finding it tough to afford the rent along with other expenses, so Nelda is having the dinner to help supplement her income. They’ve already begun searching for a part-time job for Julia in addition to the 6½ hours a day she works at the high school, and they’ve applied for subsidized housing.
All of Julia’s coworkers and friends “have been wonderful,” said Nelda. She said she and the others are also trying to find a small car for Julia to replace her mom’s old car. The fundraiser will help with those costs.
“I feel like, if I’ve ever seen God involved in anything, it’s been in bringing Julia to me,” said Nelda.
Asked how she feels about her co-workers, Julia gave a small smile and softly said, “I love ’em.”
For more information, or to help out with Julia’s expenses, call 804-695-6659.