THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 15, 1995 TAG: 9512130139
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 09 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY REBECCA A. MYERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 150 lines
HIS SMILE IS SAID to ``shed more light and warmth than the sun.''
It's an infectious smile, spreading easily to those around him.
And it belongs to John G. Hatcher Jr., executive director of Wesley Community Service Center.
Last Sunday, Hatcher was given even more reason to beam. He was honored for a quarter century of service to the center, one of 121 national mission projects of the United Methodist Church.
In a memory book containing dozens of letters to Hatcher and presented to him during the celebration, almost all the notes made some mention of his ``pearly whites.''
``It goes without saying that you deserve much more than just one gala celebration, but with your happy smile and humble demeanor, you'll probably say it is too much,'' wrote Dorothy M. Olds, president of the local unit of United Methodist Women.
``You smile on the outside because you are always smiling on the inside,'' wrote Jennie Gainey.
Since 1970, Hatcher has catered to the needs of the city's less fortunate through programs he oversees at the Wesley Community Center.
These programs include nutritional meals for the elderly and the homebound, emergency assistance for those who need help resettling, individual counseling, affordable child-care services, after-school tutorial programs and adult education classes.
The center is patterned after the settlement house movement, which started in England, where dedicated neighbors came to disadvantaged communities to work and live among the residents.
Portsmouth's first center opened in 1937 in a classroom of Wright Memorial Methodist Church at Fourth and Randolph streets in Newtown. It later moved to the 200 block of Henry St., where it remained through the 1970s until urban renewal forced residents out of Newtown. During this time, the Wesley Center was instrumental in relocating families.
In 1980, the center settled into its present location within the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial United Methodist Church in Prentis Park.
Hatcher, 45, started with the center in 1970 after escorting a group of senior citizens there for a tour. At the time, he was a 20-year-old college student majoring in sociology at Norfolk State.
``Believe it or not, it was the first time I had actually been in Newtown, even having lived in Portsmouth all my life,'' said Hatcher, who grew up in Truxtun. ``I'd heard about Newtown, but had never been over into the community.''
Hatcher found the southside neighborhood intriguing.
``It was a community in need,'' he said. ``It was disadvantaged for a variety of reasons, but yet it was also a community which had strength - real strength. It was a real community.''
Such was the inspiration for Hatcher to begin working at the center. And it remains his motivation for staying.
``There are communities, families, individuals who suffer from brokenness that we have to respond to,'' he said. ``I see it as a response that the church has to make, a response that individuals have to make, a response that organizations have to make.''
The center operates on a shoestring budget of about $165,000 funded through the United Methodist Church, the United Way of South Hampton Roads, as well as private contributions.
``It pretty much depends upon the voluntary giving of organizations and individuals, so it can get real tight sometimes,'' said Hatcher. ``We've seen times when we've had to make decisions about what bills to pay this particular month.''
Jeanne Wood, past president of the Wesley board of directors, praised Hatcher for his excellent administrative ability.
``He gets more done with a small amount of effort, with a small budget to work on, and not a lot of people to help him,'' she said.
``His administrative ability is just outstanding. It would have to be, or the center wouldn't run as well as it does.''
And Wood adds that Hatcher could be making more money elsewhere.
``But the dedication that he has for Wesley Community Center is unbelievable,'' she said. ``He has a deep love for people.''
Hatcher is still faced today with the same challenges that brought him to Wesley 25 years ago: high poverty and unemployment rates, a growing elderly population, rising crime rates, school dropouts and a lack of affordable housing and child care.
Though the problems remain the same, it seems the intensity has changed somewhat.
``There was not as much of a drug and crime problem when we first started,'' he said. ``The drug problem and the violence in our society have blossomed, but we're still dealing with issues of brokenness.''
Hatcher's solution is to empower people, families and organizations in an effort to help build a sense of community.
Through the years, Hatcher has gone from being a social activist, encouraging residents to attend civic league meetings that would serve as a voice for the neighborhood, to a man who now works quietly behind the scenes to relieve the plight of the poor.
``John is totally dedicated, extremely kind and relates to people as individuals,'' said Anne Long, who shares Hatcher's commitment to the city's less fortunate.
``He appreciates people. When he sees people down there, it's really with a caring - really caring - attitude. People just love him. They really do,'' said Long, another past president of Wesley.
``He comes across as laid-back, but that's because he's just so calm. I've never seen him get ruffled.''
Wood agrees.
``He never loses his temper,'' she said. ``I've seen situations where had I been the one that was on the hot seat, I would have been flying in different pieces, but John is always very calm.''
One of six children, Hatcher graduated from I.C. Norcom High School in 1968. He and his wife, a Methodist minister, live in Churchland. They have no children.
It was something in his upbringing, Hatcher believes, that contributed to his desire to help those less fortunate.
``We were brought up in a Christian home with a commitment to assist and reach out,'' said Hatcher, an Episcopalian.
He also credits teachers and family friends with instilling the philosophy that ``we're here to help and assist others.''
In his 25 years with the Wesley Center, Hatcher can't recall ever contemplating a career change.
``It's the kind of work that I've enjoyed coming to every day,'' he said. ``There has not been a day that I've regretted.''
Over the years, Hatcher has measured his success rate, he said, through the faces of the people that he's helped serve through the center.
``Watching folks who have come through the agency as they have achieved and attained in life has been meaningful to me,'' he said.
Many of these people return to the center to help others. Hatcher sees that as a kind of return on the investment that Wesley has made in the community.
Meanwhile, Hatcher continues to look to the future.
``I'm going to hang in as long as I'm an effective player in this operation,'' he said.
``Whether it's going to be 10 or 20 years, five years or a week, I'll hang in until I can't do any more.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on cover by Mark Mitchell
John Hatcher
Photos
John Hatcher, executive director of Wesley Community Service Center,
works in his office at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial United
Methodist Church in Prentis Park. He started working for the center
in 1970 as a 20-year-old sociology student at Norfolk State.
In a memory book containing dozens of letters to Hatcher and
presented to him during a celebration of his 25 years of service,
almost all the notes made some mention of his ``pearly whites,''
which he flashes on today's cover.
Staff photo by Richard L. Dunston
John Hatcher, right, and his wife, The Rev. Myrtle Hatcher, talk
with longtime friends, Harold and Alice Richardson, during Hatcher's
25th anniversary celebration at West End United Methodist Church.
by CNB