The Nimocks

Aliyah Singleton

The first week of Summer Service Partnership has been a fun and enlightening experience. Exploring Woodlawn has opened my eyes to the many different assets the community has to offer. On Wednesday, going to the Green City Market was very fun and new to me. I enjoyed learning about new foods that are healthy and fun because usually I'm accustomed to boring healthy foods that don't taste as good. My favorites were sugar snap peas, fresh strawberries, raspberries, and whole wheat bread with a garlic cheese spread. It shocked me that I would like the sugar snap peas because I have always hated the taste of the normal frozen ones. On Thursday, we met two of the oldest residents of Woodlawn, Rudy and Joyce Nimocks. The Nimocks have lived in Woodlawn for 60 years, are in their 80s, and are the most inspiring and community involved people I have ever met. I loved their enthusiasm and positivity about rebuilding and restoring health and education in the community because they made me want to make a serious change too. Joyce and Rudy told us how in the 1950s Woodlawn was highly populated and a desirable place to live in because of safety and education. It was surprising for me to learn this because I only knew of the unfortunate, poor characteristics of the community. Although Woodlawn is worse now than it was in the 50s, it was encouraging to hear about how the Nimocks are already working on making Woodlawn as good as it used to be. They have lots of projects and programs they're working on and I would love to be involved with them to help in increasing health awareness, education, safety, and housing in the community.