The Rev. John Hicks wasn't especially moved when he read last month that a 27-year-old mother of six was shot and killed outside a Charlotte strip club.

“I had grown numb to reading about murders and these kinds of things in our community,” he said.

But try as he might to ignore it, something inside wouldn’t let him. Hicks, an assistant pastor at First Fellowship Ministries in Charlotte and president of Synergy Farms International, which does work in developing countries, said he kept thinking about the victim’s children.

With help from a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police homicide detective, he contacted the mother of Juquina Harris, the shooting victim, to see how he might privately help. But after seeing the magnitude of the children’s needs, he later called some local churches, asking if they’d donate toys or serve as drop points.

What started as one man’s desire to help a family at Christmas has grown into something bigger.

Others join the call

So far this week, eight churches in North Carolina, including one in Winston-Salem, have agreed to donate money or collect toys. Two churches, Hicks said, have pledged $5,000 matching gifts. So has an anonymous individual.

A group of women in Orlando, Fla., heard about the Harris children and flew two representatives to Charlotte this week, while a group of psychiatrists is offering free psychological counseling.

A trust account was opened at Fifth-Third Bank, and Hicks hopes enough money is donated to cover bills, immediate needs and rent for two years. All of the money donated, he said, will be used exclusively for the children.

Children struggle to adjust

On Wednesday, Hicks stood in the Harris home, a low-rent apartment on N. Tryon Street, and marveled at how much the effort has grown.

“I just couldn’t sleep knowing that there were six kids involved in this situation,” he said. “And once I stepped foot on these grounds, I realized there were humans involved.”

Juquina Harris' mother, 47-year-old Jannie Harris, has left her own apartment and has been caring for her six grandchildren since her daughter was killed.

Read related story.

The older two children, she said, are dealing with "anger issues." The younger ones, she said, cannot fully grasp the concept of death. They sometimes ask when their mother will wake up.

“They’re going through something,” she said. “They have their bad days. It’s a different child every day. I’ve just been loving them up, you know... I’m all they’ve got.”

A life snuffed out

Juquina Harris died Nov. 18 after she was struck by a bullet outside the Silver Fox Club on Statesville Avenue. Witnesses told police that an argument broken out near the club entrance and that someone pulled a gun and began firing.

Juquina Harris was not the intended target.

Jannie Harris also denied initial reports that her daughter was a dancer at the club where she died.

"She was just out having fun," Jannie Harris said. "She went out with a bunch of girls. They were just going clubbing."

As president of Synergy Farms, an organization started in 2007 to teach micro-farming, Hicks said much of his attention has been focused on poor people in distant lands. He now wonders if more should be done at home.

"What surprised me is how far removed I am from everything that goes on," he said. "I thought I had a feel. I just didn't realize how sheltered I've become in my own church or religious community. I didn't realize that people here are suffering, and this kind of things happens all the time. It's more than a news story."

IF YOU WANT TO HELP:

The following locations will serve as drop-off points for toys and other gifts to the Harris children. Cash donations may be made at any Fifth Third Bank, payable to the Juquina Harris Memorial Fund.

Saturday, Dec. 4
Black Expo, 500 S. Tryon St. (Mint Museum Uptown), 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Synergy Farms International (Davidson Library), 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Christ Lutheran Church, 4519 Providence Road, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 11
Mount Carmel Baptist Church, 7237 Tuckaseegee Road, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
First Baptist Church, 301 S. Davidson St., 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
First Fellowship Ministries, 115 N. Cloudman St. (Grier Funeral Home), 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Christ Lutheran Church, 4519 Providence Road, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Synergy Farms International (Davidson Library) 10 a.m.-12 p.m.

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