news-record.com

Sitting crouched in a small chair in the corner of the West End Ministries office hastily writing checks, Judy Mendenhall is asked what she is doing.

"I'm writing emergency checks (for the needy)," she said, without ceasing writing. "They need these right away."

Why is Mendenhall, one of the most talented and versatile leaders in High Point politics and business during the past 30 years, working here? "I'm the executive director of West End Ministries for now," she said.

Mendenhall has been in several high places:

• High Point's first female mayor, serving 11 years on the High Point City Council.
• First executive director (for six years) of the High Point Market Authority, a powerful position that made her the ringmaster of the city's twice-a-year furniture markets where thousands of people from around the world attend to place orders with furniture manufacturers.
• First female president of High Point Chamber of Commerce -- a spot she held for 7 1/2years.
• Vice president of the Piedmont Center Business Park, a world class business park.
• Business manager of the city's Shakespeare Festival for four years.
• Executive director of High Point Substance Abuse Coalition.
• Director of development for Westchester Academy.

West End, a community of decaying houses, worn store buildings and, until recent years, one of the city's most crime-ridden neighborhoods. That's a long way from the well-dressed crowds that flock downtown to see the grandiose works of Shakespeare.

Mendenhall doesn't flinch at the comparisons to her past work. "When God calls, you've got to answer. When one door closes, God opens another one," she said.

"We have a wonderful staff that is very committed," she said.

Mendenhall and her staff are involved with helping homeless women, feeding and clothing the poor, running recreation for children, helping the elderly and the unemployed and running a thrift store.

It's a new area for this talented leader, who says she is still in good health at 70. Her leadership skills and her knowledge of finances were learned during the several years she was active in the Junior League, she said. She attended Greensboro College for two years after graduating from high school in Winston-Salem.

Anyone who knows Mendenhall knows she is up to the task at West End.

She never planned on being in the West End neighborhood training staff, trying to raise the expectations of what the agency can accomplish or being blessed with a vision of how to improve this underprivileged neighborhood.

Not until the telephone rang. "What you doing now?" asked Vicki Miller, a West End Ministries board member. Not anything, said Mendenhall, who had recently given up a part-time job in the finance department with Open Door Ministries. The agency had grown to the point that a full-time finance officer was needed, and Mendenhall wasn't looking for full-time work. "I stayed until we finished the Crop Walk," she said.

"Vicki told me that Rev. Jim Summey was giving up being executive director of West End Ministries.

It was too much for him to be pastor of a church and do this, too, especially since Leslie's House for homeless women was built. He was taking another position but would remain on the board here.

"Was I interested in the job?

"I talked with some folks and decided to help out. When God calls, you can't say 'no.' But I figured I would be out of here by February. After I got to studying about what needs to be done, I've penciled myself in through 2009," Mendenhall said.

This mother of five and grandmother of seven is putting her training, financial and organizational skills into high gear. Don't bet on her being gone by the end of 2009.

"We've already accomplished a lot," she said. Mendenhall has identified a list of things necessary to improving the outreach of the ministry:

• Move the thrift store to a better location, even if a building must be constructed. "The store brings in 80 percent of our income and we need to put it in a better location for the benefit of our workers and our customers."
• Use the space vacated by the store in the First Reformed Church of Christ, to expand the classes for seniors; and to offer life skills programs for whoever needs them; build a modern kitchen that can be used for a variety of projects, including feeding the women at Leslie's House.
• Offer a variety of classes.
• Start a garden club.
• Move the Boys and Girls Club, sponsored by the Salvation Army, from Rankin Memorial United Methodist Church to the basement of the Reformed Church.

"We need to make this a teaching place," she said. "Even if we have to buy the church, we can renovate it," she said.

That means raising funds for construction and programs, she added.

"We're very excited about the future. We have some very good workers here; and we are going to need even more volunteers to help," Mendenhall said.

"At this point in my life, if I can bring my background and knowledge to help this ministry, that will be a blessing."

In this job, somehow it seems that Mendenhall has stepped up from those lofty perches.

Contact Bob Burchette at bburchette@triad.rr.com