POWERGRAMS

30 "We serve anyone who walks in, no questions asked. No one's complaining," Cochran says smiling. The Red Door Kitchen crew and volunteer drivers distribute 30,000 or more meals annually to homebound seniors, blind, deaf and disabled citizens, as well as to sick people who request help and are approved by an independent organization. Forty-five drivers use their own vehicles and time, though businesses like First Bank of Alabama let employees deliver while on the company clock. "The fun thing is our drivers get attached to the folks on their routes," says Billy Sparkman, chairman of the board of the nonprofit. "The drivers may be the only person that the people getting that meal talk to that whole day." Working with a $60,000 annual budget, Red Door Kitchen is a United Way agency that depends on donations of food and money. The Community Food Bank of Central Alabama and canned food drives by schools provide much of the food. The city contributes funding, as do many businesses, churches and individuals. The annual "Afternoon of Praise" bringing together about 100 singers and a 20-piece orchestra at the Ritz is "a huge fundraiser for us," Sparkman says. Recent renovations have produced a 95 health rating in the kitchen, which sports freshly painted floors and walls, and a new industrial stove, commercial venting and walk-in cooler. The storage area where bulk food was previously stacked on wood pallets now has stainless steel sorting tables and racks lining the walls. Sparkman says the next targets are replacing the sliding glass customer-service windows and the buildings' exterior siding. And while finding more funding and quality, inexpensive food is always the priority, Sparkman says the impending crisis is getting younger volunteers to deliver the meals on routes currently manned mostly by retirees. "It could be as big a threat to our program as anything else," says Sparkman, who is an AIDB retiree. "The mission of Red Door Kitchen is a great one: You don't think about people in America being hungry in this day and time, but there are a lot of them out there." HALL OF HEROES Curator Jimmy Williams walks through the Hall of Heroes intent on quickly sharing the museum's highlights, as just one veteran spotlighting many others' achievements. He moves from one section to the next sandwiched between more than 1,000 shots of soldier's faces. Williams stands beneath overhanging uniforms of every branch of the military spanning every conflict since World War I. "There's a lot of things here – not bragging – that you can't find in a bigger museum anywhere," Williams says. The year-old museum inside a long-time shoe store building that's on the National Register of Historic Places is stocked again to the rafters, only now with rare military memorabilia rather than Red Goose footwear. The red neon shoe logo in the front display windows is all that remains from the store that former owner Robert Weaver's family gave to the city four years ago. Weaver was a key supporter and fundraiser for veterans and AIDB. Manager Amie Gable says the free museum has had more than 900 visitors from 25 states, thanks "almost completely" to the unpaid efforts of area veterans. Mayor Jimmy Cooper helped restore the heart pine flooring, while other local vets made electric and plumbing improvements for the 1870 building that is now all-electric, with a heat pump, high- efficiency water heater and LED lighting. An 800-square-foot deck and stage was added to the back of the building for special events. James Wellman is working on wiring along the baseboards as Williams talks. Wellman is a South Africa native who worked for the U.S. Department of State, among others, before settling down in Talladega and joining the museum board of directors. He, too, wants to ensure that U.S. veterans are not forgotten, noting that at least 300 men from Talladega County have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country since World War I began. The museum origin goes back 15 years to when the local library collection of veterans' photos outgrew the hallway where they hung. Fundraising started for something bigger, and after a concerted community effort, the Hall of Heroes opened April 13, 2018. Veterans and their families continue donating items such as vintage flags, photos, medals, newspapers and more uniforms. "We have quite a collection, one of the most extensive anywhere," Williams, who was an Army medic, says of the uniforms. Framed discharge papers signed on Sept. 12, 1945 show Retired Army Col. Chuck Keith tours Hall of Heroes. U.S. Navy dress uniform is one of many on display.

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