Some Danville men known as the ‘Three Kings of Peace’ may soon be spreading their positive message to more local schools. Ed Butler, President of the Danville Branch of the NAACP, is one of the members of the group which has become a familiar site at North Ridge Middle School, South View Upper Elementary School and Danville High School.
Butler described the group’s mission as he and other members of the group greeted students Tuesday as they arrived at North Ridge. ‘’We try to promote peace, love and compassion among the kids to make sure they have a better relation with the teachers and the staff – and to make sure that they get a good, quality education.’’
Nate ‘BoBo’ Smalls is another member of the Kings of Peace. He hopes the students understand the message they are trying to deliver. ‘’That they’ve got somebody that they can depend on. Somebody that can be here for them,’’ said Smalls. ‘’You know if anything goes wrong during the day they can come and talk to us and they can get comfort. They look around and know we’re right there for ‘em, you know. Because everybody’s got to have somebody to be there for them. Most of these kids – they need that comfort zone – so we give ‘em a comfort zone,’’ added Smalls.
North Ridge Principal Eliza Brooks (shown here) appreciates what the men are doing. ‘’You know they show up every morning. There’s not a day – rain, sleet, snow, sunshine – they are here to greet our students, to greet our parents every morning. They help kids get out of the cars. They make sure the traffic flows right out there in the mornings. So we just can’t express how valuable they are to us at the school,’’ said Brooks. She also appreciates the fact that the Kings of Peace are attempting to get more parents involved with the students. ‘’Just to see men who have already raised their children in our school system come back and give back to the community is an amazing thing. To be blessed to have them everyday talking to some of our young men – helping them make better choices and better decisions – is just truly amazing.’’
Besides Butler and Smalls, other members of the Kings of Peace include: Rev. Frank McCullough, Rev. R. J. Davis, Nate Brown and Mark Young. Butler says they have been asked to expand their services to other local schools.
Meanwhile, Smalls says he truly enjoys working with the students. ‘’I wouldn’t want to do nothing else, because I get so much pleasure – and enjoy just to see these little kids smile in the morning. And the knowing that the time that I’m going to be up here that I’m really kind of meaning something to them, to help them through their day.’’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*** [Note; If you know of other positive things that are happening in local and area schools, let us know about them. We are always looking for positive news – especially about kids – to feature on VermilionCountyFirst.com and our Danville radio stations – WDNL, WDAN and WRHK.]
