Broadening horizons: Heartland Dream Team founder stays committed to area youth

Fred Pennington never has forgotten the gesture of a neighbor while growing up in downtown St. Louis.

Pennington, now 62, was around age 10 and one of 12 children being raised by his mom, Ruby Mims, when the Weavers made a lasting impression.

Pennington's father, an alcoholic, was not involved in his life.

"My mother was a very spiritual Christian woman, but we didn't have a lot," Pennington said. "I didn't realize it at the time because I felt like we had everything we needed. I was fine. But we come up kind of rough."

The Weaver household was a little different -- mother, father, two daughters and one son all lived under one roof.

Peighton Robinson poses for a photo after the Heartland Dream Team's baked goods sale at St. James AME May 14 in Cape Girardeau. Fred Pennington (not pictured) is taking a group of local youths to Jefferson City this weekend.Andrew J. Whitaker

"You know, they were doing OK," Pennington said.

They approached Mims, known as Aunt Ruby to the neighborhood, one summer about her son, a boy who liked sports, music and stayed out of trouble. They wanted to send Fred to camp where he could canoe, fish and sleep outdoors.

"I'd never done nothing like that," Pennington said. "They just wanted to do it. They wanted to pay for it, and they paid for it. My mother let me go to that camp. I went to camp and I was doing stuff I never realized existed. ... It just opened up a whole new world for me. A lot of kids in my neighborhood didn't get anything like that; they just didn't because of their situation. They just weren't exposed to that stuff. These people put it in their heart to give me the opportunity to go."

This weekend, Pennington, along with four other members of the Heartland Dream Team, is overseeing 23 youths from the Cape Girardeau and Charleston, Missouri, areas on a four-day trip to St. Louis. The trip is part of the Youth Educational Adventures (Y.E.A), which is a yearlong mentoring program run by the Heartland Dream Team.

Informative visits to college campuses like Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis and Lincoln University in Jefferson City are central to the trip, but it also will include a day at Six Flags. It's broadening horizons with a touch of fun, and it's something Pennington is passionate about.

He speaks with an unfiltered energy, delivering his words with colorful conviction and urgency.

"We got to give these kids some hope, man," Pennington said. "To me, that's where it's at. Show them something else. I know we can't change the world, we can't change the whole neighborhood, but if we can get one or two there, one or two there, you know, to me it's worth it. And I know it works. It worked in my life.

"Now my mother had her foot on my neck, don't get me wrong, but stuff was still going on all around me, but I had other options, other outlets, other ways, and that's what we're trying to do here."

Pennington is a mover and a shaker, especially when it comes to youth. He's quick to reach across aisles to help provide the positive influences he thinks they need.

From left, O Ryan Gardener, Montell Jackson, Fred Pennington, Peighton Robinson and Ramona Bailey pose for a photo after their baked goods sale at St. James AME Sunday, May 14, 2017 in Cape Girardeau. Fred Pennington is taking a group of kids to Jefferson City this upcoming weekend.Andrew J. Whitaker

He's served as a coach in church league basketball and Cape youth tackle football when his six children were growing up, and he was the person former U.S. Representative Bill Emerson turned to after being contacted by one of his former campaign staffers, Shawn Grindstaff, who started a group called Wyoming Lighthouse Incorporated while attending law school in Wyoming. The group wanted to host youths from Southeast Missouri for a week of activities.

Pennington became the point man, shepherding a couple trips to Wyoming, taking about 12 youths each time.

However, his passions made him want to reshape the trips.

He told himself, "This is cool, the nature thing is great, but now lets take some kids to find out about the history of this country, about what makes this country tick and all the museums and different stuff."

He organized The Heartland Dream Team in 1995 and Y.E.A. with the goal of making other destinations possible that would open both eyes and minds.

The first such trip went to Washington, D.C., the first of "six or seven" excursions to the nation's capitol, with visits places like the Smithsonian, Holocaust Memorial Museum, U.S. Capitol and White House.

A later trip through the South, taken "five or six times," visits the Danny Thomas Pavilion next to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, to gain appreciation for life, and focuses on historical places and events from the Civil War and civil rights movement of the 1960s. Several important stops include the National Civil Rights Museum, Martin Luther King's church where he preached in Atlanta, the Lorraine Motel, where King was slain, and stops in Alabama that include seeing the bus Rosa Parks rode.

"We want to educate and broaden the horizons of these young people and give them the opportunity to see there is a big, old world out there, and you can do anything you want that's positive if you apply yourself.

"And the purpose of the civil rights and going to the Smithsonian and different things is to show people that people sacrificed a lot so that you could vote, go to school. You use to couldn't go to school and drink off the same water fountain. You all couldn't hang out together, all that. And you need to understand you want to keep that going because you know this is the right way. ... People have died so you could do this, so we can do it like it's supposed to be done."

A visit to the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum, a Memphis home owned by a wealthy white couple in the 1800s that helped runaway slaves, is one of his must-sees, along with its trap doors that facilitated escape. He hopes to impart awareness of the chances taken for all involved in the fight against slavery and for civil rights.

"You hear people say, 'Oh civil rights, that was the blacks against the whites,' -- no, it wasn't," Pennington said. "Every white person wasn't bad, you know; every black person ain't good. The thing is, when you believe in a cause ... I wanted them to see this. People dying."

He cited Michigan housewife Viola Liuzzo, who traveled to Selma, Alabama, to assist King with a march. The 39-year-old mother of five was murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan as she drove to the airport to return home.

"She was killed trying to help," Pennington said. "She could have stayed at home in Michigan. She didn't even have to be out there."

He also wants the youngsters to appreciate education.

"People use to have to go to school with guards and stuff," Pennington said. "Understand that. So all you got to do is pick up the doggone book and go to class. That's important."

However, Pennington knows the reality of situations and surroundings. He knows why books often are not picked up.

He also knows youth. Each trip ends on a fun note.

"Reward them a little bit," Pennington said. "They're kids. You can only feed a kid so much information."

This year the fundraising finished on the lean side, resulting in what he calls a "secondary trip," which still adheres to the Y.E.A. mission.

The group raised money through a bake sale, a car wash, selling tickets to a gospel concert and donations from community organizations and businesses.

The money helps opens the doors to hotels, minds and the world for participants, who Pennington often sees exchanging numbers and hugs at the end of a trip.

"When I see that, I don't mind getting out and begging the next year, because I see it," Pennington said.

He knows the memories and inspiration can last a lifetime.

jbreer@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3629