b'And Winston is Winston McGregor, president of thethe farm, he says. My great hope is that this is a program Guilford Education Alliance, a nonprofit that supportswe can build on.Guilford County Schools. The alliance maintains the Teacher Supply Warehouse, which provides high-demand classroomMeanwhile, Dr. Wyatt was busy working as a champion to supplies that teachers would otherwise typically buy withthe student with whom he was pairedAntione Young, a their own money.14-year-old with dreams of playing in the NFL. During a few dinners and trips to a bowling alley, always accompanied Fifteen ConeCorpsby Antiones mother, Varanese Morris, Dr. Wyatt urged him participants would arrive atto have a back-up plan. In sports, he told Antione, youre Peacehaven Farm and thealways one injury away from never having a career. Teacher Supply Warehouse in Juneright when theWhen Morris mentioned that Antione was reluctant to get a two nonprofits begin theirCOVID-19 vaccination, which had just become available for busiest seasons. teenagers, Dr. Wyatt discretely dropped in a few mentions of the vaccines safety during their conversations, careful not to Things were coming together.badger him.The momentum led to an additional idea: Those kidsDr. Wyatt also knows the names of Antiones friends, asks need someone to mentor them, Dr. Wyatt told Schneider.questions about his classes and offers subtle advice about I want to find someone from Cone Health to be theirthe future.champion. He sent emails to the systems top officials tellingDr. Wyatt has helped (Antione) see that he has greatness in them about James call for 500 jobs, explaining the urgenthim, and that he doesnt have to be a follower, Morris says. need to help give teenagers something meaningful to doI believe he has brought Antione some calm and helped him during the summer, and asking for their time and effort tofigure out who hes supposed to be.support the program. By the time ConeCorps began, each teen was paired with aThis was what had been missing in previous programs, senior-level leader, including Dr. Wyatt. The champions wouldaccording to Dr. Wyatt. One-on-one mentoring, combined keep in touch with them during the program, share somewith the opportunity to do meaningful work for actual money. lunches and, according to Dr. Wyatt, open up the world toIt was one of the first times Ive felt like we were actually them, show them what they can do based on the experiencesfocusing on the right thing, he says. At a lot of the of the people theyre meeting. meetings wed have before, we had great intentions. We had great people. But we stopped. We all suffered from the same A breath of life thinglack of focus on how to really have an effect. Around the end of June,ConeCorps seemed to focus on having a positive effect. ConeCorps participants reported to PeacehavenBy summers end, the mood had brightened downtown at Farms and the Teacherspolice headquarters, where officials tracked 525 teenagers Supply Warehouse. Forwith summer jobs. The chief is planning on repeating the many of them, it wasrequest in 2022.their first real job. Market America heard about theAnd so is Cone Health. ConeCorps came together in a mad program and provided allrush and was still a resounding success. Just imagine what it 15 participants with laptopscould be with more planning.an unexpected bonus.Philanthropy allowed it to happen, Schneider says. It Cochran imagined the teens would be a big help with thewasnt something that Cone Health could have easily done day-to-day tasks of running a working farmcleaningwithout those dollars.the barn, weeding, harvesting cucumbers and onions and squash. And they were. They worked their way across 89 acres, sometimes dodging rain by working inside to clean and box vegetables for the farms shareholders.What he didnt anticipate, however, was how much theirSupport innovativeenergy and spirit would impact the organization at a timeprevention programswhen COVID-19 had made the work much harder. None of them had ever been on a farm before, according to Cochran,like ConeCorpswhich made the many questions they asked and the initiative they showed all the more special.Visit conehealthphilanthropy.org or contact the teamIt sounds hokey, but it was like a breath of life came back toat philanthropy@conehealth.com or 336.832.9452 Impact Report 202111'