Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill, NC

Amey Adkins is an intern in the Johnson Internship Program. As each intern enters the program, they choose a community outreach project to involve themselves. Amey chose the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service.

I met Amey at the IFC to see what happens in the day in the life of a Johnson intern, serving a hot lunch to the homeless and some construction workers.

Those who come to the IFC know Amey well and follow her directions for courtesy and orderly service, mostly. If some of the patrons are having a rough day, Amey calmly restates the rules. Sometimes that means they stay and sometimes not.

"If she had kept up like that, I would have had to ask her to leave," Amey says about a vocal camera-shy patron.

Amey cooks, visits with her cookmates, helps fill the food line with food, lets people in and counts the heads as they zoom past the photographer. It's all in a day's work for Amey. John Edwards visited to promote the IFC and projects like it. They had a picture made together.

After her day, Amey heads back to the Green Street house where the other Johnson Interns have gathered for the Monday night group dinner. Amey cooks beef fajitas, Virginia style, with mild salsa on the table.

They talk about their pathways to Chapel Hill. They ask me about mine. I told them about the girls and how I miss them. How I grew up in and came back to Chapel Hill. Justin grew up in Winston-Salem. I made pictures for the Journal for a few years. We never crossed paths in Winston-Salem but we talked about the landmarks and Tim Duncan. Angelique talked about how people are people - in Georgia, in Africa, people are people. Kristen wanted a picture or two from her camera. I was happy to serve, especially for those who served others with grace, reminding us of the rules, and serving beef tacos, any style.

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