Couple shows love by serving

Jazmine giggles as she whizzes around the York Cottage living room. Pat and Harold Clapp smile as they sit and watch the four-year-old play. With a sudden bounce, Jazmine leaps into Pat’s lap. She wraps her tiny arms around her giving a big hug.

“You two have done so much for us,” Jazmine’s mother Lisa says as she watches the retired couple play with her daughter.

As volunteers at Mills Home in Thomasville, the Clapps have become close to Jazmine, Lisa and many of the single mothers and children from Baptist Children’s Homes’ (BCH) Family Care program.

Seeing the lives of BCH’s residents changed through the ministry, and receiving hugs from children like Jazmine, is what makes volunteering a passion for the couple.

The Clapps first learned about BCH as a young couple and spent time with children from Mills Home when attending First Baptist Church in Archdale.

Today, Pat and Harold are members of Green Street Baptist Church in High Point. A few years ago, Harold selected Mills Home for their Sunday School class to support.

Harold remembers being amazed by the interactions between class members and residents from Blackwell Cottage during a group lunch.

“One of our seniors had recently lost his spouse, and I remember Angela from Blackwell Cottage sitting and talking with him,” Harold recounts. “He changed after she spoke with him. He had his smile back.”