Community Advisory Board
This group of dedicated Board members works on outreach and community engagement for Table.
Tosheria Brown
Tosheria Brown is the Program Coordinator of the Oak City Outreach Center in Downtown Raleigh and is employed by Catholic Charities. As a Business Management undergraduate of NC State University, she has called Raleigh her home for many years. She is originally from Rockingham, NC and spent 7 years living in San Diego, CA where she was employed by Enterprise Rent-A-Car before relocating back to Wake County. At the Oak City Outreach Center, Tosheria schedules all of the volunteers and community partners that serve at the Center each weekend to provide the meals and events which support our friends experiencing homelessness and/or hunger in the Downtown Raleigh area. Under her leadership and compassion, over 50 service partners and 120 host volunteers are currently connected to the effort of building community through active engagement and hospitality. Tosheria brings experience and a wealth of knowledge working directly with our friends experiencing homelessness so that we better understand how to serve this population.
Zinith Barbee
Zinith Barbee comes to APATT with no religious motivation, social vision, or ministry leadership. Instead, he feels more a beneficiary of people with those pursuits. His passions are roads and rocks. He was a civil engineer designing parts of the state highway system and a hydrogeologist regulating groundwater quality at landfills. Medical trauma redefined him. He describes himself as “being on the good side of a coinflip” and recipient of exemplary care from his religious and residential communities. He volunteers in his neighborhood school where he talks to children about rocks, which he calls his “best therapy” after neurosurgery for the tumor that disabled him. Zinith knew chronic homelessness long before engineering and geology. He once lived in his car and worked where benefits included free meals—restaurants. In addition to working as a dishwater, bus boy, and short-order cook, he worked in a hospital, two factories, and a school. He credits these places with not only teaching him the discipline, ethic, and efficiency crucial to his life but where he learned from others about humanity, hospitality, and hope Whether homeless or homeful. Zinith never viewed strangers as “the other” but saw himself as “one of them.” He says he never imagined he would one day help build the highways on which he used to hitchhike. For him APATT is another “coming full circle.”
Fenton Jolly
Bill Halvorson
My goal has always been to do better, help people and to grow community awareness of kindness and volunteering. I have worked for over 30 years in the telecommunication industry, always growing myself and my teams. I have always had a passion and ability to be a strong and effective leader. I started as a United States Marine as a Ground Radio Repairmen in 1989, then joined Cisco, 1998, in the Technical Assistance Center and moved up through their Advanced and Consulting Services teams. Eventually, raising to the level of a Solution Architect and Technical Leader in the Automation and Assurance team. Most recently I have been a Customer Engineer for Nokia, 2019, with a primary focus on expanding the gigabit economy to rural and underserved areas of the country.
I have raised 3 daughters, the oldest is a bull ride, the middle is a firefighter and the youngest is a redhead. All 3 are fierce, strong and independent. I would like to think I bring those rearing skills to any team I am on. I have mentored youth and young adults, sharing my knowledge and listening to theirs.
I am also passionate about the people that work around us and live near us. In my own experience of volunteering I have learned how to not judge. In the past I would have written a check for charities and then judge people for panhandling. After, volunteering in and around the community, I learned to appreciate the layers people bring with them, what good that they can bring with them. I try not to judge, and I really see the power of a smile and the kindness of a hello. I have been on the board of ActivateGood.org since 2018. They work with over 507 nonprofits connecting them with over 20,000 volunteers annually in the triangle. I routinely lead a team of volunteers at “A Place at the Table”, a pay what you can afford café.
Allison Connors
Allison Connors is an advocate for reducing obesity and type 2 diabetes in North Carolina and sees healthy food access for all as an essential part of accomplishing this goal. Allison previously served on the Community Advisory Board of the Diabetes Prevention Board of the Triangle Association of the Y. Allison has a bachelors in Computer Science from Duke University and a masters of business administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Allison is a member of The Kirk of Kildaire, Presbyterian Church, Cary, NC.
Rev. Cindy Bolden
Dr. Rev. Cindy Bolden leads the Community Advisory Board. She is a community minister in Raleigh. In her ministry Cindy seeks to build community and love people through conversation, relationship, and acts of hospitality. Cindy attended Duke University and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics in 1984. She was ordained as a minister in 2011. She is a double graduate of Campbell University, earning a Master of Divinity degree in 2011 and a Doctor of Ministry degree in 2016. Cindy is married, has two adult children, and practices yoga daily.
Johanna C
Johanna C is so busy helping the community she hasn’t provided us with a bio yet!
Stephanie Douglas
Stephanie came to Table as a volunteer, eager for opportunities to serve the local community. She made Raleigh her home in 2010 and attended North Carolina State University, where she earned a bachelors in Nutrition Science. She is an avid traveler and loves experiencing and appreciating other cultures, while gaining a greater understanding of the world and those in it. She has a heart for people and desires to be a good neighbor and friend to all.