Tarek Odom's Light Shines on through TOWAF as His Friends Support Students & Entrepreneurs in West Augustine

 

The Tarek Odom West Augustine Foundation's focus on raising money for minority students and entrepreneurs in St Augustine's underserved communities was in focus at the annual TOWAF Local Legends basketball game played at St. Augustine High School this weekend. 

Rashard Hall, TOWAF Founder with TOWAF board members Chaz McDowell and Ky're Simmons.

The free community event raised money for scholarships, the organization gave away gift cards to students and teachers as well as school supplies and backpacks for the children attending the event and for other children in need in the community.

 

 

The legacy of Tarek Odom could be felt in every corner of the gym, from the friends organizing the event in his honor, to friends playing on the court and childhood friends sitting in the audience. The St. Augustine High School defensive football player and Times-Union Defensive Player of the Year in 2010, passed away in 2018 at the age of 24 after collapsing on the field at a flag football game in St. Augustine.

Tiara Mitchell grew up with Tarek Odom, and she lit up when speaking about him. "The biggest things about Tarek were his smile and his hugs. His hug could take away our sorrows. His smile was contagious. He was a light that was taken away too soon."

Rashard Hall, Chaz McDowell, Nigel McDowell, Ky're Simmons and Ty're Simmons, the team behind TOWAF, grew up in West Augustine and Lincolnville, two communities that are intrinsically connected through history. 

"A lot of the people that lived in Lincolnville started migrating out west towards West Augustine," Ky're Simmons said about the reason for the foundation's focus on West Augustine. "The majority of the people that live in West Augustine, they grew up in Lincolnville first. For us, when we were growing up, me, Tarek, my twin Ty're, we always looked up to our older peers over in West Augustine — Charles, Chaz, Devin Martin. We used to watch them play basketball. We were the only people, who had an actual hoop in front of our house, so everybody, even the older kids, they would come around to play hoops, and we would be sitting in the window watching them play basketball."

Tarek Odom was Simmons' best friend, and Simmons became emotional just talking about Tarek. "We grew up together, we literally did everything together. When we were young, he couldn't play football with us, because he was a lot bigger than us as far as weight wise, there was a weight limit, but we always played football together after school to make sure that he was a part of it."

"Tarek would come to our house on Dumas street, and he would sit there for hours just to wait for us to come out," Simmons says. "We were close knit, we were like brothers."  

Simmons reminisces about how he and his twin brother would be spending the weekends at his godmother Pearl's house, which was around the corner from Tarek's house, and she would allow them to go to other streets together. "We would go around, jump on the trampoline with him, try to learn how to flip. We had another friend, his name was Lamar Jones ... and he used to live right next door to Tarek, so all four of us we would go outside ... we had this little grass area in front of the house, and Nigel used to come around there too. We would play football in that front area for hours from sunup 'til sundown until my godmother would come around and say 'hey it's time to go home'."

The teams at the Local Legends game were made up of players from St. Augustine's professional basketball team the St. Augustine Glory and of legendary players and community leaders from St. Augustine such as Brandon James, Jacques Rickerson, Markis Merill, Darryl Lee, Tityus Mitchell, B.J. Esguerra and more. St. Augustine High School Varsity Coach Eric Hancock and JV Coach Teosha Ray each got to select their teams, and it was an event showcasing St. Augustine and West Augustine leadership and sportsmanship.

"For some of our young leaders in West Augustine, I would say for them to lead by example," Simmons says. "You don't necessarily have to be a big vocal person. I'm not really a big vocal person. Most people follow examples more than just talk, so just put your best foot forward."

 ***

Rashard Hall, the founder of TOWAF mainly grew up in West Augustine in Collier Heights, but he grew up on both sides of town. "The diversity helped me growing up, just to be able to honestly to see both sides of the track. And that gives me my mindset and mission to know that West Augustine needs the same resources and opportunity as East Augustine. That's why our non profit was created and rooted in entrepreneurship and educational scholarships." 

When asked about the name change in 2018, Hall says, "What Tarek means to me is the ultimate giver, the ultimate servant leader, and that's why his namesake was added to this non-profit foundation in 2018. Tarek was about giving back to this community and serving his community. He was big in education, a graduate of Wofford College, where he earned his degree, and of entrepreneurship. So we're rooted in those things and giving back to our community, and that's what Tarek means to us and why his name was added to the foundation."

Hall's passion about giving back to the community shines through his dedication to the foundation. "The change I would love to see in West Augustine — that is our foundation's mission — is to have more businesses in West Augustine in our underserved areas, and to be able to turn more graduates of high school into higher-level education graduates, whether that is college, university, community college, barber school, cosmetology. We support all ages past high-school graduation, because hey not only college students need help or want to enhance their situations. Sometimes you have single mothers, who start life early, but always want to go back and finish their education and enhance their opportunity for themselves and their kids. We have plenty of opportunity, but not a lot of resources. We have plenty of people, who wants these opportunities, but not as much resources, so that's why we want to be a helping hand to empower them to reach those goals." 

 

Tay Davis, from St. Johns County Parks & Recreation, helps the TOWAF Foundation hand out school supplies to students in need.

  ***

"It's just beautiful to be able to give back to the community in Tarek's honor and more so in honor of kids that do not get to have the necessities of life," Tarek's cousin, Chaz McDowell, a youth pastor in St. Augustine at First Baptist Church, said. "We were blessed to come up under a village that raised us, and we're just trying to do the same thing."

"He is watching now, I know that for a fact. He is definitely smiling. Tarek was kind of quiet, but if he was here with us — he has this fun-loving spirit, and he would be out here having a good time with the kids and with the crowd, probably doing back flips. He was a big guy, but still nimble and able to move. I think he would be in kudos of what we're doing. He wasn't a man of many words, but you could tell, he showed his expressions in all that he did. He would just be smiling from here to here."

When asked how he would like to see their foundation help change the community, McDowell said. "Honestly, just unity. I think what we do creates an environment where people feel safe, where they can come together, come out and have a good time. Ultimately, I wouldn't call it a safe haven, but we allow kids to know it is okay to be yourself. It is okay to be introduced to education. Being smart is cool, and if you have a need, ultimately we're here to meet that need. I think the overall conception of this foundation has to do with the expansion of knowledge. A lot of people say that knowledge equals power, but the gaining of knowledge is actually your gateway into wealth. And that's what we want to see. None of us come from a silver spoon. So with that being said the foundation wants to create an environment, where people who don't necessarily come from wealth still can have that opportunity to have the expansion to broaden their horizons. And if we are able to do that financially, if we're able to do that by our words and if we're able to do that by our events just to give them exposure then that exposure will ultimately lead them to the expansion of what they believe in and of what they have in their hearts."

 

The Local Legends game was a nail biter to the end, with the game ending in a tie, then going into over time, before Coach T and Coach Eric Hancock eventually had to do 3 pointers to settle the final score. Coach Teosha's gray team ended up winning by 1 point.

Tarek Odom may no longer walk amongst us, but his footprint was so heavy, his smile so wide and his ability to impact people so deep that his light shines on. Through his friends, through the Tarek Odom West Augustine foundation and through the good work they do, he will continue to impact our community in ways that will leave a long-lasting imprint, which goes far beyond the borders of West Augustine and Lincolnville. 

 

Learn more about the Tarek Odom West Augustine Foundation at their website, and learn how you can donate to their mission, and make sure to share the TOWAF scholarship information and application with anyone in our community, who may be able to benefit. The Deadline is September 4th, 2021.

 

Follow TOWAF on Instagram and Facebook to stay up-to-date on their latest events and projects.  

Please follow the West Augustine News Connection on Facebook and Instagram and help us spread the word about the work we do, so that we can help serve you better.