Anyone talking to Bob Argabright about Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary School can tell he has a special connection with the school, and according to him, “what is special [here] is the children.”
For nine years, Mr. Argabright and other members of the congregation at Trinity United Methodist Church have been volunteering at the Elementary School through the Micah Initiative, which has led Bob to rise above the usual call for help. He is now at the school for 30 to 40 hours a week. His explanation for this huge commitment is simple: “It’s just what I do. When I first came down here,” recalls Mr. Argabright, “I started connecting with these two boys, helping them read, as Micah does, but I started realizing that they needed so much more.”
As Bob said, “Micah was the entry point,” connecting him to the school; now, he states, “I’m called to be down here,” to help meet its needs. “It’s all relationships,” he says, and he keeps his relationship with the school going strong by meeting every week with the school’s principal, Ms. Laurson. Mr. Argabright finds out what she needs for the school and how he can help, saying, “we just complement each other.” He also works together with the other Micah partnerships at the school to make projects work. Bob is a part of many of the wonderful projects going on in the school, working with the 5th grade student ambassadors and organizing athletic programs and bike drives, to name a few of these projects. In addition to his own service at the school, he works to find other groups interested in service, and helps get them involved in the school.
Bob Argabright also extends his involvement beyond the school to the surrounding community. He talks to the members of the neighborhood and finds out how he can help them. A project that has been close to his heart is the planning for the new school that was just built in the Bellemeade neighborhood. He works diligently to advocate for the neighborhood and what they want in their school. As he talks about the sidewalks being built, the new bridges to cross the creek, and the watershed (a project he has been passionate about) that will help to transform this new school into a “learning campus,” it is easy to see how much he cares about the students, as well as the community. Bob is a huge part of the school, and he takes his role of “supporting the teachers and students” very much to heart.