Mortellus
Jan 5, 2014
By January 2014, TJCA's Student Council had built a substantial annual fundraising program benefiting Hands of Hope. The relationship continued despite a 2011 investigation that publicly questioned the school's support for a religious anti-abortion organization.
What happened: On January 5, 2014, The Daily Courier reported that Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy's junior high Student Council had completed its seventh annual diaper drive benefiting Hands of Hope Ministry in Forest City, North Carolina. The students collected 29,169 diapers, surpassing the previous year's reported total of 23,854. The newspaper published a photograph of Student Council members and seventh-grade students forming a chain to load the donated diapers onto a bus for delivery. The collection represented a substantial community-service effort involving students and school resources. But the beneficiary was not simply a general charitable organization providing supplies to families. Hands of Hope was a Christian pregnancy-support ministry with an explicitly anti-abortion mission. Its activities included providing assistance to pregnant women and families with young children, alongside religious outreach and education concerning abortion, prenatal development, and abstinence. The January 2014 collection was significant not only for its size, but because TJCA had continued supporting the ministry after the relationship attracted public controversy in 2011.
What was established:
The January 2014 article establishes that TJCA's junior high Student Council conducted the diaper drive as an organized school activity. The project had reached its seventh annual installment, demonstrating that the collection was an established tradition rather than an isolated donation.
Earlier reporting confirms the program's growth. In January 2008, The Daily Courier documented more than 5,100 diapers collected by TJCA middle-school students for an organization identified as Heartbeat Pregnancy Center.
In January 2009, the newspaper reported that the Student Council had sponsored its second annual diaper drive, benefiting Hands of Hope Ministry. That collection brought in 11,694 diapers. Students participated through their homerooms, with the classroom collecting the most diapers receiving recognition. By the seventh annual drive reported in January 2014, the total had risen to 29,169. The substantial increase illustrates how deeply the project had become embedded in TJCA's student activities. The surviving articles document a program using the school's organizational structure, Student Council participation, classroom involvement, and transportation arrangements to collect and deliver donated supplies.
Hands of Hope's Christian Anti-Abortion Mission
Hands of Hope was an established pregnancy-support ministry operating in Forest City.
Its services included providing material assistance to families, pregnancy-related information, and counseling. The ministry also openly embraced a Christian anti-abortion mission. In April 2011, NC Policy Watch described Hands of Hope for Life as a religious organization that combined charitable assistance with Christian outreach and information about abortion and abstinence.
The ministry's stated purpose included sharing Christianity through charitable action and personal communication.
That religious purpose was not merely an incidental feature of the organization. It formed part of the philosophy guiding its pregnancy-support services. The organization now operates as Hands of Hope Pregnancy Resource Center in Forest City. Its published website continues to describe pregnancy testing, limited ultrasounds, parenting support, and abortion-recovery services.
The center also states that it does not provide or refer for abortions. This history places TJCA's annual diaper drive in a broader context: students at a public charter school were collecting supplies for an organization whose charitable work was explicitly connected to a Christian position on reproductive rights.
April 2011 — TJCA's Diaper Drive Draws Public Scrutiny
The Academy's relationship with Hands of Hope received statewide attention on April 20, 2011.
In an investigation titled Charter's conservative backers raise questions, journalist Sarah Ovaska-Few examined TJCA's connections to conservative political organizations, philanthropic donors, and religiously affiliated activities. The diaper drive became one of the report's central examples.
Ovaska-Few interviewed Barry Lynn, then executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who strongly objected to the relationship between the public charter school and the Christian ministry. Lynn argued that the program represented an unconstitutional connection between a public school and a religious organization.
The report also included comments from Joel Medley, then acting director of North Carolina's charter school office, who took a different position and stated that charter schools' nonprofit structure did not prevent them from participating in such charitable activities. The disagreement placed TJCA's annual diaper drive within a larger debate about the responsibilities of publicly funded charter schools. At issue was not whether families needed diapers or whether students should participate in charitable service. The controversy concerned TJCA's institutional decision to direct an established school fundraising program toward an organization whose mission included Christian evangelism and opposition to abortion.
January 2014 — The Collection Continues
Despite the 2011 controversy, the annual fundraiser remained active. The January 5, 2014 newspaper report celebrated the seventh annual collection, emphasizing the number of diapers donated and the students' achievement in exceeding the previous year's total. The article did not discuss the ministry's religious mission or the constitutional objections raised in 2011.
Instead, it presented the event as a successful student charitable project. The contrast is noteworthy: the same fundraising relationship that had generated statewide scrutiny was continuing three years later as a familiar part of TJCA's school activities.
What was not established: The available records do not explain how TJCA originally selected Hands of Hope, whether the Academy reconsidered that selection following the 2011 controversy, or how its administrators addressed the objections raised. Nor do they establish whether participation was mandatory or what information students and families received about the ministry's religious and anti-abortion activities. No court ruling concerning TJCA's diaper drive has been identified.
Original evidence:
The Daily Courier — Diaper Drive Held to Benefit Hands of Hope. January 5, 2014, page C3.
Contemporary newspaper report documenting TJCA's seventh annual diaper drive, the collection of 29,169 diapers, the previous year's total of 23,854, and students loading the donations for delivery.
The Daily Courier — TJCA Students Hold Diaper Drive. January 4, 2009, page 3C.
Documents the second annual collection, Student Council sponsorship, participation by school homerooms, and 11,694 diapers donated to Hands of Hope Ministry.
The Daily Courier — Diaper Dandies. January 4, 2008, page 12.
Documents more than 5,100 diapers collected by TJCA middle-school students for Heartbeat Pregnancy Center.
These three newspaper reports are preserved in TJCA Truth's historical research archive.
Additional reporting and organizational documentation:
NC Policy Watch / NC Newsline — Charter's conservative backers raise questions, Sarah Ovaska-Few, April 20, 2011. Documents the annual diaper drive, Hands of Hope's religious mission, and the objections raised by Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Hands of Hope Pregnancy Resource Center — Official Website. Documents the current organization's pregnancy-support services and position on abortion.
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-218.50 — Charter School Nonsectarian Requirements.
Subsequent developments:
Hands of Hope continues to operate in Forest City as a pregnancy resource center providing free pregnancy-related services and material assistance. Its present website maintains the organization's opposition to abortion services and referrals. TJCA's January 2014 collection demonstrates that the school's fundraising relationship with the ministry continued after the objections documented in the 2011 NC Policy Watch investigation. Whether TJCA maintained the annual diaper drive in subsequent years, changed its charitable beneficiaries, or revised its procedures for selecting outside organizations has not yet been established for this archive.
The historical relationship is particularly relevant when considered alongside TJCA's other documented controversies involving religious activities, including the 2014 classroom-prayer complaint and the 2017 challenge to graduation prayer.
Together, these incidents invite examination of how the Academy has distinguished religiously affiliated community activities from its own responsibilities as a nonsectarian public school.
TJCA Truth welcomes historical Student Council materials, fundraising announcements, correspondence with Hands of Hope, school newsletters, and records concerning the selection and approval of charitable beneficiaries. Documentation describing any discussion of the 2011 controversy within TJCA's administration or governing Board would be particularly valuable.
Report from the community: The January 2014 newspaper photograph documents direct student participation in preparing and delivering the donated diapers. Earlier reporting likewise shows that students, teachers, and homerooms participated in organizing and conducting the annual fundraiser. The 2011 NC Policy Watch investigation preserves contemporary perspectives from state education officials and a civil-liberties advocate concerning the relationship between TJCA and Hands of Hope. However, no independent firsthand accounts from TJCA students, families, teachers, or administrators concerning the selection of Hands of Hope or the handling of the 2011 controversy have yet been obtained by TJCA Truth. TJCA Truth welcomes accounts from former Student Council members, families, employees, and Board members familiar with the diaper drives. Of particular interest are experiences concerning how students were encouraged to participate, whether the ministry's religious and anti-abortion mission was discussed, how charitable beneficiaries were chosen, and whether families had opportunities to suggest alternative organizations. Contributors may request anonymity, and private correspondence will not be published without permission.