Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek will be in Greensboro on October 4th and 5th to help raise awareness and raise funds for the Interactive Resource Center, a day center and resource and services hub for people who are homeless, formerly homeless and facing homelessness.

From the News & Record [article no longer available online]:

“The whole idea of having Joey here started with a discussion of how the majority of people in Greensboro still don’t know we exist or understand the need behind why we exist,” [IRC director Liz] Seymour said. “We’re chugging along every day.”

A Dudley High School graduate, Cheek was inducted into The World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame because of his work in the Darfur region of Sudan. The Washington Post calls him the last of the activist-athletes.

Cheek, who helped the IRC raise seed money through Operation Greensboro Cares, will spend Thursday at the IRC and at the city’s homeless camps. As part of the city’s First Friday event, he will meet and greet people from 6 to 9 p.m. at the center.

People who attend are asked to bring their phones to tweet and text along with Cheek, who plans to bring pentathlete Margaux Isaksen, the 2012 Junior World Champion.

“This is a situation that has a major impact in our own community, and he wanted to come home and learn more and be involved,” said Chris Cheek, the Olympian’s mother and an IRC board member for the past year. “He had a lot of people help him with his training, and he’s realized there’s a responsibility that comes with what he’s had the opportunity to do.”

The day center offers a place to shower and wash laundry, somewhere to meet and discuss concerns, and a jumping-off point for improving job skills and finding work. Many clients are either homeless or were until recently. Others are facing the prospect of homelessness.

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