(bright music) - [Announcer] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

- Just ahead on "Carolina Impact", see how our region's lesser known airport helps fuel the economy, plus an area organization serves up sweet treats and helps those with disabilities.

And we meet a country artist whose talent has caught the attention of some of the biggest names in the business.

"Carolina Impact" starts right now.

(upbeat bright music) Good evening, thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Amy Burkett.

When we think about aviation in our region, most eyes turn to Charlotte Douglas, but just a short drive away, another airport is quietly powering economic growth too, creating jobs and expanding opportunities.

Carolina Impact's Dara Khaalid and videographer John Branscum take us inside Concord-Padgett Regional Airport.

(upbeat bright music) - [Dara] It's not the typical hustle and bustle you'll find inside large airports.

- It's very calming for me, especially if someone has like anxiety of traveling.

- [Dara] If you're catching a flight at Concord-Padgett Regional Airport, this is what you'll likely see once you walk through the entrance doors of the 25,000 square foot commercial terminal building.

A lobby with a few dozen people waiting for their next stop, short ticket lines for the airport's two commercial airlines, Avelo and Allegiant.

- I'm saving, I think, about three hours, maybe four.

Time is money.

- [Dara] And this next one, you're probably not gonna believe.

A TSA line that moves at a good pace, not keeping you stuck for hours.

- We laugh about it every time we drive up.

We're like, "Oh, this is crazy.

It's gonna take forever."

- And for those like me who pack on the heavy side, once they get off their flights and come through these exit doors, they're only just a few feet away from picking up their bags right here at the baggage claim.

Each person we spoke to... - [Customer] The parking has been really good.

- [Dara] Shared a different perk about the airport.

- [Customer 2] The shortest rental car line that I've had.

- [Dara] That keeps them coming back.

- It's just easier, you know?

Especially when we're coming with, like, my grandparents.

They cannot walk a lot so just arriving in a smaller airport and having the smaller walks with them just from the plane into the car.

- [Dara] Preparing for her flight back to Puerto Rico, Alondra Ruiz shares these long, warm hugs with her family.

When Avelo opened here in 2024 with flights to San Juan, it created about 50 jobs.

It made moments like this possible.

- For this flight especially, it wasn't, like, hard.

Like, I could afford and I had, like, money for the trip, you know?

For spending time with my family and everything.

- It's a really good feeling when you see all these different family members and friends meeting for the first time or after so long not being able to see 'em, and that's one of the big perks of this job.

- [Dara] Although Alondra's family goodbyes at the airport come with a lot of tears (baby cries) and emotion, with Avelo flights to the island as low as $92, her sister, Rachlen Barreto, who lives here, may be able to visit more often.

- One ticket here can be like three times in another place, something like that so yeah, it's really affordable.

(upbeat music) - [Dara] Convenience and low crowds are something to keep in mind as you're looking for flights at Concord-Padgett.

There's nowhere near the amount of volume here compared to Charlotte Douglas's more than 1400 arrivals and departures every day.

The schedule here is structured very differently.

- There are days here when we don't have any commercial airline service.

That's the business model that they have determined is the most profitability for that.

- [Dara] In March, Avelo added two new nonstop flights to Cleveland and Indianapolis with one-way tickets starting at $39.

Passengers at Concord-Padgett help the airport generate over $1.1 billion in annual economic impact in Cabarrus County.

- We have taken off.

We continue to see growth opportunities.

- [Dara] The airport also generates $48 million in tax revenue.

Taking us on a behind the scenes tour in a golf cart, retiring aviation director, Dirk Vanderleest, revealed something many locals may not know.

- No general taxpayer funds are used for the operations of this facility here.

It's all through enterprise.

- [Dara] Here's another interesting tidbit.

The airport supports over 5,300 jobs.

Apart from commercial flights, Concord-Padgett has multiple aviation related companies operating on airport property and its own FBO, fixed base operator.

- [Dirk] Basically it's the general aviation welcome center for this region, and it's 24/7.

- [Dara] Riding around, we got a glimpse of the 25 acres of parking for aircraft and 300,000 square feet of hangar space that several businesses utilize, including two NASCAR teams.

- We provide a quality service to our fixed base operations, cost competitive in terms of our space, in terms of fuel, because today's environment as fuel goes up, but we have a great supplier.

- [Dara] Beyond the economic impact and planes, Concord-Padgett Regional Airport is really about connection.

Bringing people closer, no matter how far they travel.

For Carolina Impact, I'm Dara Khaalid.

- Thank you, Dara.

If you'd like to learn more about this regional airport, head to our website at pbscharlotte.org.

Sometimes a single moment can redirect the course of an entire life.

For years, Chris Justice was a respected and recognizable voice in local television news.

But behind the camera, he was wrestling with a deeper calling, one that came into sharp focus after a frightening encounter.

Carolina Impact's Chris Clark shares his story with us.

- At least ten people injured- - [Chris Clark] For years, Chris Justice was one of the most familiar faces of Charlotte television.

What viewers knew was the anchor.

What they couldn't yet see was that the calling had been there all along.

- Church was a family thing and it was so much fun.

And then there was a guy who would do the announcements.

I'm like, "That's, I wanna be that guy."

I want to be the guy that they think enough of that he can go onto the platform where the pastor is and tell the church what's going on.

What an honor.

- [Chris Clark] That urge to be the one delivering the message didn't stop at church.

On the farm in Ohio, it followed him right to the sports page and the six o'clock news.

- Could not wait for the end of the day to watch the six o'clock newscast to see what was going on with the Buckeyes.

I'd go to the mailbox, get the afternoon newspaper, go into the house.

I would read through it like I was a sportscaster.

- [Chris Clark] What started as a kid's dream was slowly becoming real one tape, one market, one break at a time.

- I went from Oak Hill to New Bern, North Carolina.

I was a sports guy there for three and a half years.

And then, here's a job in Charlotte and I thought, "Well man, if you do sports in North Carolina, Charlotte's the place," and sent a tape and sure enough, I got the job.

And again, couldn't believe it.

(VCR whirs) (bright music) - [Chris Clark] In local television, a resume tape can tell you what somebody can do.

Chuck Howard says Chris told him something else too.

Where he came from, how he was wired, and why he might belong in Charlotte.

- Chris' resume tape was just tremendous.

All his contacts worked out.

Called him, told me he grew up on a, the farming community, in a farming community just like I did.

And it, I wanna say it was love at first sight.

Let's just say it was like at first sight.

- [Chris Clark] Covering the Hornets, the Panthers, and everything in between.

The move to Charlotte felt like the next big step.

What he didn't know was one ordinary night would become the most terrifying test of his life.

(tense music) - It's about two in the morning and I get home to the apartment.

I get ready to walk in and I hear a guy say, "Hey, buddy," but it was an aggressive, "Hey, buddy."

And I turn around and there was a gun right in my face.

There was another guy with him.

They got me in a car and they drove me off the property.

I remember, then, there was this moment where everything sort of came to a weird stop - [Chris Clark] With a gun to his head and no idea how the night would end, his thoughts settled on something he had wondered about for years.

- You always wondered about how strong your faith would be when you were really faced with death, this is it.

And in that moment, I still have this faith and I'm probably gonna die tonight.

- [Chris Clark] The question of faith had been answered.

Now came the question of survival.

- They took me to a dead end road and told me to get outta the car.

They turned the car around, told me to walk back to the car and I took off running and they fired a shot and they drove away, and I was alive.

- [Chris Clark] He survived and when he got home, the first thing Chris wanted to talk about wasn't the gun or the chase or even the shot.

- I remember going in to talk to Becky and saying, "The most amazing thing happened to me tonight."

She had thought maybe they hit me with the gun.

She said, "Are you okay?

Are you okay?"

I was certainly to the point where I thought I was gonna die.

And in that moment, I felt a calm over me that my faith is real.

- [Chris Clark] He returned to the newsroom changed.

The night that tested his faith did not slow his rise, it sharpened it.

And when tragedy struck at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May of 2000, Chris was the steady voice in the middle of the chaos.

- That night, I was locked in the infield and I couldn't get out to where the tragedy had occurred.

And I say, thankfully, Chris was on hand to take the ball and run with it.

- There is a report that at Northeast Medical Center, there is one person in the operating room now.

- It was that night that I went home to my wife, Karen, and I go, "There's big things ahead for this guy."

- [Chris Clark] By the time the coverage ended, the next step in Chris's career no longer felt like a question.

- I remember that Monday after that coverage, our news director walked into the sports office and said, "Hey, have you ever thought about doing news?"

And at that moment, I knew we had lost him to news.

- [Chris Clark] He had climbed to the top.

Chris Justice had everything he thought the job was supposed to give him.

And almost as soon as he got it, something inside told him it still wasn't enough.

(gentle music) - Everything was great.

I thought I had arrived, but something was missing and I didn't know what it, exactly what it was.

- [Chris Clark] So he leaned harder into church, hoping service might quiet what success hadn't.

And the person who knew him best could see the ache wasn't going anywhere.

His wife, Becky, finally pushed him towards something he hadn't expected.

- My wife said, "You need to be a Sunday school teacher."

And I thought, "Well I don't wanna be a Sunday school teacher because I love the book but I haven't read it that much."

And my wife was right.

I started teaching Sunday school at Hickory Grove and fell in love with the book.

- You could just tell it was like he, this is not just something he wants to do on Sunday.

- [Chris Clark] Then came the chance to speak at Macedonia Baptist Church and with it, the moment Chris says his gift finally found its truest purpose.

- And I felt in that moment, not only did I belong there, which seems odd to have said, I belong here because this is where God wants me to be and because this is where God wants me to be, I can't be anywhere else.

- [Chris Clark] That was the turn.

Not away from television but toward a calling.

And for a while, he did both.

Anchor in Charlotte, preacher in Monroe.

But to the people who knew him best, the ending never really felt like a surprise.

- His calling initially was to be a sportscaster, a broadcaster, a newscaster.

But deep in his heart or big guy upstairs said, "That's good.

Get it outta your system because I want you to come over here and do something that's really special."

- [Chris Clark] And when the point came that television and ministry could no longer live side by side, there really wasn't a decision left to make.

- If I could do that and TV, great, but when the church got to the size, I couldn't do that and TV, it had to go.

I could make you this promise as your pastor, standing at this call every Sunday will be a man is steeped in the word of God.

- [Chris Clark] The small church Chris Justice once drove to between newscasts did not stay small for long.

It kept growing in size and reach and in the lives it touched.

But the people closest to him say the reason goes deeper.

- They knew I worked with him in TV and they would kind of almost imply that he's a good preacher because he was on TV and I go, "No, he's not a good preacher 'cause he was on TV.

He's a good preacher 'cause he's a godly man."

- [Chris Clark] He once told Charlotte what mattered that day.

Now from a different platform, he's still doing the same thing he wanted to do from the beginning.

Stand up, speak clearly, and deliver the message.

From Carolina Impact, I'm Chris Clark.

- Thank you, Chris.

What an incredible story.

We just saw how one person's calling changed their life.

Now, let's see how a different calling helps others.

If you are exploring downtown Belmont and just wanna grab a bite to eat, experience local art, or enjoy a sweet treat, Holy Angels has you covered.

It's all part of the organization's mission to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities find meaningful work.

Producer Russ Hunsinger takes us for a visit.

(gentle music) - I'm gonna have the Maria's Melt with chicken salad.

- Holy Angels is a nonprofit.

It's a sponsored ministry of the Sisters of Mercy and we serve adults and children who have intellectual and developmental disabilities.

We're really a niche provider because we serve children and we serve adults, and we really specialize in serving the medically fragile.

- [Speaker] What you making?

- Broccoli salad.

- Also, we serve folks who are more independent and can have a job and, which is why we have these businesses.

(bright music) - [Speaker 2] Take a big bite.

- [Kerri] So, Cotton Candy is sort of wild.

Really what we wanted to do is we wanted to make this a fun space that you could get any candy you wanted but also make our own cotton candy.

- [Speaker 3] We just keep turning it like that.

- [Kerri] There's a spin on it with cotton and the mills of Gaston County.

- I found different kinds of cotton candy flavors, which is really cool 'cause then my kids can decide what they want to eat and different kind of smoothie blend Jelly Bellys that my kids can try different flavors and eat as well.

- Oh my gosh, one lady one day, I thought she was gonna buy the whole store.

She bought all cotton candy.

- It's cute.

The workers are great.

They've been very sweet and kind.

It's very positive, which we need more.

We need more of that positivity in this world.

(upbeat bright music) - [Kerri] Cherub's Cafe, that was our first business.

It's in its 30th year this year.

- We're here for a lunch date.

We love everything that Holy Angels does and the food is really good to boot.

I have a brother with special needs and so seeing something like this that's built gives me kind of hope that my brother could have something like this one day as far as employment goes.

- Thank you.

- So, I love everything about this, how it's training and equipping them and meeting them where they're at and kind of empowering them for more.

- [Kerri] Our most recent one is called Market on Maine and it's a gift store that we sell items that our residents make.

Handmade candles.

We also are making bracelets and scarves, and the scarves are a piece of art.

- [Samone] Let's open the drawer.

- [Resident] Yes.

- Lift up the tabs.

So today, we opened up the register.

We do that every morning at 10:00, get the registers open.

We have a resident come up.

We like to switch 'cause they all love doing it, so they come up, count the money, put the money in the register, flip the sign, and then they're good to go.

(gentle bright music) - [Kerri] Many of our residents are quite talented and they love doing art and it really means a lot to them.

In our gallery, we're able to display it and the community's able to come in and see it and actually buy it and they're so proud when they sell a piece of their art.

- I've worked here ever since it's been opened.

Oh yeah, make sure the candy's restocked.

If you had the candy looking bad, customers are not gonna like that.

That's bad quality control.

That's why I make sure all the labels are straight, down the line.

- Part of being employed is you're always learning and our residents have very different abilities so when they come here to work, they're working on maybe a math skill and working the register really meets that ability to count money and have a higher level of skill.

Also, there's customer service, getting to know our community and the customers that come in, but really, it is skill building so that maybe one day, the folks that work at Cotton Candy can go out and maybe get a different job, which is really amazing and that that really is our goal.

We really want the folks that we're serving to be able to be contributors to our society as a whole more than they already are.

Belmont is an amazing community.

We love being here.

Our residents are celebrities here.

I mean, they know everyone.

It really is meaningful.

We all like to go to work every day and have a meaningful job, and what makes it meaningful?

Maybe not so much how much we make, but the relationships that we have with our peers, the work that we're doing that means something to us individually, but also getting to know who our community is and where we work.

And so the folks that we're serving and employing get to do just that.

I love our residents because they give me and the people that work with them more than we ever give back to them.

- Makes me proud of myself.

I enjoy working here at Cotton Candy.

I enjoy the customers.

This candy is called Sugar Babies.

You have to have money.

What would you do, sit home on your, sorry.

You wouldn't wanna sit home and see all four walls all day.

- They have their own superpowers.

You just have to figure out what those superpowers are and use that to help them grow.

Good job.

- Yep.

- High five.

(both laughing) - Thanks so much, Russ.

If you find yourself in McAdenville, you can support another Holy Angels business, The Spruced Goose Station at 118 Westland Drive.

Well, if you're like me and you love music, you probably remember buying full-length record albums in the '70s.

Then, needing to convert all of those to cassette tapes in the '80s.

Then, converting those to CDs in the '90s.

Then, downloading all those to MP3s and iPods.

Nowadays, we need things like satellite radio and subscriptions to streaming services like Pandora and Spotify.

All of that can sure make finding new music pretty darn difficult.

Carolina Impact's Jason Terzis joins us with the story of a rising local artist who's out there making a real name for herself.

- All right, so picture this.

You're 25 years old, got signed to a record label and just released your first album.

Then, you get a call.

Country legend George Strait likes your sound and wants you to open a couple shows for him later this summer.

Chris Stapleton too.

It's been that kind of whirlwind for local country musician, Carter Faith.

(crowd cheers) - [Announcer 2] Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Cherry Valley Tour.

- [Jason] You may not yet know her name or her music.

- [Announcer 2] For one unforgettable night, Carter Faith and her band invite you to their wonderful world.

- [Jason] But the country music industry sure does.

- I love writing songs, I love singing.

♪ I bet he's at the levy, in the back of his Chevy ♪ - [Jason] Playing in front of a packed house at the Neighborhood Theater in NoDa, Carter Faith is part of a wave of young up and coming artists.

♪ Yes, I'm going to Carolina in my mind ♪ But with an old school, soulful kind of sound.

- I have to remind myself that it's crazy to be able to have a career in this right now, and I do.

- She was recently asked to be on "The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon".

- And I was like, "Hell yeah, I'll do it."

- First, at Christmastime for "Ugly Sweater".

(bright music) ♪ Who's this guy in his ugly sweater?

♪ ♪ Thing's more cheesy than a block of cheddar ♪ Then again, in February, for a live feature performance.

- From her new album, "Cherry Valley", please welcome Carter Faith.

(crowd cheers) - Probably the most nervous I've ever been.

("If I Had Never Lost My Mind..." by Carter Faith) ♪ If I was a girl who wasn't deranged ♪ ♪ A little more stable, a little less strange ♪ ♪ If I ♪ That was probably the biggest thing I've done so far.

- Probably my favorite, the one I listen to over and over again and never get tired of is "If I Had Never Lost My Mind".

The one she sang on Jimmy Fallon.

- [Jason] Oh, and think we forgot to mention Carter is one of our own.

- Growing up in Davidson was my whole life, I was born and raised there.

Definitely felt like an idyllic town for sure.

(mellow western rock music) - As her pink plastic Barbie guitar and microphone can attest, Carter has always had a love affair with music.

- She was always performing, like ever since she was little.

- [Jason] She remembers going on drives with her grandfather and being introduced to classic rock.

- He would drive us to preschool or to McDonald's or whatever and let us climb in the front seat and play cassettes in his car.

♪ Operator, oh, could you help me place this call?

♪ He loved Jim Croci.

♪ Some folks inherit star-spangled eyes ♪ Yeah, he loved Creedence Clearwater Revival.

- [Jason] Her dad also playing a role in her musical influence.

- And would quiz me and probably my other siblings on, "What band is this?

What's the lead singer's name?

What song is this?"

- [Jason] It was around that time Carter started taking piano and guitar lessons.

Her parents, noticing her budding talent, encouraged her to pursue it.

- So we kind of noticed really early that she had a really good voice.

- I would play down in Cornelius at Old Town Public House if you've ever been there.

(crowd cheers) - When she started performing, she would go to open mics and stuff like that and she just was consistently better.

- [Jason] By the time she graduated from high school in 2018, Carter knew exactly what she wanted to do.

- Like right around when you decide where you wanna go for college, I was like, "Ugh, I don't wanna do anything else.

I just wanna go to Nashville."

And I didn't really have to convince my parents, they, my whole life had to convince me to get on stage and sing.

So they were like, "Yeah, you should do it."

♪ And I say this is the last time ♪ - [Jason] She enrolled in a songwriting program at Belmont University in Nashville, attended Grammy Camp, and performed at the famed Bluebird Cafe.

♪ They say all I do is wonder why you're suddenly ♪ Her first single in 2020, "Leaving Tennessee", put Carter on the map.

("Leaving Tennessee" by Carter Faith) ♪ You know better, baby ♪ ♪ I ain't never leaving Tennessee ♪ Then came others, like "Greener Pastures".

("Greener Pastures" by Carter Faith) ♪ I was his Texaco, a stop just along the road ♪ ♪ I should've known I ain't his last rodeo ♪ And "Cowboys and Dreamers".

("Cowboys and Dreamers" by Carter Faith) ♪ Cowboys and dreamers fall asleep with the sky ♪ Her initial success raising eyebrows around Nashville, leading to a performance at the Grand Ole Opry.

- How would you like to make your Opry debut?

- [Jason] And a coveted record deal.

- It was just fun, like getting to go through all the songs that I had written that had really stuck with me over the couple years before the album.

And then, new songs that really felt like personal to where I was at the time.

- [Jason] Her debut full-length album, "Cherry Valley", was released in October featuring hit songs like "Betty".

("Betty" by Carter Faith) ♪ He's talkin' bout babies ♪ ♪ And fixin' up her trailer ♪ ♪ He always was a looker so I can't even hate her ♪ Since Cherry Valley's release, it's been a whirlwind of sorts for Carter.

Her video for "Bar Star" featured actor Billy Bob Thornton.

("Bar Star" by Carter Faith) ♪ 'Cause my baby's a bar star ♪ And began her run of big name encounters.

- It keeps getting crazier, like just the Jimmy Fallon thing and, but it's like one thing after another so you, you just get used to like the crazy.

- [Jason] And it's only getting bigger, better, and crazier from here.

This summer, Carter's set to open up a couple of shows for the king of country himself, George Strait.

("Run" by George Strait) ♪ Baby, run ♪ ♪ Cut a path across the blue skies ♪ - My CAA agent was like, "Apparently George Strait's been listening to your music today and likes it," and then the next day, I got an offer for these shows.

That's George Strait.

Icon, legend of all time, so those will be crazy.

And getting to see a free George Strait concert two nights in a row, I'm cool with that.

(laughs) - She's also gonna be opening shows for someone considered by many the modern day king of country, Chris Stapleton.

♪ What are you listening to?

♪ - I think it's blowing my mind a little bit that these artists who I grew up listening to and that feel like such a big deal also use Spotify and find new artists and listen to new people that are coming up and that I'm one of them.

Y'all, my family is here.

(crowd cheers) They're up there.

- [Jason] And the next time she'll be playing back home?

In June, when she opens for Jelly Roll and Post Malone at Bank of America Stadium.

- I just love watching her do what she's so good at.

And then it's just so fun that everybody's enjoying it with us.

♪ 'Til one day you wake up, he's packing up his truck ♪ ♪ And he don't even know what he's after ♪ I don't know where, I guess, my career will head.

I have hopes and dreams for it.

I've never played shows where people were singing my lyrics back to me.

I'm happy as long as I can make this my job and career and I can, you know, buy a house with songwriting money one day.

That's, like, mind blowing to me.

♪ Colorado thought he knew me well, but I ♪ - [Jason] She's been working so hard for so long, Carter is now becoming what you might call an overnight success.

- Okay, so Carter seems like she's got a pretty busy travel schedule ahead of her.

- Yeah, and it's really cranking up right now.

Through the month of April, she's gonna be touring Europe with Tucker Wetmore performing in places like Dublin, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Belfast, and London.

And Carter's also dabbling in acting.

She was cast in an upcoming Netflix movie called "Heartland" starring Jessica Chastain and John Hawkes.

It was shot last fall.

Carter says the only reason why she could play an acting role with no acting experience is because she's playing the role of a country musician so it was a natural fit, but yeah, a very, very busy time for her and she's a very down to earth girl so we're we're wishing her all the success.

- And I'm so excited that you were able to connect with her now, because I bet before too long we're gonna say, we're gonna see her winning Grammys and all those things and we're gonna say, "We knew her when."

- We knew her when she came to PBS Charlotte.

- Thanks so much.

Well, what a great thing.

Before we leave you tonight, I'd like to thank the group from ALC Mosaic in Charlotte.

A wonderful group of school kids from nine to 17 years old.

I enjoyed spending time with them and I also enjoy spending time with you.

Thanks so much for joining us.

We always appreciate your time and I look forward to seeing you back here again next time.

Good night, my friends.

(bright music) (bright music) - [Announcer] A production of PBS Charlotte.