(upbeat music) - [Narrator] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

- Just ahead on "Carolina Impact," after battling drug addiction for years, see how a goat business helps a Charlotte woman get back on her feet.

Plus, we're celebrating 20 years of Charlotte Cooks.

And a blind musician spreads joy throughout the region with his talent.

"Carolina Impact" starts now.

(upbeat music) Good evening.

Thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Amy Burkett.

When everything's going well, it's easy to be grateful, but when things are tough, it's not always as easy to do.

"Carolina Impact's" Dara Khaalid and videographer John Branscum show us how after navigating a lot of tough times, a Charlotte woman uses goats to help others find gratitude.

(upbeat music) - [Dara] Ready?

- We're having to make a path here.

- [Dara] Set.

Go eat.

- Yeah.

- [Dara] For these 10 goats- - [Jodi] Lucky there.

- [Dara] It's time to chow down.

- And they're all, oh, yay, you know, so happy.

Everything's all green, nice.

- [Dara] As soon as their hoofs touch the yard, they know it's time to eat, mowing their way through grass, leaves and even poison ivy.

- They clean off the trees, they clean the ground.

You'll be left with sticks and things, but everything is totally cleaned out, everything.

- [Dara] To the goats, it's simply lunchtime, but for Jodi Rubright, owner of Grateful Grazing Crew, it's a chance to create another happy customer.

- How fantastic is that to have, you know, just goats come over to do something that I've paid hundreds of dollars for people to do, and they just do an amazing job and get more done.

- [Dara] The process is straightforward, after you've spoken to Jodi about the size of your yard, she brings the right amount of goats.

- If it's a little small property, I may bring two goats.

If it's a larger property, I may bring 15 to 20 goats.

- [Dara] Then the team sets up a solar powered electric fence, and for about seven days, the goats are free to do their thing.

- [Theresa] Now you can see from my backyard all the way to the back fence, which is about an acre.

So in a week, they cleared out almost an acre.

- [Dara] The business has been running since fall 2024, and you'd never guess how it all got started.

- My daughter was like, "I want some chickens and a couple goats," and I was like, "Absolutely, girl, we're doing that."

- [Dara] But it was harder than they thought to keep up with the goats.

- They were getting in the neighbor's yard, eating the neighbor's plants.

They were over in that yard.

I mean, they were just all over town, and I was just over it.

I'm like, "I've had enough Mikayla, we are getting rid of every one of these dang goats."

- [Dara] So after making up her mind that she was gonna sell them, she took them to a neighbor's yard where they started grazing, and that's when she got a bright idea.

- I should charge people to do this.

I should do this for like a job.

And there it was, and I've been doing it ever since.

- [Dara] Her daughter Mikayla is right there with her.

- Come a long way from what we started with.

We started with just like two little goats, and we've grown a lot over not a very long period of time.

- [Dara] If you ask either one of them today, they'll tell you they're best friends, doing almost everything together.

- There you go.

- [Dara] Sharing a special mother-daughter bond.

But it wasn't always like this.

- [Jodi] I was never not in her life, but I wasn't ever present.

You know, when you're on drugs, you're not present in what's going on ever.

- [Dara] For six years, Jodi struggled with addiction, using pain pills and heroin, trying to cope with the loss of her grandfather.

- We went from spending every afternoon in the salvage yard with my grandfather to going to visit him in a hospital bed, and he couldn't even speak.

So it was just like a grief thing.

And I mean, I would get so obliterated and just cry over losing my grandpa.

- [Dara] Her addiction got so bad, she lost jobs, ran outta money, and resorted to stealing from her family.

- I can remember specifically lots of times sitting there in the mirror doing drugs and being like, "Why am I doing this?

This is not who I'm supposed to be."

"Hey, I'm not ever gonna do this again," and I would give it two days maybe, and then I'd be right back at it.

- [Dara] Then one day, her mom decided it was time for an intervention.

- Yeah, that was a tough road, but, you know, we talked and had a conversation that today was the day to stop this, and she did it.

She did it.

- My parents were crying and everything when they were leaving me, and my dad hugged me and he said "Please," he said, "Please make this work."

And I told myself right then I'll never, once they left and I heard those doors clank, I told myself, I'll never do that again.

- [Dara] Since leaving rehab, Jodi's kept her word for the past 10 years.

- I am so proud, and I tell people that my daughter was an addict and that you can make it out.

And I'm not shy about telling people, I'm proud of it.

I'm not proud that she was an addict, but I'm proud of where she came from after being an addict.

And she helps so many people.

- [Dara] Some of those people are employees in her business, other recovering addicts who needed a second chance.

- If honestly I didn't have her in my life, I don't know, you know, 100% where I'd be right now, I really don't.

- Seeing her clean and how long she's been clean for really makes me want to continue to do what I'm doing.

- [Dara] While another day at work for most people may seem mundane, for Jodi, it's a reminder of what she once hoped for.

- When I was in rehab, I had this vision of like, I just wanna be able to give back what I received, because just having that peace and that relief from that drug addiction has just been major.

So with starting this company, I feel like it's given me an opportunity to be able to provide something maybe that other people might look over somebody, you know, because they are a drug addict, you know, where that's the people I wanna bring close to me.

- [Dara] When you look at her life now and you see the Grateful Grazing Crew, you understand what she's truly grateful for.

For "Carolina Impact," I'm Dara Khaalid.

- Okay, I just wanna sit and pet those goats.

Thank you so much Dara for the story.

Jodi's also creating a nonprofit in her backyard.

She has a building she's flipping into a bunkhouse where recovering addicts can stay and work on the homestead.

So I've got a question for you, how are you in the kitchen?

I often say I make a mean reservation.

I'm not a very good cook.

But tonight, we celebrate someone who is.

Chef Pamela Roberts, instructor at Central Piedmont Community College and host of "Charlotte Cooks" here on PBS Charlotte.

She's been serving up more than recipes over the last 20 years.

"Carolina Impact's" Chris Clark takes a closer look at the woman behind the apron.

- [Chris] Most things in the kitchen come with an expiration date, but I don't know anything that lasts for 20 years other than "Charlotte Cooks."

The show launched in 2005 with a variety of chefs from the culinary program at Central Piedmont Community College.

But host Pam Roberts has kept the show fresh since 2007, serving up culinary lessons and local flavor.

- Most feedback I get from people who watch the show is that you make it look easy- You'll let them dry out, right?

- And you make me think that I can do it too.

- Absolutely, yeah.

- And that's basically what the show is about.

- [Chris] What it's about now.

When Pam first heard about "Charlotte Cooks," it was a fledgling show with rotating guest chefs.

Newly hired and curious, she tuned in to see what all the buzz was about.

What she witnessed wasn't exactly a masterclass in cooking.

- One of the gentlemen that did the show, he was doing it outside and was doing one of those beer can chickens.

Well, it caught on fire behind him and it was just burning and burning, and he was like standing there pretending like it wasn't even happening, and I'm like, oh my goodness.

(laughs) - [Chris] Over the years, "Charlotte Cooks" transformed into an engaging culinary experience.

It became clear Pam couldn't do the food preparation alone.

She needed some help.

Enter her students, eager, curious, and ready to roll up their sleeves.

What started as a practical solution became a win-win.

- They got to see that the culinary industry is not just hotels, restaurants, or country clubs, what it's like to eat food in the movies and all that kind of thing.

- [Chris] With the extra help, Pam found herself with something she hadn't had in a while, time, and it was a game changer.

- And I was able to go out into the community and find chefs that were willing to be on the show.

- [Chris] Some took to the environment right away, others not so much.

- They see that red light and they freeze, and that's all they do is stand there and freeze, and I'm like, okay.

- [Chris] For some, the concern wasn't the camera but rather a voice as rich as their recipes.

- It's give more richness to the risotto.

- Raffaele comes on board, and I'm not throwing him under the bus because I love Raffaele very much.

My biggest concern was he had a very strong Italian accent.

- I'm originally from Rome.

- I'm trying to listen and I'm trying to pay attention to the camera and to pay attention to the food, and most of the time I'm like, I don't know what he's saying.

(laughs) - Take out the bottom, just because in this way- - Once he got on the air, everybody loved him.

Thank you.

- Thank you so much for having us.

- They just ate him up like sugar.

- [Chris] It's not just the guests that keep her on her toes.

Sometimes the food decides it'll be ready on its own time, not hers.

- One time, we did a show about bread and we were making homemade bread, right?

And I don't know if you've ever made bread, but bread rises and when it reaches a point where it's risen, it's ready to go on the oven.

And so I run off the set to go get it and I come back, they're adjusting microphones, they're doing this, they're doing that.

I don't know what they were doing, but some kind of TV technical stuff.

And the bread is literally coming up and going over the edges and it's alive, and it's like, I'm like, "Guys, we gotta go now."

- [Chris] Bread is the simple kind of thing that brings everybody to the table, but this show is about culinary curiosity, where unexpected combinations reign supreme, like the time Chef Oscar Johnson from Jimmy Pearls Eatery wanted to make tomato pudding, for instance.

- He said, "I'm gonna make ham jam, tomato and ham jam, and then we're gonna make tomato pudding."

The tomato pudding was kind of like a bread pudding made with tomatoes.

- [Chris] Bread and tomatoes are ingredients people can at least wrap their heads around, but what about the bits most of us would toss without a second thought?

In Pam's kitchen, even castoffs get a second chance.

- Most people don't have any idea you can actually make a chocolate mousse outta that juice that comes out of your canned chickpeas.

You strain 'em off and you make that juice, and you whip it up, it whips up just like egg whites.

We added melted chocolate, we added sugar.

Make the recipe, don't look at it too close, close your eyes and eat it because it's good.

- [Chris] Pam Roberts isn't just a chef, she's an artist both in and out of the kitchen.

Before she ever picked up a chef's knife, she was wielding a paintbrush.

One of her pieces even hangs in the Mint Museum.

She credits her artistic eye for the ability to plate dishes that look as stunning as they taste.

- My artwork has always been around color, form, and texture.

And if you think about food, color, form, the shape of the food, and texture, the textures of the food, you make a wonderful combination of colors, a variety of textures, a variety of flavors, and you plate it so it's attractive.

- [Chris] Pam's journey from the canvas to the kitchen was as seamless as blending colors on a palette.

Cooking soon became her full-time craft, but it didn't stop there.

Her passion for creating eventually led her to the classroom where she discovered something she loved even more than making art or food, and that's sharing it with others.

- The thing I really like about teaching cooking is that I'm inspiring these young chefs to go out there and make a difference in the world.

I've had two chefs come, two kids come to me this week from my career development class telling me that they've gotten good jobs and good job offers.

- [Chris] The kitchen be a place to experiment, to push boundaries, and yes, even to fail.

Pam encourages everyone to embrace the messiness of cooking, knowing every mistake is just an opportunity in disguise.

After all, sometimes the most unexpected outcomes lead to the most unforgettable dishes.

- If it doesn't turn out like the recipe, then that's okay, call it something else.

I was doing a catering job and I was supposed to be making an orange lavender sorbet, and I said, "Yes, you got a freezer, but you don't have any room for my sorbet."

So the sorbet turned into soup.

(laughs) And so I served it as a lavender orange soup in smaller bowls and they loved it.

- [Chris] For nearly 20 years, Pam Roberts has done more than teach recipes.

She's inspired creativity and confidence in the kitchen.

Charlotte Cooks isn't just about food, it's about embracing mistakes, experimenting boldly, and finding joy in the unexpected.

Pam turned a simple cooking show into a lasting legacy, and her message is clear, you can do it too.

For "Carolina Impact," I'm Chris Clark.

- I always admire great chefs.

Chef Pam Roberts, you have done a great job on "Charlotte Cooks."

Thanks so much, Chris, for sharing the story.

Well, creativity and passion in the kitchen can inspire and entertain an entire community, as we've seen.

Next, we head a little south of Charlotte to the charming town of Waxhaw, a place where history and hometown spirit are woven into every street.

Videographer Marcellus Jones takes us on a journey through this historic gem.

(upbeat music) - [Rich] Waxhaw is one of those I called it a Norman Rockwell type of a community.

It's got that look with the buildings, and it's a walking type of area, and it just has the charm of being out in the country, yet you're still close enough to Charlotte.

♪ I scream, you scream ♪ We all scream for ice cream ♪ Oh, ah (vocalists whistling) (upbeat music) - It really has that down home safe feeling that people look for when they come to visit.

(camera clicking) (upbeat rock music) - I really enjoy Waxhaw 'cause everything's just kind of in walking distance.

There's a lot of like good places to eat or just go hang out.

A lot of people are super interested in the train.

- Downtown Waxhaw kind of keeps the small family feel.

Everybody knows business owners by name.

Business owners know other business owners by name.

So it's a great town to build relationships, to build families, and to be around a loving set of people in a loving environment.

Downtown Waxhaw, you can't beat it.

- We are at Provisions Waxhaw, downtown, heart of Waxhaw.

Provisions is, we try to describe it to people who don't know as a small local Cracker Barrel, 'cause we do, we have a restaurant, we have a retail shop where we sell a bunch of different things, soaps, lotions, and we also have a coffee shop.

We've got all different types of businesses.

You know, it's still a small town, we want to try to keep it as much of a small town feel as possible, but we understand that it is growing.

- I think people should come here and visit.

They've got a lot of nice shops downtown.

It gives you that nice hometown feeling.

You know, it's a nice place to come back, come to visit.

It's just very, very friendly, very people oriented.

It's really, really nice.

(upbeat music) - So we're at Waxhaw Candle Company and everything's handmade.

Every single candle you see here, we're hand mixing, hand poured every single day.

Waxhaw North Carolina is one of those idyllic small town USAs.

I mean, you got people of every race, culture all over the US, and they're all coming here to Waxhaw.

- We're at The Vintage Room, Pretty much The Vintage Room is exactly what it sounds.

I mean, it's a room full of just classic vintage pieces, you know, nostalgia.

We go hardcore like eighties and nineties for sure.

I mean, people should come visit, man, 'cause, you know, you wanna come and kind of get away from the busyness, you know, and just enjoy the scenery.

I mean, Waxhaw is one of those places.

♪ In my mind, I'm going to Carolina ♪ - Stewart's Village Gallery, the finest store in Waxhaw.

My husband and I began the business in 1993.

Downtown Waxhaw has become a really thriving area.

Visiting gives you an authentic experience.

♪ Carolina in my mind - [Jeromy] It's something you don't see every day, and that's what makes Waxhaw special, as far as I see it.

- Thanks Marcellus.

From its landmark train tracks and historic downtown, to its growing art scene and family friendly festivals, Waxhaw continues to honor its heritage while writing new chapters for generations.

I love a small town with a big heart.

Finally tonight, music is such a big part of our lives, whether it was Sinatra or Elvis in the fifties, The Beatles in the sixties, classic rockers like The Eagles in the seventies, or pop sensations Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince in the eighties.

Yeah, those are the ones I love, that's my generation.

Whichever generation you grew up with, there's a sense of nostalgia for it.

"Carolina Impacts" Jason Terzis joins us with more.

- Well, when we think of nostalgia, it usually represents the things that we grew up with, and those things can vary from person to person, generation to generation.

But something you don't usually see much is someone tapping into someone else's nostalgia to give them a sense of enjoyment, and in this case, it's playing the classics on piano.

But there's also something else.

(upbeat piano music) It's a Thursday evening at The Sharon at SouthPark residents making their way in, chatting with friends, some enjoying a glass of wine, filling the room to listen to and sing along with some of the classics.

(upbeat piano music) - And then when he starts playing that piano, you know it is a God given talent.

- [Jason] The pianist isn't in their generation, but he knows all the songs from it.

- Everybody thinks he's terrific.

- [Jason] He hits all the right keys, foot pedals too.

The sounds he creates, pure magic.

- He just, he makes you happy.

I mean, you can see how many people come and love listening to him, just smile after smile.

- [Jason] But the catch, 23-year-old William Thames can't actually see what he's playing.

- Hearing you right now is how I see you, hearing is my sight.

The eye condition that I was born with was called Leber's congenital amaurosis, and the short of that is LCA.

- I still don't understand how someone who was born as he was could learn to play like he does.

(upbeat piano music) - [Jason] Blind since birth, Will's parents introduced him to music by giving him a keyboard when he was just four and a half.

- And it had all these, you know, prerecorded songs on there, like a lot of keyboards like that did.

And it had one of the most famous nursery rhymes ever, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

♪ Twinkle, twinkle little star - So I was listening to it one day.

I repeated the melody of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" from the recording I heard, just from what I could remember by ear.

- Will could just hear the song and play it.

- And then my parents were like, "Well, shoot, he's got a gift."

(upbeat music) - [Jason] He dabbled with the drums, but it was the piano that drew him in.

♪ Very superstitious - [Jason] Inspired by the likes of Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles, Will started taking lessons.

- Stevie Wonder, when I met him, he surprised me with a harmonica with his name and my name signed on it.

(upbeat harmonica music) I got to actually talk to this guy for 15 minutes.

I will never forget it.

He's the reason I do what I do.

- [Audience Member] Go, Will!

(audience cheers) (audience applauds) - [Jason] At Myers Park High School, he was in the talent show.

(upbeat piano music) And it was around that time, he started playing one night a week at The Sharon at SouthPark, back then known as Sharon Towers.

- I need to do this for school hours, like service hours, kind of out in the community doing things, 'cause they kind of required that for you in high school.

- [Jason] Living at The Sharon, Will's grandmother Margaret, who's not quite sure where he got his talent from.

- I don't know where Will got that.

He did not get any music from me, none, zilch.

(laughs) He developed that all himself.

(laughs) - [Jason] After finishing high school during the COVID year of 2020- - What a year it was.

- [Jason] Will return to The Sharon, not because he had to for school service hours, but because he simply wanted to.

- But I started back in 2022.

In 2024, summer of that year, I added Tuesdays to my schedule just 'cause of the overwhelming demand.

People just seemed to really enjoy this.

- He is a nice young man, he's smart as he can be and he's good at what he does.

- I want to hear y'all sing a little bit though, 'cause, you know, y'all have been so quiet and I know it's probably because we have this camera guy here, but that should not deter you guys.

That should only inspire y'all.

- Okay.

(upbeat piano music) - [Jason] Will continues to play simply for the enjoyment, developing bonds, not just with his grandmother, but other residents of the community, and he does it for free.

- Well, he gets food here, he really, and somebody that eats two or three, four grilled cheese and two orders of fries, you know, that adds up a little bit.

- [Interviewer] So he is getting paid is what you're saying?

- (laughs) Yes.

- The reason I love this place is the people.

You can't not be, even in my situation, in a happy mood when you hear people singing to these songs they grew up with that take 'em back to just the simple days, the simple times.

(upbeat piano music) - [Jason] Word about Will soon spread, leading to more playing gigs at other homes around town, like this one at Aldersgate Senior Living.

(upbeat piano music) - In fact, a lot of these communities I play at, the reason I'm even able to say I'm playing at 'em was because of friends and other friends, like residents that are there, or friends from church that spoke to the communities and were like, "You gotta get this guy here."

- [Jason] And he was even invited by the Charlotte Knights Baseball Team to play at a game.

(upbeat music) - But I like putting people in a good mood.

You know, Billy Joel said it best in his song, you know, people come to see him or come to see a piano man just to forget about life for a while.

- [Jason] As for Will himself, he's currently enrolled at Central Piedmont, with his goal of enrolling in the communications department next year at Appalachian State.

- I want to go into radio broadcasting ultimately.

Radio is my version of television, essentially, because you can't see what the radio personality's saying, you can only hear it.

- [Jason] And as for his blindness, Will is actually just fine with it.

After all, it's all he's ever known.

- 'Cause I don't ever wanna see.

I know there are a lot of things out there that say, you know, there are cures out there for people to see, but I'd never want that 'cause this is how I've been all my life.

- I just love stories of people overcoming.

Where else does he play?

- You know, as time goes on, he's got more and more gigs going.

Will's certainly becoming the man in demand.

In addition to his regular weekly gigs at The Sharon and at Aldersgate, he's recently added The Barclay at SouthPark as well as Matthews Glen and Windsor Run.

Southminster is another one that he's also playing at.

People might wanna know, how does he get to and from?

Ride share.

So, you know, he's very big with Uber and Lyft and, you know, picks him up from his home in Matthews and takes him to all the places, and so he's able to get everywhere he needs to go.

- You know, technology and the way our world has evolved, there is some good in it for sure, and love hearing about good folks like him.

- Absolutely.

- Well, we wanna hear from you.

Let us know your story ideas.

You can email them to stories@wtvi.org.

Before we leave this evening, I wanna say thank you to our friends from The Cypress who came to visit us in the studio audience for today's taping.

We very much appreciate their time, as I appreciate your time.

That's all the time we have this evening.

We look forward to seeing you back here again next time on "Carolina Impact."

Good night, my friends.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.