Once upon a time, a seventeen year old boy named Willie Hinton lived in rural Alabama.  He was one of ten children, in a four room house, without indoor plumbing. It was the 1960’s and life in the south for an African-American man was harsh. Willie feared he would be unable to succeed in that environment so he decided to leave home.

With $50.00 and his high school diploma, Willie boarded a bus bound for Cleveland, Ohio where his older sister lived. He dropped his bags at her house and went down the first main street he saw to find a job. Fortunately, a fairy godmother was watching over him and guided him into a hardware store owned by Molly and Richard Kravitz. They weren’t looking for any help, but that didn’t stop Willie. He laughs now when he says he had his first job just two hours after getting off the bus!

Willie not only became an employee that day, he became a member of the Kravitz family. That relationship continues to this day. Molly, now 93, remembers how she would insist that Willie take a day off. He would ‘sneak’ back into work when her back was turned and proceed to wait on the customers. When Willie was drafted and sent overseas, Molly would send him ‘care’ packages of food and knitted goods.

When Willie returned to Cleveland and his job at the hardware store, the fairy godmother had another surprise for him. It was a beautiful young woman named Betty who soon became his bride. They are the proud parents of Lisa and Willie Jr.

After Molly and Richard retired, Willie lost no time finding other employment. His strong work ethic, excellent people skills and desire to learn caught the eye of recruiters from many major corporations. Today, Willie is the well-respected Club Manager of Sam’s Club in Oakwood Village.

And so, the fairy tale continued. When The Gathering Place was in its infancy and looking for support from the community, one of our volunteers approached Willie and asked for his help. She felt comfortable doing this because she had known Willie most of her life: she was Molly and Richard’s daughter Hindy Berman!

Hindy remembers the answer Willie gave to that first request for help. He said “Make me a wish list Hindy.” He then proceeded to grant every wish on the list. This was the beginning of a magical relationship between Willie Hinton, Sam’s Club, and The Gathering Place. He has continually made our wishes come true, with merchandise for our special events and generous cash donations. Willie’s personal generosity and dedication to helping others has set an example for his associates who also give to The Gathering Place.

But, like all fairy tales, Willie’s story has a dark side. Willie began to feel ill. He was weak. He had other, more alarming symptoms like blood in his urine and drastic weight loss. Reluctantly he went for his annual, mandatory physical. He was told his PSA, the blood marker for prostate cancer, was extremely high. So, what did Willie do? He, like so many men, especially African-American men, chose to ignore it. He was frightened of the likely diagnosis of prostate cancer. He used what he calls “wishful thinking”, hoping it would go away. He pretended nothing was wrong but his symptoms worsened.  More time passed. It was Hindy’s husband who finally called the urologist, made the appointment and met Willie at the doctor’s office. He heard the hard news that he indeed had prostate cancer and needed to begin treatment immediately. Now, two years later, Willie has gained back the weight he lost. He once again walks purposely down the aisles of Sam’s Club chatting with customers and his staff.

Recently, Willie asked our Ellen Heyman, and Hindy to come to Sam’s Club to talk to his staff about The Gathering Place and to accept another generous cash donation. After the two women spoke, Willie addressed the group. “How many of you have been touched by cancer?” he asked. “Do you know what denial is? Crackheads have it, alcoholics have it. I had it. I was stubborn. I was scared. I was worried about missing work of all things. It was the most stupid thing I’ve ever done in my life. If someone else didn’t take me to the doctor I’d still be ignoring it. So go to the doctor.”

As the crowd dispersed, Willie took Hindy aside and said with a big grin on his face “You know, Hindy, I’m cancer free”.  To show how he celebrated, in his office is a certificate for completing his first bungee-jump! What could be better for happily ever after.

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