[1/19/05]Tommie Lee Williams Sr. is saying goodbye today to the charitable agency he founded, as his wife put it, “so he wouldn’t be idle.”

Williams and his wife, Pearline, created We Care Community Services Inc., 33 years ago on a whim and recognition that there were many Vicksburg people in need.

Williams, now 78, has been blind since 1967. We Care was born in tense times during a 1972 boycott of white Vicksburg merchants by black citizens. As a volunteer, Williams was in charge of gathering clothes for the needy. A thrift store was relocating, and the owner donated all of its clothing.

“I just thought I’d give the clothes away and be through with it,” Williams said.

He started giving the clothes away from his mother’s front porch. He later rented a building.

“It just mushroomed,” he said of We Care, which eventually won national recognition, a series of federal grants and inclusion as a United Way agency.

We Care now has its headquarters at 909 Walnut St. and a variety store at 1201 Monroe St. It is not going away. Five employees run the store and the nonprofit’s programs, including GED classes, after-school tutoring and a computer lab. The agency also helps families who run out of food before receiving food stamps and those who need help managing bills, Williams said.

There are not a lot of rules. The idea is to help in any way possible as long as goods or funds are available. “It was just something to help in the community for lower-income people,” he said.

At least 250 local families are assisted in some way by We Care. Several years ago, the national director of the Social Security Administration visited, was impressed with what she saw and Williams received grants for outreach programs to assist the elderly and disabled in applying for benefits.

In addition to the United Way, United Parcel Service and the Christian Children’s Fund have been steady donors.

The nonprofit was so successful that Williams was recognized by the Washington, D.C.-based Caring Institute in 1994. He traveled to the nation’s capital to receive an award from former President Jimmy Carter.

All good things must come to an end, Pearline Williams said.

“We just feel that it is time to leave it to someone else to run,” she said. Williams said he will miss his work.

“I feel like it was God’s blessing for me to be at We Care. I feel like a cornerstone and now the cornerstone is gone,” he said.