Pam Harper does not call or send emails. She goes to see people when she needs to get something done.
“Honey, when I go, people don’t say no,” Pam said, leaning in as if she were sharing an important secret.
No one, it seems, says no to Pam. And everyone seems happy to see her coming. She stopped by the admissions office at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College and people shouted her name. When she walked into the Gondolier Italian Restaurant, a big smile gleamed on Michael’s face behind the counter. At Sunday Morning Dress Boutique, Brenda shouted, “What’s up, my girl?”
Pam is the learning coordinator at ECTC’s Learning Resource Center, but she’s more than that. “She has her pulse on a lot of things,” according to her secretary, Jennifer Douglas. “Everybody knows Pam.”
When morale among staff and teachers at ECTC was low because no one was getting a raise, Pam suggested that the college have an appreciation day with food for the workers and cards from their supervisors. On Oct. 30, 2009, the college hosted “Treat Your Faculty/Staff Member — Not Trick Them.” It lifted employee morale and brought in so much food that Pam donated the overflow to Immanuel Baptist Church and Warm Blessings homeless shelter. That’s why some people call Pam “The Food Lady.”
Pam said it’s sometimes hard to recognize her from one day to the next. Though her wigs, dresses and jewelry change, her accessories are flamboyant, from her stylish shoes to her snazzy hats. She has 400 of those, enough to fill most of the 11 closets in her home.
The one thing that doesn’t change is her smile. She seems to always be wearing it.
“She will laugh you to death,” Jennifer said. ”She is the pride of our school.”
