Our Story
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Delta House Life Development of Asheville, Inc
218 South French Broad Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801
For more than 60 years, Asheville Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. had a dream to purchase a "House" to offer public service programs in the Asheville community. In 1983, Shirley W. Whitesides, President of the chapter formed a committee to explore the possibilities of purchasing a facility for a Life Development Center. The committee members were Ollie McCool Reynolds, Harriett Nunn Haith, Orine Wiggins, Grace D. Bacoate, Jean McKissick McNeil and Shirley W. Whitesides.
Alfred J. Whitesides, Jr., a local banker, and Wade Thomas, a realtor, found a house across the street from the Asheville Middle School. Mr. Whitesides assisted the Deltas with securing an attorney and financial guidance to help proceed with becoming a nonprofit 501(c) (3) tax-exempt organization. Asheville Alumnae Chapter's 18 members pooled their funds and savings to purchase the house known as the "Haunted House" in the neighborhood as because of its poor condition. The initial Board of Directors of Asheville Alumnae Delta House, Inc. were the following: Grace D. Bacoate, Harriett Nunn Haith, Lucy Mae Harrison, Jean McKissick McNeil, Ollie McCool Reynolds, Shirley Walker Whitesides, and Orine B. Wiggins. On December 25, 1983, the notice appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times that Delta House was nonprofit cooperation and property owners: What a Christmas Present for the Delta House and the Asheville Community.
Delta House received a grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in 1984 to start renovating our Life Development Center. Hill Street Baptist Church's Annex was the location of Delta's first after-school center. Delta House celebrated its Grand Opening, and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony of their Life Development on Sunday, October 26, 1986, located at 218 South French Avenue. Dr. Bertha Maxwell Roddey, Regional Director of the South Atlantic Region and the 20th National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated participated in the ceremony. Mrs. Thelma Caldwell, a local artist, presented an art exhibition of oil paintings and pastel drawings during the reception. Caldwell, the first African American Executive Director of the Asheville YWCA, had private painting lessons from Shirley Whitesides after her retirement along with other formal painting classes.
Asheville Alumnae Delta House, Inc. name changed to Delta House Life Development of Asheville in 2004. Due to misconceptions of the Life Development Center was a sorority house. The Janirve Foundation was very instrumental in helping to complete the renovations of Delta House so that students and adults could have a safe learning environment to receive community service.
Throughout the years, Zanie Davidson, Marjorie Locke, Lettie Polite, Maxine Teamer, Shirley Whitesides, and Sheila Edwards have dedicated many hours of tutoring and mentoring students in the Asheville City School System at Delta House. "Black Out for Progress, BOOST and now LEAAP for Success are programs that have provided academic and cultural enrichment for students in grades K- 12. Trevor Chavis and Ollie Reynolds taught piano lessons to students. Grace Bacoate and Eula Shaw taught Drama and Creative Writing, and Shirley Whitesides taught visual arts at Delta House and the YMI Cultural Center after school. Students participated in Delta House's public service activities such as "Connecting Cultures and Children's Creative Arts Workshops held at Asheville Middle and Hill Street Middle Schools after school and during the summers.