The SALT TALK with Jermine Alberty

Make A Difference Day 2025 Part I: Honoring the Legacy of Rosemary Davis-Kelly

• Jermine Alberty • Season 3 • Episode 10

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One mentor can reset a life’s direction—and sometimes an entire community’s. We celebrate Make a Difference Day 2025 by telling the story of Rosemary Davis Kelly, the woman who turned teen volunteers into leaders and taught us to live service as identity, not a task. With my brother-in-purpose, Houston educator Dr. Bryan Williams, we revisit the Octagon Club years where food drives, senior visits, and real leadership training formed a blueprint for adulthood rooted in empathy, presence, and courage.

You’ll hear how Ms. Kelly’s “role motor” philosophy demanded motion, not perfection. She put us in rooms that stretched us—running meetings with Robert’s Rules, taking minutes, chairing committees, and mentoring middle schoolers. We explore unlikely growth engines like NYPUM mini-bikes, where adult riders taught us mechanics, discipline, and pride as we rolled through city parades. We also unpack Natural Helpers, the peer-led program that used skits, raps, and poetry to confront drugs and alcohol, pulling shy kids to the mic and turning them into confident communicators.

Our civic awakening arrived when she pulled us from school to walk with Jesse Jackson’s get-out-the-vote tour, proving that democracy is a classroom too. That day knit together service, citizenship, and the belief that youth deserve proximity to power and a reason to use it. Through laughter, gratitude, and honest reflection, we trace how a surrogate mom filled gaps with love and high expectations, then stood close while we failed forward. The throughline is clear: mentorship multiplies impact, and service becomes who you are.

Stay for the preview of part two, where we bring the SALT model into action and show practical ways to mentor, organize, and lead with heart. If this story sparks a memory of your own role motor, share it with someone who needs the nudge. Subscribe, leave a review, and pass this along to a friend who’s ready to make a difference today.

SPEAKER_01:

Hello everybody, welcome to the Talk Talk where we're seasonal life with service, affirmational, love, and transformation. I'm your host, Jermaine Albert. And today we're gonna do two-part series in honor of Make a Difference Day 2025. A day when people across the nature of their sleeves and serve. This year's thing is helping hands change your life. Feels deeply personal to me. For me, service started when I was a teenager and I joined the Octagon Club led by a dear friend and mentor Rosemary Davis Kelly. The Octagon Club is the youth arm of the Octopus Club, and we did food drives, visit seniors, raise money, local calls out. And somewhere along the way, we learned that service isn't just something to do, but it's something you become. That experience takes my mission to help people wake up with purpose and respond to the needs around them with compassion. And today I get to celebrate that journey with someone who was there from the very beginning. My brother, a more than 30 years educator, mentor, and Houston's own Dr. Brian Lamb. In this two-part podcast, we're gonna spend our first part with my dear friend Rose Mayor Davis Kelly, and then we're gonna jump into some other content about the root of service and brotherhood as well as talk about the thought model and action. And then we're gonna wrap up talking about how we care for self and cultivate connection with others. So stay tuned to this two-part episode of the Stop Talk with Jeremy Alberty. So segment one of this uh podcast is titled The Roots of Service and Brotherhood. And when I think back to those early Octagon Club days, I remember the command to read, read, read, and to lead uh by our mutual mentor who later became uh a dear friend, Rosemary Davis Kelly. Uh, she truly taught us so much. And it wasn't always by what she said, but how she lived. In fact, Brian and I talk about uh Miss Kelly, I'm telling you, almost every time we we talked uh to each other because she reminded us the importance of service to others and imparted life lessons that would equip us to be adults who not only make a difference, but literally be the difference. And so it's hard to believe that our friend has um departed this earth 20 years ago. I really would say she was an earthly angel. And I have no doubt that she would be so proud of all her octagon children and what we've accomplished. And she poured so much in us. And I definitely have to thank her daughter, Angelique, for willingly and probably unwillingly sharing her with us. And so what we know is acts of service became opportunities for learning responsibility and what it meant to care about people that we might never meet. And that club became our classroom for life where we first learned what it meant to serve from the heart. And for me, that's where the essence salt was born. Service is about presence, empathy, and the courage to show up. So before we go there, I would love for my friend Brian to share any thoughts that you might have about Miss Kelly, as we affectionately called her, and what stood out to you about her?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, Jermaine, thanks for having me on uh today's podcast. And service definitely is a passion of mine, and actually servant leadership. Uh, I'm a student of leadership and I'm a student of serving others. But when I think about Rosemary Davis Kelly, Miss Kelly, as you mentioned, who we effectively know her as, uh, she is just an amazing woman who has had a tremendous impact on my life. And I know you mentioned our intersection with her in the Octagon Club, but actually my intersection and introduction of her began uh prior to the Octagon Club work. I met her as a youngster at the Lynwood YMCA, the heart of Kansas City, Missouri.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's actually where my service route started from, but we'll get to that in a little bit. I want to just respond to your initial question about thoughts about Miss Kelly and what stood out to her. She was um, you know, someone that as a youth you feared, and it wasn't a fear that you were afraid of her, but there was a fear in that you had a healthy respect for her as a person, for her as an advocate of youth, uh, and for her having high expectations of herself and for the youth that she served. Yeah she really believed in providing experiences and exposure and education uh to underserved and underprivileged youth. And somehow she knew that with those experiences and those opportunities, that that would open the door wide for all of us to be successful adults. And so when I I really think about her, I think of her as a second mom. And she was a surrogate mom. And as you know, I come from a family of nine with a single mom who raised us. And my mom um did the very best that she could with the resources that she had, but she couldn't provide and fulfill all the needs uh that her kids had. And so God blessed to put in my pathway, surrogate mothers and surrogate fathers who were able to fulfill the needs and the desires that I had that my mom could not fulfill. And Miss Kelly was one of those. And so she was just an amazing, positive um second mom, mentor, role model. And as you know, we might get into that story of a role motor. Absolutely, but um just the just an amazing, amazing person who has truly had an impact on my life. And growing up at the Linwood YMCA, I saw her um from a professional standpoint, but as you and I both know, that as we became adults, that mentorship really blossomed into an adult friendship. Yeah. And we got to see her outside of work and outside of working with youth. And she really uh positioned herself to be our friends and our colleagues, and we got to know a little more about her personally. Um, where we were able to spend time with her family, spend time in her home, spend time outside of the Octagon Club or the YMCA. So, you know, I just I just think of her as just an amazing woman who's had a positive uh impact on my life and has helped change the trajectory of my life.

SPEAKER_01:

Listen, when you said that she was uh like a surrogate mom, I agree with you 100%. Uh she was that second mom that you didn't know you needed, but my God, the lessons that she taught us were just tremendous. Now, if I'm recalling that quote, she said, a role model stands still. Models stands still, but a motor uh is moving and action. And she didn't want us just to be people who just stood still. She wanted us to be about action. And um, I listen, all the adults that she introduced us to that were doing stuff, whether it was taking us to see the governor of Missouri or uh a state senator in Kansas or whoever it was, she was always introducing us to people who she knew would be models for us, uh who were doing things, who were bought things. So when I came across that the fourth Saturday of October was Make a Difference Day, I was just like, we have to do um something to honor somebody who made a big difference in our lives, and that was Miss Kelly. And so uh I'm so glad you agreed to do this interview, and um I was curious about how you became part of the Optagon Club. You met Miss Kelly at the Linwood YMCA, but you were the president of the Optagon Club, and I was the chair of recruitment. So how did you even become part of the Optagon Club?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, Miss Kelly, in her professional role, she was the program director for social services at the Linwood YMCA. So she was responsible for providing social services and social services program and youth programs at the YMCA. So in my relationship with her, she always um ensured that I was connected and that I was exposed to any and every uh youth program available. Yeah. And that was that was in the in within the city limits of Kansas City. But what I didn't know is on her own time, she was a part of the Optimist Club. And as you know, growing up, uh the Optimus Club, she's part of the KCK Optimus Club. It was a predominantly male-dominated service organization. It was that catered to men. And um, she was one of very few women who busted down the door. Absolutely. And back in the late 80s and 90s, and created space and a seat at the table of that organization to allow women and women of color to be a part of that organization. And as you mentioned, the Octagon Club was the youth service organization or the branch of the Optimist Club. But I became a part of that because I did not know that Miss Kelly was a part of that organization and that in her own spare time on the weekends, uh, she was the sponsor along with uh a good friend of ours, Adrian, his grandmother, Mary Ann Flunder, who was also a political advocate and uh community advocate on the Kansas City, Kansas side. But they sponsored the Octagon Club on the Kansas City, Kansas side, which for those of you who are listening who may not know, there's Kansas City, Missouri, and Kans City, Kansas. But they provided space and a platform for youth to get involved in service and in leadership. And so Ms. Kelly introduced me to the Octagon Club and just extended the invitation, and I said yes. And then that opened up the door for us to uh connect with other like-minded young people who were similar age back bracket who went to other schools um on the Kansas side that that we developed lifetime and long-term friendships with. So that's how I became a part of that organization.

SPEAKER_01:

And you said that she she invited you and you said yes. It was hard to say no.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I I I I don't I don't know if it was an invitation as it was an expectation.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely, absolutely, yeah, yeah. One of that's one of the things about uh Miss Kelly is she brought so many opportunities to us. And every opportunity was something that she knew would stretch us and grow us, and really turn us into the men that we became today. Um, that's one of my questions is uh, how do you think that experience of growing up with such a strong uh role motor, as as we'll call her role mode motor, uh how did that shape how you became the man you are today?

SPEAKER_00:

I'll go back to what I said about uh education and exposure, expands your expectations and uh just provides you with opportunities. So she did that for me and not just me, but for lots of young people. So connecting with her, I'll just list a couple of the programs that I was able to be a part of as a result of her mentorship and leadership. Of course, we talked about the Octagon Club, and that was a service and leadership organization that really uh exposed us as young people, high school students, about leadership, about um service in our community and giving back. And it really taught us um, you know, we had committee work, we had uh meetings where we had to um abide by the Roberts rules of order and learning how to run proper meetings. We had minutes, and so we kind of learned the business side of how to operate in uh you know a formal organization or club through that process. I remember one of the exciting things that we did, I don't know if you remember this, within the Octagon Club, is we developed a mentoring program or she did, and she matched us with middle school students that we mentored and um we partnered with. And we were, you know, what she did for us, she wanted us to do that for younger middle school students. And so I remember having a couple of middle school students that while I was a junior and a senior in high school, um picking them up, taking them on field trips, you know, uh visiting with their parents and mentoring them on the side while also going to school full-time and also working part-time. So that was one aspect of that. And of course, you know, there were many uh opportunities to go to um like conventions or workshops that brought out those leadership skills in us. So that was the Octagon Club was one of those programs. Another program that she exposed me to was uh a program involving um minibikes, and it was called NIMPAM, NYPUM. And they no longer do this, but this was a part of the YMCA, and I'll mention this because you you know uh there's a hobby that I had, but it was NIMPAM stands for the National Youth Project Using Mini Bikes. And what this was is that it was an organization where there it was sponsored by the Y, and they had a um a set of mini-bikes, and what they did is they targeted young African-American males who were teens, and they paired them with adult men who actually rode motorcycles, and they would teach us how to ride the mini-bikes, they would teach us how to service them, and then what we would actually do is back, you know, parades are not as popular as they used to be, but back in Kansas City when we would have the Thanksgiving or St. Patrick's Day or any parade, we would ride those mini-bikes and parades. So that was another service organization that I was part of, and then she also uh exposed me to an organization called Natural Helpers. I think you were part of this with us. But back in the 80s and 90s, when we were in school, there was a drug pandemic happening, then there was violence in Kansas City. And um there was an organization, I cannot remember, I think it was the National Alcoholism, the National Organization on Alcohol, Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. And what they developed is a peer helpers program where they train young people to form and create an organization, and we were to educate our peers about the dangers and hazards of alcoholism and drug abuse through um not just you know giving presentations or giving stats, but the the purpose of that was to develop skits and plays and songs and raps um in order to present that information in a fun, creative way to our peers to educate them about the dangers of uh of drugs and alcohol. And I'm I'm laughing because I remember one of the poems that I memorized and learned and still even know to this day. It's called My Name is Cocaine. So maybe at the end of this I might recite that. But what that organization did for me, as everything that she exposed us with, you and I are excellent public speakers. Yes, yeah, and you and I have served in ministry, you still serve in ministry in in some capacity. My ministry now is uh the education sector, but one of the skill sets that she developed with us with that program and many others, like the Octagon Club, is she brought out the um the talent and the gift of public speaking and oration. And I remember as a kid growing up, I was very shy. Uh, and I'm still very introverted, but as a kid, I was very introverted, lacked some self-confidence. But one of the things that she made us do, and it was an expectation of hers, she expected us and exposed us, like you said, to reading, reading current events, reading information, but also being able to stand and deliver a speech, a presentation. And um, I floundered many, many, many times and failed and embarrassed myself many, many times. But I credit Miss Kelly and I attribute my success as a public speaker in being able to get up and stand and deliver confidently in front of thousands or hundreds of people um a speech, a presentation, and have the ability to capture an audience and uh encourage them or inspire them. And all that is attributed to Miss Kelly because she had been she had the gift and the desire to bring out talents and gifts that we had as kids, and she knew that these were skill sets that were gonna enable us to be successful. So that's a long answer to your question.

SPEAKER_01:

Listen, it's great because here's the thing about it. We talk about Miss Kelly, you know, for hours on end, and so we did a whole podcast just dedicated to what she contributed to our lives. And I remember um when there was the epidemic in Kans City, and I was with her, uh Alvin Brooks, and a lot of bunch of other leaders, we did this put down the pipe campaign.

SPEAKER_00:

Put down the pipe, yes.

SPEAKER_01:

And I mean, it was an all night long like event. And we was in the basement, I want to say it otherwise possibly, but um put down the pipe campaign. And then when Rev Jackson, Jesse Jackson came into Kansas City, she pulled me out of school to be at that event where Rev Jackson was at.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, I'm telling you that that's ironic because I mentioned that to somebody today. Um, of course, you know I work in the school district. Yeah, and I and we had our superintendent student advisory council meeting. And so I had a couple students approach me concerned about um an organization or club being start started in their school, and they just had some reservations about it. And I educated them on our district policy, um, that we we we don't have restrictions around clubs and organizations that kids can um start. Yeah. And we we we live in this country, and in our country, we honor the Constitution and the First Amendment, right? For people to be able to express their opinions and beliefs, even if we disagree with them. Right. That's the big beautiful thing about living in this country. But I was talking to their sponsor, their teacher who brought them, and I told them the Jesse Jackson story that I was politically awakened in our senior year in high school, and I said it was 1992. Yeah, and uh Bill Clinton was on the verge of being elected, but Jesse Jackson came to town in Kansas City and he was a part of the get out the vote campaign. Yeah, we yeah, I remember you and I were pulled out of school along with some other of our friends and siblings, and we got to be a part of his entourage as he traveled from schools to churches to community centers and gave speeches. And I'll tell you, that year awakened uh me in such a way that I'll never forget that experience. And that's that's all attributed to Rosemary Davis Keller.

SPEAKER_01:

All of it. Listen, as I said, we could go on and on and on. I just had to dedicate a portion of this podcast to the contribution that uh Miss Kelly made in our lives. And so I am so excited that she gave me one gift that I have had uh for now 30 plus years, and that's our friendship. That introduction of us, and grateful for it. So I just pray that everybody, um, every young person has an opportunity to have a mentor like Rosemary Davis Kelly. And I think I'm thankful that we have done just that. We have paid forward uh by what she gave to us, to other young people. And uh I'm so grateful for that. So we are going to move to uh our next segment, uh, which is the salt model in action. But um, once again, we love Rosemary Davis Kelly. Uh, we we love Angie Lee, we love her sister Linda, and we are so grateful that they, as a family, we're willing to lend her to the world. And so uh listen, everybody. I just encourage you to be that mentor in a young person's life because you never know who they may become in the future. Well, hey, my friends, you have been listening to part one of our episode dedicated to Make a Difference Day 2025. Uh part one, we featured uh my good friend, Dr. Brian Williams, all the way from Houston, Texas. And talk about a friend and a mentor, Rosemary Davis Kelly. Thank you so much for tuning in to that part of the podcast. And let's over here. I want you to tune in to part two of this podcast dedicated to make a difference in 2025.

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Jermine Alberty

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