The District Chronicles

Issue date: 3/22/09 Section: Cover

Media Credit: Khalid Naji-Allah/Staff Photographer

Jimmie Benbow, 62, held up a black T-shirt that read, "I ? Anacostia" in big, white letters. His oldest daughter, Edith LaVerne Grant, 44, of Moon Township, Pennsylvania, said DC means everything to him. She has been trying for years to get Benbow to visit her to no avail.

"He acts like D.C. is gonna close down if he goes to Pennsylvania," she said.

Raised in LeDroit Park, Benbow has lived in D.C. all his life. He is a vendor who sets up shop seven days a week selling oils, hats, thermals, and Black hair and skincare products on Martin Luther King Avenue, SE, across the Big Chair. His business cards read, "Jimmie Benbow Enterprise: A Cocoa Motion Company, featuring products to beautify the body."

Benbow has been vending for 42 years, and he uses it as a way to reach out and help Anacostia residents. He wants to bring back the "village" concept of community to Ward 8.

"What you need young brother?" Benbow asked a young man who stopped to check out the merchandise.

On a brisk, sunny February afternoon, a woman with three children came by, too. Neither had a hat on. Benbow pulled out a tote from underneath the table and asked, "Would you like a hat?" The entire family grabbed hats free of charge.

"It's not always all about making money. You have to give something back to the community," Benbow said. "They give to me; I give to them."

He makes sure that he has a full stock of winter apparel to donate to children, especially those coming from the public assistance office at 2100 Martin Luther King Ave.

Evangeline Cole-Thompson, also known as Mama Cole, owner of the Anacostia Restaurant & Catering at 1918 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., has known Benbow for more than 10 years.

"He has always been supportive of me," Cole said. "He always has a shoulder to lean on, an ear to listen and a heart just as big as he is."

On numerous occasions, Cole said, Benbow has sent the homeless to eat at her restaurant on his dime. "He's that way all the time, not looking for nothing in return," Cole said. ''That makes him a good man."

On this day, Benbow sported a black and gold military cap, which read "Purple heart" and "Combat wounded" in gold letters with two military pins attached.

Benbow joined the army at 17, immediately following his graduation from Anacostia Senior High School. He served in Vietnam for 12 years as a national guard.

Continued...

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