By Janet Wetzel
Enquirer contributor

Ernestine Bowers-Lowery and Katherine Bragg (see Zoom view) go over bills in Mrs. Bragg's apartment. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

Three decades ago, Ernestine Byers-Lowery read a quote that inspired her to be thankful for life's blessings, and work daily to share them with others.

That quote, which she attributed to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Proctor, said: "Those of us who have inherited benefits we did not earn or deserve, must help those who inherited deficits they did not earn or deserve, to help them earn what we take for granted."

Byers-Lowery took those words to heart. While busy with her husband, Terry, and children, Teri Lowery, 21, and Ronnie Byers, 18, she serves as a weekly volunteer at the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and at the Bethany House shelter for homeless women and children.

She also works with the Children's Church and the food pantry at Willing Spirit Baptist Church in Cincinnati, and serves on the board of the North Fairmount Community Center.

The Fairmount woman goes each Tuesday to English Woods to read to Katherine Bragg and help the visually impaired woman with chores. And she has delivered senior meals for eight years.

Byers-Lowery, 46, said surviving breast cancer in 1990 added to her interest in charity work.

"After God brought me through that, it made me more determined to use whatever time I have left to help others," she said.

Beyond volunteering, she makes serving children her career. After being laid off from an insurance company job in 1997, she opened the Active Child Care Learning Center Inc. in 1998 at the North Fairmount Community Center.

Brenda Mason said Byers-Lowery, whom she has known for 25 years, is a true humanitarian.

"She's the type of person who not only visits the sick and takes them chicken soup, fruit and magazines, she's also active in her church, and helps others in many other ways," Mason said. "She's an angel to our family."

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Do you know a Hometown Hero - someone in your community dedicated to making it a better place to live and helping others? E-mail Janet Wetzel at jjwetzel@siscom.net or fax to 755-4150.