A Plate of Warm Cookies - Tammy Braglin

As support coordinator for Isaiah 117 House of Johnston County, Tammy Braglin works with location leader Randa Gay and care coordinator Jessica Brown to change the way foster care begins. The nonprofit provides physical and emotional support in a safe and loving home for children awaiting placement.

Activate Selma held one of its meetings at the house, whose location is not publicized, before it opened to the children of the community on March 15, 2026. Since then, more than 32 children have passed through its red door.

Each one, Tammy explains, is greeted by the smell of cookies baking, a fresh plate of them, still warm from the oven, no matter the hour, day or night.

“We have volunteer groups who make homemade cookie dough for us to store in the freezer. When DSS calls that we’ve got kids on the way, we pop a sheet in the oven.”

“That’s phenomenal to witness, the interaction of a child opening up, usually within 30 to 45 minutes of being in this house, after being so broken. They’ve already been through so much, and to walk into a house with strangers and know that our volunteers are there to give love. It’s amazing to watch them take it in. I can’t explain what that feeling does to your heart.”

While the cookies are a make-a-memory moment, the rest is a wide organization of work. Tammy’s job is to help maintain the day-to-day functioning of the house, meeting the needs of both children and volunteers coming in. She helps organize events at the Isaiah 117 House, and those in the community that bring awareness to the nonprofit.

She grew up Tammy Rollins on Pulley Seafood Road in Selma (considered Micro district). Her grandparents’ homestead is still there. Most of her family is from Johnston and Wayne counties. In the sixth grade her family moved to Princeton, and she graduated from Princeton High School, class of 1993.

“My graduating class had 56. We all knew each other, and our families knew each other. I still keep in contact with them, and even my friends from Micro who went to North Johnston High School. Everybody knows everybody in small towns.”

Tammy worked several jobs before joining the Community & Senior Services of Johnston County, Inc., for 14 years, the last 12 as program coordinator for the Harrison Center for Active Aging in Selma. During that time she married, divorced, and walked a second time down the aisle with John Braglin.

“Our oldest boys were best friends in middle school,” Tammy says. The blended family includes Tammy’s son and daughter, who are in the military, and John’s three children who live locally, and “two amazing, beautiful granddaughters that I spoil rotten all the time,” Tammy adds.

As soon as she heard about Activate Selma, and while she still worked at the Harrison Center, Tammy started attending meetings, starting with one at Old Fashioned Ice Cream in 2021.

“I saw the group as a way to get my seniors involved more in the community than just cutting up watermelon and handing out water once a year at Railroad Days.”

She knew it would bring more community awareness about the Harrison Center, too, and offered the center’s community room as a place for Activate Selma to meet.

A lifelong avid reader, Tammy had long harbored the dream of opening her own bookstore. Her private collection became so overwhelming it spilled out of her home and into storage sheds.

When, in Spring 2023, word came that a hair salon was vacating a prime location in downtown Selma, Tammy and John decided the time was right to take the risk. They contacted the landlord and signed a rental lease before word spread widely. The spot was ideal – right next door to Coffee on Raiford.

She turned in her notice with Community & Senior Services, and within a fast-turnaround of several months, the couple completed a DYI renovation of the shop with John’s built-in floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a sunny children’s window seat area, a comfy book discussion area, several book nooks, and, near the back a counter for serving refreshments with bar stools. Tammy readied her stored accumulation of books for transport to the shop, which she named The Story Keeper Bookstore. A ribbon cutting in August 2023 followed a soft opening in July. Local media, including Johnston Now magazine, featured the news. Tammy joined the Triangle East Chamber of Commerce, connected with the Small Business Center at Johnston Community College, hosted authors’ book signing events, and engaged with followers on social media. She even introduced customers to Oreo, who became a beloved bookstore dog, who drew in visitors whenever the shop was open.

“The bookstore was my passion,” Tammy says. “Selling books, reading books, giving away books -- I felt like, ‘this is why I’m here,’ when families would come in and kids would sit in the children’s area and not want to leave. The moms would have to pull them out of my store screaming and hollering. As a child, I came to town with my grandparents and entered the stores. Now, to be part of it as an adult, it made me feel like I had done something important, that I was part of the change in the town that I grew up in.”

After less than two years, though, the bookstore simply wasn’t doing well. Despite all her efforts, she wasn’t selling enough books to cover rent and utilities, let alone make a profit. And selling local authors’ books on consignment or bringing them in for events took too much energy and time for a small business.

“I was disappointed,” Tammy says. “People love the thought of a bookstore. It’s fun and popular when it first opens. They buy a book and then they might not come back for a couple of months. I struggled to reach customers who wanted to come back. The reading population was just not in this area.”

John was supportive. He was willing for her to keep her store open. “‘We just gotta pivot and change it to be something different,’” Tammy says. She knew, however, it was time to close. “Emotionally, it really broke my heart. I had to deal with some things. There was a lot for me to take in.”

Because an opening for a program coordinator became available, Tammy was able to return to her job at the Harrison Center for Active Aging for the next year and a half.

“I was determined I was not going to let closing of my Selma store keep me from my passion of for books.”

A thriving tattoo shop opened in the space where Tammy’s bookstore once stood. For a short period, her books occupied space in a retail location in the former Southern Bostonian.

Today she has relocated The Story Keeper Bookstore inside and to the back of Sassy & Co. Hair Salon in Micro, a prime location at 302 Highway 301 South in Micro. Book lovers can access the shop when the salon owners are there. She still has one shelf in Micro for local authors, including Tracy McKinley’s book about Orville, the donkey, her favorite children’s book.

She also created two Story Keeper Cozy Little Book Nooks – one inside Coffee on Raiford at 123 North Raiford Street in Selma, and one inside the main building at Hinnant Family Vineyards, 826 Pine Level Micro Road, in Pine Level.

Ashley Nicholas at Hinnant, and Kim Fry at Coffee on Raiford keep an eye on the inventory.

“They’re awesome. They’ll call me and let me know when I need to restock, and pretty much handle my sales for me. They let me know what’s moving and what’s not. Crime and romance sell really well at Coffee on Raiford. That, and book merch, like the cute little bookmarks, notebooks and journals.”

Tammy has also partnered with Heather Machia, the early literary coordinator with The Partnership for Children in Johnston County, to share children’s books in Little Free Libraries. They are planning a free Children’s Book Fair and a downtown Story Walk sometime in 2027. Heather started and maintains two story walks where families can read children’s books along scenic trails, in Selma (in the Richard B. Harrison Athletic Complex) and Smithfield (near UNC Health Johnston).

During the time Tammy stepped back into her role at the Harrison Center she also became an advisory board member for the new Isaiah 117 House that was being built in Selma and then transitioned to that job.

“I started with Isaiah 117 as a volunteer two years ago and then I became an LAT member, which is essentially like an advisory board member. Then I left the Harrison Center the second and final time and began working with Isaiah 117 in January 2026 and I’ve been a support coordinator since then,” she says.

Today, because she’s so busy with the Isaiah 117 House, Tammy can’t always make the weekly Activate Selma meetings. However, she now serves on the Activate Selma board, giving herself a decision-making role with the group as it moves into 2027.

“We have a great board. I love everybody’s opinions and insights and what everybody brings. I like being a part of the growth.”

Tammy’s seen projects come and go without success.

“I love to hear Jeff Hamilton say, ‘Try it one time. If it worked a little bit, we’ll change it and try it again,” she adds. “You don’t know until you try. Go with what works.”

The Downtown Selma Business Group fizzled out after a few meetings and has been tabled for now. Two events have been tabled after two years: Festive Friday was a Friday before Thanksgiving event and Three Kings Fiesta was on the first Sunday of the New Year. Both took a lot of work and energy but didn’t take off.

“As a matter of fact, Disco Santa got good feedback after last year, so we’re bringing that back again on November 21 in Art Out Loud Park. Santa and Mrs. Claus come dressed up in disco outfits, and we all dance to 60s and 70s music in the park and have a good time. It’s fun,” she says.

Tammy has seen the same challenges most nonprofits face – difficulty attracting and keeping volunteers, inconsistent performance, overstepping boundaries, burnout, and relying on the same few people to get the work done. She perceives an even deeper challenge for the group.

“We definitely need to work on communication with Activate Selma,” says Tammy. “We need a strong social media person, and the first step is to get young people involved in Activate Selma.”

“People think of Selma as an old town full of antiques, with nothing for young people to do. We have to bring more vibe to our social media and increase our Instagram and TikTok with what is a magnet for young singles and families in Selma – like Target, Alta’s, and Downtown Nutrition.

“Reaching younger people isn’t going to do anything for Selma if we don’t have anything for them to do once they come to town,” she adds. A skate park. A splash pad. Tammy thinks Selma needs a kiddie park. “Parents are shopping, walking with strollers. I’m a GiGi now, and when I bring my grandchildren for ice cream at Mike’s, there’s nothing else for them to do.”

“Reach out to young folks first – they have so many insights because they’re focusing on what’s best for their family and future. Welcome everyone, not just business owners,” says Tammy.

“Go with the idea of many small activities going on around town throughout the year, not just one big festival. Little events keep people coming back. They don’t have to cost a lot or take a lot of effort when you have a team.”

“Look at all the small events we’ve had at Ron and Heidi Hester’s Art Out Loud Park,” she says about the empty lot the couple turned into a gathering place with whisper benches, tables and soon, a small stage.

“I think in every town, those little parks are amazing. I love our cookouts. John was grilling, and a gentleman and his son asked, ‘What do y’all got going on back here?’ And when I said, ‘We’re giving away hot dogs,’ and he got his wife, and they came back and ate hot dogs and hung out with us. That, to me, is what a small town is about. That’s why I love Selma.”

“Activate Selma is an extension of my family. When we go to a Rockin’ on Raiford concert, John helps set up and break down tables and he looks forward to these events. He says it’s like hanging out with my cousins. I love that.”