ABOUT | Joseph Valenti for Mt Gilead Mayor

About Joseph Valenti

Joseph Valenti has an open door policy and time to listen to everyone. He moved to Mount Gilead NC in 2015, works 9-5 from home, has been in IT Tech for 30+ years, and has owned a small business named NERO for since 1998. Originally from New York, Joseph moved south in 2009 and settled in Mount Gilead NC in 2015 as his place to retire and operate NERO events. Joseph welcomes a good sit down chat and his Telephone number is 914.309.7718.

When Did I move to Mount Gilead NC?
I moved to Mount Gilead in 2015. I’ve mostly kept to myself, having enjoyed good neighbor relations with Steve and Bette, John and Kim, and Derrick, Jamie, except those few times I killed all our electric at the pole. I have one parcel that has 4 acres inside mount Gilead town and 12 acres outside the town. I moved here when I was working for social security administration and traveling back and forth between NC and MD. I’ve worked from home since about 2017, and for the same fortune 500 company since 2019, working around the country for the 10-years previous in places like Los Angeles, Chicago, Dubuque, Ann Harbor, Detroit, Schaumburg, and Joliet.

Do I volunteer? I don’t recollect doing much actual volunteering. I did help at the food pantry carrying boxes to cars a few years ago for about a half year while my foster son was living with me. I buy those dinners, and raffle tickets, every year, when the Church or fire department has a fundraiser. I and my foster son helped our beautiful neighbor Christy with the great turtle rescue. I weed whacked a neighbor’s grass a few weeks ago when the call came out that they needed some help. I drove from new York to Georgia then to NC last year in September to pickup a dog that was going to be euthanized.

What local businesses do I support? (july 2023)
· I try to buy everything I can locally before giving my money to those who aren’t my neighbor.
· I’ve purchased items at the old flower shop, the current consignment shop, the vape shop, Marathon Gas, Chips Gas and Convenient, Curts Variety since the day it opened, the gun shop, and I stop and buy something from every farmers shop/truck/stand I see people selling things at.
· The Pharmacy here in town is my pharmacy of choice (I have an epi pen there now to go pick up).
· The medical building that just closed was my primary care physician’s office.
· Repairs on my 2-cycle engines (push mowers, zero turns, ride on, weed whackers, chain saws), happen at Danny’s shop in town. I’ve also hired Joe Williams who worked at brown’s hardware, recently.
· I’ve watched multiple restaurants come and go in the last 9 years at The Ford Place. I’ve been there eating Dinner at whatever the place was called (Flashback, Milanos, Providence, and Luna’s now) almost every day. All the staff at Luna’s know me, and me them, including Oscar, Leslie, Lilly, Lauren, and Sarah. I remember when there was karaoke 6 or so years back.
· I’ve eaten at Steve’s Pizza and Sub since 2015 when Noi, Steve and her family welcomed me with open arms to this great town. When it’s open nowadays I make it a point to stop in to show my support.
· I’ve eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner at Burger Shack since 2015 too. Neka is a culinary artist and makes some seriously tasty bacon (I like it deep fried in the oil) and a kick-butt 3 eggs over medium plate. I’m happy to hear that Ellen retired. Sue makes the toast just right everytime, Tiera and Kia make great coffee that gets my brain rolling, and Lisa while working the drive-thru has the time to share her fantastic smile and a pleasant good morning with me. Rachel’s fairly new but she’s been nice and converses with me too. All of the workers at Burger Shack make me feel like I’m part of their family. They know my breakfast meal and my lunch meal and it’s a point of laughter for us as we joke because I generally eat the same meal everyday. I enjoy my morning laughter with the Burger Shack team – they cook me a wonderous breakfast to start the day with. I know Amber, J, Jose, Derrick the culinary artist, who make great buffet food and chicken salad sandwiches, and all the others at dinner are super friendly to me too. I’ve met Bruce, Shane, Celia and Jessica too, all of whom treat me nicely. Shane made me breakfast this morning at 6am because Neka had the day off.
· I’ve bought hardware, equipment, plumbing, etc., at Brown’s hardware on every possible occasion since 2015 to show my support for the local store and its people. I know all the workers there before it closed including Charles, Mike, Hank, and Joe. I remember when Darcia Alt worked there too, and Joe’s daughter/niece and when there was a chair and we used to hang there with Big Jim in 2015/2016/2017.
· I’ve shopped at dollar general since moving here in 2015 and have gone there nearly every night between October 2022 and May 2023. I shop cat food and dog food on Saturday’s and use half a dozen $5 off coupons a month. I’ve been friendly with most people like John who just left, Vikki, Crystal, Miriam, Cheyanne, Sharon and the others, all of them are very friendly and make me feel like I’m an old friend. I enjoy having small conversations with them to brighten my day up (and hopefully theirs) after shopping.
· I’ve been going to the food giant/king in town since 2015 too. I’m known as the friendly guy who loves to sing along with the music. I butcher the songs, but I love to sing! Such great people there have been sharing big smiles with me forever, leaving me feeling like I’m part of the community every time I visit. I’m going to have to learn the names better as I’m at a loss as I think of them. I share smiles and small talk with the wonderful woman who just retired, the young lady with the glowing smile (Tim Patterson wife?), and the youths that are on the cash register and stock the shelves. And the tall gentlemen whose got the biggest smile and greatest attitude.
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