Plymouth’s own Morris Barrow is proud to say that he lives his live in the service of others.

As the founder and Executive Director of Majestic Hearts Inc, he serves the people of his local community and as a born-again Christian, he serves a higher power, two convergences that define his life and keeps him strong in his purpose.

“I’ve always been a compassionate person,” Barrow says. “I’ve always loved helping people. You can ask anyone in Plymouth about Morris Barrow and they’ll tell you what type of person I am. I’ve always been one to give you my last. That’s always been my strength… It’s how I live my life and how I do my business.”

After graduating from Plymouth High School in 1982, Barrow attended Shaw University where he took up criminal justice. Barrow would spend three years at the university but would ultimately leave to pursue other interests.

“I stayed in for about three years studying criminal justice but I didn’t graduate because I decided to pursue a few different things,” Barrow recounts. “Really, I was more focused on getting a business going.”

Indeed, Barrow would go on to establish Uptown Clothing among Plymouth’s shopping outlets downtown.

“People will remember it. It was located right here next to A Plus,” Barrow says. “Another Plymouth guy, Omar Harris, had his store there too. We were all trying to make something happen for ourselves.”

Displacing some success in his hometown, Barrow decided to shoot for greater horizons. Specifically, he relocated to the nation’s capitol in the early 2000’s and took a job at Waste Industries. It was a significant opportunity that would go on to find the next few decades of Barrow’s working life.

“I moved to Raleigh and I started working at waste industries in 2002. That was a big jump for me and a great opportunity,” Barrow explains.

As he tells it, Barrow began his new career as one of the company’s drivers. Before long, he found himself in the role of lead driver for the business before becoming its lead supervisor after a November 2018 merger with GFL Environmental Inc.

GFL or Green For Life, is the only major diversified environmental service company in North America that offers services in solid and liquid waste management and has operations in both Canada and the United States.

For over the next 15 years Barrow would serve in his lead supervisor role before he received a calling to elevate his purpose and make a positive impact in his local community. In 2019, this calling became a reality as Barrow would establish his Majestic Hearts Inc., nonprofit organization. Initially, the organization was created primarily to aid local youth and curb truancy rates in Raleigh. However as fate would have it, the organization was destined to do far more than Barrow ever imagined...