Every second Saturday in November, hundreds of people flock to a small farm on Friendship Road in Daphne to hear the story of a self-made man and to buy his cane syrup.

Carlos Wright, 61, started life in poverty in Clarke County. When he was 18, he moved to Mobile to work, and 43 years later, he’s a business owner and holds an annual event to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

Growing sugar cane and making cane syrup has been in Wright’s family for at least three generations. He comes from a family of what he calls “pea-patch farmers,” people who lived off the land and grew the food they ate. He learned about agriculture and syrup making from his father, and after his death in 1996, Wright began to perfect the process of making syrup.

“After my dad died, it took me 12 years to pin the syrup making down,” he said. “It is a very, very old trade. It takes a lot of skill.”

Nov. 10, Wright and his family hosted their 12^th annual syrup day, and they raised more than $2,000 for the American Cancer Society by selling mason jars full of syrup and heaping plates of sweet potatoes, cornbread, red beans and rice, greens, macaroni and cheese and barbecue. Wright not only grows the sugarcane, but he also furnishes the greens and sweet potatoes.

The fundraiser began because of a desire to get together with family and friends and to raise money for a worthy cause, Wright said.

“I love to help people, especially people in need,” he said. “Some of my family members have had cancer, my wife had cancer and some of my friends have died from cancer. So I feel somebody needs to help out as much as we could.”

Wright also has a fascinating story to share when guests arrive to the farm.

During his childhood in central Alabama, Wright lived in poverty with his 10 brothers and sisters. After integration was implemented in his area, the black students had the same attendance rules as the white students — they could only miss 15 days a year — and Wright had to quit school in ninth grade so he could still work on the farm.

“We were missing 15 days a month working on the farm,” he said.

He picked cotton most of his teenage years, but he didn’t see a future for himself making $2 a day in his hometown.

“One day, I was standing in the cotton field picking cotton, and I just looked across the field, and I said, ‘One day, I’m going to Mobile to get rich,’” Wright said. “I pursued that, and it took me a year to get $18. When I left home, I had $18 and my clothes in a Piggly Wiggly grocery bag.”

Wright walked 20 miles to the nearest bus stop.

When he arrived to Mobile, he had never seen running water, tunnels, taxis or telephones, and he wandered around downtown staring at the Bankhead tunnel, wondering why the cars were going into a hole in the ground and turning back around and coming out. He ventured out into the middle of the road to see what was going on and was quickly told to get out of the street.

When he arrived at his Aunt Mae’s house, things got even more confusing.

“My aunt asked me when’s the last time I had a bath, and I told her about a week ago,” he said. “Where we come from, the only time you bathe is when you going to church on the first Sunday. She said, ‘Boy, get up and go in the house and wash your stinky behind.’ My aunt was very outspoken.”

Wright went upstairs and searched for a bucket of water, but couldn’t find one anywhere. He found the soap and a washcloth, but there was no water. Finally, he saw the toilet — “this little stool sitting there with a top on it.”

He cleaned himself up with the water he’d found and went back downstairs.

“When I come out of that room, she said, ‘I didn’t hear no water running. I told you to wash your stinky behind,’ Wright remembered.

He explained what happened, and she laughed and told him how the shower worked.

Wright learned about all of Mobile’s other modern conveniences and started working in the construction industry immediately, where he made $2 an hour.

“Let’s see — that was $16 a day,” he said. “I was rich, then.”

Wright got married and bought a house at 21. He and his first wife had five children, and he has a daughter with his second wife. He said he raised all of his children, and he is proud of who they have become — all five of his girls went to college, and his son, Carlos Jr., plans to take over the business Carlos Sr. started, Wright Masonry.

Carlos Jr. said knowing his father’s success story and how he chooses to give back has inspired he and his sisters to make the most out of their lives.

“One of his big things was to work hard, but not only to work hard, but to take what you have when you get there and put it to use,” he said. “Rather than just working and not have anything to show for it when you’re done, you put your earnings and your wealth to use.”

Part of the purpose of the annual syrup event is to speak to young people who come. Kern Jackson, an English professor and head of the African American studies program at the University of South Alabama, encourages his students to come to the event every year. This year, 85 students showed up.

“He’s passing on values. And not just in a religious or church context, but just sort of in a community and neighborhood context,” Jackson said. “We have a lot of things going on in Mobile and Baldwin counties, but typically it’s about making money. But he’s not making a dime, and I think that says something about the man. It’s my hope that just by coming out here and seeing selflessness, that my students pick up on that and implement it into their daily lives.”

But Wright said his story is simply one of hard work and decency.

“Leave drugs and alcohol alone, get a strong work ethic and be fair to everybody,” he said. “That’s the only thing I’ve done. There’s nothing out of the ordinary in that.”