2013 Southern Hospitality Workcamp was a huge success –Tim Carroll

Received today. -jsq

All,

I want to share some good news from our recent Mayor Council public hearing —

The 2013 Southern Hospitality Workcamp was a huge success. This program, now in its’ 8th year brought 212 young “campers” from around the country into our community.

They made badly needed repairs to 18 owner occupied homes. This brings the total number of homes repaired to 275. Lowes RDC once again stepped up and provided all the materials for which we are truly grateful.

The value of the labor and materials now is in excess of $1.5M. I also want to say thank you to the Valdosta City School system for once again opening up Valdosta Middle to house the campers during their stay.

The joy I witnessed in these home owners faces was especially touching. The hard work of city staff to plan and execute the work camp along with these truly amazing young people is a blessing to our city and its’ residents.

Most all saw the horrible news about a local homicide back a few weeks ago. Hopefully you also saw where within two days the detectives with VPD along with staff from the V/L Crime Lab solved the murder and had two suspects in custody. This could not have been done without the hard work of our law enforcement staff and the tools you the citizens have provided. Specifically the value of your investment into the crime lab and the ability of law enforcement to use video from our traffic cameras. Those public investments are and have been paying dividends to our community helping make it a safer place to live.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns — please let me know.

Sincerely,

Councilman Tim Carroll
Valdosta City Council, District 5
City Of Valdosta P.O. Box 1125
216 E. Central Ave.
Valdosta, GA 31603
tcarroll@valdostacity.com
www.valdostacity.com
Valdosta…A City Without Limits

Some news coverage is listed below. The photographs are by Pat Gallagher for VDT, except the composite image which is from the Metro 17 Valdosta vimeo, and the picture of Council Carroll from the city of Valdosta. -jsq

  • Valdosta City PR 19 June 2013, Southern Hospitality Workcamp Returns for 8th Year,

    Approximately 212 youth from around the country will spend June 23-29 of their summer vacations this year serving the citizens of Valdosta through the Southern Hospitality Workcamp.

  • 2013 Southern Hospitality Work Camp from Metro 17 Valdosta on Vimeo Vimeo 23 July 2013:

    Hm: “The creator of this video has not given you permission to embed it on this domain. This is a Vimeo Plus feature.” Oh well; you can go there to see it, or Valdosta can make it more accessible.

  • Erica Green wrote for WCTV unknown date, Southern Hospitality Work Camp In Valdosta

    For homeowners like Hattie Flucas fixing an old ramp was not in the cards.

    “I worried about the ramp since she’s handicapped and she can’t stand or walk. It would be devastating if she tried to go down and ramp and turned,” said Flucas’ daughter Johnnie Mae Woods.

    That’s where the southern hospitality workers come in.

  • Sharah Denton wrote for VDT 30 June 2011, Southern Hospitality Group Workcamp helps with home repairs,

    Volunteers with the Southern Hospitality Group Workcamp have been working diligently to help local homeowners with repairs, painting and minor construction.

    Homeowner Charles Dannel expressed his joy of having the volunteers around with the changes that are taking place around his home.

    “It’s uplifting to my spirit. To see the energy the kids bring makes me ecstatic,” said Dannel.