Valdosta Civic Roundtable

February 4, 2010

 

Members present: Jane Osborn, Donald Davis, Jerome Tucker, Harriet Messcher, Suzanne Ewing, Charlie Oliver, Gretchen Quarterman, Karen Yawn, Christy Englehart, & Leslie Jacobs. New member: Becky Barnes, & visitors: John Quarterman, Della Perkins, Carol Norris, Jan Schert & Bill (?) from the Turner Center.

RSVP’d, unable to attend: Dennis Marks, out of town & Shirley Hardin – schedule conflict.

 

Donald Davis: The Azalea Festival is coming up Mar. 13-14. There will be plenty of Sesquicentennial Events this year. There will be a featured speaker on Wed., Feb. 10 at VSU. Sunday afternoon at 3:00 there will be a meeting of the GA DAR called Georgia Day.

Charlie Oliver: Literacy Volunteer Program will be having their annual Bowl for Literacy on Mar. 27 at Jac’s Lanes. Check in at 12:00, cost is $20 per person. The Flower Show will be coming in April.

Terri Whitlock: Red Cross locally raised $20,000 for Haiti relief. Schwan’s will donate a portion of their sales on Sat., Feb. 6, from 10-6, in front of Walgreen’s on Baytree. Stop by & get some great food! Calling all singers: Audition on Feb. 13 & 20 at Southland Church for the Valdosta Idol. Entry fee is $50. If you want to watch & listen; $25 will get your admittance & a barbeque dinner.

John & Gretchen Quarterman: Check out their blogs at -  http://riskman.typepad.com/canopy_roads/ & http://lake.typepad.com/on-the-lake-front/. The Quarterman’s are advocating for each citizen to get involved & take a stand in the community. They attended the recent Community Task Force to prevent Violence meeting, where the general consensus was that children need mentors to direct them in proper directions.

Suzanne Ewing: VSU Learning in Retirement classes will be starting their spring courses soon. Contact Julie Halter or Suzanne for a booklet of courses being offered: 245-6484.

Christy Englehart: She is the Outreach Family Advocate at The Haven; they are currently working with & assisting 15 clients.

Karen Yawn: The Shelter Manager with The Haven, Karen said they are currently at 105% of their capacity & can use diapers in larger sizes to help their clients.

Della Perkins: Della is the Hospice Volunteer Services Manager. She told us that the Grief Camps for kids are coming up Apr. 9-11. Hospice is also offering services for dealing with grief in the workplace. You can contact Katie Hardin or any of the staff at Hospice at 249-4100 for questions & information.

Jerome Tucker: Community Partners in Education is continuing to work in five elementary schools providing mentoring. Committed volunteers are needed & appreciated.

Becky Barnes: American Red Cross Donor Services. 1200 pints of blood is needed each weekday for our area hospitals. Donors are always needed! If you donate blood between Jan. 1 & Mar. 31, you can enter to win the $1000 Gift Card drawing.

Harriet Messcher: Homeless for a Night is coming up Mar. 12 & 13. Go to the website & print out the brochure. (lampinc.org) Teams are needed to participate. The Temple is selling kosher corned beef sandwiches on Mar. 14-15, for $10 each.

Jan Schert: New to LAMP, Jan is working on the Homeless for a Night project & also hopes to begin a program called Building Bridges beyond Boundaries, which would involve youth in creative arts.

Cheryl Oliver: was not able to be with us today, but sent her co-worker, Bill, to be sure that word got out about the coming production of “Hairspray” next Thurs. evening at 7:00. Cheryl continues to work on changing the checking account over, but has run in to another snag & needs a Tax ID number.

Jane Osborn: By the time you read this, you will have missed the 3rd Annual Prayer Breakfast on Friday AM, Feb. 5th. “Hope for the Future” is this year’s theme of the South GA Coalition to End Homelessness Community Case Management Team. If you miss the breakfast, you can still help out: get involved personally, pray for changes to occur in the community to help ease the number of homeless people here.

The 2010 Census is very important to everyone. Please be sure to give correct information to Census Workers.

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) is available free of charge for households earning under $49,000 per year. Several locations will be set up in Lowndes County. Call 333-5232 for information.

Stuart Mullis, Habitat for Humanity, has been very ill lately, & is in need of our thoughts & prayers. Get well soon, Stuart!

Leslie Jacobs, Jacobs’ Ladder Therapeutic Riding Center: the need is ever present for weekday volunteers. It’s not every day & it’s not every week. We don’t need a forever commitment, but an occasional few hours of your time can help out a lot. For info, call Leslie at 794-1188.

That concludes the minutes from our February meeting. I hope to see everyone on Thursday, March 4th.

 

Leslie Jacobs,

Secretary