Since members of the former Oktibbeha County chapter of the American Red Cross started a new non-profit emergency response organization last year, the group has worked out of the living room of former Red Cross Director Becky Wilkes.
It was a difficult task, Wilkes acknowledged Monday, as the organization, dubbed Oktibbeha-Starkville Emergency Response Volunteer Services, had little room to store emergency supplies and was forced to hold training classes at the county courthouse.
Earlier this month, OSERVS finally moved to a new office –a one-story structure at the corner of North Jackson Street and Highway 12.
“It”s a big plus, having a place where your volunteers can come and go,” Wilkes said. “We really needed the space.”
While the building has a reception area, meeting room and director”s office, it also features a kitchen, work room and storage space. No renovations were needed inside, but outside needed some work.
Approximately 60 people attended cleanup events Monday at the OSERVS office and at the Palmer Children”s Home Thrift Store. The group pulled weeds and overgrowth, removed a broken fence and cleaned out storage space at OSERVS, but also organized clothing and performed other tasks at the thrift store.
It was part of Volunteer Starkville”s 2011 Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. Volunteer Starkville is an organization which pairs volunteer groups with local non-profit organizations for community service projects, including Monday”s Day of Service. More than a dozen OSERVS board members also were on hand to perform landscaping work around their new facility.
“We couldn”t do this if we didn”t have the volunteers,” Volunteer Starkville program coordinator Elizabeth Du Bois said. “A lot of people are giving up their Mondays for this, so we are very thankful.”
Mayor”s Youth Council Chairman Billy Edmonds, a senior at Starkville High School, was one of the volunteers at the OSERVS office.
“It”s the right thing to do,” Edmonds said when asked why he turned out for the cleanup.
Stefanie Shackleford, director of Youth Taking Authority and project coordinator for the Youth Council, said the community service projects are part of a three-month-long “semester of service.” Partnering with Youth Serving America, a national organization which kicks off a semester of community service projects every year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the local organizations” semester will include programs at local elementary schools, businesses and other locations, Shackelford said.
About 75 people make up the Youth Taking Authority group, though only about 30 members are active, Shackelford said. The Mayor”s Youth Council has about 25 members.
“We”re trying to show these kids that there are things you can do without drugs or alcohol,” Shackelford said. “We”re hoping to do a lot more of these kinds of things to teach these kids responsibility and give back to the community.”
Du Bois was pleased to see the success of the Day of Service.
“We are very pleased (with the turnout),” Du Bois said. “We”re very excited.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.