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President Lynn Walton presided over today’s meeting. Mark Killingsworth provided the opening prayer. Joe Meador led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Lynn led us in the Four Way Test. The meeting was held at the Holiday Inn North and on Zoom.
Lynn thanked everyone in attendance. Bill MacLauchlan introduced today’s guests. Annie Jackson is a guest of Mark Killingsworth. She is applying for membership. Allen Anderson had Sonny Messengale as his guest. Lynn announced the sad news that long-time Rotarian, Conrad Welker passed away this week.
The club will not meet during Thanksgiving week and we will not meet the following Tuesday, which is the fifth Tuesday in November. On October 19 we will meet at the Zoo. The Convention Center is sponsoring and hosting that meeting. Details will be announced later.
Lucy Sanguinetti was asked to provide a brief classification talk. She and her husband moved to Hattiesburg 27 years ago. They have three children and they are all married. She has two grandchildren with a 3rd on the way soon. She enjoys the theatre and singing.
Mark then introduced today’s guest speaker, Ann McCullen. She is the Executive Director of the Edwards Street Fellowship Center.
Ann noted that Edwards Street is celebrating its 42nd year in Hattiesburg. It was founded by the United Methodist Church. The founders identified the needs of children in our area and began offering services to them through Edwards Street.
The Center distributed 585,000 pounds of food last year which was up about 20% from their normal activity. COVID was to blame for the increased needs. The Center serves between 1,400 and 1,800 families each year. Sanderson Farms donates much of the food distributed through the Center. Several stores in the area also donate food and allow volunteers to stop by and pick the food up each week. They also conduct food drives and purchase food when needed. They are currently spending about $2,000 weekly to offer families balanced meals. They also have community gardens where some of the food is grown and harvested.
Ann says they have also developed a Pet Food Bank and provide food to the family pets. They discovered that some of the families were using their food to take care of their pets. Many consider their pets as their number one friend. Many of their clients live in isolation.
In 2015 they opened the Fellowship Health Clinic. It provides medical care to the uninsured or under-insured adults in Forrest and Lamar Counties. They offer free medical care and dental referrals. They also offer free prescription assistance. The Clinic distributed $201,135 of prescriptions last year. They have recently begun offering physical therapy services also.
Ann’s outlook for the future is to provide more educational opportunities, focused on helping people to get healthier.
Lynn then presented Ann with a $1,000 check for Edwards Street. They are our quarterly cause.
Lynn thanked Ann for her remarks. There being no further business to come before the club, she adjourned the meeting with our motto: “Service Above Self.”