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Leadership Jones County learns about social service agencies

Dec 11, 2009

Members of Leadership Jones County were introduced to some of the county’s social service agencies and learned more information about others during a day-long session designed to discuss social issues.
Speakers from a number of local agencies and organizations met with members of this year’s class of leaders to discuss everything from controlling and taking care of the county’s animal population; abortion, teen pregnancy and abstinence; community and social needs and race relations.
“This event is designed to take a look at the social issues that affect folk around the community,” said the Rev. Duane Parker, a member of Leadership Jones County’s Board of Directors. “Our main objective is to educate people about the various service agencies that we have here in Jones County.”
Leadership Jones County is a program that was introduced by the Jones County Chamber of Commerce to identify and prepare the community’s future leadership resources. The Jones County Chamber of Commerce is a business organization that protects, fosters and enhances the economic well being of Jones County through a focused, collaborative effort using a variety of programs such as Leadership Jones County.
The program consists of monthly sessions in various locations throughout Jones County and the State Capitol. Sessions are usually held on the first Wednesday of each month and cover such topics as leadership skills training, community, education, local and state government, area history, quality of life, team building, self discipline and other pertinent topics.
The objective is to provide the county with a network of current and emerging leaders who possess the skills and the sense of commitment to improve the community for all Jones County residents. They must live and/or be employed in Jones County and be at least 21 years of age. They also must be able to commit to attending an overnight opening retreat and one full day a month sessions from September through May.
Wednesday’s session, held at the United Way Training Center in Downtown Laurel, started at 8 a.m. with a welcome by Sandy Holifield, program coordinator for the Economic Development Authority of Jones County, and ended at 7 p.m. following a ride along with Captain Tommy Cox of the Laurel Police Department.
Speakers for the event included Barbara Johnson, director of United Way of the Pine Belt Region; Peggy Owens-Mansfield, director of the American Red Cross; Tensie Wheeler, case manager for Pearl River Valley Opportunity, Inc.; Denise Bozeman, director of Animal Rescue League; Captain Bill Mockabee of the Salvation Army; Carol Harbaugh, director of the Center for Pregnancy Choices; Jenny Lacey, coordinator of Alive Jones County and Teens Getting Involved for the Future (TGIF); Captain Tommy Cox of the Laurel Police Department and Judge Charles Pickering and Neddie Winters of Mission Mississippi.
Pickering and Winters talked to the group about race relations and challenged them to get to know and build a friendship with someone outside their race. Pickering said he is committed to building better race relations in the county and state, as a whole, because it’s the right thing to do.
“God is no respector of persons,” he said. “If we are going to spend heaven together, we better learn how to spend time together down here.”
Pickering also noted that if race relations improve, it would lead to better communities and also promote better job opportunities and economic development.
“We’ve learned so much,” said Darryl Speir, an employee of South Central Mississippi Medical Center. “It’s really been an eye-opening experience,”
Speir said one of the things he was amazed to learn is that the Salvation Army can use anything you want to throw away. “They even take the old clothes you think are no good and uses them as scraps to make rags,” he said. “They can make anywhere from $6,000 to $8,000 from a truck load of rags, which are used by a lot of business for various purposes.
“With the economy the way it is right now, more organizations need help,” Speir added. “This is just one of the ways we can help the Salvation Army.”

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