Director: Boys and Girls Clubs a Gold Mine for Students

(Photo from Elizabeth Cumbest)

Kendra Safford, 2011 Youth of the Year for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Jackson County; Cynthia Baber-Strunk, chairwoman of the Bacot/McCarty Foundation Board of Directors; Lee Bond, vice president of IP Casino Resort Spa and foundation board member; Devon Kyles, member of the Jolly McCarty unit in Gautier; Mariah Wells of Moss Point Outreach (Breanna Benjamin of the Andrew Johnson unit not pictured) display an oversized check for $10,000 that was awarded to the youth organization by the Bacot/McCarty Foundation. The presentation was made during the 2011 Steak & Steak Dinner/Silent Auction on June 23 at the civic center. Chief Professional Officer Catherine Glaude had said that $70,000 was the goal this year for the fundraiser. During dinner, she called clubs a gold mine for students in Jackson County. Featured speaker Irwin F. Edenzon, president of Huntington Ingalls Industries, reminded the students about honor and responsibility. Some 500 youth and community professionals and leaders attended the event.

Steak & Steak to Help Children, Families

Steak and Steak photo from archives of The Mississippi Press (2010)
Official poster of Boys and Girls Clubs of Jackson County, Steak & Steak dinner 2011.

PASCAGOULA -- The annual Steak & Steak Dinner and Silent Auction gives members of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Jackson County an opportunity to meet and talk with corporate executives and community leaders who sponsor the meal and award ceremony.

Sometimes the meetings lead to further involvement in the lives of the children who are chosen to attend the event each year, according to Jennifer Joseph Anderson, operations manager of the youth agency.


One year, said Anderson, a corporate employee sat with a Boys and Girls Clubs member who needed a pair of shoes. "He just called and said he wanted to buy her some shoes," she said.

Another year, one of the business professionals became Santa Claus for a student who needed help. "We have had some success from that," she said.

Normally, two Boys and Girls Clubs members are seated with six corporate professionals who take the time to engage the students in conversation and learn about their lives and ambitions.

This year, said Anderson, the fundraiser means the continuation of a 14-year program that has been used to teach students how to stay away from drugs and alcohol and to prevent early pregnancy.

Anderson said the downward economy also has hit operation of the county's Boys and Girls programs in Pascagoula, Ocean Springs, Moss Point and Gautier. The United Way agency, which provides afterschool and summer programs for students ages 5 to 18 years, will lose a grant that provided $25,000 last year for substance abuse/pregnancy prevention. The Highway Safety Grant initially provided $30,000 in funding.

"A lot of grants have been slashed," she said. "We have had to come up with another plan."

Catherine Glaude, chief executive professional, hopes to collect about $70,000 by the time the silent auction and dinner is held Thursday night at the Jackson County "B.E. McGinty" Civic Center at the county fairgrounds on Shortcut Road.

Anderson said the fundraiser will provide the needed funds to help with the shortfall in grants.

Funds from the Steak and Steak will come from individual tickets and corporate-sponsored table.

This year's theme is "Strong Ships Need Strong Anchors.

Praise Fest and BBQ Throwdown Planned June 25

Public Event
What: Pascagoula Praise Fest and Bank BBQ Throwdown
When: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Courtyard at Merchants & Marine Bank, Downtown Pascagoula
Details: $8 plates for adults, children 12 years and under eat free.
Contact: 22-762-3311, toll free 1-866-223-3512, or http://www.mandm.bank/.
Donations: Bacot-McCarty Foundation, P.O. Box 1442, Pascagoula, MS 39568.



PASCAGOULA -- There'll be all the side dishes plus grandma and her tenor voice joining in with the choir when a whole lot of mouthwaterin' barbecue is served up at the first Pascagoula Praise Fest and Bank BBQ Throwdown this weekend.

Right smack in the middle of Downtown Pascagoula.

At Merchants and Marine Bank, no doubt.

Some kind of good time is expected Saturday, June 25, when about 20 gospel bands, church choirs, worship dancers, community groups, praise teams, soloists and singing groups provide music and singing for the Praise Fest.

Gospel artists include Robin Adams School of Dance; The BOBS, Reggie Bates & First Presbyertian; STOMP Praise Dancers; Home of Grace Men's Choir and Women's Choir; Ben and Lisa Hart of Pascagoula Lighthouse Baptist Church; Victory Christian Center; Keith Brumfield & Greater Antioch Choir; Crystal Westmoreland & Center Pointe Praise; Jaron Tipton & Mercy Ministries; F.G. and Lisa Ware; Terry Mott & Edgewater Christ Fellowship Band; Robby Myrick & Friends; Oasis Creative Arts Ministry; Pascagoula First UMC Praise Team; J. Eric Brown & Lighthouse Apostolic Church, and others.

Fest sponsors include M&M Bank and the Bacot-McCarty Foundation.

Proceeds from the gospel and barbecue festival will benefit the Home of Grace, an alcohol and drug addiction recovery program in Jackson County, Miss., with facilities in the Vancleave community and the city of Gautier.

Residents wishing to make donations may send contributions to the Bacot/McCarty Foundation, P.O. Box 1442, Pascagoula, MS 39568. Contact 228-217-5791 for more information.

Juneteenth A Splash Again in River City

MOSS POINT -- The fountain in the center of the city's River Walk provided some water fun and added to the many activities for children celebrating the Moss Point Juneteenth Freedom and Heritage Festival on Saturday, June 18.

The water also offered some relief from the heat of the day, which reached into the 90s.

Moss Point Celebrates Juneteenth for Second Year
WLOX TV 13 June 18, 2011

This year marked Moss Point's second for the national festival that celebrates the conclusion of slavery in practice across the United States. Union Gen. Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865, and took over Texas to enforce the end of the involuntary servitude. The enforcement came more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation officially declared slavery's end on Jan. 1, 1863.

Moss Point Celebrates Juneteenth Freedom and Heritage Festival

The Mississippi Press/June 19, 2011

Huffmans Greet Public, Receive Key Card

PASCAGOULA -- City Manager Joe Huffman became the first resident to receive the new library key card during a welcome reception today at the Pascagoula Public Library.

Lori Smith, branch manager, told about 35 people attending the mid-afternoon fete that patrons of the Jackson-George Regional Library System would begin receiving the new access devices July 1.

"It's a library card that fits on your key chain," she said after the reception. "So you can keep it with you at all times."

Smith also presented Huffman, his wife Patty, and their youngest daughter Jamie with a framed print of the Pascagoula beach at sunset, which was taken by local photographer Lyle Peterzell.
"We hope you will enjoy displaying this lovely print," she said.

Huffman and his family were guests of honor for the hourlong reception, which was sponsored by the Pascagoula Friends of the Library. Attendants included city, county and state officials, library personnel and patrons, and other residents.

The brief ceremony and presentations followed a hourlong meet-and-greet session in the facility's meeting room. Just prior, Huffman and his family toured the library branch and regional system headquarters, where they viewed the reopened genealogy department.

"Joe comes to us from Goldsboro, N.C., where he served as city manger since 2005. Joe holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, and he worked in the prison system for much of the 1980s," said Smith.

"I've never been anywhere in my life where the people are so nice," said Huffman. "It's really good to get up and go to work and have a good time."

Huffman was selected from a field of 75 applicants. The Pascagoula City Council announced their choice Feb. 2, and Huffman started work in March. The city conducted a reception during the application process.

"We thought we'd do (a reception) to introduce him to the library community, and for other people who didn't get to meet him before," said Rex Bridges, public relations director for the Jackson-George Regional Library System.

Smith said that Patty Huffman served as executive director for the Partnership for Children of Wayne County (North Carolina) until the family's move to Pascagoula. Huffman holds a master's degree in public health from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, said Smith.

Joe Huffman said August will mark 30 years of marriage for them as a couple.

Jamie Huffman, who is the couple's youngest daughter, recently graduated from the North Carolina School of Science and Math, and will attend North Carolina State University this fall. Daughter Emily is now attending college.

"She's going to go to school next year, but she's loving Mississippi. She goes to the beach everyday," her father said.

Pascagoula councilmen Frank Corder and Robert Stallworth are expecting changes and progressive development from Huffman.

"He's a go-getter. He's been very proactive and is trying to take a new look at things," said Corder. "I think he's going to be a great asset to our city."

Corder said Huffman has reevaluated the staff, whom he said has responded well to the new city manager; he's interested in streamlining the budget and is taxpayer conscious; he's worked to bring a new development authority.

"Those are a few things he's touched on since he's been here, and I'm looking forward to more," said Corder.

"He's a good city manager, very observant. He's on top of everything," said Stallworth. "He's seen some things in Pascagoula; he's presented some ideas and I think we'll do it."

Councilman Joe Abston and city attorney Eddie Williams were among the city personnel present. As well, county Supervisor Mike Mangum and Sen. Tommy Moffett talked with Huffman and other residents.

Pascagoula Joins Backpack Buddies

Find more information at the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce.

Roadkill, Wild Game On the Menu for Sickle Cell Fundraiser

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity served up dishes of wild game, including roadkill, during the 12th Annual Holiday Tea sponsored by the Jackson/George Counties Sickle Cell Association Inc. on June 11 at Pelican Landing in Moss Point. They called their table Le Repas Aujord Cafe during the annual fundraiser.

For the Public

What: Jackson/George Counties Association for Sickle Cell Disease 12th Annual Holiday Tea

When: 3-6 p.m. Saturday, June 11

Where: Jackson County Civic Center, county fairgrounds, Pascagoula

FYI: Tickets are $5 at the door
Contact: Sharon Haynes, executive director, at 228-769-3170, or the agency at 228-769-6516.

PASCAGOULA -- Wild game, namely roadkill, has been among the favorite foods served each year during the summer fundraiser for the Jackson/George Counties Association for Sickle Cell Disease, Inc.

Robert Jennings said members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity call their menu "U.S. 49 Wild Hog Cuisine," which will be served at the assoication's 12th Annual Holiday Tea on Saturday afternoon at the county fairgrounds.

"One guy is going to do deer. He's calls it scrap roast," said Jennings. "Grover Lett is going to do 'coon, rabbit and squirrel."

Alice Bradley, fundraiser chairwoman, said funds from the event helps parents and their children afflicted by the inherited and chronic blood disease. Victims, whose life span usually reaches into the 40s, suffer debilitating pain, organ failure and death caused by the lack of oxygen from the sickling of red blood cells.

Normal and sickle cell red blood cells

She said the 2011 fundraiser is expected to include about nine other community groups who decorate tables and prepare dishes based on the holiday theme they are protraying for the event. Christmas, Easter, Valentine Day, Independence Day are among celebrations. Participants include area sororities, fraternities, churches and other groups.

Each year, there is the unknown, but always official holiday and its menu that captures the attention and imagination of participants and guests who support the sickle cell association and enjoy the feast of holidays.

"Last year we had Cowboy Day," said Bradley. "It's a recognized holiday."

Prizes are given for the best presentation. Cowboy Day and a creative biblical theme from a Pascagoula church have been among the winning presentations.

"They (participants) have different tables. They are going to pick any holiday. They will be judged on the table," she said.

Alpha Phi Alpha is celebrating the Buffalo Soldier, originally members of the Army's 10th Calvary Regiment formed during 1866 in Kansas. The name became synonymous with all African-American soldiers.

Sam Osgood, an executive at Hunington Ingalls Industries, will provide a family recipe of dirty rice, said Jennings. "It's not going to be the box thing. It's going to be gizzards and livers like his grandmama taught him how to cook it."

Jennings is excited about his fraternity's contribution, and is looking forward to competing against dishes provided by sororities and other community groups participating in the event. Jennings looks eagerly anticipates the women tasting and devouring the wildlife dishes, no matter how they try to protest or pretend they won't touch the stuff, he laughed.

"We men can't do all that (cornbread) dressing and other stuff," he said Wednesday. "But we can cook roadkill. We just fan the flies and pick it up."

Bradley agreed. "They have been doing that for years," she said. "And it's good. It's actually good. They do all kinds of things."

Jennings spent Wednesday afternoon preparing wild hog. "I've got this guy coming down from Southaven (Miss.) He's bringing wild hog roast. I'm going to start marinating it today so it will taste good for those ladies," he said.

Bradley said fundraiser is one of two annual events that the Jackson/George Counties Association for Sickle Cell Disease Inc., a nonprofit agency, uses to bring awareness to the disease and to raise funds that provide free testing and genetic counseling to the sufferers of the disease and residents who carry the trait. Sickle cell disease or anemia strikes about one in every 500 African Americans, as well as other U.S. residents and people worldwide who live in are have ancestors from tropical climates.

The association sponsors a Prayer Breakfast during September. "It's to enhance the awareness of sickle cell," said Bradley.

As well, a fashion show and yard sale during the year bring in funds for the United Way agency.

During May, she said, the association sponsored a blood drive at Moss Point High School. "It's to call attention to what we are trying to do," said Bradley.