Salvation Army

Have you ever noticed the person ringing a bell Walmart? Those were the people that volunteer for the Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1865. It serves in 130 countries and helps approximately 23 million Americans. There are about 1.5 million members that help out with the organization. They help with multiple things and bring people joy in times of need.

To donate to this organization go to https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/.

Stuff the Bus

Stuff the bus is a district-wide food drive to help food pantries and Holiday Central in Mt. Vernon. This was the first year that it was introduced into the school district and thanks to the students at Mt. Vernon, there were over 10,000 items donated district-wide. According to Coach Killingsworth, “some of the schools told me it was one of the biggest years they’ve had.”

The Chamber of Commerce has been around for many years, and through those years it has always strived to help the community. It has become a part of the schools, businesses, and the lives of the people in our town. However, what all do they do for the schools? “We bring business to the community, jobs to parents, and tax dollars that go back to school to fund programming.” says Ms. Pamela Dudley. While they do that, there are things that include the schools in a more intimate way.

“Adopt-a-Class and scholarships for the high school. We also recognize outstanding students in banquet in February,” explains Dudley. Adopt-a-Class is “a program for kindergarten through second grade,” states Dudley. Adopt-a-Class, which began in 1998, is a program that provides funding for school supplies for classrooms and needy families.

Committee members for these projects include Diana Ross, Lorna Kleine, and Stephanie Bowling. They are the people over the high school and younger class schools, and they strive to help in any way they possibly can.

Some events that the Chamber of Commerce puts on are very well known. In October we have ABMD, and in February we have the banquet that recognizes academically outstanding students.

“We start planning for ABMD in February for the October event. We usually plan three months ahead for other events,” states Dudley. While these events take several people, do high schoolers get to help as well? “We look for volunteers. Two volunteers. We look for sophomores to stick with us for a long time,” informs Dudley. These volunteers will stick around and help with most of the events that the Chamber puts on.

The Hope Center is, technically, a local thrift store, but they do a lot for our community. Tina Mulleady was kind enough to list some of their many services. For example, she explains, “we have a clothing program where they can get clothing every month, we help with utilities, we help with rent, we help with medication, I will buy work boots for people if they need boots for a new job, I give gas vouchers, motel rooms for stranded travelers or if somebody has had a house fire, we’ll put them up. We give out housewares for house fire victims.”

The Hope Center is also affordable for most people by design. “Our prices are so low, anybody can come here and shop, and they're so low you can afford them,” states Mulleady.

According to Mulleady, “[The Hope Center] started in 2002 after the big tornadoes. The local churches, the Ministerial Association, they went around and knew that there was a need, they started The Hope Center as a way to help people that were victims of the tornadoes and it just developed from there, from handing out food and blankets, to the actual store.”

As mentioned earlier, The Hope Center provides clothing for people in need. Mulleady says that’s their biggest contribution to our community. “We have a lot of people on the clothing program from low-income families."

Since the Hope Center moved to a larger location last summer, they do not have any concrete plans for expansion in the near future. That said, Mulleady has plans. “My goal, personally, is to maybe be able to reach other nearby towns, because right now we’re limited to Mount Vernon school district. I want to be able to expand to some of the smaller local towns because some of them are just right there on that edge of not getting help from any town.“

Mulleady’s favorite part about working at the Hope Center? “The best thing about working at the Hope Center is interacting with people and giving back.” She then explained, “We see a lot of people with a lot of needs, people that are in bad situations that are in bad situations that need help getting out. We try to give faith, restore some faith. We’re Christian based, so we don’t preach at them, but I listen to a lot of people and just helping others that you know are in need. Giving back to the community.”

Screen Masters in a local business started by two teachers in Willard back in 2005. The owners now are John and Linda Hall. They make clothing to help show support to the clubs and sports within our community. They make T-shirts for most of all clubs and sports such as FFA, Basketball, Baseball, and Spanish Club. They also make our letterman jackets and help put each patch on them.

They started this business to show support for their kids. “It's a job that gives us time to be with their kids without having a job with long hours.” says Linda Hall. They didn’t want a job that keeps them from their kids. They have been doing this business for 14 years now.

How they make the T-shirts is a long process. They have to draw out an art piece they like and then burn it on a screen using photo palimare. Then they print it on a t-shirt and put it into a dryer for 2 or 3 minutes. The dryer is set at 350 degrees. It only takes about an hour to make about 80 shirts.

Screen Master is a big part of our community. They help out a lot with our schools and other businesses around our town. This is such a great local company with great morals and community pride.