As a way to give back to the Town of Duck Hill, students from the Holmes Community College Physical Therapy Assistants class collaborated with the Friends of the Duck Hill Library to create a lending library and a food pantry.
Meg King, director of the PTA program at HCC Grenada, said the lending library was made out of wood and was put together by the students themselves. The food pantry was made out of an old newspaper rack from the Grenada Star.
“Shirley Lane coordinated with the class, they [Friends of the Duck Hill Library] had some funds that they wanted to use, so the class didn’t have to fundraise for this one, the funds were already available,” King said.
She said the class cleaned up the donated rack and painted it. Both are now sitting outside of the library. King said the pantry is available for those in need to take what they need. If someone has more than they need, they can donate it to the pantry.
“It’s all nonperishable items. They wanted to use the old newspaper stands because they thought they would be best if they had it airtight,” she said.
King said the goal is to put the libraries and pantries throughout the Holmes Community College district. The district consist of Holmes, Attala, Montgomery, Carroll, Grenada, Choctaw, Webster, Madison and Yazoo counties.
She said their next libraries and pantries may be in Kosciusko or Goodman.
“There will be two, one library and one pantry to each town in the district,” she said.
King said they want to continue the project each semester.
She said the Phi Theta Kappa at Holmes Community College will also help to keep the pantry stocked.
“For this project, the funds were available so they didn’t have to raise them. But, for their projects they have to raise the money, they have to design the projects, they have to construct, they do the whole shebang, it’s all on them. We don’t push them to do anything,” she said.
Last year, the class also did a project in Duck Hill. They renovated Cemetery Park in town.
“The park is amazing!” King said. “They have sand play, swings, they cleaned up the tennis court and the basketball court. It went well. The kids are having so much fun on it!”
King said the last two projects have been in Duck Hill but most of the projects are in the Grenada area.
“It’s really wherever our students are from. They know who has the biggest need,” she said. “They are the ones that have made this happen and I’m super proud of them. They’ve worked really hard.”
She said the project are her students’ way of giving back to the areas where they live. King said this PTA class will graduate December 2022
Special from the Winona Times
