Leaders of Jones County and Future Leaders of Jones County celebrated their graduation from the program and presented their projects to the community.
Team Hearing Every Adolescent’s Real Difficulty (HEARD) created bracelets with resources for each school in the Jones County School District so students can reach out to others when they may be facing social or emotional issues. The bracelets have each school counselor’s email printed on the outside and a Bible verse. Bracelets were given to students in seventh to 12th grade.
Team HEARD was Abby Howard, Isabella Hammond, Ashton Champion, Fletcher Horn and Avery Long. Each bracelet had the phrase, “Do not worry about anything but pray about everything,” Howard said.
Team Puppies for Pizza collected dog food to feed shelter dogs for a week. The school grade that collected the most dog food was awarded a pizza party from the team — Shelby Stockman, Alysabeth Bryant, Arely Osorio, Amiah White, J.T. Pickering and Lindsey Cole.
Team Seven Saviors collected canned-food donations for the Glory House. The Seven Saviors Team was Devin Lucas, Hailey Milsap, John Brooks Milham, Lilly Bergin, Leticiya Rodriguez, Leighellen Thompson and Jason Olson.
Team Book Buddies created “mini libraries” for people to take a book and leave a book in Ellisville and Laurel. Team Book Buddies was Xavier Washington, Bailey Tucker, Emma Kennedy, Keely Braisher, Connor Davis and Juana Pinilla.
Team Dusty Paws was Mary Bradley McCardle, Kade Phillips, Braten Richards, Will Cupit, Cambrelle Bryant and Chloe Mouannes. The team provided supplies to the shelter and raised funds to purchase items needed at Southern Cross Animal Rescue.
The Leaders of Jones County graduate teams were Team Mason Park Amphitheater, which raised money to renovate the amphitheater in Mason Park; Team G.R.I.T., which provided a place for people to get out and enjoy nature at Gardiner Park by improving the arboretum; and Team Goal Diggers, which funded a storage facility for the Christmas lights at Mason Park and repaired some of the lights, which were more than 35 years old.
Leadership of Jones County participants were Jim Woodyear of BancorpSouth; Joseph Cole of Mississippi Power; Misty White of Sanderson Farms; Casey Adams of Community Bank; Michelle York of Pearl River Resort; Heather Gilbert of South Central Regional Medical Center; Brandon Wilson of Ellisville Funeral Home; Christina Rulo-Donaldson of PG Technologies; Jeremy Adams of Southern Heritage; Matthew Olsen of First Baptist Church Sharon; Tameka Clark of PG Technologies; Sarah Patterson of The First Bank; Anna Claire Burge of First State Bank; Payton Roney of Sanderson Farms; Candace McKelvy of Transafe; Tamia Taylor of Laurel School District; Summer Holbrook of Sanderson Farms; and Brittany Welch of Jones County Board of Supervisors.
The Economic Development Authority of Jones County and the Jones County Community Development Foundation receive applications from individuals to participate in the program that allows them to become more involved in the growth of the community through a leadership development program. Each team presents a community project worked on from August until May that enhances the community.
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