Shelby County Today

Photo by Cecily Gibson and Trinity Moore

September 4, 2019 - The Center High School Culinary Department, Southwest Foods and the local Meals on Wheels program are partnering for the third year to provide weekend meals for senior citizens.

Culinary students Jorge Valdez, Alexa Morales and Andrea Morales have launched this year's program by working with Southwest Food staff to package and freeze un-served food each day after lunch; meals are picked up by Meal-on-Wheels staff at the end of the week.

Recovered, frozen meals are delivered with Friday's lunch and available for weekend consumption to bridge the Saturday-Sunday meal gap for program participants. During the 2018-19 school year, 6,225 meals were recovered and shared through the program!

From left to right: Alexa Morales, Jorge Valdez, and Andrea Morales (Photo by Adam Ramirez)

August 21, 2019 - The Shelby County Chamber of Commerce recently announced the East Texas Poultry Festival will be October 3-5 on the historic downtown square. One of several preliminary festivities is the Queen's Court Scholarship Pageant.

The reigning East Texas Poultry Festival Queen, Abigail Hooper, will crown her successor on Saturday, September 28th on stage at Center High School. The Queen's Court is comprised of young ladies entering their junior year in a Shelby County high school with a grade point average of 85 or above.

Information packets will be available with the start of school from the pageant School Sponsor on each high school campus. Students should listen for announcements on their own campus.

The East Texas Poultry Festival Queen's Court program encompasses a month of activities. The committee creates informational events for the candidates and their escorts to participate in to develop their interpersonal skills. The program develops responsibility, etiquette, interview skills, conversation skills and their individual personality in varied settings.

The Queen's Court season is made possible in part by Platinum Sponsor, High Roller Wells, LLC. Gold Sponsors for the Queen’s Court season are Dazzle Me Pink & Blue, Elite Hair Designs and JML Management. 

The 43rd East Texas Poultry Festival is presented by Farmers State Bank. Festival Gold Sponsors are the City of Center, Drewery Construction, Pilgrims Pride and Tyson Foods.

For additional information, please call 936.598.3682, email info@shelbycountychamber.com or visit www.shelbycountychamber.com.

August 9, 2019 - The 50 Women of Impact voted to donate this quarters money to Timpson Food for Thought Pantry and Thrift Store.

Linda Miller, a 50 Women of Impact representative, spoke to announce the winner, "We have a total! This August 2019, our donation will go to the Timpson Food for Thought. As of tonight, we have $8,700. Now, I think we have an even 100 members from my calculations this afternoon, so, I'll get the rest of that collected and preferably we will have a $10,000 donation this time!"

Debra Smith, City of Timpson Mayor, spoke on behalf of the Timpson Food for Thought Pantry during the presentations. She described the process the group takes each time the food bank opens since it operates out of a single room at the church. They must setup and break down the day of the food distribution each time which is a lot of unloading and loading for the volunteers over the years since the pantry started in 2013. The donated funds will be used toward building a 2,000 square foot building on property donated by First Baptist Church of Timpson and the building will house a stand alone Thrift Store and the Food Pantry. The Thrift store will operate as a funding source for the food bank and give the opportunity to help families with clothing and other items after fires and other losses.

The 50 Women of Impact group organized and held their first meeting in November of 2017 with the hopes of getting 50 women to give $100 each quarter for a combined contribution to an elected organization. The first meeting surpassed the 50 women with 94 inaugural members. The group has continued to grow and meet once a quarter to donate funds. Past recipients are the Shelby County Welfare Board; AgriLife Extension, Shelby Family Consumer Science program; Fannie Brown Booth Memorial Library; Boo's Battle Cancer Fund; Shelby County Outreach Ministries; Jon, Macy and Misty Bush Foundation; and HOPE Community Medical to establish a Fund to Help with Medical Needs for Working People.

Including the $8,700 from this meeting, the total money donated by the 50 Women of Impact is $77,000 with more coming in!

(From left) RSF boardmembers Alease Copelin, David Chadwick, Meg Camp, Lisa McAdams, Kelle Williams stand with family members LaCharah Robinson (daughter), Mellody Daniels (sister), Tomiko Moore (sister), LaDiamond Robinson (grandchild), Ja'Kevin Robinson (grandchild), Channing Daniels (brother-in-law), and Veronica Berry (close friend).

August 6, 2019 - A donation of $5,000 in memory of Requanah Santifer to the Roughrider Scholarship Foundation (RSF) was commemorated with a plaque presentation in front of the Catherine Pinkston Roughrider Scholarship Foundation display case in the front hallway of Center High School.

Requanah Netherly Santifer attended Center ISD graduating with the Class of 1988. She later returned to Center ISD as a teacher. She passed away May 2, 2016 at the age of 45.

Mellody Daniels described her sister Requanah, "(She) lived her life to the fullest and enjoyed children and teaching others. We wanted to make sure that each year a student receives a scholarship in her honor and that is why we are here to represent Requanah Santifer."

The donation provides a perpetual scholarship to a graduating senior each year forward.

Roughrider Scholarship Foundation Mission (roughriderscholarship.org)

The Roughrider Scholarship Foundation (RSF) was created to assist graduates of Center High School (CHS) continue their education in college or trade school of their choice. Our efforts are dedicated to providing a scholarship to EVERY CHS graduating senior who applies. Graduates deserve an opportunity to succeed and we help them take the next step. Another goal is developing strong relations with the alumni associations and providing a mechanism to give back to their community.

The RSF is completely donor supported by individuals, community, and civic minded groups. Donations of any amount or kind (i.e., land, stock, guns or automobiles) can be made to the Foundation which is managed by a capable group of Board Members. 

The RSF is a Charitable Organization under the IRS Tax Code 501(c) (3) making your contribution fully tax deductible.

If you are interested in finding out more about this organization, please contact: F.E. Parker, Jr., Chairperson; Lisa McAdams, Vice-Chairperson; Fred Wulf; David Chadwick; Jerry Pinkston; Danny Paul Windham; JoyAnn Havran; Meg Camp; Kelle Williams, Treasurer; or Alease Copelin, Secretary.