By Staff
Cheryl Bradford
Franklin County Times
Before the Franklin County Junior Leadership Class of 2008 graduates in May, they will have completed hundreds of hours of community service in Franklin County.
Up until now, they have rung the bell for Salvation Army, collected food and clothes for the needy of Franklin County, visited local industry, worked with our elderly, visited the clients at the Sarah Dinsmore Center in Red Bay for their Christmas party, assisted with Franklin County festivals and parades and worked behind the scenes for the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce in numerous ways. They will begin the new year with a anti-litter campaign on Saturday, Jan. 31, and we invite you to join with them as they attempt to clean up after the litterbugs, who sadly still exist in our area.
These special students will be participating in the job shadow program Monday, Feb. 2 throughout Franklin County. This opportunity will allow these students to explore their career path by actually working with a businessman or businesswoman for one day in the workplace. They will also attend and work the upcoming Partnership Awards Banquet for our business and industry across Franklin County.
They will also be visiting our state Capitol in April and hopefully meet with Gov. Bob Riley, state Sen. Roger Bedford and state Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow.
Before graduating in May, they will have the opportunity to assist with the two Easter egg hunts that the chamber hosts for our little ones in Franklin County, and one of them will even attend as the Easter Bunny.
Before being able to graduate, each class member has been required to correspond with our active military servicemembers. Each of the students will be reporting back to me on this experience, and it's something I'm looking forward to and will share with you later.
On Sunday, May 3, this class of 38 leadership students from across Franklin County will graduate, and I feel blessed and honored to have met them and worked with them and their parents.
The 2008-09 class includes Brent Townsend and Keith Hester of Vina High School; Shelby Smith and David Horton of Belgreen High School; Tiffany Latham, Nicki Jones, Caitlin Stancil, Seth Brown and Nicole Galloway of Phil Campbell High School; Holly Anna Hammock, Kyle Umfress, Gretchen Fancher, Sabrina Jackson and Nathan Gray of Red Bay High School; and Justin Esquivel, Chelsea James, Blake Reed, Mark Davis, Jake Ward, Katie Hester, Joseph Stanford, Tanner Herring, Millie Fisher, Lacey Myrick, Emma McDowell, Lauren Singleton, Haley Keller, Mayra Espinoza, Trent Brannon, Grace Hagedorn, Montana Sewell, Courtney Swinney, Tiziana Duran, Tritt Martin, Ashley Johnson, Olivia Turner, Trevor Baird and Genesee Fernandez of Russellville High School.
I'm excited to know they are our leaders of tomorrow, and this class is something to brag about.
Please remember our ongoing coat, blanket and glove drive. We are very low on all three and especially need those small sizes for our little ones.
Please clean out your closets and come on down. Cash donations are also welcome so that we can continue this drive throughout the winter season.
Thanks to all of you who have helped with this effort, especially Walmart, Red Hawk Technical Services, Rob Devaney, Susan Hall, Andy Gault and Woody Woodruff – the drive has been a huge success.
Please remember to shop Franklin County first – it matters.
Cheryl Bradford is the executive director of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce.