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WEST POINT — On Saturday, June 5, Valley Community Outreach (a.k.a. The Village) held its inaugural Youth Development Seminar at Hardley Creek Park. Lots of young people from the two-state area were there.

“The event was coordinated by Dwayne Goss, Lisa Askew and Doresa Gilder of The Village,” said Bridgette Heard Wilson. “The featured speakers included Tomeka Woody, CPA; Adrian Carpenter from the Chambers County Circle of Care Center for Families; and Captain Robert Chambers of the Chambers County Multijurisdictional Drug Task Force. We thank all of them for speaking on such topics as making good grades in school, obedience, saving and investing money and financial management. We also had detailed discussions on the negative impact of drugs, types of drug paraphernalia, just staying away from drugs and how to deal with bullying.”

“We thank the Lord for this day,” Woody said. “Investing in our youth is critical for our future. It makes a huge difference when we work together as a team to take care of our youth. We want to thank all our speakers for taking part in what we did today. They had a big part in making it the huge success it was. Young people are our future. It is so important to reach them when they are young. When adults take the time to show them the positive things and how important they are, it can have a huge impact on the community at large. We truly thank the team we assembled today. We also thank everyone who offered behind-the-scenes support for what we are trying to do.”

“We humbly thank the community for their continued support,” Wilson said.

In recent weeks, The Village has partnered with Mayor Steve Tramell and the City of West Point,  Adaptive Life of Atlanta and multiple churches in having food drives.

“These drives have helped us reach a total of 5,250 families not just in West Point, Lanett and Valley,” Wilson continued, “but also those from surrounding communities such as LaGrange, Columbus, Camp Hill, Opelika and Roanoke.”

In the coming weeks, The Village is looking to have community clean-up days, their second annual nursing home support initiative and back-to-school free school supply distributions.