Greetings SCFP Family and Friends!
Another hot Delta summer is well under way, but the extreme heat was no match for the fire students and staff brought to the Freedom Project this season!
First, second and third year Freedom Fellows participated in our traditional Freedom School. They spent five rigorous weeks at the LEAD Center taking classes like Reading, Math, Public Speaking and Media Productions, all the while having to prove themselves worthy of a trip to the University of Mississippi. Many were called, but few were chosen, and in the end a small select group of young leaders headed to Ole Miss for a week of creative electives and special activities.
Students had a blast in our "Continental Cooking" class, where they prepared international fare for the group each day. Big Business was also a hit, as students got to take a peek into the world of entrepreneurship. As expected, nighttime activities were always good fun as well. Mug Night gave students the extra jolt they needed to make it through the week, and fellows continued a long tradition by rolling, sliding and tumbling down the steep hill outside Crosby Hall. However, nothing could have been more thrilling than Ms. Dennis' fitness class routine. Our final performance from Freedom Day will be posted soon on Youtube, in the meantime for Facebook users, check out our practice session: Click here to see what we mean:
This summer also brought with it an original program for our fourth year fellows - Sankofa Summer: Giving Back and Moving Forward. Sankofa was a four week program that emphasized the importance of character development and service. Students
spent two weeks in the Delta, taking classes both at the LEAD Center
and at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi. Fellows
were encouraged to take a holistic approach to the program, which was
designed to stimulate them body (fitness class), mind (ACT Prep) and
soul (Vision Quest).
The last two weeks of the program were dedicated to an intense service trip on the Gulf Coast. First, fellows visited Pass Christian, MS, where they worked with Hands of Hope to demolish a dilapidated firehouse, one of many relics of Hurricane Katrina. Then students traveled to New Orleans where they volunteered with Animal Rescue New Orleans (ARNO), taking care of dogs and cats that were abandoned after the storm. It was a challenging trip – the days were long, the work was hard, and it rained every night we camped in New Orleans – but the students stepped up and completed their mission with compassion and pride.
To round out our summer, our interns, students, and staff worked together to create a freedom project mural in our green room. It's not quite the Sistine Chapel, but we think its a great start(see picture . We're going to continue add to our mural and eventually fill the entire ceiling of the green room with masterpieces such as this. In addition, we're starting a small fund raising campaign, "Grassroots for the Green" to continue what we've started this summer. Our green room is our largest study room in our center and one of our original meeting places before our major addition in 2005. We hope to build on the concept of green in two major ways: 
First, we will build on our fitness and health programs, currently composed of yoga, running, and most recently cooking. We will add a major healthy eating component through our Saturday School program and field trips, where we'll learn about and prepare organic and free range foods as well as traveling to local farms and events. We'll also continue our physical training in preparation for our second 5K run in Indianola this fall.
Secondly,
we will transform our green room by creating posters for our walls and
painting the ceiling tiles with a focus on environmental health and
alternative energy sources, ideas, and images. Currently we have 54
blank ceiling tiles remaining and plenty of wall space. By May 2009, we
want our green room to be a space for students and visitors to learn
about the environment, think green (pun intended), and who knows maybe
come up with the next big idea to help save our planet.
How can you help? "Grassroots for Green" is all about individuals working together in small ways, but with larger connections. Our focus is not the size of a donation, but the number of people who donated, therefore we are asking that individual donations be no more than $50. However, if you do wish to make a larger donation, you can simply make it along with others (husband and wife, siblings, friends) or in the name of someone else who may not be familiar with our program: a group of co-workers, or church or organization members. If you provide us with a short note including their address, we'll notify them with a "Grassroots for Green" card acknowledging that a donation has been made in their name. Our goal is to raise $5000, by September 1st of this year. With your help, we can do this! For every donation of $50, for the first 100 donors, that donor's name will become part of our green room ceiling mural for all to see. Donations are tax deductible and can be made either online by clicking here:"Grassroots for Green" or by mail at P.O. Box 701, Sunflower, MS 38778. Please make checks payable to the SCFP and designate Grassroots for Green.
Let's make it happen!
The SCFP staff
www.sunflowerfreedom.org
blog:scfp.typepad.com
Sunflower County Freedom Project
P.O. Box 701
Sunflower, MS 38778
