Mt. Pleasant Correctional inmates and local church give milk monies to students in need

There are times when parents can’t do it all, or even pay for everything needed for school. That’s when a community steps in to help. Throughout the last two years, much needed milk money was donated to the Henry County community schools from the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility and the First Presbyterian Church of Mt. Pleasant.

“There are schools in need of assistance in our community,” said Marcy Stroud, Warden at the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility.

The Correctional Facility had a couple of staff members that were familiar the fact that some students were not getting snack time milk at the area schools because there were parents that could not afford to pay for it.

“So we were helping the schools that needed help to fill that gap, and made it possible for the schools to buy milk for the students that needed it,” said Stroud.

“There were a couple of events that were held at the Correctional Facility,” said Stroud.

They held movie nights where the offenders could watch a new release movie for $1. The ongoing way that money is gathered is through a recycling program, where pop bottles are being reprocessed by offenders and staff members.

To date, the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility has issued three $1,200 checks to the local schools for milk money.

“A coworker and I were thinking of ways to help students with lunch money fees,” Melissa Shull, Assistant Principal at the Mt. Pleasant Middle School, who was the Activities Specialist at the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility at the time that the milk money program was implemented. “We wanted to do some fund raisers to sponsor a school.”

According to Schull, they came up with a few things that were approved through the program at the Correctional Facility, and once the inmates found out where the money was going, there were inmates that also donated their money to the cause.

“The IIs (incarcerated individuals) enjoyed knowing that what they were doing was for a great cause, it was a real win-win for everybody. Giving back in such a way means a lot to them. It was really awesome to see the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility team up with the school system and be partners in helping kids,” said Shull. “It’s all about the reward of helping kids.”

Also involved with milk money donations has been the First Presbyterian Church of Mt. Pleasant.

“We set aside 10 percent of our operating budget every year for donations and benevolent giving to local and global organizations,” said Trey Hegar, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Mt. Pleasant. “We found out that even though the kids at the schools get reduced or free lunches, they don’t always have money for milk during snack time with those programs. As a congregation, we think that it is important to not just be a church for worship on Sunday morning, but to be a church that is present and helping within the community.”