One Community at A Time

1. By: Layne Tyler Grant One Community at A Time

2. Service Learning • Service Learning: is a method of teaching, learning and reflecting, frequently youth service, throughout the community.

3. Benefits • Young people gain access to the range of supports and opportunities (or developmental assets) they need to grow up healthy, caring, and responsible. One study of youth civic activism found that these settings had particular strength in cultivating youth and community involvement • Increased sense of self-efficacy as young people learn that they can impact real social challenges, problems, and needs. • Higher academic achievement and interest in furthering their education. • Enhanced problem-solving skills, ability to work in teams, and planning abilities. • Enhanced civic engagement attitudes, skills and behaviors. Many leaders in public service today speak about how they were nurtured, inspired, and shaped in early experiences in community service or volunteering.

4. Involvement in Community • Meet the Blazers • Partnership Health Center • Blazer Build- Habitat for Humanity • South Georgia Classic • American Red Cross Blood Drive

5. Meet the Blazers • This is an community event that allows the youth of Valdosta to come out, and spend the day with the Valdosta State University football players. • Kids ran through drills with every position on the field.

6. Blazer Build • A nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry. • We seek to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. • To accomplish these goals, we invite people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need. • Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1976 by Millard Fuller, along with his wife, Linda. • Today, we have helped build over 400,000 decent, affordable houses and served more than 2 million people around the world.

7. Partnership Health Center • Lowndes County Partnership for Health • The Lowndes County Partnership for Health, Inc. is a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the health of the community through and inclusive and unified partnership. Health care providers, educators, public health, the business community, and the faith community are brought together for the purpose of evaluating the health needs of the community and creating cost efficient solutions.

8. Blood Drive • American Red Cross Biomedical Services plays a critical role in our nation’s health care system. It is the largest single supplier of blood and blood products in the United States, collecting and processing more than 40 percent of the blood supply and distributing it to some 3,000 hospitals and transfusion centers nationwide. The Red Cross also plays a leading role in protecting the safety of donors and patients and increasing the availability of blood. It has been among the first to help develop and implement testing for infectious diseases and is frequently the single major contributor to clinical trials to improve blood safety. Providing life-saving blood and blood products to patients is a key component of the Red Cross mission to help people in times of emergency and disasters. 

9. South Georgia Classic • The South Georgia Classic presented by First State Bank and Trust Company and the Hospital Authority of Valdosta and Lowndes County, Georgia, dba South Georgia Medical Center announced today that former Atlanta Braves’ pitcher John Smoltz has accepted a Sponsor’s Exemption to compete in the Nationwide Tour event scheduled to be played April 25 - May 1 at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club

10. Community Service Helps