Attendees gather together with the presentation check.
Volunteers install batteries into the radios.
By John Brice
Correspondent
Local and state government officials gathered along with representatives from non-profit organizations and city employees at the Chambers County Courthouse to distribute free weather radios to seniors during the morning hours of Wednesday, June 14th of 2023.
Ciara Turner, Executive Director of the Coosa Valley Resource Conservation and Development Council, was in attendance on behalf of her public service institution whose $5,000 grant to the City of LaFayette paid for the cost of the radios. Also on hand were Alabama Representative for District 38 Debbie Wood and Alabama Representative for District 37 Bob Fincher as well as Chambers County Commissioner for District 3 James “Moto” Williams, LaFayette Mayor Kenneth Vines, LaFayette Councilman Toney B. Thomas, LaFayette City Clerk Louis Davidson, LaFayette Fire & EMS Chief James Doody, LaFayette Electric Department Superintendent Chris Sanders, Lanett Mayor Jamie Heard and Lanett Senior Center Manager Sandra Thornton.
Representing the Alabama Department of Senior Services was their Board Chairman Ray Edwards and Scott Stabler, ADSS Director of the Senior Community Service Employment Program and Disaster Preparedness.
Commissioner Williams, Chief Doody and several LaFayette Electric Department employees worked diligently together to install batteries into the radios and program them so that they would be fully operational and ready for use by the seniors that would be receiving them. Attendees spent time engaged in conversation and stood together for a group portrait where a giant bank check symbolizing the grant was presented.
Once the radios were all prepared, a large group of the attendees formed a convoy of vehicles which included police cruiser escorts to visit homebound seniors living in LaFayette. Three homes were visited which included Faye Jones on 6th Avenue Northwest, Daniel Burney on Martin Luther King Drive and Ollie Leverette on Fourth Place Northeast. At each stop officers from the LaFayette Police Department accompanied Reps. Wood and Fincher as well as Mayor Vines and Councilman Thomas while they greeted the seniors and presented them with their radios.
Upon completion of the home visits, members of the official party rendezvoused at the LaFayette Senior Center to address the elderly participants gathered there and distribute the radios to them. Councilman Thomas stood before the assembled crowd and remarked “We have a young lady here that is, correct me if I am wrong, one hundred and one years old? One hundred and two. She took time out to come up here and share this special day with us and we would like to give her a round of applause. We love you guys.”
Mayor Vines spoke next saying “Since we have already been properly introduced, each and every one. I just want to present these weather radios to each of you. On behalf of the City of LaFayette, myself Mayor Vines, Councilman Thomas, Councilwoman Williams, Ellis, Mangram, Ennis and everyone that makes up this group right here.” Vines continued “We have already given out three to some who couldn’t be up here with you all. We just want to thank the representatives, the council for doing this for you all. Any time we can do anything for our citizens here in LaFayette we get on the horn, all we have to do is make a phone call. And you can see that they have come in great numbers. I am so thankful to give this to you all. Your director here, Ms. Alfredia, she’s done a good job. I am appreciative of her and what she does. Sometimes I don’t get a chance to tell her, now I can tell her in front of everybody, a job well done. She runs this, I just let her have her way here, because she knows what to do and I don’t know what to do.”
Rep. Fincher followed up by saying “May these serve you and I hope our seniors, we owe you all everything. What we have today is based on what you all have done in the past. We are just glad to help you out any way we can.”
Alfredia Silmon, LaFayette Senior Center Director, finished off the introductions by saying “I want to thank you everybody on behalf of the senior center. We appreciate everything that you do for us and everything that you are going to do for us. Thank you all.” At that point the visiting officials chatted with the seniors and handed out their radios to them.