Striving to Save Our Youth Event Held
An event to help the youth in our community was held Saturday, at J.B. Bryant Park coordinated by Sharon McKinney, of Stuttgart, featuring several speakers from Little Rock, Florida, and Louisiana. …
An event to help the youth in our community was held Saturday, at J.B. Bryant Park coordinated by Sharon McKinney, of Stuttgart, featuring several speakers from Little Rock, Florida, and Louisiana.
Mister of Ceremony Thaddeus Hamilton of Fathers of Faith spoke to the youth about the goal, “Being the change you want to see.”
Asked why he wanted to bring his message to Stuttgart, Hamilton responded, “Because it is needed. My son was killed in DeWitt on July 4 due to random gun violence. I believe it is because of a lack of resources in our community.”
Lyonel Porter, of Little Rock, said he was speaking on being more responsible, for parents and kids.
“There are things we can really change as a community. I think money is spent on all the wrong things,” he said. “We need to invest more on kids. Not every kid can invest in a computer or even books. Otherwise, kids in poverty are already behind.”
Porter went on to say the police and sheriff’s departments needed to work more with the kids in the community so they could have better relations in the community.
“It is not hard, but it takes coming together,” said Porter.
Mayoral candidate Wade Hobbs, who attended the event, was hoping city council representatives would have shown up at the event with what he referred to as “all that is going on in the city.”
Hobbs agreed with the togetherness between the officers and the community but said the community has to meet them halfway.
“If you do not want to help them (the police) and then talk negative about them, that does not help,” said Hobbs. We have officers who want to help. This is my home and their home and if we work together, we can have a better community.”
As Porter continued to address the attendees who spoke about teaching trades to our future leaders.
“Not every kid needs or wants a four-year college education but maybe they are good with their hands and could do well with a trade,” Porter said. “From an early age, kids want to be able to make money and be successful. We need to teach them to have knowledge and understanding. Then you go on to wisdom. That is what makes us unique, knowledge. If we teach them young, they can do it. It is time, as a community, we help ourselves.”
” The stimulus checks are a good thing, but a lot of people have lost their 401Ks and retirements (due to the economy),” Porter went on to say.
Porter also emphasized to the community that the race card needed to stop being played in situations where it didn’t apply.“
Stephanie “Priestess” Proux, of Florida, spoke topic on hunger in the community.
“I want to make sure no children have to go to bed hungry,” said Proux.
Proux speaks and helps communities across several states.
Each week she passes out “Weekend Getaways” where when she hears or sees a need in a community, she passes out goody bags to kids.
She is also in the process of starting a charter school in Little Rock.
“I go where needed,” said Proux who can be reached on Facebook at Stephanie Christel Walker-Proux.
