Delta Center donates linens to St. Gabriel Mercy Center

Candace Chase (left), emergency assistant/volunteer coordinator at St. Gabriel Mercy Center; Heather Miller, the Delta Center; Mavis Honorable, SGMC assistant director; and Lee Aylward, the Delta Center, recently sorted linens donated by participants in this summer's Delta Center workshops.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University once again invited participants from its residential workshops to donate bedding they used in campus dorms to the St. Gabriel Mercy Center in Mound Bayou, Miss.

The Delta Center recently completed two successful National Endowment for the Humanities  “Most Southern Place on Earth” summer workshops which brought 72 teachers from 32 states to live in the Delta and experience its rich heritage and culture for a week.

At the conclusion of each workshop, the participants donated their linens to the Delta Center, which laundered them and then donated them to St. Gabriel. Sheet sets, blankets and towel sets were among the items donated by the workshop participants. Over the years, participants have donated many sets of sheets, pillows and blankets. 

“The St. Gabriel Mercy Center enjoys working in collaboration with the Delta Center at Delta State University,” said Mavis Honorable, assistant director at St. Gabriel. “The center provides a volunteer service site to the Robertson Scholars from Duke University and the University of North Carolina, and it is always a pleasure to receive much needed donations and gifts from the Delta Center which helps us give back to the community.”

Learn more about the Delta Center’s rich history at http://www.deltastate.edu/academics/delta-center-for-culture-and-learning/. Visit http://www.neh.gov/ to read about the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Delta Center welcomes Robertson Scholars

From left to right, the scholars (with their University and home Country or State) are: Tierney Maray (Duke, Australia), Andrew Tan-Delli Cicchi (Duke, New Zealand), Oluwasanmi (Sanmi) Oyenuga (Duke, Nigeria), Sebastian Baquerizo (Duke, Ecuador), Jacob Oliffe (UNC, Australia), Griffin Unger (UNC, US - Pennsylvania), Virginia Hamilton (UNC, US - Georgia), Jaclyn Lee (UNC, US - California), Charlotte McKay (UNC, New Zealand)

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning has welcomed another set of interns from Duke and the University of North Carolina.

These Robertson Scholars all receive full tuition for all four years of their education and are required to enroll in classes at both universities. During the summer between their freshman and sophomore years, they participate in service projects in Atlanta, New Orleans, New York City or the Mississippi Delta.

Subsequent summers are spent anywhere in the world. Scholars typically stay in the Delta for about two months. The Delta Center acts as the home base for those scholars serving in the Delta and presents weekend trips to heritage sites in and around the Delta.

The first trip of the summer was to Memphis, where the scholars were introduced to Graceland, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the National Civil  Rights Museum and Beale Street.  The Delta Center’s Lee Aylward led the tour.

For more information on the Delta Center for Culture and Learning, please call 662-846-4311.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning and the Robertson Scholars tour Memphis

Robertson Scholars at the Stax Musuem of American Soul Music.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University recently took ten Robertson Scholars to Memphis.  While there, they visited the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Graceland, and the National Civil Rights Museum.  They also saw Beale Street and watched the ducks march in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel. 

The scholars group included six scholars who are living in Cleveland for the summer plus three who are living in New Orleans and one stationed in Atlanta.  The tour was escorted by the Delta Center’s Lee Aylward.  The Delta Center is currently the manager of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area.