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 expands learning outreach

The Delta Center donates harmonicas to the Delta Arts Alliance to support musical classes.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University recently donated over 40 “Learn to Play Harmonicas” to the Delta Arts Alliance (DAA) for music classes.

As music and art are cut from school curricula, the DAA seeks to find ways to bring the arts to schools around the Delta, and with the donation of these musical instruments, the Delta Center is helping them reach that goal.

The donation continues the working relationship between the Delta Center and the Delta Arts Alliance. In the past, the Delta Center has provided interns from the Robertson Scholars program at Duke University and the University of North Carolina to help with summer programs at the DAA.

Both entities hope that this donation will enable students from across the Delta to experience our musical heritage. Lee Aylward and Heather Miller of the Delta Center presented the packets to Rori Herbison, executive director of the DAA.

The Delta Center is the manager of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, a partnership with the National Park Service.

Delta Center donates bedding

Heather Miller (left) and Lee Aylward of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning, visit Sister Donald Mary Lynch of St. Gabriel's Mercy Center in Mound Bayou with a donation of bedding.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning invites participants from its residential workshops to donate the bedding they used in dorm rooms to the St. Gabriel Mercy Center in Mound Bayou.

Over the years, participants in the National Endowment for the Humanities workshops have donated many sets of sheets, pillows and blankets. Another delivery to St. Gabriel’s was made following the end of the July workshop.

“When introducing the Delta to participants in our National Endowment for the Humanities workshops, we always introduce them to the unique history of Mound Bayou, and in so doing, to the Saint Gabriel Mercy Center,” said Alyward. “At the end of the workshop participants want to give back to the Delta, and this is a way for them to not only help others, but to leave a little of themselves here.”

The Delta Center, housed at Delta State, welcomed 40 K-12 teachers in July to its week-long workshop “The Most Southern Place on Earth: Music, History and Culture of the Mississippi Delta.”

The teachers came from 25 states and explored the blues, civil rights heritage, religious and culinary heritage, the flood of 1927 and the Great Migration. Participants made stops in Ruleville, Cleveland, Greenville, Clarksdale and Memphis — visiting museums, churches, historic sites, and listened to presentations.

Learn more about the Delta Center’s rich history at http://www.blueshighway.org. Visit http://www.neh.gov/ to read about the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Delta Center Receives Grant from Deer Creek Foundation

Lee Aylward, program associate for education and community outreach for the Delta Center for Culture and Learning, holds a check from the Deer Creek Foundation.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University recently received a check for $25,000 from the Deer Creek Foundation.  The funding is in support of the Center’s role as the manager of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area during the planning phase.  The Heritage Area links the Delta to the National Park Service and will stimulate interest in the Delta’s rich heritage as it promotes tourism and economic development.  For information about how you can become a partner with the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, contact the Delta Center at 662-846-4311.

Delta State’s Delta Center continues to distribute books to promote literacy

Bright Beginnings: From left-right, Beverly McWilliams, with Bright Beginnings and librarian at Parks Elementary, Robert Smart, Rosedale Elementary, and Lee Aylward, Delta State Delta Center for Culture and Learning.

The Delta State University Delta Center for Culture and Learning continues to distribute books that have been collected by the Harry Potter Alliance (HPA), an international group of volunteers. 

This week’s recipients included Parks Elementary School in Cleveland and the Rosedale Elementary School, as well as students in the Delta State Child Development Center. 

Delta State Child Development Center: From left-right, Brenda Dumas, teacher, Samantha Blake, Sherrod Cauthen, Kate McClain, Cash Miller, and Elizabeth Gray Havens students in the four year-old class look over some of the donated books.

The Harry Potter Alliance was founded by Andrew Slack, who first came to the Delta as a students from Brandeis University and was introduced to the Delta’s heritage by the Delta Center for Culture and learning.  HPA was recently awarded $250,000 by the Chase Bank Community Giving Challenge, and online competition that selected the most popular new charity organization. The money will allow them to build further capacity to do good deeds around the world.