The Red Cross has not left Starkville, but it has moved.
Following the Red Cross” consolidation of 13 Mississippi chapters into five in 2010, the Red Cross of Starkville and Oktibbeha County was downgraded to a bureau or satellite office of the Northeast Mississippi chapter in Tupelo.
That change spurred the majority of the Starkville Red Cross” board and some of its staff to leave the organization in favor of beginning the Oktibbeha Starkville Emergency Response Volunteer Service. And that change, in turn, led the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors to turn the former Red Cross location — a several-bedroom house on Felix Long Drive — over to the 16th Circuit District Drug Court program.
Amy Shake, Starkville office coordinator and the sole remaining Red Cross employee, has moved to the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District building at 106 Miley Road.
Megan Burkes, communications and development officer with the Northeast Mississippi chapter, said that move left some in the community thinking the Red Cross had disappeared from Starkville altogether.
“Some misinformation has circulated about the Red Cross office closing in Starkville, which is not the case at all,” said Burkes. “No service ever ceased.”
The Starkville office moved into two rooms in the back of the GTPDD building on April 5. One is Shake”s office and the other will be used to host health and wellness classes such as CPR certification, which will resume in the coming weeks. Shake said the space will be available to the Red Cross during evenings and weekends.
“We”re very thankful for their offering such a great facility,” said Burkes. “It”s very customer and client friendly.”
County Administrator Don Posey said the Red Cross will continue to pay no rent at the GTPDD just as it paid no rent at the house on Felix Long Drive. Oktibbeha County budgets $12,000 per year to the Red Cross.
Meanwhile, the house on Felix Long Drive will be used by the drug court to house a probation officer, a court administrator and a lab for drug testing. The drug court services a seven-county district which includes Oktibbeha, Lowndes, Clay and Noxubee.
Oktibbeha County is receiving $650 rent on the building from the state.
The Red Cross remains devoted to its mission of helping disaster victims, such as those forced from their homes following a fire.
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