The Clover Street Project never rests.
The nonprofit agency, which serves underprivileged youth throughout the Golden Triangle, is especially active during the holidays.
Saturday, the Clover Street Project, along with Southern Greens Keepers and the Hilton Garden Inn, will host “Breakfast with Santa” in the Hilton lobby to raise money for scholarships.
Hilton Food and Beverage Manager Mark Taylor said hotel management was looking for a tree for their lobby when they found SGK’s tree lot on Highway 182. Both SGK and the Hilton were looking for a charity for Christmas and eventually connected with Clover Street Project.
All of the money SGK generates from tree sales will benefit the Clover Street Project. Proceeds from pictures with Santa will also help the Clover Street Project, which will hand out three $1,000 scholarships during the holidays.
“My philosophy has been to give it, not take it,” Taylor said. “We’re excited to help kids in our community and look forward to Saturday.”
Each year, Clover Street Project founder Freddie Bardley sets a bar of adopting 26 families to help furnish Christmas gifts. What the organization can’t fund, sponsors foot the bill.
Bardley, a Columbus native and Starkville Police officer, has watched the organization grow from motivational speeches at churches to securing benefactors such as the Travis Outlaw Foundation and Walmart.
“I started out with one sponsor — Austin Vollor’s law firm — and we started with a movie night,” Bardley said. “Next thing you know, everyone wanted to jump on board. I think people recognize that we’re really trying to make a difference.”
The Clover Street Project served 4,270 meals last year during a summer feeding program and routinely hosts movie nights. The organization donated e-readers to West Oktibbeha County schools last year to help students achieve better results on the Mississippi Curriculum Test.
“And we’re looking to do even more,” Bardley said. “We’re trying to get the word out that we’re trying to help families in Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Clay and Noxubee (counties).”
When Bardley started the Clover Street Project in 2000, he was partly motivated by the number of children who don’t get to experience Christmas.
“I watched my parents struggle to make sure we had Christmas,” Bardley said. “Out of seven kids, we never had a Christmas without something being under the tree. I remember getting a pack of those Cowboys and Indians one year and just smiling so much to have that.
“That’s why I want families to have a great Christmas.”
Breakfast with Santa begins at 8 a.m. and ends at 11 a.m. The breakfast buffet is $5.95 for adults and children. Pictures with Santa, which begin at 8:30 a.m., cost $10. Prints will be provided with the option to receive a code to print them at home.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
