In August, Vanessa Poteet’s brother died of a brain aneurysm. He was 43.
Right after it happened, Poteet said she was so focused on her grief, there wasn’t much room for extra tasks. So for the first time since she founded the Columbus MS (What’s Going On) community Facebook group in 2014, she paused all interactions from its members.
Just two weeks later, she resumed the popular group, looking again to her late brother, Jeramie Childress — a 20-year U.S. Army veteran who had served four tours — for inspiration.
“(I) realized that he fought for all of us so we all do have opinions and it’s because of men and women like him that we have our opinions,” Poteet said.
One part community service, one part business postings and another part a forum for members to sound off about everyday local happenings, the Facebook group for which Poteet still serves as administrator has swelled to more than 10,300 members. She said it averages 90 new members per week.
Be it finding the homeless a place to stay in cold weather, providing the addresses to the 18 blessing/food boxes across Lowndes County, drawing attention to job openings or warning its members about suspicious activity in the community, the group’s page draws 700 or so posts per month.
A Mobile, Alabama, native, Poteet moved with her husband to Columbus in 2007. She said the couple had visited Columbus several times before that and “fell in love” with the place.
“Coming from a big city into a small town, we have such great little festivals and markets, and little stores…” she said.
Since 2015, she’s worked as the office administrator for Columbus Fire Service, which provides fire extinguishers and inspection services to keep businesses compliant with fire codes. A year before that, she wanted to help create a space where her fellow citizens could seek help and ask questions without being “looked down on” — a place on social media that “feels like home.”
The “help” part may be Poteet’s favorite, and two specific examples stick out.
This month, dozens of members pitched in to gift Sonic employee Terrance Webb $740 to recognize the positivity he brings to his work.
Similarly, in December 2020, it helped raise $1,900 for Hardee’s employee, Sonya Baldwin as appreciation.
“That stuff makes me happy when they (the members) start something like that in the group and it’s a success,” Poteet said, “That’s what life’s about.”
But the group is also about free expression, as long as it doesn’t get “ugly,” Poteet said. Personal attacks are prohibited and certain curse words are detected and deleted from posts. Violations of community standards could result in being restricted for one to 28 days.
Otherwise, if someone doesn’t like a post’s content, they can keep scrolling.
“Just like if you’re in the store and you walk past something that you don’t necessarily like,” she said. “You don’t say anything. You just keep walking.”
Robert Jewell, one of Poteet’s coworkers, has been a group member since 2021 and has become a frequent contributor.
“It allows people to put themselves out there and open up new streams of being,” Jewell said.
All told, Poteet wants Columbus MS (What’s Going On) to show the community for what it is — the good and bad — in hopes its citizens will band together to make it better.
“Every city in America has its problems, no city is perfect,” Poteet said. “But that doesn’t mean that we can’t try to make it perfect.”
Her Facebook leadership doesn’t end with that group, though.
After Poteet’s family’s trailer was stolen from their driveway in 2015, she started the page Stolen from Mississippians to help people from all over the state post photos of, and hopefully recover, stolen items. The difference between a group and a page on Facebook is the latter is less restrictive on attachments in posts.
Within three weeks of creating the page, Poteet and her family retrieved their stolen trailer. Since then, several others have located stolen items.
“I feel our (law enforcement) departments have been understaffed for many years and overwhelmed with stolen things. The internet definitely gets the word out quickly,” she said.
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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 47 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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