Husband and Wife Team Speak at the Young County Republican Meeting
The Young County Republicans recently held a meeting at North Central College in Graham. The meetings are a regular forum for local Republicans to gather and discuss political as well as community topics. Kyle Milam, chairman of the YCR, greeted the attendees, then led them in the Pledge of Allegiance. After a brief introduction of guests speaking, Mr. Milam turned the mic over to the husbandand- wife team who run facilities in Graham that help families in need.
Kerra Bell, director of the Choices Graham location, addressed the crowd first by giving a brief personal history, then explained what Choices was all about and the services it provides. Choices is a pregnancy and family resource center. The center provides various services, from free pregnancy tests, free ultrasounds and free counseling classes. “We’re a nonprofit so everything is free and confidential. A parent at any stage can come to us for free resources. We have free diapers, formula, baby necessities, clothing, maternity clothing and other necessities. If the client needs further resources like shelter or other help, we point them in the right direction. We also have families come for just parenting classes and life skill classes. We have classes on abuse, addiction, pretty much everything,” Mrs. Bell said.
Scott Bell, director of Virginia’s House, addressed the attendees next, with a lively detailed story of how he became interested in helping others. Virginia’s House is a local Family Resource Center and Children’s Advocacy Center. “If there’s a report of child abuse, or specifically child sexual abuse, the law enforcement, D.A. and people of that nature will gather at Virginia’s house so that when a forensic interview is done, that child can be interviewed by a professional interviewer in a gentle way, and so that it only has to be done once. All the other law enforcement agencies are there observing in a separate room, so that they don’t have to continually put the child through that dramatic telling of that event and then we also offer various services for families that are in need. Such as women, primarily women who might be victims of crime, we can help them with some compensation and help them with some other resources to get through a troubling time,” Mr. Bell said. Mr. Bell also talked about the Court Appointed Special Advocates [CASA] program. “We also have outreach programs for children in the community, such as a mentor program where volunteer mentors will go into schools and, and just be a positive role model for kids that have been referred to us from school counselors. We have a volunteer CASA program., and a judge will appoint us as guardian ad litem on a case to represent best interest of a child who’s entered the foster system. If they’ve been removed from the home the judge will assign us to represent the best interest to that child throughout the duration of the court case.” For more information please visit: virginiashousetx.org or call: 940-954-9829.
YCR’s newest member, Jennifer Mc-Donald, who will be taking over duties as media coordinator, took the podium and gave a brief description of her new duties, which include running the social media platforms and building and maintaining the YCR website.
Texas State Senator, Drew Springer will be addressing the attendees at the next YCR meeting, For more information on YCR please visit their Facebook page: @YoungCountyRepublicans.
For more information to receive help, to donate or volunteer with Choices, please visit: choicesclinic.net or call 940-456-9856