The Andalusia Ballet Association is $365,000 closer to its $700,000 fundraising drive to complete renovations to the top floor after the announcement Friday of three grants for the project.
Meryane Martin Murphy, founder and artistic director of The Andalusia Ballet, announced the funding Friday to a group of dancers and parents gathered for a performance at the Ballet’s Summer Intensive.
The group has received a pledge of $200,000 from the local John and Grace Estep Foundation; $100,000 from the Daniel Foundation, and $65,000 from the Alabama State Council on the Arts.
Murphy said this is the second donation of $200,000 the Estep Foundation has made toward renovation of the building.
The Ballet Association moved into the building in the fall of 2011, after entering an agreement with the City of Andalusia in which the association contributed $500,000 to the renovation of the former Church Street Elementary School, and agreed to become the managing tenant.
The initial work included three studios, offices, dressing rooms and a board room on the middle (ground) floor, and basic work on the basement floor. The Ballet Association has since built out a kitchen and small event space, as well as costume storage.
The current project will develop the top floor a large studios and three smaller classes that can be used for arts-related classes, as well as restrooms and dressing rooms Already, the facility is home to piano lessons, yoga, Pilates and Barre Energy classes.
“The building deserves this attention, and our community deserves this,” Murphy said.
With the grant funding, the Ballet Association has raised $523,000 of the $700,000 it needs to move forward with the project.
Locally, fundraising continues with a brick and cornerstone campaign. Bricks are $100, and can be personalized with three lines and 15 spaces per line. Cornerstones can be personalized with six lines and 15 spaces per line.
For additional information, call the Ballet at 334.222.6620, or visit the website at www.andalusiasballet.com. Brick and cornerstone campaign forms also are available on the Star-News’ website.
The latest company to begin operating at South Alabama Regional Airport has 27 employees, and expects to add an additional 20 in July, and 20 more in August.
Mayor Earl Johnson shared the good news with members of the city council on Tuesday.
Dyncorp International (DI) announced in November its plans to put people to work in Andalusia in the former Standard Aero/Vector facility at the airport.
The company had received a contract for upgrades to military aircraft, last fall, and plans to do all of that work locally.
DynCorp said in a press release last fall that it had been awarded a $152 million contract from the Naval Air Systems Command to provide logistics support services and material for the maintenance of TH-57 aircraft. The contract has a two-year base period and two option years.
DI will provide organizational (O-level), intermediate (I-level), and depot level (D-level) maintenance for the U.S. Navy TH-57 helicopters. The O- and I- level maintenance work will be performed at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Florida, and D-level maintenance work will be performed at DI’s Andalusia facility.
“I’ve been told to expect them to have 100 jobs there by the first of the year,” Johnson said. “The main part of those are high-paying jobs in comparison to other work available in Covington County.”
DynCorp International is headquartered in McLean, Va.
Some $242,611 will soon be available to provide continued services for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking in Covington County.
Andalusia Police Chief Paul Hudson, along with Youth Advocate Programs (YAP) Adult Services Director Amanda Cook, announced Friday they have received funding from the State of Alabama through the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, Victims of Crime Act (VOCA).
“The City of Andalusia and the South Alabama Victim Services Collaborative (SAVSC) partner with YAP to create survivors in Covington County,” Hudson said. “It is our goal that our clients no longer be victims by transitioning them from a dependency way of life with their abuser to being self-sufficient and successful on their own.”
Cook, whose office is located on Sixth Avenue behind Andalusia City Hall, said services provided are tailored to the specific needs of each client and range from assisting with providing emergency transportation, life skills, education completion assistance, providing court advocacy, assisting clients with processing the necessary paperwork to complete Protection From Abuse affidavits, assisting with locating and transportation to emergency shelters, emergency food/clothing, and counseling and employment services. YAP provides holistic, wraparound services to suit the needs of each client and family and remaining true the organization’s “no reject, no eject,” meaning no clients are turned away once referred for services.
“We are grateful to offer these services our clients free of charge,” Cook said. “Our service delivery is 24-hours-a-day 7, 365. We’re available for our victims on scene, in the office during working hours and long after traditional working hours are over. Our overall program goal is to assist victims and their families in being able to get on their own feet; be able to have their own home and not have to rely on an offender to provide financially for them.”
Andalusia Mayor Earl Johnson said he was “very pleased to learn of the funding from ADECA to continue this important work in our community.”
Hudson said victims referred for VOCA-funded services in Covington County come from those seen by the Andalusia, Opp and Florala Police Departments; the Covington County Sheriff’s Office; municipal court systems; the Covington County Department of Human Resources and the Andalusia Ministerial Association. Referrals for VOCA services also are accepted from local healthcare providers such as Andalusia Health and Mizell Memorial Hospital, local community organizations, as well as from self-referrals at the local YAP office.
Sheriff Blake Turman also expressed his gratitude for the funding.
“I’m excited to be able to pool resources with the (APD) and be awarded this grant,” Turman said. “The VOCA grant is paramount to assist victims and to let victims know there is help out there. I am thankful to the APD staff for heading up the charge in this project.”
Opp Police Chief Kevin Chance echoed the sentiment.
“The Opp Police Department is always willing to assist victims in getting needed services, and the VOCA project, with our local law enforcement and partners, is a perfect example of meeting the needs of our communities,” Chance said.
Hudson expressed his thanks to the following community partners for their donation of time: Travis Catrett, who teaches self-defense; Wyatt Sasser, who provides instruction for home maintenance/repairs; Delicia McGhee, who provides art therapy; Keith Stephens, who provides basic first aid; Heath Harper, who provides basic car maintenance and repair instruction; Melinda Martin, who offers personal care/hygiene advice; Tawona Ryce, who offers personal fitness and nutrition tips; Dr. Amanda Inabinett, who offers job preparation and resume building skills; and Carolyn Graham with Southern Independent Bank, who offers financial literacy and household budgeting.
In addition to those donating time for professional and personal development, others who provided additional donations of support for this funding opportunity includes, the City of Florala, the Andalusia Ministerial Association, Andalusia Christian Service Center, and the City of Andalusia.
“Without their help – and an award of much needed and appreciated funding made by the Solon and Martha Dixon Foundation to enhance service delivery, and all of our local collaborative partners and supporting citizens – we could not make this project a success,” Hudson said. “We are truly grateful for their generosity.”
Superintendent thanks city council for support of schools
Andalusia Schools Superintendent Ted Watson on Tuesday thanked the Andalusia City Council for good done by the city’s education-earmarked sales tax, and promised he’d be back with a list of requests for the coming school year.
“Of the 1,451 (electronic) devices we currently use daily, 1,000 are the direct result of the city’s support through leases,” Watson said. “The same pledge of $110,000 next year will purchase 770 iPads and laptops that will finally get us to our goal of one to one computers per student, which is what we set out to accomplish. You have created nine computer labs.
“We have taken your funding for a music teacher and continued to provide choral production opportunities for our high school students,” he said. “We’ve found a math/theater teacher who will aid in this endeavor, as well.
“You have provided in-kind work that allowed the P.E. facility to be much more awesome than Q-SAP money would have allowed for,” he said. “We’ve built a sixth-grade wing which streamlined all elementary-certified teachers into the same location for the maximum use of personnel.
“We built a seventh and eighth grade junior high which streamlined all secondary certified teachers into the same location for maximum use of personnel, and made for only one transition for students.
“Y’all created an on-campus softball field facility out of a pit,” he said. “You created safe rooms for high school campus. Every student at the high school will fit in our safe rooms, but you may not be aware we have also opened those up to the community when we had severe weather after school.
“You reroofed the elementary and high schools.
“You have renovated the auditorium to a state-of-the-art facility.
You renovated the stadium into the finest venue in the state.
“You provided Z-space 3-D computer labs allowing our kids to see and feel living organs, manipulate and work on machines, and dissect almost anything.
“You’ve upgraded our infrastructure twice to make us user-friendly in the cyber world for years to come,” he said. You’ve provided teachers with state-of-the-art technology to teach daily while accessing the web.
“You’ve allowed for the creation of the A.P.P.LE. after-school program and renovated AMS into our central office.
“You have partnered with us to rework the baseball dugouts and create a field house.
“You’ve cut the grass.
“You increased student safety by helping to purchase cameras and secure doors and access to our buildings,” he said.
“You purchased band uniforms, and provided charter buses for teams and bands.
“You’ve provided bus-parking facilities
“You established a soccer program.
“You made rings available for the state champion baseball team.
“You funded Andalusia Elementary School as a Leader in Me school, where most importantly, we teach kids how to look you in the eye and shake your hand, among other things.
“You formulated the idea of a facilities assessment to help us predict and perform maintenance on a systematic basis.”
Watson said he plans to bring a request to the council at its next meeting for funding in the 2019-20 school year, including a computer lease, replacing tile on the first floor of Andalusia High School, and enhancing the baseball facility.
“I told the board last night the only team to go to state and win it, is the baseball team. Those guys don’t have any bleachers. We want to look at enhancing their facility.”
Foundation will raise awareness of service
Memorial Day is about love and remembering, Circuit Judge Ben Bowden said Monday.
Bowden, who is a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, was the guest speaker for Andalusia’s annual Memorial Day service. He also announced the formation of a new foundation dedicated to recognizing the contributions of area veterans, and raising awareness of the price of freedom.
Bowden recalled attending services for fallen comrades while deployed to Iraq in 2008.
“I was a lawyer and an officer, so I was pretty much kept out of harm’s way,” he said.
“I did make it a point while I was deployed to Iraq to attend any memorial service that I could get to,” he said. “It seemed particularly appropriate to gather together to honor fallen comrades in those circumstances. While all of those services are etched in my memory, one in particular stands out.
“It was an Army aviation ceremony to honor the crew of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter from the Texas National Guard that crashed in country on its way to join our unit. The Army has a tradition of doing a roll call and then maintaining a moment of silence after each fallen hero’s name is called. To hear those names called and to wait for them to answer, when you know they won’t, was, to say the least, emotional.”
“Those we gather to honor today, those men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice, gave their lives out of love,” Bowden said. “Love of country, love of freedom, love of their fellow soldier. There is no other way you can describe these sacrifices than to cast it in its rightful terms – “greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Bowden said Memorial Day is also about remembering
“It is about imprinting on our collective conscious in each generation the sacrifices of those who died in the service of their country. I don’t know of anyone who works harder at helping us remember than my friend, John Vick.”
It was Vick’s efforts to take a group of World War II veterans to a service at Eglin Air Force Base several years ago that led to a broader discussion.
Bowden said there is a sense of urgency that fewer and fewer people can remember when the United States was attached and its young men and women were called to defend their nation. Thus, he said, was born the Covington Veterans Foundation.
The group’s first act is the donation of a watercolor titled “A Hero Comes Home,” to the City of Andalusia. Vick conceived and commissioned the painting, which was done by Roger Powell. It depicts the flag-draped casket of a fallen soldier returning home in a railroad car, and is symbolic of the soldiers, sailors and Marines who paid the ultimate price for freedom.
“The future freedom of our nation may depend upon another group of young men and women who will be asked to make that same sacrifice,” Bowden said. “Our city, our state and our nation must do its part to make sure its young people understand that ‘freedom isn’t free.’ The United States of America, with all its faults and failures, is till the ‘bastion of freedom’ to the world. With God’s grace and the thankfulness of a grateful nation, may we ever by worthy of that honor.”
The foundation also donated a framed tribute composed by Vick, “Lost Voices” which is to hang near the painting.