Mississippians empowered through The Commission’s State of the Region
TUPELO, Miss (WCBI) – The CREATE Foundation hosted its annual of State of the Region on Wednesday in Tupelo — with hundreds of community members in attendance.
This annual event aims to help strengthen and unify communities throughout Northeast Mississippi.
Awards were also presented to two community leaders for their impact in the region.
Greg Pirkle is known to have a heart for his community, but he was still surprised when he was honored for his service at the State of the Region.
“I was overwhelmed. I’m telling you. I was so surprised. Usually, I know who is getting this award, but I had no idea it was going to be me today. So, when I first saw that they said ‘Greg Pirkle,’ I was going ‘This is unbelievable,'” said Pirkle.
Wednesday afternoon, CREATE awarded Pirkle and Bryan Wilson with the “Jack Reed, Sr. Northeast Mississippi Community Leadership Award.”
“We had two powerhouse award recipients. Greg Pirkle and Bryan Wilson both have been such huge players in the game of moving Northeast Mississippi forward,” said Suzy Bowman, the CREATE Foundation’s Director of Regional Impact.
Both Pirkle and Wilson have served on the CREATE Foundation’s Board.
And one of the Foundation’s key programs is The Commission on the Future of Northeast Mississippi.
The Commission is the host of the annual State of the Region.
“The Commission is the leadership arm of CREATE and it has been for the last three
decades. So over thirty years, the Commission has been focused on advocating for issues that can move Northeast Mississippi forward. (On Wednesday,) you just heard about two of those topics,” said
Those two topics discussed were Youth Advocacy and Disaster Recovery, especially following Winter Strom Fern.
Lafayette County Judge Tiffany Kilpatrick was one of the panelists for Youth Advocacy.
The panelists spoke on the benefits and impact of CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates.
The CASA volunteers support children in the foster care system and their families.
“Typically, these volunteers go to lunch with these children at school. Alot of them have gone from family member to family member, from house to house, and for the first time ever, they have one constant reliable adult that they can trust, who is going to advocate for them in a court room. That’s a powerful thing to see,” said Kilpatrick.
More than 300 people attended the State of the Region at the Cadence Bank Conference Center.
The CREATE Foundation serves 17 counties throughout Northeast Mississippi.
