READ Foundation hosts PPE drive-by series

The READ Foundation is celebrating 20 years of service to the local community. Its founder and president, Shirlyn Granville, is excited the organization’s milestone birthday as well as well as the upcoming events on its service calendar. Leadership for the foundation is far-reaching which helps it to function in an impactful manner.

“Our board is composed of members of the community that are a part of the base, industry, health care, education—our board is just real diverse,” Granville told Houston Home Journal. “We wanted to make sure that we reached all parts of the community.”

Granville has a history of being active in service-based organizations, and as a hands-on person who sees the needs of the community, it is her endeavor to address and answer as many of them as possible.

“The READ Foundation’s mission is to empower children ages 6-21 and their families in positive, educational experiences,” she explained. “That’s a broad definition, but the goal is to be a resource for children, youth and family.”

Much of the original inspiration behind The READ Foundation was Granville’s desire to see more done and more consistency in collaboration. To do so effectively, it takes a village.

“I just started asking other people across the community—for example, one of my board members, Dr. Samuel Palmer at Houston Family Medicine, and people like Fred Wilson, who is the chairman of the Houston County Board of Education. We have others, too—members from the military base, business owners and, of course, the faith community—that we collaborate with.”

READ is an acronym for “Renew Empower Action and Determination,” and it is open to the public with no limitations to any specific gender or ethic group. Everyone is invited and encouraged to get involved, and that’s exactly what Granville is hoping will happen when it comes to the organization’s upcoming drive-by series.

The drive-by is a collaborated effort between The READ Foundation and local churches, the City of Warner Robins, health care professionals and volunteers who want to ensure that citizens have the PPE needed to keep themselves and family members safe. Recent reports have indicated that some areas are choosing to become lax when it comes to the use of personal protective equipment, but The READ Foundation, through the community drive-by events want to, not only promote the message of continued safety, but provide the means to get it done.

“Although hospitalizations are going down, incidences of people contracting the virus are going up. We’re being told by the local health department and by the CDC that we still need to be masked up to remain safe,” Granville voiced. “A lot of our population is still getting out there, mixing and mingling and gathering with other people, and the cases are still increasing.”

Because of these factors, Granville said the Foundation felt a responsibility, as a community organization and stakeholder that has been around for two decades, to help and to be a change agent to get the word out to the public and encourage them to remain vigilant.

“And not just by saying it,” she stressed, “but by being proactive and actually giving them the supplies they need to help them remain safe. That’s why we’re having the drive-bys.”

In describing how the drive-by events would work, Granville disclosed that participants would drive up, but not leave their cars.

“We’ll have a QRC code that they’ll scan from their phone that just gives us the basic information—the answers to five or six questions,” she explained. “Then they will drive through the area and get the bags that the foundation put together from generous donations that came people across the community and city who partnered with us.”

Those bags will consist of items like hand sanitizer, disposable masks, reusable masks, gloves, wipes and other supplies that families will find useful in their quest to remain safe during the pandemic.

No pre-registration is required in order for people to take advantage of this service being offered, and regardless of rain or shine on the scheduled dates, the drive-by events will take place from 12:00 noon until 2:00 p.m. (or as long as supplies last) on the following dates and at the following Warner Robins locations:

Saturday, March 27 – Warner Robins CME Church (200 Othal Lakey Circle) – Rev. Lindsey P Napier, Sr., Pastor.

Saturday, April 17 – Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church (809 South Davis Drive) – Rev. David A. Clark, Sr., Pastor.

Saturday, May 6 – First Baptist Church of Garmon Street (210 Garmon Street) – Rev. Josh B. Kirvin, Sr., Pastor.

Other READ Foundation events for COVID-19 and coronavirus awareness in the community will be announced at a later date.

Monetary donations to go toward the purchase of needed items are still needed and always accepted. Those who wish to assist can mail a check or money order made payable to The READ Foundation to P.O. Box 6636, Warner Robins, GA 31095. The Foundation can also be reached through its social media page at facebook.com/TheREADFoundation.

As spring break is nearing for students, Granville wanted to leave one last reminder. “I just want to really emphasize that we want our young adult population to be aware that the numbers are increasing,” she stated. “They are young and healthy and may not have to worry about the virus as much, but we want to urge them to be safe. Don’t gather in large groups unprotected. Please wear the masks. Our young adult population can carry the virus back to parents and grandparents. They can’t fight it off like younger people can. We urge them to be safe. If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for the ones at home that you love so dearly.”

HHJ News