By John Howell Sr.

She admitted it late in the meeting and then only in response to a question: Faye Morris and her staff at the Batesville Boys and Girls Club have recently been volunteering when funds for payroll have not been available.

Morris spoke at a recent meeting of the Batesville Exchange Club as the Boys and Girls Club of North Mississippi approaches its biggest annual fundraiser, the Steak and Steak Dinner on March 26.

“We receive a little bit of funding from the state [that has been] decreased every year drastically,” she said. Federal money through the Justice Department has been cut as well, Morris continued.

“We know we’ve got to do a better job with the Steak and Steak because of the economy,” said Morris to meet the club’s $100,000 annual budget.

The organization’s executive director shifted to her the-glass-is-always-at-least-half-full persona and described the community’s ongoing outpouring of support, both cash and in-kind.

The City of Batesville provides $25,000 annually. “’Mayor Baker was instrumental in helping us get that many years ago,” Morris said, acknowledging former Mayor and Exchange member Bobby Baker.

“Calvin Land has been and brought all his animals,” she continued, acknowledging an Exchange member and farmer who had brought farm animals to the club to allow the children an up-close experience.

She also acknowledged a visit by Exchange member and veteran drag race enthusiast Jimmy Smith. “He has brought race cars to the club,” she said.

“Our doors are open, we invite you any time,” Morris said.

The Boys and Girls Clubs enjoy the support of the North Panola and South Panola school districts that provide transportation, busing the club members to the Sardis and Batesville sites after school.

“In a lot of counties that doesn’t happen,” Morris said. The North Panola district also provides the Crenshaw Elementary School as a meeting place for the 60 children enrolled in Crenshaw’s extended club’s three-days-a-week meetings.

Exchange member Marlon Coleman, who had invited Morris to speak, has recently joined the board of directors at Boys and Girls Club, Morris said. “He has inspired us,” Morris continued, describing Coleman’s “hand-on” approach with writing grant applications.

There’s more. The steaks for the Steak and Steak Banquet have been donated. The speakers don’t charge, Morris continued.

“Deshea has been very supportive of Boys and Girls Club,” Morris said, referring to Batesville’s two-time Super Bowl star, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ DeShea Townsend.

Townsend headlines the “Celebrities-Walking-the-Blue-Carpet” theme of this year’s Steak and Steak banquet. The walk will be accompanied by music from the Northwest Community College Jazz Band.

Currently about 120 children attend the Batesville club during its after-school operation. An additional 60 children attend the Sardis club on McLaurin Street where they receive two hot meals a day provided by the Mid-South Food Bank. The additional children in Crenshaw bring total average attendance to 240, down slightly.

The organization’s bylaws do not allow charging parents whose income permits their children’s participation in the free-or-reduced-price lunch program at school, Morris said. The small fee paid by other parents may have become a barrier which makes the difference between the Batesville club’s membership of 200 and the 120 who attend.

Twelve people are on the now-intermittent payroll for the three locations, Morris said. When one staff member left recently, those  remaining took on additional responsibility to avoid the need for replacement.

“We just all banded together and did what we had to do to get the job done,” Morris said.