{"id":123651,"date":"2022-10-12T14:01:30","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T19:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=123651"},"modified":"2022-10-12T14:01:33","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T19:01:33","slug":"dignity-drive-seeks-to-make-a-difference-north-mississippi-vista-project-collecting-items-for-those-with-housing-and-financial-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/dignity-drive-seeks-to-make-a-difference-north-mississippi-vista-project-collecting-items-for-those-with-housing-and-financial-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"Dignity Drive Seeks to Make a Difference: North Mississippi VISTA Project Collecting Items for Those with Housing and Financial Needs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The North Mississippi VISTA Project<\/strong>, hosted at the Grisham-McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement<\/strong> at the University of Mississippi<\/strong>, is conducting a “Dignity Drive” through October 31, 2022 to help people with housing and financial needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All items donated will go to LOU<\/strong> community organizations such as Communicare Project THRIVE, Doors of Hope<\/strong>, and Grove Grocery<\/strong>. Go to\u00a0https:\/\/sites.google.com\/go.olemiss.edu\/nmvp-service-project\/home<\/a>\u00a0for an item list and more information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Items can be dropped off in marked containers in the lobby of Guyton Hall<\/strong>, at the Grisham-McLean Institute on the third floor of Howry Hall<\/strong> and at Grove Grocery in Kinard Hall<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The recent inflationary pressures and economic uncertainty mean that many families are struggling to make ends meet,” said Laura Martin<\/strong>, associate director of the Grisham-McLean Institute. “When one of our community partners suggested that a Dignity Drive could meet some of these needs, we thought it was a great way to bring our VISTA members together through service.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drive is an extension of the local observance of the Sept. 11 Day of Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our colleagues at AmeriCorps have called on us to honor the Sept. 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance by crossing divides and lifting up our neighbors,” said Emily Echols<\/strong>, the institute’s project manager. “The Dignity Drive gives us a way to engage campus and community in a collective act of care and service.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The North Mississippi VISTA Project places members in partner organizations to advance the shared mission of fighting poverty and improving quality of life for all Mississippians. VISTA members dedicate a year of full-time service to build sustainable systems that connect the university to underserved communities throughout an 11-county area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Speaking as a VISTA member, our duty is to the communities that we serve in,” said Dayton Ashby<\/strong>, VISTA for the Grisham-McLean Institute. “Through service, it’s my hope, and certainly the hope of the North Mississippi VISTA Project, to help local organizations fight poverty through capacity-boosting partnerships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We make many sacrifices as VISTAs, but we chose this path to make a difference. Poverty might be generational and it might be a struggle to fix in the short term, but it doesn’t have to be permanent.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VISTA members serve in schools, community colleges, nonprofit organizations and centers at the university. They extend and deepen community engagement efforts at Ole Miss and serve as a conduit to connect partner organizations to the university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The impact VISTA members have had across northern Mississippi has proven to be invaluable in making a difference within the communities of our partner organizations,” said Adriana Cooper<\/strong>, VISTA leader with the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our members have reached over 9,700 beneficiaries and have helped 178 organizations receive capacity-building services in the past year. The lasting impact of a year of service speaks volumes to the dedication of our VISTAs and to our ever-growing program.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information, contact\u00a0vista@olemiss.edu<\/a>\u00a0or call 662-915-2397.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The North Mississippi VISTA Project, hosted at the Grisham-McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement at the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123462,"featured_media":123652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17687],"tags":[22931,22928,22930,22927,13055,22929,22926,17514,21056,8500,5,22925,7067,4,655],"class_list":["post-123651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-university-of-mississippi","tag-adriana-cooper","tag-communicare-project-thrive","tag-dayton-ashby","tag-dignity-drive","tag-doors-of-hope","tag-emily-echols","tag-grisham-mclean-institute-for-public-service-and-community-engagement","tag-grove-grocery","tag-laura-martin","tag-lou","tag-mississippi","tag-north-mississippi-vista-project","tag-ole-miss","tag-oxford","tag-university-of-mississippi"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/North-Mississippi-VISTA-Project.png?fit=256%2C197&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}