Received today. -jsq

All,

I want to share some good news from our recent Mayor Council public
hearing —

The 2013 Southern Hospitality Workcamp was a huge success. This
program, now in its’ 8^th year brought 212 young
“campers” from around the country into our community.

They made badly needed repairs to 18 owner occupied homes. This
brings the total number of homes repaired to 275. Lowes RDC once
again stepped up and provided all the materials for which we are
truly grateful.

The value of the labor and materials now is in excess of $1.5M. I
also want to say thank you to the Valdosta City School system for
once again opening up Valdosta Middle to house the campers during
their stay.

The joy I witnessed in these home owners faces was especially
touching. The hard work of city staff to plan and execute the work
camp along with these truly amazing young people is a blessing to
our city and its’ residents.

Most all saw the horrible news about a local homicide back a few
weeks ago. Hopefully you also saw where within two days the
detectives with VPD along with staff from the V/L Crime Lab solved
the murder and had two suspects in custody. This could not have
been done without the hard work of our law enforcement staff and
the tools you the citizens have provided. Specifically the value of
your investment into the crime lab and the ability of law
enforcement to use video from our traffic cameras. Those public
investments are and have been paying dividends to our community
helping make it a safer place to live.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns —
please let me know.

Sincerely,

Councilman Tim Carroll

Valdosta City Council, District 5

City Of Valdosta P.O. Box 1125

216 E. Central Ave.

Valdosta, GA 31603

tcarroll@valdostacity.com


www.valdostacity.com

Valdosta…A City Without Limits

Some news coverage is listed below.
The photographs are

by Pat Gallagher for VDT, except the composite image which is from the
Metro 17 Valdosta vimeo,
and the picture of Council Carroll from
the city of Valdosta.
-jsq

• Valdosta City PR 19 June 2013,
  
  Southern Hospitality Workcamp Returns for 8th Year,

  Approximately 212 youth from around the country will spend June
  23-29 of their summer vacations this year serving the citizens of
  Valdosta through the Southern Hospitality Workcamp.

• 2013 Southern Hospitality Work Camp from Metro 17 Valdosta on Vimeo
  Vimeo 23 July 2013:
  
  
  
  Hm: “The creator of this video has not given you permission to embed it on this domain. This is a Vimeo Plus feature.” Oh well; you can go there to see it, or Valdosta can make it more accessible.

• Erica Green wrote for WCTV unknown date,
  
  Southern Hospitality Work Camp In Valdosta

  For homeowners like Hattie Flucas fixing an old ramp was not in the
  cards.

  “I worried about the ramp since she’s handicapped and she
  can’t stand or walk. It would be devastating if she tried to go down
  and ramp and turned,” said Flucas’ daughter Johnnie Mae Woods.

  That’s where the southern hospitality workers come in.

• Sharah Denton wrote for VDT 30 June 2011,
  
  Southern Hospitality Group Workcamp helps with home repairs,

  
  
  Volunteers with the Southern Hospitality Group Workcamp have been
  working diligently to help local homeowners with repairs, painting
  and minor construction.

  Homeowner Charles Dannel expressed his joy of having the volunteers
  around with the changes that are taking place around his home.

  “It’s uplifting to my spirit. To see the energy the kids bring
  makes me ecstatic,” said Dannel.