The Pearl River County Home Builders Association recently won first place for best local organization in 2016 by the Home Builders Association of Mississippi.
The group also placed third on the state and national level for most new members in its category, Executive Director Judy Lassere said.
PRCHBA President Dennis Collier, of Collier Construction, Inc., was awarded the President’s Cup for recruiting over a dozen new members and for his leadership during a project at Mildred Mitchell Park in Picayune, a PRCHBA press release states.
Other 2016 awards are as follows:
—Associate of the Year, Randy Schwaner, DIY Cabinets and Granite.
—Subcontractor of the Year, Adrian Mitchell, Mitchell Painting.
—Vendor of the Year, Glenda Wilson, Galleria Home Center.
—Volunteer of the Year, Teresa Serie, Charlie’s Custom Colors and Flooring.
—Hardest Worker of the Year, Joey Temples, First Southern Bank.
—Special Recognition, Debbie Sharff, M&M Printing.
—Special Recognition, Mark Wallace, Coast Electric Power Association.
Wallace, the state board representative, recently accepted the group’s awards from HBAM.
PRCHBA is one of the few associations in the state that has an organized scholarship program, Wallace said.
The scholarship is awarded to a graduating senior from one of the three local high schools planning to study a building trade at Pearl River Community College, he said.
“You may want to be a banker, a lawyer, or in the business realm and have all these degrees, but the problem is all these kids are coming out of school, even in engineering, and there’s no jobs,” Wallace said.
The building trades are losing young people that aren’t going into the trades. Some don’t understand they can receive two years of school, graduate, go to work and make good money, he said.
“And the reason is, you have a young mother, taking her 9th grader to school, she’s going to a secretarial job making $40,000 to $45,000 a year, and they pass a job site with a man on track hoe digging footing and she says if you don’t get your education, you’ll wind up out there,” Wallace said. “The guy on the track hoe is a licensed certified operator making $70,000 a year. And she’s teaching her son, ‘if I have to work with my hands, I’m a loser.’”
With a shortage of highly-skilled tradesmen, hiring rates are steadily increasing, Wallace said, which should draw more young people into the field.
The scholarship, along with membership recruitment, retainage and other activities throughout the year is what earned the group the award, Wallace said.
Last year, the group coordinated with trade students from PRCC to build a gazebo at Mildred Mitchell Park with donated supplies from Phillips Building Supply, he said.
PRCHBA also received a $13,000 grant last year and was able to buy half a classroom full of new drafting tables for the college. This year, the organization hopes to receive another grant to purchase the other half, Wallace said.
Due to efforts by Collier and the rest of PRCHBA, there are now 48 members in the group. The building and construction industry is slowly growing again, Wallace said.
The group holds fundraisers throughout the year to raise money for scholarships, including a gun raffle and upcoming golf tournament.
“The association here has always been strong and wanting to do projects for the community,” Wallace said.
For more information, visit http://www.prchba.com/.