Residents of Pearl River County have another reason to be grateful.

Due to ongoing efforts to better our community by our county’s lawmakers, the county may soon have a new community center that will provide services to children and adults who are at risk.

The plan is to construct this facility at the South end of the county, where the center will provide tutoring to children who are unable to attend school. It will also provide public health assistance and adult literacy programs to those without access to them.

District 1 Supervisor Donald Hart said construction of the community center is long overdue and after receiving a generous donation of $10,000 from the Pearl River County Board of Supervisors, planning for the project can now begin.

Now, the Board will have to secure a location for the project and also raise money to cover costs of the land acquisition and construction.

With an estimated cost of $60,000 to build the facility, the Board hopes to raise a majority of the required funding through fundraisers and donations from local businesses or the general public.

Once completed, the center will need to be staffed by trained volunteers from the community. The Board is also looking for candidates interested in helping to write grant requests. The center would be an avenue for children who found the wrong direction in life and give them a venue to discover their strengths and weakness.

It’s pleasing to see how our local leaders recognize a need in our county and then take the lead in trying to meet that need.

Just like the walking track planned for residents of the Salem community, this community center may not be essential to our survival, but both will make the lives of our county’s residents that much better.