On September 5, Senator Robert Mills accepted a certificate of appreciation from Ron Anderson and the students and staff of Project Reclaim for his part in securing $25,000 in state funding for the Project Reclaim program.
Anderson, the executive director of Project Reclaim, introduced Senator Mills to the students and said, “To support Project Reclaim, when he was down in Baton Rouge in the State Legislature, he managed to get $25,000 to provide services within Project Reclaim.”
After receiving the certificate, Senator Mills addressed the students, saying, “It is with honor that I accept this. This is a great program that I was proud to support. It wasn’t my money that I gave to the program, that was the taxpayer’s money. You owe also a great debt of gratitude to the taxpayers of Webster Parish who support the government and allow us to do these things. This is a great program. You have unlimited potential, every single one of you. Don’t ever stop growing. Don’t ever stop going.”
The students then presented Mills with a collage of photographs from activities they participated in during their summer program this year, which he thanked them for.
Mills also thanked the staff saying, “Thank you so much for everything you do for these kids.” Then he addressed the students saying, “These are all people who invest their time in your future, and it’s very, very important that you pay attention to what they say and do the best you can.”
“This program is impressive,” said Mills. “It’s only going to pay big dividends over time.”
The Project Reclaim program takes place Tuesday-Thursday from 4:30 until 6:30 PM. Their Leadership Academy is set to start later this month. They will also soon be starting Parent University – Raising Winners classes. Sign up for that begins September 7 with the classes taking place on two consecutive Saturdays from 10 AM until 2 PM.
“It’s just so vital to get parents, guardians, and other key adults in the households involved,” said Anderson. “Because you can bring the kids in and do a wonderful job with them, but at the end of the day they have to go back home, so you have to do something to impact the dynamic of the household, and that’s what Project Reclaim has always endeavored to do.”
Project Reclaim is a leadership academy that targets elementary, middle, junior and high school youth. The main goal of Project Reclaim is to help the participants become the best leaders that they can be by learning about leadership, performing well academically, and learning to respect relationships with others. Through leadership training, life and social skills development activities, and media training through hands-on experience with TV production, post-production editing, as well as parental involvement activities they empower youth to reach for the stars. For more information, go to their website: prstars.org.