News & Events

Thursday’s Conversation About Community is sold out! We are so thankful for the generosity of our donors and the interest in our mission by this community!

Remember to visit www.facebook.com/operationshoestring for regular updates on our mission

Operation Shoestring received a very generous gift from Entergy, a longtime supporter, at a recent meeting. Pictured left to right are Evelyn Edwards, board chair; Liz Brister, Entergy Mississippi; Doug Boone, board treasurer; Robert Langford, executive director.

Every child deserves a summer filled with fun. Summers, like childhood, pass quickly – and people in Jackson can help us make a memorable summer possible for hundreds of children.

For some children, summer vacation means camp, family trips, visits to museums, parks and libraries and a variety of enriching activities. But other children – like many we serve – find that when schools close for the summer, healthy meals, and fun and engaging activities are out of reach, as are activities that strengthen academic achievement and provide opportunities to explore new interests.  At Operation Shoestring, we are providing those summer activities.

The phenomenon of summer undoing school-year learning has come to be known as “summer learning loss.” The Afterschool Alliance notes that this was first commented on in 1906 followed some decades later by the 1978 book Summer Learning and the Effects of Schooling, by Barbara Heyns, which was based on her study of Atlanta students. More recently, a number of researchers have found that nearly all the differences in achievement between poor and middleclass children can be attributed to changes in learning that take place over the summer..

Quality summer experiences give children access and exposure to the opportunities and relationships within their communities that promote learning and development. In fact, summer programs have the potential to close the test-score gaps that plague Mississippi. At Operation Shoestring this summer, we will provide fun and academic enriching camps here on Bailey Avenue and at several schools in the Lanier feeder pattern. We know that these efforts will help the students we serve close the gap between where they are and where they need to be.

We have seen our children work hard every day after school to become better students and to attain higher grades. With help from our donors, they can continue their learning and their growing this summer and be better prepared for school’s start in August.

Last Friday, six honor students from Lanier High School – and the male members of this year’s Youth Employment Program – received professional dress attire to help round out their wardrobes. The clothes were courtesy of Charlie Mozingo, proprietor of Mozingo in Highland Village. These young men will interview for their summer jobs in the coming weeks and be placed in April for work that begins in June. Shoestring is so proud to have such fine young men in our program and such a great community partner in Charlie Mozingo.

Come join us at the beautiful Mississippi Museum of Art for annual Spring Fling. We’ll post more information soon, but mark your calendars!

Our newest class of Youth Employment Program (YEP) participants were selected this week! You might recall that Operation Shoestring has worked with area businesses and nonprofits the past two years to provide “life training” and summer employment for rising honors students who are seniors at Lanier High School. Through this program, students realize that their future is limitless. We strive to remove the constraints that so many children have set for themselves – they realize that high school graduation, a college degree and a professional career aren’t just elusive dreams. These things are meant for them!

On Thursday, this year’s YEP students met with representatives of University of Mississippi Medical Center and the law firm of Bradley Arant Boult & Cummings. They heard about the potential experiences they could gain over the summer at these work places and asked questions about career choices. In April, all of our YEP students will interview and be hired by a local organization or business to work for the summer. And like the two classes who have come before them, we know that their concept of what this world can offer them and what they can contribute to it will change dramatically.

We had a wonderful Conversation About Community event last Thursday night. Special thanks to Vickie Mason, board member and event chair, for her leadership in making it all happen. More than 275 people joined us, and – though we’re still figuring our final totals – we know that the evening brought in the money necessary to sustain our efforts.  As board chair Evelyn Edwards announced Thursday night, Operation Shoestring is proud to announce that we are approaching a fundraising record for FY 2010, which ends September 30!  What a blessing.  For pictures, visit www.facebook.com/operationshoestring

The event was a powerful conversation addressing big, tough themes–healthcare, race, civility, community and political leadership, education, and much more.  Jimmy Keeton, Constance Slaughter-Harvey, and Les McLemore weren’t shy in offering their perspectives on things.  In fact, it was, as Sid Salter called it, “juggling dynamite” at times, addressing issues that shape the lives of the kids and families we serve as well as those of all of us.  We’re absolutely fine with juggling dynamite, if in the end the kids and families we serve benefit from it.  In fact, of course, it’s essential that we address these tough issues that shape our work.

One of the things that, thankfully, kept being celebrated by our panelists was how important it is that Operation Shoestring is meeting real needs in our community, and how Shoestring is a place where folks from different walks of life join hands across social divides to do this work.  Thanks to all of you for working together–in the name of our kids, families, and community–to bridge those divides that separate us in order to empower the children and families we serve and to make our whole community stronger.