By Brandi Watters, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
Area community leaders are hoping to improve the southern Madison County community and they’re starting by determining its most immediate needs.
During a meeting of the South Madison Community Council on Thursday, members discussed the various challenges facing the south county, including a shortage in food banks, police officers and volunteers.
Lisa Floyd, executive director of the South Madison Community Foundation, said on Monday that she believed the shortage in food banks was the most pressing issue for the community. “From what we hear, I think there are probably three to four churches in this area that have food pantries, but that’s it.”
“With the increase in utility and gasoline costs, it’s becoming more difficult for people to have the food that they need to feed their families,” she said.
The South Madison area includes Adams, Green, Fall Creek and Stony Creek townships.
“One of the bigger things that the group pointed out was the need for volunteers — people to help with some of these initiatives,” Floyd said.
She said nearly every group represented at the meeting needs volunteers in some way. These include the Pendleton Police Department, United Way of Madison County, Pendleton Lion’s Club, Pendleton Business Association, Township trustees, American Legion, Charlie’s Fund for Children, Rawlins House, Fall Creek Village, Citizen’s State Bank, Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility, Pendleton Community Library and South Madison Community Foundation.
Mary-Louise Blackaby of the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility announced that volunteer hosts are needed to give holiday parties to inmates at the facility. Churches and area organization have participated over the past eight years and this year, the facility needs to help 300 youths observe the holiday season. Inmates would be separated into groups of 24 and volunteers would be expected to provide a small gift for each juvenile, Blackaby said.
Pendleton Police Chief Marc Farrer said the Pendleton community needs an additional two officers on the streets. The department currently has only seven full-time police officers including Farrer, which means that on occasion, he said, there is only one officer on duty for the entire community.
Though the department serves just over 4,000 residents in Pendleton, that number changes during the school year, he said. “We have the high school, middle school, and elementary school all in our jurisdiction. That’s the South Madison School Corporation which the boundaries go all the way to Markleville, Ingalls, and out in the county. We’re protecting people that live outside the town of Pendleton.”
The need for additional officers, he said, is not caused by any increase in crime. “We’ve always had crime. I don’t want people to think I need two officers because the town is running rampant with crime.”
The next meeting of the South Madison Community Council is at noon Oct. 30 at the Pendleton library.
