These excellent projects were presented at our July 27th SOUP dinner.

  1. City of Refuge, Inc.: City of Refuge Inc builds up a support system around families using the arts. We link up families with local artists, musicians, and makers as mentors. We provide workshops, concerts, and events to give families (foster, adoptive, and bio) the support and guidance they need to stay strong together and keep the family together.
  2. South Knoxville Community Center - Better Serving a Growing, Older Population: The NRPA released a new research report serving our growing older population. More than 520 Parks & Recreation professionals responded to a 20-question survey sent out in May that explored park and recreation agency offerings geared to the new older adults. What the survey finding tells us is that we are a vital service provider to older adults. Nearly three quarters of the survey respondents identified their agency as the leader, or one of the leaders, in providing services and programming geared to older adults. The activities varied including providing older adults with chances to socialize with others, ways to stay healthy and active. Here is a list of a few the activities that were most often geared to older adults: Exercise: 91%; Field trips and tours: 70%; Arts & Crafts: 67%; Opportunities to volunteer at the recreation center: 58%; Special events: 58%; Group walks: 53%. With this information, it is vital that we strive to offer the best daily experience possible here at South Knoxville Community Center. We want to keep our older adults healthy and happy for many years to come. However, with very limited funding this is not always easy. We desperately need an air conditioner for the fitness room. When we have to close the doors because of the children in the gym, it can easily get up to 80 in there. We need new lightweight tables as we don't have enough for our special events or dinners. Our Bunn coffee pot is working on a day-to-day time frame, it won't last much longer. The city no longer supplies our paper goods (cups, plates, napkins) as they used to. We have to find ways to buy all those items, along with the coffee we have daily for the seniors. A projector screen would help, many times we have outside programs come in and they need a screen to do the visuals. We currently use the wall or a white piece of paper.
  3. Central Cinema: We're opening a single-screen "neighborhood theater" moviehouse specializing in classic films, cult favorites and special film events. We've leased a space (originally built as a movie theater in 1916) in the Happy Holler neighborhood, where our focus on encouraging local arts culture will mesh well with that area's developing commercial community.
  4. Montgomery Village Residents Association - Back to School Supply Drive: The project is to support low-income families with children (K-12) of Montgomery Village in getting the necessary school supplies to help achieve academic success. The supplies will help to offset the burden that families share when trying to prepare their children for academic readiness and enter the new school year on an even playing field with their peers.