This is an article I wrote as an employee at the Stewart Webster Journal Patriot-Citizen. The article ran in the Sept. 16, 2010, edition on the front page and was continued to page nine.

The Americus Civitan Club provides assistance in community and individual needs with an emphasis on those with developmental disabilities. The club serves not only the Americus area, but also residents of Sumter, Schley, Marion, Webster, Dooly, Macon, Crisp and Taylor counties.

The club provides both financial support and manpower for the Special Olympics athletic contests and annual Christmas parties at the Middle Flint Behavioral Healthcare centers. The majority of participants at these events are from Sumter, Schley, Marion and Macon counties, but all eight counties are usually represented. Last year’s Christmas party resulted in a turnout of 214 participants from these areas.

The Civitan Club also provides a more serious form of assistance for residents of these neighboring counties. For instance, the club hosted a yard sale with proceeds benefitting a Schley County burn victim so that his family could accompany him to the Augusta Burn Center for medical treatment.

After learning of an elderly developmentally disadvantaged man living in a trailer shell in Macon County with no heat, electricity nor water in 22-degree weather, the club arranged for and contributed funds for electricity restoration, gas tanks filled for heat and water service repair. They also demonstrated the same compassion in a similar case involving an elderly woman in Webster County the previous year.

The club was also a financial supporter of a Life Center in Taylor County. This halfway house is a residence and treatment center for women released from incarceration, who still require constant rehabilitation for chemical dependency and alcohol addiction.

For more information on the Americus Civitan Club, feel free to call Grant Williams at (229) 924-2702.