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Grove Hill Town Council sponsors HIPPY child The Grove Hill Town Council voted Monday to donate approximately $1,200 to sponsor one child in the county HIPPY (Home Instruction for Parents and Preschool Youngsters) program. Jane Sellers, county HIPPY coordinator, spoke to the council. "It is a home-based school readiness program for three and fouryear olds," she said. "It empowers the parents to become their child's first teacher." The program is provided at no cost to the family. The program targets children in poverty or extreme poverty, live in single family homes or may be victims of abuse or neglect, or may have teenage mothers, Sellers said. "Our goal is to increase the chances of positive early school experiences for these children." There are 30 weeks of lessons per child with books and supplies. There are 16 HIPPY programs in Alabama. A total of 57 families are being served in the county. Eighteen come from Jackson; 24, Grove Hill; 11, Thomasville; four, Coffeeville. Five parent-educators have been employed with a caseload of 11 to 12 families to visit each week. HIPPY USA recently reviewed the county program. "All of our services were assessed as high quality including the weekly staff training of the parent-educators," she said. "…The HIPPY USA representative expressed her amazement at the amount of community support." A fundraising event for the program is being planned for May at the community house in Jackson. If funding becomes available, the program would like to also serve five-year-olds next year, Sellers said. In other action from Monday's meeting, the council voted to stay with its same Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance plan for city employees. The individual plan will increase from $334-a-month (plus $23 for dental) to $384-a-month and family plan from $869-a-month ($65 dental) to $937-a-month. Dental cost will be the same. • Signtech of Thomasville had the only bid for five boundary/ welcome signs. The town will pay $29,400 for signs that will be placed at the north and south ends of town, Cobb Street, and east and west on Highway 84, said Mayor Lamar Hudson. The signs will be ready in three to four weeks. • Resident Pat Hudson expressed concern over some citizens not being served by the senior nutrition program. "It has been a very stressful thing to see what's happening," she said. There are times that 17 people show up, and there are only 12 meals available. "Can't something be done to see that we get more lunches?" There are 12 people on a waiting list to receive meals. "The center (now located in Town Hall) is not in danger of being closed," Mayor Hudson said. "We need to get our on-site people up to 20." The town might be willing to supplement the cost of the meals if as many as 20 can attend each day. There might be additional funding from the Alabama Tombigbee Regional Commission, he said.
• The council will donate $150 toward a new bulldog mascot costume at Clarke County High School.
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