Organizers for the first annual Community Resources Day hoped the event would highlight services available to residents throughout the community, while also helping organizations network with one another to better serve the people of Selma.

A total of 28 organizations attended the event, sponsored by the United Way of Selma and Dallas County, handing out fliers and information packets about their respective businesses.

Jeff Cothran, executive director of the United Way of Selma and Dallas County, said it was great to be able to assemble a number of organizations from throughout the city and have them participate in the event.

“It’s been reassuring to me to be able to open it up and see all these other organizations that are right next door to us and in this community and see all the things that we have available to us,” Cothran said. “It’s just amazing when you look at the services that are available in one of the poorest counties in the state.”

Dawn Carter, representing the Selma-Dallas County YMCA at the event, said she felt it went well, as she was able to hand out numerous schedules about aerobics and swimming classes to community members inquiring about the organization.

“We wanted to provide information about the activities we are having at the Y this summer, especially the swimming programs and swimming lessons, and hand out free passes to people who aren’t currently members of the Y to come out and try it and see if they like it,” Carter said. “We’ve had great luck so far.”

Alberta Smith, representing Special Years Elderly Daycare Service, said she was attending the event to help boost awareness of the organization.

“The response from the community has been very positive,” Smith said. “A lot of people didn’t know about it, and I was actually very surprised to see that we had so many people come through.”

Cothran said he was pleased with the outcome of the event but had hoped more people from the community would turn out.

“Word will eventually get out,” Cothran said. “None of us are doing this by ourselves. Everybody in this room is working together to try to give the best results for the people in need in this community. We’re seeing shrinking funding sources from everybody and we’ve seen programs get cut everywhere. So the fact that we can still get together and work together more and more is better for the agencies and it’s going to continue a better stem of services for the people of this community.

“The need is not slacking off; it’s just increasing.”