By Mary Stewart | The Selma Times-Journal

Local churches and members of the city council are excited to kick off a string of many community benefit events this Saturday.

The Selma Hope and Caring Enrichment Initiative will begin in Ward 5 on Saturday, June 10 from 12-2 p.m. The event will be held by the gazebo behind Selma High School on Franklin Street.

Dr. Elenore Smith, who had the idea for this event, is excited to get things started after months of planning.

“I’m looking forward to going into each ward,” she said.

Smith said that she is unsure where the event will happen next, but she plans to do an event in all eight wards.

Councilman Samuel Randolph, believes this will have a positive impact in Ward 5 and is excited to see a change in the whole community.

“It’s important because family is a strong part of a community,” Randolph said.

Some of the topics and activities that are planned for the event are disaster relief preparedness, introduction to helping community resources, teen mentorship, a job fair and demonstrations of healthy meal preparations.

The event will also have a “Children’s Hour,” where they will do crafts, projects and sing songs.

“They will be learning songs about God, so that they can get a good introduction to God,” Smith said.

Smith believes these events are a good start to rebuilding our community.

“We are concerned about the community, and everybody in the political arena are concerned about the violence,” she said. “We felt that we should do something to let the people know that we love them and that we care about Selma. So, we said we are going to go forth and do something that is going to be meaningful to them.”

Randolph said that the event is going to be an outreach to different families in the community.

“The overall goal is to bring the families together, and tell them it’s okay to love one another,” he said. “It’s about praying for our community.”

Smith and Randolph are hopeful that people will come out to support this event and will take advantage of the opportunities offered.

For more information, call (334) 419-2498 or (334) 349-2004.