Newly-elected Alabama Sen. Malika Sanders-Fortier, D-Selma, is hitting the ground running in her quest to better the conditions of people living in District 23.

Sanders-Fortier will be sworn into office during an all-day inauguration ceremony Monday, Jan. 14, in Montgomery.

The following day, Jan. 15, the senator will hold a Deputy Senator Information Session at the Bridge Theatre in Selma at 4 p.m.

Sanders-Fortier said the meeting is designed to build on the successes experienced during the “12 Days of Christmas” fund drive, which was initiated to benefit laid-off city workers during the holiday season.

The effort was spearheaded by Gospel Tabernacle Church of Christ in God Pastor John Grayson and received a boost from Sanders-Fortier after she held a press conference at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in mid-December.

“We have so many great people doing work in our community and, with a little love and support from one another, we can all flourish as a community,” Sanders-Fortier said in a recent letter to The Selma Times-Journal. “That is my mission as a recently elected Alabama State Senator, to see each county in District 23 flourish. We have all we need. We simply need to work together in love so that what we have multiplies and lifts everybody.”

Sanders-Fortier praised the wide-ranging support seen throughout the community during the holiday season, including Gospel Tabernacle’s food and toy drive, the Edmundite Missions’ continuing work, the local YMCA’s offering of free access to its facilities for laid-off workers and more.

“There are a lot of people doing good things in Selma all the time,” Sanders-Fortier said. “We need more hearts and hands to support the work that has already begun.”

Sanders-Fortier is calling on the community to continue showing the type of communal solidarity shown during the holiday season in an effort to improve Selma.

“It will take team work to make the dream work,” Sanders-Fortier said. “We have hoped so long for a better Selma. Now is the time to work for it like never before because, with a little love and support from one to another, a better stronger Selma is coming.”