Jackson County’s Union Hill Community Center will get a delicious boost this weekend from a local eatery.
Helen’s Restaurant owner Carol Pippin said the fundraiser will feature $15 meal tickets with all of the proceeds going to the center to cover monthly utility bills and building improvements. Pippin said the facility currently relies entirely on sporadic donations from residents who rent the space for private events.
“It’s very hard to find a spot to host a family event or whatever without having it at someone’s home or whatever, especially to have enough room for the kids to play outside or, you know, just for everybody to be able to sit down,” Pippin said. “So you know, in my personal opinion, it’s very important to have a place where you can host an event and everybody be able to actually sit down at a table and eat.”
Pippin said the community center does not receive funding from the county for its operations despite serving as a polling location for elections. Pippin said while the county provides lawn maintenance for the property, the center must generate its own revenue to pay for water and electricity.
“We just felt the need to be able to help the community center,” Pippin said. “My family actually uses the center some for a few birthday parties or whatever and of course, we always make a donation, but just trying to put a little money in the account so that hopefully if somebody needs to use it and they can’t afford to give anything, then we’re still able to allow them to use the center.”
Pippin said the restaurant will use a food trailer to cook all the fish and chicken on-site to ensure the meals are fresh for attendees. Pippin said she is personally donating all the food for the event so that every penny raised can go directly toward the center’s bank account.
“It’s very important in my personal opinion to give back as much to the community as you can and to stay involved in your community because I just feel like that everybody is so busy they forget sometimes that places like that still have to run and they still have bills or whatever to pay because, I mean, we’re all stretched,” Pippin said.
Pippin said her mother long ago taught her the importance of giving back to the people who patronize her business and keep the restaurant’s doors open.
“It amazes me every single day what good that there still is in this world and how generous people can be and, you know, just sometimes when you think that you’re giving up hope and you don’t think that there’s good in the world, somebody will surprise you and and then you realize wow… there’s still a whole lot of good,” Pippin said.