Meet Me at the Court has been busy over the past several days with a plethora of community-service activities that celebrated Easter and honored the late sister of its founder.
Now, the group is looking ahead to upcoming events.
On April 3, MMC wrapped up the 10th annual Sharion Bailey Whitlock Proclamation and Birthday Celebration Weekend.
The multi-day, community-service event began on March 28 and included Easter basket and soul-food dinner plate giveaways in El Dorado and Union County and a canned food donation to the Salvation Army of El Dorado's food pantry.
As its name suggests, the SBWPBCW was initially slated for the weekend and was to have begun March 29, rolled through Easter Sunday (March 31) and resumed on April 3.
However, due to the volume of requests for Easter baskets and meals, Veronica Bailey, founder and CEO of MMC, said the group started a day early by traveling to Smackover to distribute free Easter baskets and dolls.
MMC headed back out on the afternoon of March 29 with more Easter baskets and dolls and continued the giveaways on March 30.
On Easter, MMC members hit the streets again, coupling hot soul food meals with the Easter novelties that were handed out throughout the community.
Bailey said the last three of 235 Easter baskets were given away on April 1.
Two days later, MMC youth delivered approximately 200 canned goods to the Salvation Army and distributed 150 dinner plates in the community.
A total of 240 soul food meals were given away on March 31 and April 3, Bailey reported, adding that some of the meals were handed to some of the homeless population in El Dorado.
She also said the food and Easter basket giveaways reached several El Dorado neighborhoods, splintered into Old Union, Urbana, Strong, Parkers Chapel, Marysville and extended beyond Union County to Hampton and Beaumont, Texas, (via an El Dorado resident who took some of the baskets and dolls to grandchildren she was visiting in Beaumont).
Bailey said many of the giveaways were conducted as MMC drove around the area and stopped wherever they saw children.
"We had some great experiences. It was unity in the community and it was a blessing," she said.
Like most MMC events, the SBWPBCW honors Bailey's late sister, Whitlock, who passed away following an illness in February of 2012, just two months shy of her 52nd birthday on April 3.
Bailey said the annual event helps her to cope with the loss by serving the community.
She has noted that Whitlock had a passion for community service, particularly helping and mentoring children and cooking large meals for family, friends, neighbors and strangers.
"It was just a wonderful experience in so many ways and it allowed me to do what Sharion wanted me to do, especially with the feeding," said Bailey.
"She loved to feed and cook that soul food. It's been a big strength to me and it has really helped me make it through this time of year, Easter and her birthday, by sharing with others," she continued.
Bailey said the 10th annual event would not have been possible without the help of MMC volunteers and donations of Easter baskets, dolls and cash.
She noted that the mother of a former MMC youth member donated two cases of dolls.
One case was to have been given away for Easter, while the other had been set aside for MMC's annual fall carnival, which is also named for Whitlock.
"Don't you know, we gave way both cases for Easter. We had left out with one case and we had to go back and get the other," Bailey laughed. "So that's it. The dolls are gone."
She also shared that she had a surprise waiting on her porch when she returned home from delivering soul food meals on April 3.
Bailey said someone donated several backpacks for the annual Sharion Bailey Whitlock Backpack and School Supply Giveaway: From Court to Class.
The free school supply giveaway is held each August prior to the start of the school year in El Dorado and Union County.
Last year, MMC handed out nearly 150 backpacks filled with school supplies.
"So, we've already begun to receive donations for Sharion's free school supply and backpack giveaway. People feel real comfortable coming by and sitting things on the porch and that's OK," Bailey said with a laugh.
The date of the school supply giveaway will be announced later this year.
Next up for MMC is its annual Mother of the Year event, in which the group honors two area mothers in recognition of Mother's Day.
Honorees are selected in two categories -- oldest and youngest -- and they receive a plaque, roses, balloons, a sash, tiara and a Mother's Day greeting card with a cash award tucked inside.
The 2023 honorees were Ethel M. Rester and Kurtishonna Jefferson, then 82 and 20, respectively.
For more information about MMC or to make a donation, call Bailey at 870-310-0391.