In his interview last year during our first Hometown Huddle event, Stevan Ridley said that he was going to have a breakout year with the New England Patriots this year, and he did indeed have an exciting and successful year at the running back position with New England. Stevan has graciously agreed to come home to spend an evening with Natchez to bring us up to date about his 2012-2013 year, the details of the AFC playoff game, the upcoming preseason camp activities, to share with us information we don’t hear on television and his plans and expectations for the upcoming year with the NFL. This year’s Hometown Huddle will also feature a guest appearance by Brandon Bolden, former Ole Miss Rebel and present New England Patriot running back. They will be interviewed by former Trinity Sports commentator, Howard Jones, who was our host last year as well.

This event once again will be an effort on the part of Stevan’s mother, Carolyn Ridley, and our organization, The Guardian Shelter for Battered Families, to raise money to bring Ballet Magnificat’ to Natchez in November. Ballet Magnificat’ is one of our yearly efforts to raise money for our continuing efforts to provide a safe haven for women and children of domestic violence.

Hometown Huddle 2012 was very successful, and the community was able to get autographs from Stevan for a small donation. This year, Stevan will be providing autographs once again, but there will not be a required donation for this part of the evening. The donation to attend the event will remain the same as last year — $25.00 for adults and $12 for students. This year we would really like to have more participation from the local high school athletic programs and with this in mind are having the event earlier this year than last year. I am inviting local school athletic organizations to make plans to allow athletes to attend, as well as all students and sports enthusiasts. Stevan’s story of how he has been able to continue doing something he loves and how his hard work and determination have allowed him to become successful reinforces to the youth of our community the importance of these two attributes.

Hometown Huddle 2013 will be held on Friday evening at the Natchez Community Center at 215 Franklin St. The autograph session will be from 5:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. The interview and interaction with Stevan will begin at 7 p.m. We invite the community to join us for the fun evening with Stevan. We at the Guardian Shelter for Battered Families are truly grateful and honored to have Stevan be a part of our fundraising efforts and to have his leadership and involvement as we strive to bring the issue of domestic violence to the forefront of our community.

For any additional information please contact me at 601-442-0142 or Carolyn Ridley at 601-304-1343.

 

Donna Miller is the program director of the Guardian Shelter.