‘Wilco Elevating Together’ initiative to improve rural wellness through community engagement

The initiative aims to give residents of Wilkinson County resources to improve public parks, address food insecurity, raise health awareness through education and provide job training.

GORDON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – In rural counties, it can be hard to access resources that can improve health and overall wellness for residents, but there’s a new program in Wilkinson County that’s expected to bridge that gap.

Belinda Hunt, a lifelong resident of Wilkinson County, attends St. John Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church in Gordon.

She serves as program director of the “Wilco Elevating Together” initiative. It’s a community meeting place with a program that will soon be the hub for changes coming to the county.

“Wilkinson County as a whole, there’s a lot of things that we can improve on,” Hunt said. “Our parks, our green spaces. We have one supermarket that’s here.”

That’s why St. John CME received a grant of $250,000 for from the Georgia Health Policy Center at Georgia State University for “Wilco Elevating Together.”

The goal is to bring resources into the county that can improve the wellness of  residents during the next two years.

However, the initiative isn’t just about wellness. Hunt says it also encourages civic engagement.

“So what we’re looking at is making sure we increase health, making sure you increase your knowledge of health and wellness,” Hunt explained. “Making sure that you know that you have the right to vote. Making sure that you understand how to obtain the right to vote. Making sure that you’re able to check your status and know that you are still registered to vote.”

Through the “Wilco Elevating Together” initiative, residents can work alongside city leaders across Gordon and surrounding counties to improve public parks, address food insecurity, raise health awareness through education and provide job training.

Hunt says it gives residents a chance to have a voice in what goes on in their community through a survey and community meetings.

“At St. John, we do not want to be the ones to say, ‘This is what we’re going to do and this is what we’ve got to do,'” she said. “We’re asking the community to take part and complete the survey, and that survey will tell us, ‘Okay, this is what you feel your community needs.’”

St. John CME will partner with the Department of Public Health, the county school district, local industries and technical assistants from the Georgia Health Policy Center to help make the initiative’s goals become a reality.

Hunt says she hopes “Wilco Elevating Together” will serve as the starting point for the development of a Multipurpose Center in the county where residents can access all the resources they need.

“Sometimes it’s not about the big change, but sometimes it’s about the little small change,” she said. “Because once that small change starts, it just keeps going and goes bigger and bigger.”

The first meeting for “Wilco Elevating Together” will take place February 3 at 10 a.m. at St. John CME church in Gordon. Everyone from the community is welcome to attend.

You can also find the community survey and updates about the initiative through the church’s Facebook page.