On Tuesday evening, the 12th of April, Preserve Marshall County & Holly Springs, Inc. (PMC&HS) was honored by receiving a 2011 President’s Volunteer Service Award, through the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi for our initiative towards the preservation of historic Chalmers Institute in Holly Springs. Chelius Carter accepted the award on behalf of PMC&HS.
We are continuing to develop a feasible and strategic long-term development plan for Chalmer’s end-use and in doing so, identifying prospective partners in what will be one of Mississippi’s newest public resources, uniquely housed inside one of Mississippi’s oldest public institutions.
As to funding, we are blessed in Marshall County with private citizens who willingly support preservation efforts, allowing us to pursue matching funds from public sources and will be applying for the Community Heritage Grants Program through the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, which will be open for applicants in July until October 2011, with selections being announced in December 2011.
In the interim, we will be pursuing other funding opportunities that are available and planning additional work days this spring/summer to further stabilize the structure and to provide safe walking areas for limited viewing access into historic Chalmers Institute for patrons.
