DESA Needs Volunteers to Help Prepare and Deliver Meals for Needy on Christmas Eve

December 19, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb Emergency Services Association (DESA), in partnership with Adoration Health as well as local businesses and volunteers, will be preparing and delivering Christmas Eve Meals to the needy or underserved on Thursday, December 24.

Although the deadline has passed for the DESA to accept names to be served volunteers are needed to help prepare the meals and make deliveries Christmas eve morning. If you would like to help call 615-597-7411.

Around 570 food trays were prepared and delivered on Thanksgiving morning. Recipients received a meal of baked ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a roll along with a homemade dessert.

Cooking and food preparation will begin early Thursday morning, December 24 at the county complex kitchen. Volunteers will then load their personal vehicles with food trays and set out to deliver them in time for the recipients’ noon time meal.

Due to COVID-19, the number of people involved in cooking and preparing the food trays will be limited and the volunteers will wear gloves, masks, and try to keep separated while working to protect themselves and those being served. The DESA is not accepting donations of food this year because of the pandemic. All the food will be purchased and prepared at the county complex and is totally funded by community cash donations.

December 18, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Children at the Smithville Head Start Center were treated to bags of gifts Friday thanks to the Smithville Police Department’s “Cops4Kids” program.

In what has become an annual event, Police Chief Mark Collins and members of the department made sure each child had a bag of toys for Christmas but due to COVID-19 there was no formal program featuring Santa, Christmas carols, nor a local minister sharing the Christmas story with the kids. All 74 Head Start students were served including the 40 on campus and the remaining 34 off site.

Chief Collins said the effort is made possible due to generous donations of the community and the help of Cash Express who conducted a toy collection drive.

“We always look forward to this although we were not able to interact with the children this year due to the pandemic. Cash Express sets up collection boxes across the community to accept donations of toys. We also have people who bring toys or cash directly to the police department and if we don’t have enough toys donated then we take that cash and go to Walmart and buy gifts for the kids. I especially want to thank my fellow officers along with records clerk Beth Adcock, and the staff here at the Head Start Center who work to make this come together. Hopefully next year things will get back to normal and we can once again put on a complete Christmas program for the children,” said Chief Collins.

December 18, 2020
By:

Eight Upper Cumberland counties have been recognized as best values in several categories including home value growth, school value, and lowest average property tax.

SmartAsset, a financial technology company, reviewed the data from all 95 Tennessee counties
to rank the top 10 in several “best value” categories.

Of locations named “Best Overall Value”, six Upper Cumberland counties made the top 10 list:
Overton (1), DeKalb (2), Van Buren (4), Smith (7), Pickett (9), and White (10).

Particulars, such as property taxes paid, school rankings, and the change in property values over
a five-year period were reviewed and compared county to county. Counties with the highest
scores were those where property tax dollars are going the furthest.

All counties listed in the top 10 for lowest average property tax listed a property tax rate below 50 percent; well below the state’s average property tax rate of 0.73 percent. Among the top 10, five Upper Cumberland counties made the list of lowest average property tax rates: Pickett (1),
Cumberland (2), DeKalb (6), Fentress (7), and Overton (9). When considering most value for home value growth Pickett (1), Cannon (3), and Overton (6) claimed three spots on the top 10 list; each nearly doubling the state’s average home value growth of 14 percent. Pickett County’s reported home value growth stands at 58 percent, Cannon County at 33 percent, and Overton County reporting a 25 percent home value growth rate.

Three Upper Cumberland counties ranked among the top 10 school ratings: Cumberland (3), Overton (4), and Smith (10) counties. When measuring the quality of schools, SmartAsset analyzed
the math and reading/language arts proficiencies for every school district in the country; creating an average score for each district and weighting them to account for the number of students in each school.

SmartAsset states, “our study aims to find the places in the United States where people are
getting the most value for their property tax dollars. To do this, we looked at property taxes paid, school rankings, and the change in property values over a five-year period.”

To learn more, visit https://smartasset.com/taxes/tennessee-property-tax-calculator

About the Upper Cumberland Development District: The Upper Cumberland Development
District provides regional planning and assistance to the 14-county Upper Cumberland region to
promote economic growth and community enhancement. Find UCDD on the web at www.ucdd.org and at facebook.com/UCDDconnect.

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