Melody Ndiaye wanted to give back to the less fortunate and when she learned about the Clarksdale Care Station she knew she had found her way.
The Care Station has been feeding the needy throughout the community for decades with the hungry coming to the facility on John Lee Hooker Lane. What makes Ndiaye’s work unique is she started a program over the past couple of months where more than 150 individuals help deliver meals from the Care Station to those who were disabled and could not get there.
Members of the Clarksdale police and fire departments have stepped up to help deliver meals.
An event called, “Celebrating You” was held at the Clarksdale Civic Auditorium Saturday night where everyone who has helped deliver meals within the past two months was recognized. Dinner was served and certificates, door prizes and raffles were handed out as a simple way to say thank you.
“I was just on my way home from a trip and I said, ‘Lord, you provide everything that I need and I want to give back,’” Ndiaye said. “So when it started out, it started out as me giving to the homeless. I said, ‘I’m just going to go to the Care Station, give a couple of goody bags to the homeless, give a word of encouragement, maybe sing a song and leave’ and then I was going to go around town and do that to the different facilities. But then, after I found one of the Care Station volunteers coming in giving meals to my neighbor downstairs, I asked who was his boss?”
From there, the program started.
Ndiaye estimated meals are delivered to 200 people per day five days a week. She helps out whenever possible before going to work at Florida Care. They receive fruits such as apples and oranges, breakfast and a hot dinner. Meals are cooked at the Care Station.
“We’re bringing it to them, the ones who are disabled, don’t have cars and can’t walk and are in wheelchairs, we knock on their door and hand them a hot meal every day,” Ndiaye said. “The ones who are able to walk, they come to the station and actually sit there.”
Ndiaye said the many volunteer shows Clarksdale is a good, caring community filled with good, caring people.
“They (people) need to know Clarksdale is not who they think Clarksdale is,” Ndiaye said. “There are people that love to give back. There are people in Clarksdale that care about each other. The Care Station is one of the places that I recommend that does show love for Clarksdale because these people don’t get paid for what they do.
“They come in, actually, on their own free time and give back to Clarksdale,” she said Saturday. “So that’s a great thing they’re doing and I want to just inspire everyone tonight to keep doing what they’re doing, to look for great things to happen.
“We’re celebrating each and every individual for who they are as a person, which is beautiful, because of what they do.”
