August Meeting Summary

In lieu of our regular monthly meeting at Murphy Baptist Church, we met at the Cherokee County Sherriff’s Office with a group of officers to introduce Faith and Community Alliance NC and to see how we could collaborate to enhance our county’s wellbeing.

Sheriff’s officers agreed that the alliance serves a valuable purpose. They said they are in meetings all of the time with people serving the county in different ways, but there needs to be one ‘collective’ where all can connect together and be more effective in serving the community and supporting one another’s work.

After the meeting with the officers, there was a meeting for the Sheriff’s Office to introduce two new initiatives of theirs to the public :  The Sheriff’s Citizens Academy, and the Citizens Auxiliary.  The purpose of the Academy is to foster transparency, build community trust, and educate the public about law enforcement operations and challenges.   It provides insight into the daily workings of the Sheriff’s Office and the criminal justice system. The Academy is also a good way to recruit volunteers.

The Sheriff’s Auxiliary is a cadre of people who volunteer to serve the Sheriff’s Office by extending the number and kind of services the Sheriff’s Office can provide.  This is a critical need in our county, which has not been met in the past, and the lack of staff and volunteers at the Sheriff’s Office hurts them and everything good that could happen in our county.

Shirley Frisbee, the Director of Faith and Community Alliance NC, accepted a position in the Sheriff’s Auxiliary to help improve services in our county.  She urges citizens to contact the Sheriff’s Office and find out how they can work with them to mitigate health disparities and negative health determinants in our area.