- This month on The SPARK, our theme is "Teaming up for a Healthy Community."

We'll learn more about a nonprofit providing quality healthcare to the underserved in DeSoto County, Mississippi, a local soccer club developing youth, and winning on the national stage, and a chamber of commerce working to build a vibrant and prosperous community through business leadership.

We'll also share a special moment from our SPARK Awards 2020.

- Lipscomb and Pitts   Insurance is honored to serve   the Memphis community   for over 60 years.

We've always focused on   supporting our community,   and believe in   promoting the positives,   encouraging engagement,   and leading by example.

Lipscomb and Pitts Insurance is proud to be a presenting sponsor of The SPARK.

- (male announcer)   Additional funding for   The SPARK is provided by   Meritan, United   Way of the Mid-South,   My Town Movers, My Town   Roofing, My Town Miracles,   and by SRVS.

- Ever been excited   by a new idea,   inspired by watching   someone lead by example?

When we talk about   creating change,   we start by sharing the   stories of everyday heroes   who are making a difference   in their own way,   so we can learn   and do the same.

I'm Jeremy Park, and   this is The SPARK.

They're a nonprofit providing quality healthcare to the underserved in DeSoto County, Mississippi.

We're here with the Executive Director of Trinity Health Center, Beth Kolb, and Beth, give us a little background, a little history for launching the nonprofit.

- Thank you, Jeremy, for having me here today.

So a little history is that we found out that DeSoto County has a large community of under-insured, uninsured people, and so there was a desire by two different congregations, two churches, Brown Missionary Baptist, and Compel Church here in the DeSoto County that said, "Let's do something about it.

Let's come together and see what we can do."

And that's how Trinity Health Center got started.

- And so you follow a unique model that has a proven track record of success.

Give us a little bit about the model.

- Absolutely.

So we follow the model of Church Health in Memphis, which I know most of your viewers are probably familiar with, and so we looked at their model,   adapted a little bit   to fit DeSoto County,   and work with a   group called Echo,   who help clinics like   ours get launched,   and so it's been a   great partnership.

They're a great resource for us moving forward.

- And a part of the constituents is the working uninsured.

So talk about, kind of illustrate the individuals, the families that you help.

- What we've found is there's a lot of people in our community that are working.

They're going to work every day, and insurance is either not available to them through their job, or what insurance they can get is just not affordable, and so it keeps them from getting quality healthcare, and that's a big thing for us, is that not just that they have somewhere to go, but that they can get quality healthcare, somebody that's actually looking out for them, and looking at the whole picture of their health, rather than just what's wrong today.

We can manage their health throughout, and so that's who we're looking for, those that are trying really hard, and there's just not something available to them, and so we're able to fill that need.

- What has been the feedback, some of the testimonials so far from the individuals and the families?

- Oh, that's the fun part.

Now you're getting into the fun part.

So a lot of times we get, "I didn't know you were here."

And they're just shocked that there's something like this for them.

They also find out really quickly that we follow up, and so a lot of our patients are on their own, so to speak.

They don't really have anybody that's looking out for them, and so if they miss an appointment, we're calling them.

They're getting a birthday card in the mail from us, and so they feel like they become a part of our family, and that somebody is actually caring about them, and looking out for them.

And it's hard to   tell you stories,   because we are a health clinic,   and so there are HIPAA laws,   but I can just give you a   couple of examples really quick   We had a patient recently who   had just gotten through COVID,   and during that time   she was immobile.

She was laying around,   'cause she didn't feel good,   and she came to see   us after the fact,   and was having some   pain in her legs.

She said it wasn't major, but   she was having a little bit   of pain, and there's   always a little bit   of a language barrier when   you're dealing with someone   who speaks   different language,   but we have a wonderful   volunteer who translates for us   And our practitioner just   noticed something was   a little bit off, and we sent   her to the emergency room,   and she had a blood clot.

And so this is a patient   that without insurance   would have just thought,   "Hey, I had COVID, and   I'm just getting better.

My leg hurts a little bit."

But we see that when those things happen, we're excited that we get to be the one to say, "Hey, we wanna help you, and we want you to go to the emergency room, 'cause we think this could be serious."

And luckily she was treated, and she's doing well.

So days like that, make it all worth it.

- How has the pandemic impacted your efforts?

- Is tough.

We opened in October of 2020.

Not the prime time to open a health clinic, Jeremy.

So people have a lot of fear.

They have a lot of fear about entering any medical facility right now, and so that's made it tough to say, "Hey, we're here, we're open.

Come see us."

And at the same time saying, "People quarantine.

Wear a mask, be careful."

And so it's made it tough.

I'm not gonna lie to you, it's made it tough, but we're making sure that we're constantly keeping our name out there, and letting people know we're here.

It's a safe environment.

We wear masks inside.

Any COVID testing that we do is done outside, and so we're just trying to keep a safe environment, and let people know that we're here, and we're ready to see them.

- Talk about the ripple effect.

So many who live in DeSoto County work in the Mid-South, work in Memphis, and so there is a powerful aspect of what you do in terms of really helping the community at large, the Mid-South community.

Talk about the ripple effect.

- I would say that that the ripple effect for us, part of it is even just getting started, there's a lot of word of mouth.

When you're new, when you're the new entity in town, there's a little bit of, "I'm not sure yet."

And so we've seen that with our patients.

"How did you hear about us?"

And so it's always, "Well, I went to the food distribution that the Dream Center was doing, and somebody told me."

"My cousin came, and he told me."

And so we're getting a lot of ripple effect, even just in our patients, and then we're partnering with great organizations throughout our county.

So besides just the Dream Center, there's a group called the Destiny Center, and they provide transportation, and so we found out we don't have to reinvent the wheel on transportation.

If we've got a patient that needs it, we can partner with them.

Our local chamber of commerce, all the local chambers here in DeSoto County have been very involved in wanting to be a part of what we're doing, and us getting to be involved with them, and it just creates that network of meeting the other people in our community, and trying to make a difference.

- So wrap up with contact information, where do we go to learn more?

Your website, social media, phone number?

Where would you direct us?

- We've got, our website is trinityhealthcenter.org.

We're located at 6935 Windchase Drive in Horn Lake, Mississippi.

And so if you've got somebody that needs an appointment, you can call us at 662-830-3827, or you can call our clinic if you wanna just talk to me or talk to one of our employees about how to get involved, and then we're on social media.

We're on Instagram, we're on Facebook, Trinity Health Center.

Just type that in, and you're going to find us, and we keep up to date there on all the things that we're getting involved in, and all the things that are happening.

- Well Beth, thank you for all you and your amazing team do.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- Thank you for having me, Jeremy.

I appreciate it.

[upbeat music] - They're a local soccer club developing youth, and winning on a national stage.

We're here with the girls director of coaching for Lobos Rush Soccer, Julia Osmond.

And let's start out, Julia, give us a little bit of context on where you're based, and the program with Lobos Rush.

- Hey guys, thanks for having us on this show.

It's been fantastic for us to be here.

So Lobos Rush Collierville Soccer, Collierville Soccer Association is our recreational side of everything, and then Lobos Rush is our more competitive side.

So we start with, the rec side starts with Munchkin Madness, and then we move on through to the competitive side.

You can start when you are about six years old.

So once you join the   competitive side,   we take you all the way   through to 18, 19 years old,   where hopefully   we end you up   with a college scholarship   going from there.

So lots of years with   us, and you know, it's,   we work on the skills,   the technical side,   the tactical side, and you   move through the program.

You have different coaches,   and it's a great opportunity for all kids, and it's open for anyone who wants to try out.

- Absolutely.

I think that's the key is it's all ages, all abilities, all inclusive, and when you look at the ability to go from literally a beginner with no experience, all the way up to being prepared to go to college with a scholarship, that's an amazing opportunity.

So talk about the athleticism development, but also the character, and life skills, and leadership skills that kids are able to develop through the sport of soccer.

- Yeah, so we bring them in, and from six years old, they come in, and the parents have to get them to practice.

They have the uniforms they have to wear.

They have to be on time,   listen to their coach.

It teaches them a lot of life   lessons of being organized,   listening to others, learning   inside, learning outside,   being a sports, you know, good   sport, being a good teammate,   being a friend on   and off the field,   and it's life lessons   that they can take   with them throughout their   careers, whichever way they go - How many youth, how many kids overall?

Give us a range of numbers of kids that you get a chance to work with.

- Me personally, I get to work with two teams a year, but I also get to go out and watch our other girls teams, watch all the boys teams, so it's a lot, you know?

On a younger roster, you're looking for around...

Seven to seven team, you're looking for around 11 players.

Getting to the nine to nine stage, you look to have a roster of between 12 to 13 players, and once you get to 11, 11, you'd grown up to a roster of 18.

So lots of opportunities to work with different kids, and it's fantastic.

- I mentioned at the beginning, winning on a national stage, you had an amazing opportunity to have four girls teams at nationals, which is kind of a record-breaker.

Talk about nationals and the recent achievements.

- It really, it was a fantastic experience for the girls.

You know, if you go on a website, you can follow on with a day in the life of the team.

So they did a small clip where they showed kind of what they did in the mornings, and so each team had one game a day.

and they did team events in the afternoon.

And the soccer they experience, the level of play was fantastic.

It was, you know, just to have four teams along from this club was an absolute, fantastic achievement.

And we're super proud of the coaches for getting the girls there, the girls for their commitments, and the parents, obviously.

for their commitments to take the girls there.

- When you talk about nationals, how many teams are competing?

How many soccer clubs are out there?

Because it's really impressive when you look at the number of teams, and the teams coming from all these big cities, and to think that here in the Mid-South, we had such strong representation.

- So if you look at the numbers, there's over 185,000 kids that play and have the opportunity to go to nationals.

So for us to send four teams was absolutely fantastic.

So per age group, there was eight teams that went, and we sent one team out for the four age groups.

So that alone just shows you, you know, the commitment and effort that these players and coaches go through to get there, and we're so, so proud of our coaches, players, and are thankful for our parents' commitment to nationals.

- Talk about some of the individual achievements.

I know that some of the players were individually recognized, so give us a highlight.

- Yeah, so we had a 2000, we actually had a young lady who is a current 2008, plays up with our 2007s, Molly Brown.

She came in very late to join the 2007 girls this year, and she had a fantastic game in the middle.

She controlled the middle.

She's aggressive.

She can possess.

She can get forward.

And she ended up being one of the star players in that age group, and being selected in that age group, for player of the tournament, which has only 11 players selected out with the 8 teams that are in that age group, so, you know, to break it down, she was 1 of those 11 out of possible, you know, between 80 to 100 players.

So great achievement for Molly, and again, we had, you know, four of others as well, so it was fantastic achievement.

- What does soccer represent here in the Mid-South in terms of the sport overall, the growth, what have you seen in terms of soccer kind of blossoming here in the Mid-South?

- So I've been in the Memphis, Collierville area for about seven years of work with the club, and just the opportunities I've grown with, you know, with the club itself, you know, what we can offer.

We offer outside of just your team practices, we offer, you know, the college experience, where you can come in, and talk about what you would like scholarship-wise, and what schools you're interested in.

We offer like Friday fours, which is just a fun experience to come out and play.

We offer Touches Before Touches, which is a program we do where you can come before practice, and get extra touches on the ball, and then go off to your practice.

And so all these opportunities for kids is bringing in, you know, like I said, the organization, being a teammate, being a good sportsmanship, these kind of aspects that soccer offers is bringing in a lot of local kids to our area.

And we're seeing now, you know, kids coming from Arkansas, kids coming from Mississippi, just to be in this environment, and the numbers are growing because of it.

- Wrap up with contact information.

Where do we go to learn more?

So websites, social media, where would you direct us?

- So we are Logos Rush Collierville Soccer, so our website is www.lobosrush.com.

You can go online.

It has different drop-down avenues for recreational, competitive, or player programs, and it can direct you all the way through to signing up, registering for whichever event, or camp, or opportunity you are looking for.

And then we also, you can follow us on Facebook at Lobos Rush, and you can follow us on Twitter at Lobos Rush as well, and then we have an Instagram account, Lobos Rush.

- Well, Julia, thank you for all you do, you and the coaches, and all the volunteers, and the kiddos as well.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- Thanks for having us.

Appreciate it.

[upbeat music] - The SPARK Awards annually recognize and celebrate individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the community.

The 2020 Corporate   Award for companies   with more than 500 employees   is Campbell Clinic.

- Campbell Clinic was founded   in 1909 by Willis Campbell.

It's one of the oldest   organizations   in the city of Memphis.

It's also one of the oldest   orthopedic organizations   in the country.

The foundation was   started in 1946.

It was organization   set up by Dr. Campbell.

Basically it   has three pillars, it's education, research, and community outreach.

So the community outreach piece, which I'm actually personally involved with, with the Molly Shumate Scholarship, which is my wife, and basically what we do is we send residents   to impoverished   areas of the world.

It's more of our global   outreach perspective,   and so they got to places   like Tanzania, Guatemala.

You know, you send   these residents   across the   different countries,   and they come back with,   basically a changed perspective   on how to practice medicine.

And we expect so many things   here in the United States,   and how we live, and the   things that we have access to,   particularly from a   healthcare standpoint.

They're able to go, and they're able to, you know, obviously perform surgeries, teach clinics, see patients.

You know, all these trips are organized through some sort of agency, and so there's usually people training there, and they're able to teach those residents in those countries some of, you know, some things from the U.S., and the residents actually turn around and teach our guys something, you know?

This is how you do things when, you know, when life's tough.

And so most of the residents all come back with a real changed mindset of, you know, not really taking things for granted any more, and really have a different appreciation for when there's a challenge in the operating room, how can I adapt and survive?

We do a thing with the   Memphis Union Mission.

This is the 13th year   that we'll be doing it,   and we invite all the homeless   members of the community in,   and we provide foot and   ankle care for free.

We wash their feet.

We do things, everything   you can imagine,   from treating open wounds   to cutting their nails.

We do a big event across   our clinic to try to raise awareness of the event, and we also collect socks.

So part of this is not just, you know, giving them foot care, but it's also equipping them with socks and shoes, so that they can go out when they leave, and have something, you know, nice and comfortable to walk in.

[upbeat music] - They're working to build a vibrant and prosperous community through business leadership.

We're here with Debbie King, executive director of the Southaven Chamber of Commerce, and Debbie, let's start with some context, some history.

Give us a little bit of history for the Southaven Chamber of Commerce.

- Well, the Southaven Chamber was established in 1969.

So we were born from a vision of leaders that wanted to create a city, now called Southaven, but it was not incorporated until 1980, so it didn't happen until 11 years after the chamber was formed.

So we have, trying to stay   true, and go back to the name   of a chamber of commerce.

We want to be that   conduit, or that avenue   for the buying and selling   of goods, of commerce.

So we are a true business   organization, and we have worke   really, really hard to make   sure that we have reflected   historically what we want for   the vision for the future, and that is to continue to be relevant to businesses, to make sure that we impact those businesses, where they are, whether that is that they need assistance, whether it's a promotional growth-wise endeavor, or whether it is just making sure that we are helping with those relationships that also create commerce.

- You have a number of popular programs, including a lunch series.

You also too have a young professionals series of events, and now an HR thread as well, so talk about the different programs and events that you host.

- As a chamber, you want to make sure, we're a member-based organization.

So you want to make sure that you are able to service your members, and that's going to look completely different for a person that's 28, than it is for a person that's in their 40s or 50s, than a person that's in their 60s and 70s.

And so we wanted to offer a program where young professionals were able to come together, and really hone in on developing their skill set, making sure that they were comfortable in networking with one another, and learning, and growing, and collectively being able to serve the community.

And so that's where the young professionals have come in, and that's where they are now.

We saw during pandemic, and coming out of the pandemic, the need for our small businesses to have an HR presence.

A lot of them wear many hats, and all of those hats incorporate things that they aren't extremely familiar with, or that they need assistance and guidance with.

So we have partnered with an employment attorney.

He comes alongside us to help with legal advice.

We have a wonderful, a phenomenal board of officers, committee officers that help us with Southaven's Human Resource Association.

Ours maintains and focuses a lot on home-based, one or two employee, smaller business, like 40 and under, that have challenges from time to time, whether it's conflict management, or whether it's employee retention, or whether it's recruiting new employees.

So we wanted to help kind of meet those businesses where they were to fill in some gaps, to come alongside one another, and kind of unify them to feed off of one another, and what ideas that are working, where those challenges lie, how we can help them solve some of those problems, or at least have options so that they're able to continue to grow their business, and their business can thrive.

- When you look at your impact, what puts a smile on your face in terms of the good that you're able to do in the community?

- I think the fact in knowing that we are able to help in so many different aspects.

So you, we have members   that are nonprofits   that have needs,   but we have groups   and programs that can come   alongside to help fill   those needs, whether   it's financial assets,   or human resource   assets for volunteerism.

We also are able and doing   that to reach out to help   the community itself,   and being a resource   if they need us   to plug them in with some of those different nonprofits or causes, or whether they're having some challenges, or they too want to be able to have their families give back or volunteer.

So I love that we are able to be that Chamber, that conduit to let people know that we have resources available to help them wherever they are.

- Talk about how the community can help, 'cause obviously there's membership components to this, so how can we help?

- Oddly enough, there are so many different ways and areas.

If you're interested in getting plugged in, in any aspect, whether it's on a professional or a personal level, the Chamber of Commerce can help you.

And that's gonna look differently depending on what fuels your passion and your drive.

So you may be more passionate about animals, or you may want to help children, or you may want to see what impact you can give back to our senior or elderly community.

We are able to put you in touch with the folks that you can pour your time, your treasure, your resources into.

We also, here at the chamber sometimes have things that we do that require some of those human resource assets.

We head up our Christmas parade every year.

There are things that we do that as a smaller staff, we'd have to incorporate a lot of volunteers, and a lot of people to help.

So depending on the time of year, depending on the number of hours you have or you need, we do some community service aspects things for sororities, and high schools, or we'll plug them in to let people know about that.

So we just, we can pretty much be a one-stop shop, whether you want to promote yourself, or your business, or whether we can be a resource to help.

- So the last question is the easy one, is where do we go to learn more about the Southaven Chamber of Commerce?

- We are conveniently located right next to I-55 on State Line Road, which is also called Main Street.

You can see us from the interstate.

You can find out more information on southavenchamber.com.

You are welcome to shoot us an email at info@southavenchamber.com, or give us a call here at the office.

We love being able to educate folks on what a chamber is, and how it works.

We also love being able to give tours, and to find out more about people.

We even have an aspect to help start-up businesses.

So we have a package that we can help people if they're trying to be a, if they're an entrepreneur at heart, and they're trying to start up a business, or they're in that phase of getting their business going, we're able to help them with some information and resources there as well.

- Well, Debbie, thank you for all you and your team do.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- You're welcome.

Thank you so much for having me, I'm honored.

[upbeat music] - Creating and fostering a healthy community takes teamwork and intentionality like we saw in this month's episode.

It takes healthcare organizations and nonprofits collaborating with public and private partners to provide hope, healing, and wellness to everyone in need, ensuring that the underserved are in fact served with dignity and grace, like Trinity Health Center is doing in DeSoto County, Mississippi.

It takes sports programs, after-school activities, and youth development organizations like Lobos Rush Soccer to provide youth with organized activities, and opportunities for physical fitness, leadership, and character development that helps shape a positive future ahead.

And it takes businesses coming together strategically, like with the Southaven Chamber of Commerce, to invest their resources back in the community, and to pave the way for economic growth that will lead to an even brighter tomorrow.

The more we team up for a healthy community, the brighter our future becomes.

So thank you for all you give, and for watching The SPARK.

To learn more about each of the guests, to watch past episodes, and to share your stories of others leading by example, visit wkno.org, and click on the link for The SPARK.

We look forward to seeing you next month.

We hope you continue joining with us to create a SPARK for the Mid-South.

- Lipscomb and Pitts   Insurance is honored to serve   the Memphis community   for over 60 years.

We've always focused on   supporting our community,   and believe in   promoting the positives,   encouraging engagement,   and leading by example.

Lipscomb and Pitts Insurance is proud to be a presenting sponsor of The SPARK.

[upbeat music] [acoustic guitar chords]