By Staff
NEW DIRECTOR Wade Jones, left, president of the East Mississippi Business Development Corp., talks Monday with Ricky Hood, the newly appointed executive director of the East Mississippi Boys &Girls Club. Photo by Anna Wright/The Meridian Star
By Ashley McPhearson / staff writer
July 22, 2003
The former executive director of the East Mississippi Boys &Girls Club returned to Meridian on Monday to once again take over leadership of the organization.
Ricky Hood had served as executive director for seven years, from 1993-2000, before taking a similar position in North Mississippi serving clubs in Tupelo, Oxford, Ripley and New Albany.
Betty Lou Jones, a board member of the Boys &Girls Club, said the organization has been without a director for several months and, "We needed to get our programs organized. He is the one to do that."
Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith said he has wanted Hood to return to Meridian for a long time. Said Smith: "Every time I've run into him, I've asked him Are you ready to come home?'"
Hood will officially take over Aug. 11.
He said his goal is to "reach, teach, and touch the lives of as many children as possible." Hood said he has no doubt that moving back to Meridian was the right thing for him to do.
Hood's wife, Vicki, also will return to Meridian. She already has a job as the assistant principal at Meridian High School.
Ellen Rogers, a past president for the Boys &Girls Club, attended the news conference. She said that she thought Hood was the one to make the club what the board hoped it could be.
Also attending the news conference were Barbara Henson, Meridian city council member; Wade Jones, president of the East Mississippi Business Development Corp.; and Louis Sutton, president and chief operating officer of the United Way of East Mississippi.