FERRIDAY, La. – At 34, Chamber of Commerce President Chris Vaughn is young, but don’t let that fool you — his roots run deep in this small town, and he’s committed to seeing it grow.

&uot;I see my role as a worker,&uot; said Vaughn, sitting in a corner of the drug store he co-owns with his father, Al Vaughn.

&uot;If Ferriday is going to prosper, everyone’s got to pick up a hoe and start working.&uot;

And Vaughn knows the value of work firsthand. Some of his earliest memories are of &uot;hanging out&uot; at the Rexall Drug Store his father bought in 1967.

That store was located on E.E. Wallace Boulevard — then Fourth Street — right next to where Vaughn’s City Drug now stands. &uot;He had to move to this location due to space,&uot; Chris Vaughn said, gazing fondly at a photo of the old store.

After graduating from Huntington High School, Vaughn attended the University of Mississippi, graduating in 1989, before heading back to his hometown the following year.

Although he returned to Ferriday mostly to help with his father’s business, Vaughn said his hometown has many other qualities that have kept him here in the years since.

&uot;A small town is a great place to raise children, for one thing,&uot; he said. &uot;And around here, one person can make a big difference.&uot;

Vaughn started making his mark soon after he moved back to Ferriday, joining the Ferriday Rotary Club and becoming a member — and now a past chairman — of Friends of the Boy Scouts.

And as fate would have it, Vaughn also joined the Chamber of Commerce in the early 1990s. &uot;I kept up with my attendance and took an active part in the discussions,&uot; Vaughn said. &uot;Then four years ago, Billy Rucker nominated me to be on the chamber’s board.&uot;

&uot;I don’t think I&160;knew then what I was getting into,&uot;&160;he added with a laugh.

Still, the hours spent leading the chamber seem to have paid off. During his one-year term, which started Jan. 1, the chamber has been instrumental in obtaining an old post office building on Louisiana Avenue to house the Ferriday Town Museum. Vaughn announced Sept. 11 that the chamber had received a $40,000 grant from the State Association of Museums to help renovate the building.

The chamber must match the grant with $40,000 of its own, but Vaughn said the group hopes to meet that match through in-kind work, such as renovation work being done by state inmates.

The chamber is starting a nonprofit foundation to oversee the project. &uot;That may not be finished during my term, but I&160;would at least like to see the foundation laid for that project this year,&uot; Vaughn said.

The chamber has also spearheaded several other town improvement projects. For example, $30,000 has just been loaned out from a revitalization fund to renovate a storefront in downtown Ferriday. And cleanup of the town has started afresh in recent months.

&uot;In a town this small, you don’t have many resources to do things with, so the chamber becomes even more important,&uot;&160;Vaughn said. &uot;With our volunteers, we can do a lot of good in this town.&uot;

But Vaughn hesitates to take credit for such projects, saying that the foundation for the chamber’s activities was laid long before he became president. &uot;For example, (newspaper publisher) Sam Hanna went around years ago and visited with a lot of people in order to get the chamber active again,&uot;&160;he said.

But Vaughn said that he does believe years in business have given him qualities that have served him well during his term, such as money sense, an understanding of small business issues and, above all, foresight. &uot;When you’re in business, you’ve got to be able to look down the road, not just live for today,&uot; he said. &uot;Five years from now, I hope Ferriday will benefit from what we’ve done today.&uot;