Spring brings the beginnings of all the things that we as Southerners love about living in the places that we do.

Along with the warmer weather, more sunshine and beautiful foliage comes the beginning of the festivals and fundraisers of the New Year.

We at The Guardian Shelter for Battered Families have been able to start our fundraising season this year with a kickball tournament sponsored by Leadership Natchez. The tournament was March 20 at Duncan Park. We had a beautiful day and much activity as 12 teams began a long day of fun-filled competition.

I have to admit this was my first tournament with the old game of kickball. I was surprised to learn there was such an abundance of actual rules, and the event was very well organized and everyone had a great time. The competitive spirit was abundant and my team was the first one to be beaten by the winning team, Landscape Resources.

The teams were representative of many age groups and both male and female players. This tournament represents our continued efforts to make sure you, the public, realize how important services for women and children of domestic violence are in the community. We also want to remind everyone how the present economic pressures effect organizations such as ours.

As we continue to receive cuts from our funding sources, we are challenged to do more with less. So, we once again, must become dependent on the communities we serve in the 11 counties in Southwest Mississippi and Louisiana.

As we kicked off this year with this fundraiser, I was continually reminded of the generous donors in the Adams County area. I would like to thank the members of Leadership Natchez with special thanks to Ryan Richardson, Will Devening, Deanna Bowser, Scott Christian, Rusty Eldridge, David Thomas, Sara Smith, Walter Roddy, Lana Morgan, Tate Hobdy, Forrest Johnson, Brian Fisher, Kelin Hendricks and Jerome Curro for their energy and commitment to our organization.

We will continue to work as a staff to provide the services the victims of domestic violence need and deserve by continuing with fundraisers throughout the year. Our next event will be our second annual “Party With A Purpose” scheduled for May 8, in the home of Kenny and Renee Cavin.

We will be providing more details for this event as well as others scheduled in the near future. The monies raised from this event will be used to continue to provide the basic services of shelter, food, transportation, clothing, personal care items, school uniforms and supplies, as well as dental, medical, psychological and prescription drug needs for the victims of this continuing tragedy of our society. We are the only shelter in the area who service families, and our commitment to keep families safely united remains our goal. If you were unable to attend the kickball tournament or this event was not your interest, we are hopeful the upcoming events will speak to those of you who did not come out on March 20.

If you have any questions about our program or would like to have our staff present to your church, club or organization about domestic violence, please call us at 601-442-0142.

Donna Miller is the director of the domestic violence programs at the Guardian Shelter, an arm of Catholic Charities.