The caring, compassionate and creative natures of Miss-Lou residents were on full display last week.

Before we prepare for the week ahead, let’s take a look back at some of the highlights from last week:

• The Adams County members of the Mississippi Homemaker Volunteers worked tirelessly to make cough pillows to send to children in Jackson who are patients at Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital. The pillows are just one of the many projects the group, which is a part of the Mississippi Extension Service, makes each year. The group also recently helped finish 161 dresses to send to young girls in poverty-stricken areas of the world. These caring and giving volunteers are among the things that make our community so great.

• Nathan Nations was selected as student of the week at Vidalia Junior High School for consistently maintaining good grades and a good attitude. The eighth-grader is one of 11 students in his class who chose to take algebra in junior high school ahead of time instead of as a ninth-grader at the high school. Nations hopes to continue studying math in school, but also wants to expand his knowledge of the Spanish language. We are always encouraged with the great things students in our community’s schools are doing.

• The Rev. Nance Hixon, pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Natchez, is using a 1950s science-fiction movie to explore faith. Hixon is continuing a four-part sermon titled, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” where he covers four different concepts — guilt, pride, anxiety and fear. Hixon says those traits are all things that can take over us at times. He is using the film as a way to discuss those topics in a more light-hearted approach. Thinking outside the box to deliver a message that can make someone a more humble and understanding person is always welcome in our book.

We hope some of the good news of last week will help usher in even more this week.