PACE is an Alabama Bright Light shining in Lee County
PACE regularly puts its name into action in Lee County. (contributed)
When the acronym describes your mission, the call to put that mission into action is clear.
PACE stands for People of Action for Community Enrichment, and that is exactly the mission aspired to under the leadership of Audrey Marshall.
“The mission of PACE is simply to provide information and invite collaborators to improve our community,” Marshall said. “We live this mission by helping our members arrive at specific ways to better the lives of everyone.”
One of these ways to better the community is educating youths. Each year, PACE awards scholarships to outstanding high school seniors for academic achievements.
PACE invites people from different backgrounds to help achieve this mission.
Audrey Marshall of People of Action for Community Enrichment is an Alabama Bright Light from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
“Our members come from all walks of life including business owners, retirees, young, old, all with the purpose of improving the community,” Marshall said. “Our senior members are even participating more now with COVID-19 forcing virtual meetings, it’s easy for them to do so. In a way, COVID has helped. Originally we were just serving the people here in Alabama, but virtually we have participants and members from all over the country. COVID has extended our reach.”
The pandemic did change things for Marshall with virtual meetings and social distancing. Also gone were in-person events, but she hopes that will return in the near future.
The Rev. Clifford Jones, pastor with Greater Peace Missionary Baptist Church, is one of the founding members of PACE.
“We started out very small, just a group of fathers desiring to care for their children. Now we have a diverse community with different interests, like education, economic empowerment, law enforcement, financial issues and families. We hope to keep impacting our community in a broad array of services,” Jones said.
Marshall began with PACE when her children were in the reading club. After witnessing the impact of PACE, she got involved and served at different capacities prior to her current leadership role.
“The founders of PACE and the members involved all practice what they say; they live to do so day in and day out. Witnessing that lights my fire and pushes me to continue working with PACE,” Marshall said. “PACE is a great way for people to see how they can be involved in the lives of others.”
Marshall said PACE achieves its goals with support from the Alabama Power Foundation and others.
“One of our board members worked for Alabama Power and helped us apply for grants from the Alabama Power Foundation. This was many years ago, and we have received funding from them every year for various projects. With those grants, we took our students on trips to Montgomery, Birmingham and Huntsville, as well as many other projects,” Marshall said. “The Alabama Power Foundation is a great partner and we love having them on board.”
Alabama Bright Lights captures the stories, through words, pictures and video, of some of our state’s brightest lights who are working to make Alabama an even better place to live, work and play. Award-winning journalist Karim Shamsi-Basha tells their inspiring stories. Email him comments, as well as suggestions on people to profile, at karimshamsibasha@gmail.com.
