TCHULA – “I don’t think Tchula has had a traffic jam in 30 or 40 years,” joked Edison Brown Jr. upon learning about cars jam-packed into the Delta town for its first annual Cruger-Tchula Community Day, Saturday, April 18. Cruger and Tchula, Miss. are two Delta towns less than 10 miles apart.
The event was presented by the Young Charitable Foundation, founded by Cruger native sisters Wendolyn and Jennifer Young, a well-known gospel duo from the area.
Featured entertainer, Tyler Perry’s House of Payne sitcom actress Cassi Davis, a Holly Springs, Miss. native, had the crowd – from toddlers to senior citizens – bursting at the seams with laughter. Davis plays Ella Payne on the sitcom.
Davis began her performance on a serious note. The former minister of music of her church encouraged those who have strayed away to come back to God. She addressed the drug addicts. “I can’t tell you that He will be that substitute for that substance, but if you have to do that, just when you finish and come back to yourself, ask Him to cover you again. That’s it y’all,” she said.
“All we can do is continue to go back to Him. I’m not trying to make no excuses for sin; I’m just saying to you, don’t forget God. Some time you can get so caught up in your mess that the devil just trick you out of even repenting.” She then added,
She later told jokes, shared a bit about her life, allowed the audience to ask four questions and even sang after the crowd begged her to do so.
“Now Wendy, when we talked on the phone, you told me I didn’t have to sing if I didn’t want to,” Davis said to Wendy Young, one of the co-founders of the foundation. “Nope, I don’t want to.”
“But what if the crowd begs you to sing?” said Jennifer Young, the other co-founder. The crowd began to say, “Please, Please, Please !” Davis continued to respond with a gleeful, “I’m not going to sing.” Then within an instant, she said, “What ya’ll want me to sing?”
The community festival also featured native sons, actor Derrick Delaney from the movie Barber Shop II and blues singer Lewis Clark.
Local and area gospel and other talents were a part of the festivities. Delaney was responsible for getting his friend Cassi Davis to be a part of this premier event for the citizens of his hometowns.
Delaney said his cousins Wendolyn and Jennifer contacted him and said, “Derrick we need a little Hollywood help to try to make this bigger and better. So, I made a couple of phone calls and Cassi Davis from the House of Payne, a dear friend of mine, said, ‘Derrick, I’ll come down.’ She didn’t even know what she was being asked to do, She said, ‘for you, I’ll make a trip to Mississippi and make it happen.”’
Delaney left the Delta in 1996 pursuing his own dream to become an actor. He had roles in Barber Shop II, The Steve Harvey Show and stage plays.
He hopes to use his contacts to help the foundation bring other big names to the Tchula area for entertainment and revitalization.
Tchula, once was a vibrant little Delta Town, highly active in the Civil Rights Moment of Holmes County. Hartman Turbow and others are noted Civil Rights leaders hailing from the area.
The Cruger-Tchula Commu-nity Day was not entirely about entertainment. Other actitivities included free health screening and information; free college registration and financial aid information; valuable prizes, and a variety of vendors.
The foundation also presented a seminar on domestic violence.
The foundation also honored Mississippi historic Holmes County native former Rep. Robert G. Clark.
“We are a small community and the more we can come together to promote ‘community’ is what we try to do,” Mayor Yvonne Brown said.
Brown said regarding the event that as Mayor of Tchula she embraced the vision that God gave Jennifer and Wendy. “I just appreciate them. They’ve always been supportive of what I’ve done,” she said.
Brown will not be seeking re-election in the upcoming election.
For more information on the Young Charitable Foundation, call 601-951-9356. See event highlights on page 23.
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