Smiley Court Residents Upset After Church Denied Permission to Pass Out School Supplies
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Residents in Montgomery’s Smiley Court neighborhood are outraged after a local church was denied permission to pass out donated school supplies and uniforms to the kids in the area.
This all began on Friday when a local pastor went to Smiley Court to set up tents. He was doing that so that on Saturday, he could pass out uniforms and school supplies to the kids who live in the neighborhood. But he was turned away by the Montgomery Housing Authority because he didn’t have permission to do so.
Smiley Court President Lucy Tellis is fired up.
“Montgomery Housing Authority turned those church groups away from our kids in Smiley Court.”
She’s mad because she says kids in the neighborhood weren’t able to get free school supplies and uniforms from a local church over a technicality. The church and its pastor failed to get permission from the Montgomery Housing Authority.
“He said Miss Tellis, Montgomery Housing Authority do not want me on their property. I said why? He said we did not go through the procedures.”
Tellis and other Smiley Court residents were shocked. Most of the neighborhood’s kids come from low-income families and could use the school supplies.
“If they realized this is a church group, why didn’t they step back and say ok?”
During our interview, three reps from the Montgomery Housing Authority walked up, trying to break-up the group. People who live in Smiley Court feel like the housing authority isn’t doing enough to prepare neighborhood children. And they say Friday’s setback was yet another roadblock keeping them from getting ahead.
“You not going to tell me, if they had went through the proper channel, that they was going to let them come in. No they wasn’t.”
The housing authority reps at Smiley Court did not want to go on camera to give us a response. But Evette Hester, the Executive Director, emailed ALabama News Network this about the incident.
She says the housing authority didn’t know the church was trying to pass out school supplies. She says proper protocol must be followed when organizing on the property, including filling out a property use form. In an email she says the following;
“If an organization is seeking to provide a one-time event, like a health fair, back to school event, etc…, they must contact the Montgomery Housing Authority and complete the necessary paperwork to obtain permission—see Use of Community Property form. In determining whether to approve or deny the request, the organizers of an event must provide details such as, but not limited to: timeframes, anticipated attendance, and whether arrangements have been made for security. The organization will receive an executed copy of the form back approving or denying the request. We typically require that requests be submitted at least two weeks prior to the event.”
