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Madewell receives Lion of Year Award
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The Warren County Lions Club recently held an awards and installation banquet at Billy’s Restaurant inducting new officers for 2013-14.
Member Susie Davenport said, “Members of the Warren County Lions Club are ready to get to work in the upcoming year and live up to our motto: We Serve.”
Anne Madewell was presented the 2012-13 Lion of the Year Award.
Davenport said, “Anne is one of those people who sees a job to do and does it. She has been the driving force that gets together our boarding home Bingo for several years. She buys the gifts, often seeking out something particular that a resident mentioned they would like to have. She also is usually the person who goes and buys the Christmas gifts we take to every resident at McMinnville Boarding Home each year. She, along with her husband Louis, are always there whenever we have a project, doing whatever needs to be done. Her willingness to do whatever she can to help accomplish our goal of service to our community is the overwhelming reason she was selected by her fellow club members to be Lion of the Year.”
Lions Clubs International is the world's largest service club organization. The Warren County Lions Club has many service projects including:
• Collecting used eyeglasses, hearing aids, ink cartridges and ink toner cartridges for recycling. Proceeds go to the Lions Eye Center at Vanderbilt University Medical center.
• Buying eyeglasses and hearing aids for local children and adults who cannot afford them.
• Screening eyes of children under 6 years old at local schools, Head Start and daycare centers.
• Screening the eyes of all children who attend the annual county-wide pre-K and kindergarten screenings.
• Screening adult eyes at the Senior Center during health fairs, as well as the eyes of adults and children at various community events throughout the year.
• Playing Bingo with the residents of McMinnville Boarding Home monthly.
• Collecting nonperishable items for the Warren County Emergency Food Bank monthly.
• Giving an annual scholarship to a local high school senior in conjunction with Citizens for Progress.
• Buying Christmas gifts for all the residents at McMinnville Boarding Home.
Warren County Lions Club is also a community partner with Centertown Elementary School.
Inez Nunley has been elected president for the upcoming year. Other officers inducted are: Bob Davenport, immediate past president and second vice district governor, Jim Ramsey, first vice president, John Robinson, second vice president, Susie Davenport, secretary, Billy Cunningham, treasurer past district governor, Faye Cunningham, two-year director, June Prater, one-year director, Dale Lafever, membership chairman, and Sammy Walker, tail twister.
“Anyone interested in becoming a member of the largest service organization in the world can come to one of our meetings at Billy's Restaurant on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 7 p.m., or they can contact any club member,” said Davenport.
For more information, contact Susie Davenport at 808-0929 or Inez Nunley at 273-5997 or email warrencountylions@blomand.net.

Local farm partnership brings fresh beef to Warren County Schools
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Warren County Schools has beefed up lunch menus this school year through a new community partnership. Thanks to a collaboration between the district’s School Nutrition Department and Barton Creek Farms, students at Warren County High School, Warren County Middle School, West Elementary, Eastside Elementary, and Dibrell Elementary are enjoying locally sourced, farm-fresh beef in their lunches as part of a pilot program.

The initiative, spearheaded by Terri Mullican, Director of School Nutrition, has already shown great promise in its first few months. The partnership with Barton Creek Farms, located in Rock Island, Tennessee, ensures that the beef served is not only local to Warren County but of the highest quality. Barton Creek Farms specializes in farm-to-fork beef, with grass-fed and grain-finished cattle. Each calf is born and raised in Rock Island and goes through USDA-inspected processing, ensuring it meets the strictest safety and quality standards.

“When the opportunity arose to provide fresh, local beef, we knew it was a no-brainer,” Mullican said. “The fact that it’s a product from right here in our community makes it even more special. We can’t wait to implement it district-wide.”

Barton Creek Farms delivers fresh ground beef to the district monthly, and the nutrition

department incorporates it into homemade recipes such as lasagna, meatloaf, chili, and tacos.

As of now, the beef is being served at five schools, but the ultimate goal is to expand the program to all ten lunch-serving schools in the district.

The pilot program originated from a conversation between Mary Roller of Barton Creek Farms and Mullican. Roller, recognizing the farm’s potential to support local schools, reached out to gauge the district’s interest in serving local beef to students. Around the same time, a Warren County school board member contacted Mullican to share information about a similar partnership in neighboring Dekalb County, which helped push the initiative forward.

The timing worked in the district’s favor, as the nutrition department was able to fund the purchase of the beef using existing resources, eliminating the need for additional funding. Now that the pilot program is enjoying a successful run, the department has budgeted to extend the partnership district-wide for the 2025-26 school year.

Dr. Grant Swallows, Director of Schools, praised the program’s economic approach to student nutrition.

“This pilot is a perfect example of how we can use local resources to continue providing nutritious, healthy meals for our students,” he said. “We are grateful for partnerships like this one that benefit both our students and our local community. We always strive to support our local businesses when we can because our community is so good to us.”

In addition to working with Warren County Schools, Barton Creek Farms also partners with local restaurants to offer farm-fresh beef on their menus. The farm’s offerings include ground beef, steaks, roasts, and custom cuts by the quarter, half, or whole cow, meeting diverse consumer needs.

As the program continues to grow, the district hopes to expand its focus on farm-to-school meals, benefiting students’ health and connecting them to the agricultural roots of the community