Community Relations

An agency of the United Way of South Central Georgia, the Tift Area Soup Kitchen relies on local volunteers to prepare and serve thousands of meals each year to those in need.

The Stafford team proudly supports Grateful Hearts Ministries and their mission to transition women of addiction, homelessness, and incarceration to lives of purpose and spiritual wholeness with a goal to restore families and promote productive living.

Grace Community Food Pantry’s mission is to involve, educate, and unite people in the work of ending hunger in the Atlanta area. Stafford volunteers have found tremendous joy in sorting food items, stocking shelves, organizing donations and more. Together, Stafford and Grace Community Fellowship ensure immediate needs are met within the community.

The mission of the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce is to enhance the quality of life of our citizens by promoting community and economic development. The Chamber provides member companies with educational opportunities, marketing events and other business services to help them grow their businesses and keep the Tifton-Tift County area thriving.

The Patticake House & Ruth’s Cottage provide services and shelter for local women and children who are affected by domestic violence. Patti Stafford, the wife of Stafford’s founder, was instrumental in founding The Patticake House. Together, these two facilities make up the Tifton Judicial Circuit Shelter, Inc. a dual agency with two state certified programs.

The Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College Foundation, Inc. was organized in 1954 “to advance the cause of education by generally establishing and implementing programs and activities for the promotion and assistance of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, a state-assisted educational institution, her faculty and students.”

In 2012, Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College named its business school the Stafford School of Business in recognition of DeNean Stafford, Jr.’s lifelong contributions to ABAC, the city of Tifton and the state of Georgia. The Stafford family continues to be involved with ABAC, and in 2015, the Stafford School of Business established the DeNean Stafford, III Family Scholarship.

Trees for Troops, a program of the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, provides free, farm-grown Christmas Trees to United States armed forces members in all branches of the military and their families, through donations, sponsorships, grants and the work of volunteers. Since 2005, more than 176,000 trees have been provided to troops and their families in the United States and overseas.

The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. This gives them opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other athletes and the community.

The Tift County school system provides Pre K through twelfth grade education for nearly 8,000 local children. Their mission is to educate, prepare and inspire students to reach their fullest potential. Tift County schools provide a broad range of extracurricular programs in the arts, athletics and more, and their goal is to educate and produce graduates who will contribute to the world.

For nearly 160 years, the YMCA has enabled positive change in communities across the nation. Strengthening community is the YMCA’s cause. Focused on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, they work side-by-side with neighbors to make sure that everyone, regardless of age, income or background, has the opportunity to learn, grow and thrive.

The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law. Scouting provides unique, life-changing experiences for nearly 2.3 million youth members between the ages of 7 and 21, and approximately 960,000 volunteers in local councils across the US and its territories.

Based in Albany, GA, Mission Change shows how easy it is to change the world from your backyard, raising awareness and taking action concerning often-overlooked issues that not only affect our region and our world, but speak to the core of our humanity. Stafford raised money that was used by Mission Change to buy cars for two single mothers whose vehicles were destroyed by the 2017 storms that devastated Albany.

The signature fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, Relay for Life is staffed and coordinated by volunteers in more than 5,200 communities and 27 countries, bringing people together to remember loved ones lost to cancer, honor survivors of cancers, and raise money for the American Cancer Society. Stafford employees participate in the Tift County Relay for Life each year.

Project Open Hand Atlanta helps people prevent or better manage chronic disease through a combination of home-delivered meals and nutrition education that reinforces the connection between informed food choices and improved quality of life. Stafford employees volunteer to help with packaging some of the 5,500 freshly prepared meals that are delivered each day.

The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Georgia provides care and comfort for the families of seriously ill, critically injured or medically fragile children being treated at area medical facilities. The organization believes that home is any place where families are together, providing comfortable beds, warm meals, hot showers, laundry facilities, internet access, and emotional support every day of the week with the help of invaluable volunteers.

Providing a day of patriotic remembrance for those affected by the events of 9/11, the Ryan P. Means Victory Race is an annual 5k benefiting the Shepherd Center’s SHARE Military Initiative, a comprehensive rehabilitation program that focuses on assessment and treatment for service men and women who have sustained a mild to moderate traumatic brain injury and PTSD from the Afghanistan and Iraqi conflicts.

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce represents investors from across the state with a diverse cross section of over 500 industry sectors. The Chamber’s Tifton Office is a hub for rural prosperity, with the ultimate goal of working with South Georgia partners to successfully improve rural efforts through focused committees, rural events and a new program called “Authentic Georgia” promoting the people, places and businesses that make the state of Georgia so great.