Students enrolled in the Troy University College of Health and Human Services visited the City of Troy Tuesday morning to learn more about the social services offered within the city.

Shelia Jackson, Troy Public Relations and Tourism Director, welcomed Dana Wilson, Human Services program coordinator, and her students and gave them an overview of the social services provided within the city.

“The City of Troy is dedicated to providing services for all its citizens,” Jackson said. “And social services are available through several different agencies, including Sav-A-Life, the Troy-Pike Regional Child Advocacy Center, Troy Parks and Recreation, the Boys and Girls Club of Pike and Surrounding Counties and the Pike County Chamber of Commerce.”

Jackson said the city always stands ready to support the good work being done by the social service agencies. She introduced Troy City Council Member Wanda Moultry who is the executive director of the Organized Community Action Program (OCAP) in Troy. OCAP has programs that help low-income, disabled, elderly and unemployed people to meet their basic needs when they have no available means for self-help.

Moultry said OCAP seeks to provide resources to help people change their lives so they may live more productive lives.

Moultry said she understands what it’s like to be struggling and in need of, not only, the means to lift oneself up, but the support and encouragement that motivates them to do so.

“Through social service agencies, we are able to reach down and pick someone up,” she said.

Jackson said the City of Troy is dedicated to being that hand that reaches down to help those in need.

“And it does so through the support of the social services that are available,” she said.

Jackson also introduce Nicklaus Chrysson, who served as the historian for the Troy Reunion Committee that spearheaded Alabama 200 events in the city.

Chrysson said the Alabama 200 mural on the East Walnut Street side of the tourism office depicts a selection of the people and places that had positive and lasting impacts on the City of Troy.

“The people in the mural include noted bandmaster Dr. Johnny Long, Alabama Governor Charles Henderson, Dr. Oscar Edge hospital administrator, and Dan Grubbs and other brick masons,” Chrysson said. “Among the prominent buildings are the Masonic Temple, the Gellerstedt building and the old Pike County Courthouse.”

A pamphlet about the mural is now available.

The university students also visited the Johnson Center for the Arts and viewed Beverly West Leach’s “Flights of Fancy” exhibit and Russell Everett’s “Something Fishy.” An artists’ reception will be held for Leach and Everett from 6 until 8 p.m. Thursday. The public is invited.