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The City of Brundidge has welcomed Marchell Arnold as the director of the Robert E. Barr Nutrition Center.

Arnold is lifelong resident of Brundidge and said she couldn’t be happier than working in her hometown and doing something that benefits those in her community.

“I’ve done house work and like doing it  but, when I heard this job was open, I knew it was something I could do and something I really wanted to do,” Arnold said. “I like people and I like having a job that gives me the chance to do things for others and to be with others.”

Arnold said the pandemic has made serving the participants n the Brundidge Nutrition Program differently.

“For a while, the center was not open and the meals had to be picked up curbside up or delivered,” Arnold said. “Now, we are open again and we have those who are coming in and enjoying being back together. Once again. We hope others will return and enjoy the fellowship that comes with dining together and enjoying the fellowship of one another.”

Arnold said when she’s not working at the Brundidge Nutrition Center, she enjoys reading and working in her yard.

Her husband, Michael, is a superintendent at Sanders Lead. The couple has two children, a son who works at KW Plastics and a daughter, who does social work.

Brundidge City Manager Willie Wright said the city is fortunate to have Marchell Arnold as its nutrition center manager.

“Mrs. Arnold came on board about seven months ago in the midst of the pandemic and she has done an outstanding job,” Wright said. “We are now able to open the Brundidge Nutrition Center and are seeing an increase in the number of those coming into the center. Monday we had 20-something participants and that was the largest number we have had since we had to stop serving at the center.”

Wright said what impressed him most during the interview process for a nutrition center director was that  Arnold worked closely with the senior adults at her church.

‘“It was evident that Mrs. Arnold has a passion for senior adults,” he said. “The combination of creativity and caring that Mrs. Arnold has is just what we were looking for in a nutrition center director. She is doing a great job and we are fortunate to have her.”