LaGRANGE- The Magnolia Society, a Women’s Leadership Council of United Way of West Georgia, is introducing a new fundraiser this year that will raise money for early learning programs. It takes the place of the Merry Market fundraiser which has been held in October for the last six years.

LaGrange Has Talent will be an opportunity for residents of Troup County to showcase their talents and abilities by performing on stage in front of the community.

“The cause is for early learning programs and those are a variety of different programs to choose from like West Georgia Health ‘First Steps,’ Success by Six Summer Play, Building Early Learners for Life, and book distribution,” said Stephanie Preston, chairwoman of the fundraiser committee for the Magnolia Society. “Early Learning, we consider children from birth to age five because they’re preparing for kindergarten and the brain develops at such a young age that it’s so critical to work with children on their word development, colors, rhyming and numbers to prepare for school.”

This will be the first year the LaGrange Has Talent event will take place. The event is set for Nov. 16 and it will be held at the Troup High Performing Arts Center.

“In the month of September, we will be accepting videos which can be from men and women, individuals and groups,” said Preston. “There’s no age limit and as long as their residence is in Troup County they can submit a video. In the month of October, the voting will be online for 30 days and the voting will be in the form of dollar donations to early learning for school readiness. At the end of the voting period, we’ll take the top 10 performers based off votes and they will be invited onstage to perform. We’ll have official judges too.”

The LaGrange Has Talent showcase will not just be limited to people with musical talents but participants can be people with a multitude of different skills to show off. The prize for the winner be $2,000.

“It’s called LaGrange Has Talent but we’ll looking for talent in Troup County,” said Preston. “We’re expecting it to be an entertaining event, so it should be interesting.”

More information will become available as the contest approaches but those who are interested can visit LaGrangeHasTalent.com to enter an email address and stay up-to-date on schedules, video entry, and voting.

To learn more about Early Learning for school readiness or how to get involved with the Magnolia Society, visit www.unitedwaywga.org or call 706-884-8292.

 

Shirttail- Reach James Simpson II at 706-884-7311, ext. 2155, or by email at james.simpson@lagrangenews.com