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Helping youth by the gallon: PoJo's Country Store sponsors Roosevelt's Character Development Center

Statesboro’s Pojo’s Country Store is partnering with Roosevelt’s Character Development Center and the Roosevelt Cone Jr. Scholarship Foundation to be a charitable sponsor for the center.
PoJosRCCDC
Roosevelt and Shelby Cone (left, holding check) and the Sumner brothers (right, holding check) with representatives from Cone’s organizations at the recent check presentation at PoJo’s Credit: PoJo's Country Store

Statesboro’s Pojo’s Country Store is partnering with Roosevelt’s Character Development Center and the Roosevelt Cone Jr. Scholarship Foundation to be a charitable sponsor for the center. Sponsors like PoJo's help the center to accomplish the works it hopes to achieve in the lives of underserved youth in the Statesboro community.

Pojo’s Country Store has many different local causes to which it regularly lends it backing and support. And in considering where the organization could next lend its support, Roosevelt’s Character Development Center’s mission statement made it a standout entity that could not be denied by the PoJo's corporate office board.

Being the village for underserved youth

Roosevelt's Character Development Center is a youth program aimed at imparting valuable life skills into the lives of locally underserved children. The program’s youth are taught affirmations, healthy communication techniques, positive relationship habits, and life management skills to be able to increase their personal success as thriving, well-rounded citizens.

By having such a local program available to these children, they have a greater chance of having their self-belief and social skills tended to. The village of teachers and role models available to these children through the center ensures that they have a greater chance of reaching their fullest potential.

Now speaking of role models, the Center’s chief role model and founder, Roosevelt Cone Jr., knows exactly what the benefits of a comprehensive character education can do for a child. Especially given that his entire life story up to this point has been interlaced with his own role models, who shaped his life forever.

Roosevelt has been working with the children of Statesboro for 20 years. And his previous jobs of working for the Boys and Girls Club to various daycare centers around Statesboro have made him well-versed in the art of helping children reach their highest potential. He previously majored in Early Childcare Education for his undergraduate degree and went on to obtain a Master’s degree in psychology.

El Sombrero owner Abel Leon (left) speaks to students at the center about owning a successful business. (Photo Courtesy RCDC)

His desire to be a role model for our hometown children stems from his admiration of his parents as well as his childhood icon, Michael Jordan. By having so much inspiration in his early childhood from which to draw model character and behavior, Cone has been fully equipped with the tools necessary to effortlessly reach his organization’s goals.

Partnership began on the youth football field

In catching up with Perry Sumner, the Vice President of Sumner Brothers, LLC (the family-owned, parent company of PoJo’s), he had these things to say about how his company’s sponsorship with Roosevelt came to be.

“Roosevelt’s son plays football with my oldest grandson. I’ve seen him in passing, and we’ve had the opportunity to talk back and forth from time to time," Sumner said. "However, the real contact with his organization came when Roosevelt saw a Facebook post regarding some of the funds we had given back on our gallon buybacks. And through a deeper conversation with Roosevelt on what he was doing with his Character Development Center currently, I met with him and his wife Shelby and wanted to lend our company’s support through a charitable donation towards their cause.”

Mentorship can change a child's life forever

Perry Sumner himself has regularly been involved in the Bulloch County Recreation Department scene for 25 years now. He knows firsthand the effects of what ongoing coaching and mentoring can have on a young child’s psychological development. Perry expressed that a comprehensive mentoring and character-building education can alter the course of child’s life significantly down the line.

Aside from his strong Christian faith, Sumner credits much of his own character-building education as coming from his father, who continues to be one of his greatest inspirations for his own continuing work as a public servant and giver. His father instilled in Perry (and his brother) a love for public service, as well as a passion towards contributing to the greater welfare of others.

R&S Packing & Moving, a company also owned by Cone, fuels up at PoJo's (Photo Courtesy Roosevelt Cone Jr.)

So, when the opportunity presented itself to lend his company’s support towards Roosevelt’s community efforts, it was an easy and natural proposition to say “Yes” to.

Sumner shared, “There are a lot of underprivileged kids everywhere, and Bulloch County is no exception to that. But with Roosevelt being a passionate individual and having high standards and accountability measures for the children at the development center, we here at Sumner Brothers LLC were more than willing to show our sponsorship support towards his great cause. We know how proper guidance, support, and mentorship can positively advance a child’s life.”

If you are interested in learning more about how you may become a sponsor of or provide a charitable donation to Roosevelt's Character Development Center, please contact Roosevelt Cone directly at 912-541-2809 for more details and assistance.