Submitted photoKimberly Shirley, Win Maxey Shumate, Jennifer Webb, Leia Lockey and Tammy Caldwell model some of the purses that will be auctioned at the 2022 Power of the Purse event at the MSU Riley Center Friday.  

The eighth annual Power of the Purse is back with a bang.

A fundraiser benefiting local youth, this year’s event is scheduled for Friday, July 8 at the MSU Riley Center. After a two year absence organizers are encouraging participants to get ready for an evening of wine, heavy hors-d’oeuvres, purses and lots of fun.

Sponsored by the Women’s Leadership Council of the United Way of East Mississippi, Power of the Purse will begin with a live and silent auction of purse items starting at 6 p.m. Handbags will range from boutique to vintage by designers such as Coach, Michael Kors, Tory Burch, and Louis Vuitton.

Additionally, gift certificates from local businesses will be up for bid, including two golf packages for Robert Trent Jones. A special raffle for the ever popular Louis Vitton Neverfull MM will be sold right up to drawing time at the event.

Tickets are $25 or five for $100 and ticket holders do not have to be present to win. Other items up for bid from local businesses will include jewelry, skin and hair care products, artwork, sunglasses, an Ole Miss men’s leather wallet, several gift baskets, and more.

POP co-chairs Kimberly Shirley and Leia Lockey will emcee the event. Kym Parnell, Executive Director of United Way of East Mississippi will give the welcome. Music will be provided by Grayson Culpepper and Catori Mobley and catering will be by Theresa Cranmore of Something Southern.

Shirley said organizers have made it a priority to make the event a success.

“We’ve strived to make it bigger and better this year in terms of designer live auction items and silent auction items so we can raise enough money to make up for 2020 and 2021 that we had to forego because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Shirley said. “The live auction items will be modeled by area high school girls with an already extensive resume in volunteer work. The majority of silent auction items that are not purses will be bundled in hopes to entice more bids.”

Shelby Chaney, a newcomer to POP, has been busy helping with acquisitions and  inventory as well as publicity.

Even though this is her first time working with Power of the Purse, Chaney says she has loved every minute of it, and loves that the proceeds of the event go to the Imagination Library, which provides books for children throughout the surrounding counties.

“I’ve loved reaching out and including local businesses in the Meridian area,” Chaney said. “I have especially enjoyed being able to include/spotlight the amazing talented women from Meridian, such as Amanda Cassell and Beth Whitehead, and to our very own handbag designers, Jamey Sharman Gresham and Margaret Cady Boyce of the J. Lowery line, who are all donating amazing items to this event.”

New this year will be a photo booth from Traveling Light PhotoBooth and a balloon arch donated by Over the Pop Balloon Decor.

“This will add great fun for all of the ladies to take pictures to remember this amazing night,” Chaney said. 

Susie Broadhead and Angie Denney will be presented with the 2022 Judith Coursey Crowson Leadership Award for their role in bringing Power of the Purse to the area after having represented United Way of East Mississippi at a similar event in Athens, Georgia 10 years ago. 

The award, named to honor the life of Judy Crowson, longtime advocate of Education, Health and Financial Stability initiatives for women, rotates among the four counties that UWEM serves and is presented at Power of the Purse each year. Crowson was posthumously named the recipient of the Leadership Award in January 2013 at the first POP event and then the award was named for her. 

“Since it has now been 10 years since Angie and I attended the event in Athens, Georgia, our being named the recipients of the award shows the tenacity of this event that we always hoped would become a “must attend” to fuel literacy as long as new generations bought into it, and they have while seasoned worker bees stick around for mentoring and staying involved as we age,” Broadhead said. “POP is literally an act of empowering community to stay connected to youth starting at age 0.

The first POP in 2013 netted $22,000 for Imagination Library. The entire evening had no budget and just over $1000 was spent to host it. In the seven consecutive years POP was held it netted an average of $25,000 to $30,000. The East Mississippi Power of the Purse service area includes children 0-5 in Kemper, Lauderdale, Neshoba counties plus the Quitman School District.

Tickets for the event are $50 and can be purchased by calling the United Way of East Mississippi Office at 601-693-2732.