VALDOSTA – Community leaders were welcomed to a local homeless shelter Tuesday for the unveiling of two new room plaques, one bearing the name of Judge Vernita Bender and the other for the Harley Langdale Jr. Foundation. 

The Lowndes Associated Ministries to People shelter benefitted from a grant given by the Harley Langdale Jr. Foundation; and in return, LAMP dedicated its computer lab to the foundation and one of its family dorms to Bender.

“We are proud to name these rooms after two influential members of Lowndes County and hope their legacy of giving back and volunteering in the community gets told to all the residents that use the rooms,” Yurshema Flanders, LAMP shelter director, said in a statement. “Together, we can make an impact to improve the quality of life for everyone.”

Grant funding will go toward renovating the computer lab – as well as buying new laptops, keyboards, printers, wi-fi routers and internet service. Money will also help with furnishing the dorm rooms with lockers, new mattresses and with the daily costs of housing families at the shelter.

Donnie Warren, Harley Langdale Foundation executive director, said his organization dedicated funding to LAMP because the nonprofit is a vital resource in the community.

“We just want to be a good community partner to help families and young adults to try to get ahead in life,” he said. 

Harley Langdale, the foundation’s namesake, was an advocate who wanted to better the community through building employment and agencies such as LAMP, Warren said.

He said the grant recently given to LAMP is a first for the foundation though the organization has helped LAMP on a smaller scale in the past.

“It just fits part of our mission statement,” Warren said. “We had the opportunity to step up in a larger way.”

Lt. Tonero Bender of the Moultrie Police Department attended room dedication ceremony Tuesday on behalf of his wife, Vernita Bender, who died in December 2020. 

It was humbling to see her name on a plaque at LAMP, he said, adding kind words from others have spotlighted her legacy.

Vernita Bender was not one to seek the limelight but she would have been OK with naming LAMP’s family dorm after her, Tonero Bender said.

“She was passionate not only about the homeless community but anyone who was out and down-trodden,” he said. “That goes back to her compassion.”

Tonero Bender said she loved the Valdosta community. 

Flanders said she was a great advocate for the shelter.

LAMP serves Lowndes, Brooks, Echols, Lanier, Cook, Tift, Colquitt and Berrien counties and houses men, women and families. 

Visit lampinc.org for more information.