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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Join the JFP, the Center for Violence Prevention and the Chick Ball Committee for a free JFP Chick Ball happy hour Thursday, May 31, at Hal & Mal’s downtown (200 S. Commerce St.). We’ll provide great munchies (yes, lots of fried stuff and more), and we’ll buy you a drink if you sign up to volunteer or donate to the Chick Ball effort this year. We’ll buy you two drinks if you bring a donation check (in any amount over $10) or a gift or piece of art for the silent auction (or drop it at the JFP in advance of happy hour).

This year’s JFP Chick Ball will help the Center for Violence Prevention start a rape crisis center. Help us save lives and strengthen families! Every penny and hour you can give matters.

Thank you! Write [e-mail missing] or call Erica at 601.362.6121 ext. 16 if you have questions!

Read more: http://www.jfpchickball.com or follow @jfpchickball on Twitter. We’re on Facebook here.

Men and women welcome, of course! This is for all the fabulous chicks of Jackson and the men who love us. See you at happy hour!

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The Mississippi Free Press produced this story through the MFP Solutions Lab, supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. This series digs into Mississippi’s systemic issues and sheds light on responses to them in other communities. Beyond just reporting on problems, these stories interrogate their causes and inspect potential solutions.

Founding Editor Donna Ladd is a writer, journalist and editor from Philadelphia, Miss., a graduate of Mississippi State University and later the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she was an alumni award recipient in 2021. She writes about racism/whiteness, poverty, gender, violence, journalism and the criminal justice system. She contributes long-form features and essays to The Guardian when she has time, and was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press. She co-founded the statewide nonprofit Mississippi Free Press with Kimberly Griffin in March 2020, and the Mississippi Business Journal named her one of the state's top CEOs in 2024. Read more at donnaladd.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @donnerkay and email her at donna@mississippifreepress.org.