Telling Your Story – Katina Holliday (Season 1 Episode 5)

“I'm truly a hometown Mississippi girl.”

There is something about home that keeps calling Katina Holliday. It calls her back to Aberdeen. It calls her back to her family. And, it may even be calling her to build her future here.

It’s already started – the next chapter. A building stood empty. And, Katina saw the possibility for healthcare. As a nurse practitioner, she said she understood the need for an urgent care clinic.

The rest of the building was slated for a grocery store. Those plans fell through. But Katina, with no grocery experience, decided to make it happen anyway. She says she is still learning.

The grocery store is bright and open and filled with helpful staff. The people who work at Freshly’s Market are local. They strive for customer service. The deli was named for Katina’s grandmother. And that brought her full circle.

“There’s people here that love Aberdeen and they love this grocery store and they love serving their community,” Holliday said. It’s on-the-job training in the food service world.

“Many people said, they had a problem with hiring. I have an influx. We have about 72 employees. So it’s great for income and economic development here in this area,” she said.

Those same people who work with Holliday at Freshly’s and at Urgent Care at the Pointe volunteer their time to help others in the community.

Holliday’s Helping Hands was on the ground in Aberdeen before the urgent care clinic and the grocery store opened. They handed out school supplies and book bags, turkeys, and meals for local families. At Christmas, volunteers work to make sure local children have their wishes fulfilled.

Holliday splits her time between her home in California where she works to find housing and resources for homeless individuals, and her hometown of Aberdeen, where family, friends, and an expanding mission to help her neighbors is the constant call to come home again.

If you want to learn more about Holliday’s Helping Hands in California and Mississippi, you can check out the website at www.hollidayshh.org

Watch the full interview here: www.wcbi.com/telling-your-story-katina-holliday