BRANDON, Miss. (WJTV) – The Spot, located in Brandon, is a place where you can find good coffee, good pound cake, good cookies and a special group of people attending you.

You will usually meet other friendly customers here, and you will always get a friendly welcome at The Spot.

This is a project of the Rankin County School District, and this is “the spot” where some special students from all eight of the high schools in Rankin County get the chance to get a taste of what the world is like the other side of graduation.

Although this is a project of the school system, The Spot building, lands and all the students, have been adopted by the Brandon Garden Club.

And talking about nurturing, that’s one thing the students are immersed in. Nurturing the plants in the flower beds and the newly planted hillside behind the building and in the brand new greenhouse. Helping build these lives is something the club members caught the vision of as soon as the district announced this program way back when.

“Our garden club has been involved with this for years,” said Sheila Everett, a member of the club.

Annette Varner is the supervisor for the Rankin County School District and values the partnership the garden club has had with the students down through the years.

“The first thing that they give us, their time, the resources, the landscaping. But what they give our students is the most important thing. The relationships that they form with these students. They know their names. They know their interests. They invest in these students, and they help us to grow these students so that they can leave us and go to the next phase of their lives and find employment and have the skills that they need,” said Varner.

The Spot is open on school days from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The business is located at 223 Tamberline Street.

They will hold their Christmas Open House on December 1. They will sell some of the pottery the students have made, as well T-shirts and other items.