Milestones: 10 years roll by helping Friday Night Skate in DeKalb

By H.M. Cauley

For the AJC

Dawn Francis-Chewning admits that her idea of a good time is not one most people would share. For this DeKalb County mom, the highlight of the week is spending two hours in a gym with 140 fourth-, fifth- and six-graders on roller skates.

Ten years ago, Francis-Chewning rejuvenated the Friday Night Skate, a youth event sponsored by Glenn Memorial Church. The first skate nights were held in the 1960s, but when the chief organizers moved away, the program languished. Then a youth director convinced Francis-Chewning to take on its revival.

“Actually, I think one of my kids volunteered me for it,” she said with a laugh. “The youth director said it wouldn’t be hard, but nothing is ever that simple. It takes a fair amount of work.”

This year, Francis-Chewning marked a decade of organizing the get-together that she enjoys as much as the kids who show up.

“I didn’t realize it had been that long until it became obvious that I knew fewer and fewer kids by their first names,” she said. “Now that my own kids are not in elementary or middle school anymore, there aren’t as many that I know.”

But Francis-Chewning has become so identified with the weekly event that she’s earned the honorary title of “the skating lady.”

“Years ago, I was at school with my daughter and someone in the hall said in this hushed voice, ‘There’s the skating lady!’ ” she said. “The name kind of stuck, and now I like to think there’s a mystique to it!”

Francis-Chewning’s full-time job involves overseeing various technology services projects for her alma mater, Emory University. But she also spends several hours a week gearing up for the Friday night workout that draws youngsters from around the community to the church’s activities building on North Decatur Road. She’s responsible for registering skaters, collecting the $5 admission fee, handing out skates, arranging for volunteers, setting up the refreshments and even sweeping the gym floor.

By the time the kids arrive at 7 p.m., one of Francis-Chewning’s children is blasting tunes from “Shout” to “Thriller,” and kids are lacing up for two hours of circular skating. The energy and the noise levels are high.

“It seems like just a lot of kids getting together to skate in a circle, but something bigger happens when they’re here,” she said. “They don’t have to be quiet or stay in line; they can be who they want to be. And I think kids desperately need a place to be themselves.”

The Friday Night Skate’s schedule parallels the academic year while giving kids an outlet that’s not tied to anything else they have to do for school.

“This is a good outlet that’s not sports, not team sports, not academic,” Francis-Chewning said. “They don’t have to do anything but have fun.

Next spring, Francis-Chewning’s youngest child will graduate from high school, and she’s thinking about passing the baton to another volunteer.

“Ten years is a long time,” she said. “It may be time for someone else to get involved. But right now, I can’t think of anything better to do on a Friday night than be with the kids, the loud music and lots of exuberant skating.”

"Milestones" covers significant events and times in the lives of metro Atlantans. Big or small, well-known or not -- tell us of a Milestone we should write about. Send information to hm_cauley@yahoo.com; call 404-514-6162; or mail to Milestones, c/o Jamila Robinson, 223 Perimeter Center Parkway N.E., Atlanta, GA 30346.