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Saturday, December 15, 2007
“This was her deal:” Girl collects food for the needy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jim Poynter epitomizes a proud grandparent.
He recently e-mailed me a response to a query that had appeared in the AJC Gwinnett News. The Badie Challenge asked readers to share stories about charitable deeds. I plan to cherry-pick a few and write about them in the coming weeks.
Meet Riley Poynter, 11. She’s a sixth-grader at Creekland Middle School in Lawrenceville, where she plays the French horn in the band.
Her family supports the Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministry, the nonprofit that helps the needy with bills, food and shelter. Demand for aid may be greater than you realize at the county’s six cooperative ministries.
The Norcross location gives out about 20,000 cans or packages of food each month. On Wednesday, the Lawrenceville nonprofit had a record day. It saw 84 families in four hours and doled out 3,612 cans of food.
“The need is growing rapidly,” said Linda Freund, who oversees the Lawrenceville operation.
Apparently, Riley knows this.
Last year, she organized a neighborhood food drive for the Lawrenceville agency. She collected about 200 items from residents of Waterford at Richland in Suwanee.
This year, Riley held her food drive during the holiday season. People, after all, are in a giving mood around Thanksgiving and Christmas. She attached donated Kroger and Publix bags to the mailboxes of the 150 or so homes. She wrote a note to explain what she was doing and what day she and Claire Rogers, a friend, would pick up the groceries left on the front porch.
When they returned days later, they didn’t just get the bags and go, though. They talked to residents.
“Some people had forgotten about the food drive,” she said. “So when we rang the bell, they’d give us a few cans or pack the bag full.”
Last week, Riley delivered about 600 canned goods to the Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministry. Freund, its director, applauded the effort.
“If more kids get out and do this in their neighborhoods, it would be great, she told me. “It’s these types of efforts, individual efforts of going around in neighborhoods, that can make a big difference in our being able to meet demands right now.”
Jeff Poynter realized a lot of factors made the project a success — friends, cooperative neighbors, the fact so many people know his wife, Missy, and his daughter.
“This was her deal,” Poynter said.
“It’s unbelievable the need out there. A guy at the Lawrenceville cooperative told me that the agency went through [more than 30,000 cans] last month. Riley brought in 600. That might get them through half a day.”
Poynter’s proud of his daughter, but he downplayed the publicity.
Can’t say the same for the grandparents, Jim and Marian Poynter of Dacula. They’re beaming.
“Yes,” Jim wrote, “her grandmother and I think she is GREAT.”
And of course, she is.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail rbadie@ajc.com.
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