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December 2007
Community response gets man to Boston
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC Gwinnett News reporters and photographers covered about thousands of stories this year. We asked our staff to share with readers how a particular story touched them — personally or professionally. “Touched by a Story” is the result. This is the final story of the year and we hope you also will be touched by this story. In the process, you will get a glimpse into the workings of the journalists who hustle every day to bring you the news.
Time was ticking.
He had four days to get to Boston, or else he’d lose a bed in the Boston Home, a century-old nursing home. Jack Stabinsky had been trying to get into the renowned facility for some time. He suffers from multiple sclerosis, and as the disease inevitably progresses, he’d wanted to relocate from the Life Care Center of Gwinnett in Lawrenceville to a specialized center.
On July 6, a Friday, he got word that one of the Boston center’s 96 beds was available. He’d have to get up there lickety-split, though; the nursing home couldn’t hold the space indefinitely.
Dick Deacon’s a friend of Stabinsky’s. He thought that, if the situation were publicized, someone might step forward to help him get to Boston as quickly, and as cheaply, as possible.
My column about Stabinsky’s plight ran July 10. It simply asked for ideas, suggestions, anything, that offered hope. Readers were told to call Deacon. He was overwhelmed by the response. Me, too.
Dozens of readers contacted Deacon to assist. Some suggested Stabinsky might qualify for a “mercy flight.” Others offered up frequent flier miles, buddy passes, airline tickets and money.
Needless to say, Stabinsky arrived in Boston two days after the column ran. Here’s how he got there:
An “elite traveler” donated the travel miles for him and Becky Moore, the admissions director at Life Care Center of Gwinnett, to fly Air Tran. Her return trip to Atlanta was free, too. Another anonymous donor paid for an ambulance service to take him from Boston’s Logan Airport to the nursing home.
And that’s where Stabinsky resides to this day.
Now, relatives like Jacqueline Dormer, a niece who lives in Pennsylvania, can visit. Days after “Uncle Jack” arrived, she posted a comment in my blog.
“God bless everyone for their support and help,” she wrote. “You have no idea how much you helped our family.”
What a tale.
As a columnist, it ranks as one of the best pieces of advocacy journalism I’ve ever written.
As a Gwinnett resident, the miracle provided by this community serves as a prime example of what makes the county special. I hope 2008 brings us more miracles like this one.
Rick Badie is the AJC Gwinnett News columnist. Reach him at 770-263-3875.
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School marathon gets kids into habit of exercising
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
She used to come home and start doing her homework right away.
Not anymore.
Now, most evenings when Gracie Whitney gets home from school, the third-grader grabs a book and hops on the treadmill.
Thank the marathon held this fall at her school, Mountain Park Elementary. Hundreds of students, and a half-dozen or so teachers and faculty, took part.
They had to walk or run a mile every day last month. The exercise had to take place outside of the regular classroom or physical education class. The kids could log time on the campus track during recess or after school. They also could use treadmills at home or take walks with family.
Those who completed 13 miles received a pedometer. T-shirts were given to those who completed 26 miles — a mile a day everyday.
Jeffrey Peterson, a P.E. instructor, came up with the voluntary marathon. He wanted to move kids toward fitness. He called me a few days before Christmas to share the results: More than 100 kids earned a T-shirt and right at 320 got pedometers at the Lilburn campus.
“A great success for the first try,” said Peterson, an avid jogger. “They all did it on their own. It was a matter of choice, and I was pleased with the number of families that participated with the kids. We’re going to make this a tradition.”
The whole idea for the marathon was to promote fitness, to make it an everyday affair. That’s one reason the kids had to do a mile a day, everyday, to win the T-shirt. Marathon rules disallowed participants to log several miles in one outing.
Peterson and Todd Kearney, the other P.E. instructor, stress to kids the importance of daily activity beyond organized sports. When it comes to exercising, Mountain Park in Lilburn is an anomaly: Students have P.E. every other day.
“We are lucky,” said principal Debbie Allred. “We’re a small school (648 students), so we can spend a little more time with that.”
It is hoped that the exercising will continue now that the marathon is over. Peterson thinks it will. He jogs in the nearby park and along neighborhood roads so kids can see him practice what he preaches. He’s noticed an uptick in the number of Mountain Park students and relatives out walking or jogging.
“We’ll see, after the holidays, if it continues,” he said.
For Gracie, who earned a marathon T-shirt, exercise has become routine.
Her mother, Wendy Stoner, told the 8-year-old she’d be rewarded with special activities, like a night of bowling, if she keeps it up. Gracie told me she planned to.
“I honestly think she is so used to doing it now that she doesn’t think about the reward,” said Stoner.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail rbadie@ajc.com.
Note: Rick Badie’s column will resume Jan.8.
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“Pay it forward with trumpets”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He used to have a toy trumpet and a sax.
When he wore them out, he’d try to make instruments out of whatever he could.
Yes, you might say Christopher McDavit, 9, loves music. Air Supply, Boz Scaggs, Chicago. The Georgia Tech marching band.
“We follow the marching band around like groupies, even though I went to Georgia State, not Tech,” said Kirk McDavit, Christopher’s dad.
Now, “C.J.” can make his own tunes. He has a shiny new trumpet, thanks to a Duluth man with a tender heart.
Last Tuesday, I wrote about Jerry Robb, a salesman who wanted to give away a $500 trumpet. The recipient had to be a boy or girl who liked music, wanted to play, but couldn’t afford a brass instrument.
An elderly neighbor had asked Robb to buy the instrument. She’d wanted it as a gift for her adult son. He’d wanted to play trumpet when he was a kid, but never did. The son didn’t want the instrument, though, so Robb bought it. He thought it would be a nice Christmas present.
But this trumpet story doesn’t end with C.J.
Robb and I swap e-mails back and forth. We’ve dined together a few times. He gives me bags of tomatoes from his garden. So the fact that he wanted to give a trumpet away didn’t surprise me. His generosity is genuine.
“He’s modest about it, but he could have taken this back to the store and gotten full credit for it,” said McDavit. “To think a human being would do this for another human being.”
The McDavits picked up the instrument Sunday. Robb plans to give C.J. a couple of lessons - show him proper technique, how to read a few notes and do scales.
“I hope I can do better at that than I do at golf, or C.J.’s going to be in real trouble,” he said. “He looks like a ‘natural’ for trumpet. Plus, if he ever makes it to TV, he is very handsome.”
This trumpet story gets better. ’ After the initial column ran, I got a call from Terry Barker of Stone Mountain. He doesn’t play the trumpet, but can sound like one. He occasionally gives performances. Call him the “human trumpet.’ He uses a trumpet for a prop for his gigs. At least he used to. On Saturday, he gave the instrument to Robb to pass along to another kid.
Finally, there’s the co-worker who called Robb out of the blue. He’d read that first column, too. Now he plans to buy a trumpet for a needy child.
Robb’s been inspired by the generosity. I guess you could say others are paying it forward — infectious acts of kindness that renew our faith in human nature. And because that, he wants to make the trumpet giveaway a holiday tradition.
To help folk like the McDavits.
The family moved to Buford from DeKalb so C.J. could attend local schools. He’s a second-grader at Harmony Elementary. Kirk McDavit, a former criminal investigator with the IRS, has been out of work save for “a few day jobs and things.”
“There’s no way I could have bought him what he wanted for Christmas,” he told me. “I contacted Mr. Robb because this was an opportunity for me to do something for my son.”
C.J. sleeps with the trumpet. He wipes it down with the towel Robb gave him.
And even though he doesn’t know any notes, he’s making music.
If you’re interested in the trumpets, contact Jerry Robb at 678-283-9787 or e-mail jrobb3328@aol.com.
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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“Gamers like interaction”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He grew up playing video games.
Foxx Crump, 31, still plays them to this very day.
He owns a PlayStation 2, an X-box 360, an HD/DVD combo and more games than he cares to count. He figures he’s spent $2,000 on accessories, games and such this year alone.
“It’s part of my life,” he told me while we waiting for the GameStop, a video store in Lilburn, to open.
Friday was a special day for folks who wanted to buy the Wii, Nintendo’s year-old gaming console. Worldwide demand for the $250 system has outpaced supply. So with none in stock, GameStop franchises in Gwinnett and elsewhere issued rain checks on the sought-after unit. Customers had to pay the full price on the spot; the console is guaranteed by Jan. 25.
Last year, Crump found himself in the same bind as this year’s Wii customers. He couldn’t find the console at retailers in metro Atlanta. He still got one, though.
“A friend found a store in one of those podunk places outside Sandersville that had Wiis,” said Crump, who had a day off from his job at Graphic Edge of Alpharetta.
The video gaming industry is huge. Ars Tehnica Journal, an online gaming magazine, predicts the industry will be twice as big as the music industry by 2011. Between 1996 and 2006, U.S. sales surged to $7 billion from $2.6 billion, according to the publication.
And it’s not just young people doing the buying. The Wii console has attracted older adults because of its family-friendly games and the physical movement it affords. (I wouldn’t call it exercise, though.)
My son has a PlayStation 2 and a Nintendo DS. He’s tried to engage me, especially in the PlayStation sports games, but it’s yet to stick. I once asked him what fascinated him about it. He talked about the interaction and being able to control movement.
Crump, who grew up in Franklin Springs, outside Athens, told me his parents wondered likewise when he was a kid. His answer mirrored Miles’.
“It’s like you’re in a movie,” he said. “You’re part of it. You have a role in it, and you’re making events happen.”
Crump’s roommate is a gamer, too. He has a Nintendo DS. Crump was at the GameStop Friday to buy him a couple of games. Christmas presents.
Something tells me Crump will enjoy the gifts as much as his friend.
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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“Parents cautious about made-in China toys”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dorinda Legg wrapped up her Christmas shopping Wednesday at the Toys”R” Us in Duluth.
“My son wants Pokemon,” said Legg, who teaches dance at The Studio in Lilburn. “I think it’s made in Japan.”
We chatted in the store parking lot. I wasn’t allowed to talk to shoppers inside the big-box retailer. So I approached customers as they left the store to get some sense of the concern about toys made in China.
This Asian giant, which manufactures about 80 percent of the toys sold in the United States, has had a series of safety scares. In mid-August, Mattel recalled nearly 1 million Chinese-made toys that were coated with toxic paint.
Of course, not all toxic toys come from China. And there’s bilateral blame to share. China doesn’t design toys. U.S. toy makers do. Most recalls in the last 20 years were due to design problems, according to an article in USA Today.
No matter how hard you try to focus on the reason for the season, most kids equate Christmas to gifts. Toys. And when it comes to toys, buying American is tough. Only about 10 percent are actually made in America.
What’s a parent to do?
Well, Akila Nasarajan of Lawrenceville opted for educational presents. Board games, paint sets and such for Nina, 5, and Natasha, 12. Nothing with small parts.
“A lot of parents don’t know what’s going on because they don’t ever read the newspapers,” she told me. “Clark Howard has a section on his Web site devoted to [recalled toys]. They still sell them on eBay. People buy them because they are cheaper.”
Connie Garman of Alpharetta came to Duluth in search of a board game - “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”
“I got the last one!” beamed Garman, who bought it for Merisa, her 12-year-old daughter.
This Alpharetta mom thinks parents are especially concerned about Chinese-made toys if they have small kids.
“They put things in their mouths,” she said.
Wal-Mart wouldn’t let the Badie Tour set up in any of its local stores, but a company spokeswoman told me about the “Toy Safety Net Program.” It requires toy suppliers to provide testing documentation for toys on shelves and en route to stores. Wal-Mart also hires independent laboratories to conduct an additional 200 tests a day, focusing on toys for kids up to age 3. Results are shared with the industry.
“It’s just more help for China,” said Jami Lamontagne.
Legg, the dance instructor, said many of the parents of the 100 or so kids she teaches have talked about an “anti-China Christmas.”
“Especially those with little ones,” she said.
She bought the Pokemon toy for Andrew, her 9-year-old son.
Before I left Toys “R” Us, I went inside to check out the Pokemon selection. All the items I saw carried the same label:
“Made in China.”
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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“Trumpeter wants to share joy”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This tale revolves around a trumpet and a train.
First the trumpet.
Jerry Robb always wanted to play the trumpet. Unfortunately, his parents didn’t have the money, or interest, to buy him one. The violin was the only instrument his school rented, so that’s what he took up as a kid in Raleigh. He switched to the French horn in seventh grade.
Then, as fate would have it, a neighbor had an old trumpet for sale for $25. It had holes; Robb bought it and soldered them up.
“It sounded terrible,” he said. “But it was so hard to blow that I learned pretty good.”
Eventually, Robb would get a better trumpet. He played in high school as well as the marching band and orchestra at North Carolina State University.
These days, he doesn’t play much, “unless I’ve had a couple glasses of wine,” he told me. “That’s the only way I can stand the sound.”
Recently his elderly neighbor, Helen Miller, asked him to buy a trumpet as a gift for her adult son. Like Robb, he’d wanted to play the brass instrument, but Miller steered him to the clarinet. The trumpet was to be her “guilt offering,” Robb explained, but her son didn’t want it.
Rather than return the new trumpet, Robb bought it from Miller: $499, plus tax. Now the Duluth resident wants to give it away.
“I want to find a young guy or gal who has great potential and interest in music, but does not have money to buy a trumpet,” he said. “I will give that kid this trumpet. It could be a great Christmas gift. I just know somebody out there would be really thankful to have this opportunity.” What a heart.
As further inspiration, he plans to throw in a music book and a CD of his favorite solo trumpeter - the late Rafael Mendez.
“He was my mentor as a kid,” said Robb, 60, a salesman.
If you’re interested in the trumpet, contact Jerry Robb at 678-283-9787 or e-mail jrobb3328@aol.com.
Now, about that train
“The Polar Express” seems to have displaced “It’s a Wonderful Life” as the favorite holiday film. The computer-animated movie, first released in 2004, has been on TV a half dozen or so times this season. A children’s film based on believing and faith almost sounds cliche in this day and time. In reality, though, these are timeless topics, tales worth exploring.
If you’ve missed recent televised showings of “The Polar Express,” drop by Tucker First United Methodist Church at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday. My church is showing it for free as part of a family movie night for the community. Cookies, hot chocolate and popcorn will be provided. Rumor has it that Santa might make an appearance.
Tucker First United Methodist Church is at 5095 LaVistaRoad, in Tucker. Details: 770-938-3030. And, if your church or community of faith has something going on for children this season, send a note about it to bwilson@ajc.com with the subject listed as “Church Notes.”
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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“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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“One plan, two potential concerns”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Steve Wood’s been in the garbage business 14 years.
He worked his way up at various companies, starting out as a “helper” - the person who hops off the back of a garbage truck, grabs the can or recycling bin, and tosses the waste into the bay - to a supervisor with United Waste Services-Robertson Sanitation of Winder.
“I loved it when I first got into it,” he told me. “And I haven’t lost my feelings towards it.”
We drove around in his company truck Wednesday, tailing a garbage truck that inched its way through a hilly subdivision in Buford. I’d hoped to be on that truck - the rear of it - trying to keep up with Joel Colon, the helper. Liability issues squashed the idea. I’d thought the experience would provide an excellent backdrop to write about trash, a topic of interest in the county these days.
On Tuesday, the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to regulate trash service. They OK’d a 10-year “solid waste management plan” that will grant exclusive territorial franchises to no more than eight garbage collection companies. Those companies would be selected through a bid process.
Nothing’s finalized.
The Georgia Department of Community Affairs and the Atlanta Regional Commission have to approve the plan; a private hauler has threatened to sue, citing an unlevel playing field for small trash collectors.
Currently, most Gwinnett residents can choose the haulers they want for garbage service, which averages around $25 a month. Or they can get rid of their own garbage. About 20,000 single-family households have no service; that may contribute to the litter we see strewn along roads.
When it comes to quality of life, I can see the greater good in the proposal. Two things, in particular, though, give me pause.
Like the potential for rate hikes.
Supposedly, the winning bidders can’t raise rates without county approval. We all know where there’s a will, though, there’s sure to be a way. The territorial franchises are basically monopolies. No competition. You pretty well do as you please. Somewhere right now, a garbage hauler is trying to figure out a way to sway a franchise his company’s way, then turn it into a renewable gravy train.
Then there’s the bid process.
I don’t mean to cast aspersions on the current commissioners or county brass. But so often when the words “bid,” “government,” and “contract” appear together, “illegal” or “impropriety” follow close behind. Bid-rigging. Implementation of the trash plan ripens the possibility, the temptation, for it.
I could be up in arms about losing the right to pick my own garbage collection service. But that would be a reach; I don’t even know the company name of my current hauler. And residents upset that different garbage haulers work their neighborhoods on different days need a hobby. Or two.
While riding with Wood during the Badie Tour on Wednesday, we saw the garbage can of only one competitor. All the rest were customers of United Waste Services-Robertson Sanitation. Colon, the helper, has cat-like speed. Has to. He’s only supposed to spend 12 seconds at each curb.
The company practices “right-hand routing,” so helpers don’t have to cross the street to retrieve garbage cans. Workers are supposed to wait until the truck stops before they step down. They aren’t supposed to put recycling bins and trash cans in front of mail boxes or driveways. (If that’s the case, my hauler definitely isn’t United Waste Services-Robertson Sanitation.)
“It looks easy,” Wood told me. “But any job looks easy till you starting getting into it.”
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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“Freedom Project still raking in responses”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He didn’t know if he’d even get a response from the former defense secretary.
Donald Rumsfeld surprised Alex Robson, though. He included a typed note in addition to his answer to Robson’s question:
“What is Freedom?”
“Your project reminds Americans how fortunate we are to live in a nation of liberty,” he wrote, “and how blessed we are to have men and women willing to step forward and defend it. It is important that moms and dads, and the brothers and sisters fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, know that we at home value their great sacrifice to our nation. Keep up the great work!”
Robson, 18, plans to.
Nearly two years ago, he started the Freedom Project. Via letter, he and a couple of friends at Georgia College and State University contact people and ask them to define freedom. To ensure a broad perspective, any and everybody gets included.
When Robson and I talked recently, an apology was the first thing out of my mouth after “Hello.” See, I wrote about the project in mid-October, after I got a request and self-addressed stamped envelope. It’s still on my desk. He understood.
“It’s a big question,” he told me.
In the past two months, the names of new contributors impresses. Among them: Ted Turner, the tycoon billionaire; Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African peace activist; and Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who wants to be president.
Now, the public can view some of the responses. The Freedom Project will have a booth at the annual Taste of Mill Creek and Craft Fair, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Mill Creek High - Robson’s alma mater.
The most thought-provoking answers will be on display. Some will be selected because of name recognition, like former president Jimmy Carter. Others will be heroes Robson thinks people ought to know, like Medal of Honor winners and members of the Triple Nickles, the first black U.S. paratroopers. He’ll display letters like Rumsfeld’s and have a stand so people can fill out their own cards.
In the future, Robson would like to start a nonprofit so that he can give out scholarships. By next year, he hopes to recognize a student from every county high school who writes the best response to his question.
“It will be based purely on the merit of what somebody thinks of freedom,” he said. “There might be 10,000 scholarships out there, but so many students don’t have the right scores or something. With this, it won’t matter if you are C student or an A student.”
For now, though, he’s still posing his question.
He plans to contact athletes of defunct Negro League baseball teams. And he’s already preparing letters for every sitting U.S. governor, senator and member of the House of Representatives.
“It takes a long time to find all the addresses, and it’s just two of us,” said the freshman English major. “We’re working in between finals.”
And doing as Rumsfeld asked.
Other responses can be found at www.definefreedom.com.
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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“Paranormal State”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Asthma.”
The word, or something related to it, popped into his head.
We met for the first time three years ago. Chip Coffey and I. He’s a psychic. Maybe it’s genetic. He’s the great-great grandson of Minnie Sue Morrow Foster, the Native American medicine woman and shaman.
Coffey, of Lilburn, criss-crosses the country, attending conferences, lecturing, giving presentations and readings - putting what he calls God-given gifts as psychic, medium, spiritual counselor and parapsychologist to good use. Helping others.
On Monday night, his talents will be put on a national stage. Coffey, 53, is featured in “Paranormal State,” a series on the A&E Network that debuts at 10 p.m. with 30-minute, back-to-back episodes. The show chronicles cases of the Paranormal Research Society, a group started by a Penn State University student to investigate inexplicable incidents.
When the series needed a psychic, Coffey’s name surfaced. He received a phone call back in January. A couple days later, he was on a flight to Pennsylvania to join a case. He filmed nine of 20 episodes, and appears in the second one that airs Monday night.
“I’m a very big skeptic when it comes to psychics,” said Ryan Buell, the society’s director and founder, who plays a central role in the series. “Chip read things and gave me information [on cases] that I can’t explain how he got it.”
In the past, Coffey has passed on projects that could have garnered him exposure, but lacked purpose. Had that been the case with “Paranormal State,” he says he wouldn’t have signed on.
Initially, the show’s goal was to find evidence of paranormals. Nothing more. The people who appear in the episodes needed more than that, though, said Buell. They needed help to get rid of demons, negative spirits, strange entities - call them what you want. Families who appear on the show also receive free counseling and therapy.
For Coffey, that was a selling point.
“Chip cares about the families,” Buell said. “He’s very conscious about the information he tells a family. He doesn’t just show up on the episodes wanting to be ‘a psychic.’ His psychic abilities are just another part of him. He wants to be responsible.”
And to do God’s work.
“I make no apologies because I earn a living doing what I do,” said Coffey, who also does private readings. “I feel honored and blessed to be doing God’s work, to help others. The show really focuses on the family. The family is not left adrift. If I can bring healing peace, and comfort to one person or family, what can be better than that?”
Coffey and I recently met in the same coffeehouse that we’d chatted in three years ago. At the end of that first interview, he’d gotten a reading, hint, inclination, something, related to asthma. I didn’t say so at the time, but Charlie, my brother, died from an attack in February 2004.
I told Coffey this last week. Charlie, Coffey told me, wanted me to know that he and mom are together, and that they are doing just fine.
For more information, see Chip Coffey’s Web site at www.chipcoffey.com.
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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“Day at the food pantry reveals big needs”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s been a long time since I bagged groceries.
Back when I did it for a living, stores used paper bags. Bag boys were taught to build a foundation with cans, then put crushables like bread on top. Nowadays plastic has replaced paper, and the baggers, well, the system they use leaves much to be desired.
My years at Piggly Wiggly came flooding back as I worked a few hours Wednesday in the food pantry at the Norcross Cooperative Ministry. I restocked the shelves and helped fill grocery orders alongside regular volunteers Bill Pooser, J.T. Morris and Bob Reynders.
Some of the clients who received the food were waiting in line before the doors opened at 10 a.m. The agency, like other county charities, is experiencing tight times during an uptick in requests.
The drought dried up the need for landscaping and yard crews. The housing slump hit construction workers. And the general ebb and flow of the economy has been brutal to many.
What’s worse, it’s the holidays.
Director Shirley Cabe was on the phone Wednesday, trying to rustle up more toys for 3,092 kids on the holiday list. The nonprofit has stopped signing up families because it may not meet current demand. Before I started work, Cabe showed me the “toy store,” a part of the basement where toys are stored till “pack night.” That’s when volunteers will pull items - sorted by age and gender - and put them in garbage bags for families to pick up later.
“These toys will be gone with the first 500 or 600 kids,” Cabe predicted. “We try to give three toys per kid, so this will only take care of a small portion of the kids. And we have hardly nothing for girls 7 to 12 years old.”
If anybody knows about poverty, near-poverty and the working poor, it’s Cabe. She’s been with the ministry since its inception nearly two decades ago. (May 2008 marks its 20th anniversary). She’s seen requests grow from about 80 to 100 families a month to a current level of 1,000 plus.
Some of you hold an obdurate view of people who turn to charities. Many, you think, abuse goodwill. Well, clients at the Norcross agency have to prove their claims, and the staff can detect when someone’s trying to get over.
Not that it happens much.
“It’s a small percentage,” Cabe told me. “A very small percentage.”
Because it’s the holiday season, volunteers have flooded the nonprofit, so lack of helping hands is a non-issue. Everything else is, though. Monetary donations. New, unwrapped toys. Food.
“We always need food,” Cabe said.
Food orders are sent to the pantry by computer. They include the family’s name, number of adults and children, and any special requests. The most unusual order during my two hours of volunteering came from a family of nine. They didn’t want pork ‘n’ beans or peanut butter.
“If that’s what they want,” Pooser said, “that’s what we’ll give them.”
Or not give them, in this case.
And we did.
Badie’s challenge
Volunteering for a few hours at the Norcross Cooperative Ministry makes me want to do more, not just for this agency, but other community groups.
What about you?
Are you doing anything to uplift someone, to make this community better? If you are, tell me about it. If not, why not find an organization, or someone, and be an agent for change?
E-mail me at rbadie@ajc.com.
How you can help
The Norcross Cooperative Ministry doesn’t need volunteers, just everything else. Like financial donations, food supplies and toys. Especially toys. The agency, located at 2275 Mitchell Road, has a holiday list that includes more than 3,000 kids. Items that befit 7- to -12 year-old girls are a high priority, as well as gift cards for teens.
Here’s another way to help: Give a book.
Norcross-area schools, in conjunction with Re/Max Suburban Atlanta and Alpha Xi Delta sorority, are collecting new or gently used books through Dec. 20. Moreover, tax-deductible contributions to buy books for families the agency serves are being accepted at www.firstbook.org/norcross.
Donated books can be dropped off at numerous locations, including Kroger in the Centre Stage shopping center; the Publix stores in Peachtree Corners and Spalding Corners; Peachtree, Simpson and Stripling elementary schools; Norcross High; Pinckneyville Middle School; Curves of Norcross and Gwinnett Fire Station No. 4 on Spalding Drive.
For more information visit www.firstbook.org/atlantaalphaxidelta.
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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“Ol’ time rock-n-roll plays well at Annandale Village”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At Annandale Village, they like that ol’ time rock-n-roll.
You know the kind. It soothes the soul, makes you reminisce about whatever. Or maybe just makes you want to dance, which is what many of the residents at Annandale Village did Sunday during their annual holiday party.
The youth group from Northlake Church of Christ in Tucker hosted the event. They provided the snacks and served as the occasional dance partner for the villagers. And the Grin & Bear It Band, a Gwinnett-based charity group, provided the tunes.
“They know all our songs,” said lead guitarist Hal Zwicke, of Snellville. “We play here five times a year. We’re like their house band and we get a stage, something we typically don’t get to perform on.”
The four-piece band has performed for Annandale Village in Suwanee since 2001. Lori O’Donohoe, Northlake’s associate youth pastor, asked the group to play a holiday party. The band members and Annandale residents - who suffer from mild to moderate retardation, brain trauma or some other developmental disability - struck a chord. It’s been a party every since.
When I got there Sunday, the band was tuning up and the residents were arriving via van from their cottages. One of the residents wanted to know if I had any intentions of cutting a rug or holding up the wall. I told her I’d love to do the Electric Slide, but I had to work. She may have bought the excuse.
Several residents found me a curiosity. Some wanted to talk or shake my hand. Others kept safe distance. Those minutes of uncertainty, of trying to decide whether to say ‘hello’ or not say anything weren’t unnerving, just uncomfortable. Hannah McCord, 16, a member of the Northlake youth group, could relate.
“It’s neat,” she told me during a break in music. “But I feel bad when I don’t understand what the [residents] are saying. Sometimes I don’t understand what 2-year-olds are saying, either.”
For me, the occasional awkwardness provided a better sense of something that Sandra Weaver, the activities coordinator at Annandale, had told me about the Grin & Bear It Band, and what made them special.
“You don’t always find a band that fits,” said Weaver, who’s worked at Annandale nearly two decades. “With this band, the residents have really connected. They are comfortable and the band members are comfortable. The [band members] are great with the residents and they never charge us a fee, which is very unusual.
“And they just keep coming back.”
The band performs more than 30 shows a year, mainly for nursing homes and facilities like Annandale. The group slacks off during the holidays to spend time with family and because other groups - church choirs and school groups - are out and about performing for charity.
“We could play every week if we wanted to,” said Zwicke, the lead guitarist and band spokesperson. “We’re booked six weeks in advance. We are able to corral our talents together to help others. It’s inspiring.”
Very much so.
For more information about booking the Grin & Bear It Band, visit www.grinandbearitband.com.
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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“Little known pension could help veterans”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He sees it often in his line of work.
Elderly veterans in need of a care provider, but unfit financially to pay for it.
The U.S. government has a special program to benefit veterans. It’s called “Aid and Attendance,” a monthly pension benefit administered through the Department of Veteran Affairs.
Pete Ross, owner of a franchise that provides non-medical home care, comes across many veterans who could use the aid, but don’t know about it. Or don’t know how to apply.
“I don’t want to be critical of the Veterans Administration,” he said, “but whether they go the extra mile to get the information out or not, I don’t know.”
Online, I pulled up a year-old news release in which the VA acknowledged that this particular pension plan was “underused.” Jim Nicholson, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, said the agency was making a concerted effort to inform war-time veterans, and surviving spouses of deceased war-time veterans, about the assistance.
“Veterans have earned this benefit by their service to our nation,” he said in the release. “We want to ensure that every veteran or surviving spouse who qualifies has the chance to apply.”
Ross, of Suwanee, is doing his part, too.
He’s the director of operations for one of three Atlanta area ComForcare Senior Services franchises. His Norcross office covers Gwinnett and DeKalb counties. Locally, it serves 30 local clients - mostly elderly people, some veterans - who suffer from ailments or diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. They contract for a certified caregiver on an hourly basis at $16 an hour.
I know what some of you think. Ross wants to grease his palms, bolster business. He assured me he wasn’t, and reminded me that his isn’t the only game in town. The elderly have options - nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, hospice.
Besides, consider the greater good: Local veterans might get assistance that makes life a little easier. With the 66th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack days away, Ross thought now would be a good time to try and raise awareness.
Who’s eligible?
According to the VA, war-time veterans and surviving spouses who have in-home care or who live in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. The veteran must have served at least 90 days of active military service (one day of which must be during war time) and have an honorable discharge.
Ross has helped vets apply and get assistance. He said couples receive about $1,900 a month; surviving spouses get about $1,000 a month.
“It’s illegal to charge a vet to help with this application process,” he told me. “It takes about three months for approval and the recipient is reimbursed from the date of the application. “The ones who really benefit from this are in the low- to middle-income range. If you’re a vet who has worked all your life, you can benefit from this.”
And you deserve it.
For more information about the Aid and Attendance benefit, contact the Department of Veterans Affairs at 1-800-827-1000 or visit www.va.gov.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sunday, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail rbadie@ajc.com.
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