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Co-op has bare shelves but big hopes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The shelves are just about bare in the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry.
That’s good and bad.
Good because the ministry is doing what it is intended to do — give what it receives to those who need it. Good because the non-profit organization has climbed back almost to the level of service it offered two years ago, before it closed its doors at its Snellville Main Street location and struggled to find a new home.
Bad because in this tight economy, with high gas prices, slow development and people out of work, the needs are greater than the contributions.
The ministry needs food — any type of canned and boxed goods. It needs money to help people through tough times. And it needs volunteers.
But it has spirit. I could feel it when I talked to Dan Yoest, the president of the co-op’s board. It is obvious in the voice of the Rev. Matt Henning, the pastor of Community of Grace church, on whose property the co-op has put down stakes. And it is abundant in Laura Drake, the co-op’s newly hired director.
Drake, who started her new job July 31, comes from the Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministry, where she has been a volunteer for seven years, the last three of which she was president of the board. She became involved in that ministry through her church, First United Methodist Church of Lawrenceville. But she lives in Snellville and says her move to the Southeast Co-op was a calling.
Drake’s background is in the financial world — accounting. But she has been a stay-at-home mom while raising her 11-year-old son Austin and 5-year-old daughter Katie. Because Katie starts kindergarten this year, Drake was thinking about what she should do next. Then a neighbor mentioned the need for a director for the Southeast Co-op, which serves the Snellville, Grayson and Loganville areas.
“It kind of resonated with me,” said the 41-year-old Tucker native. “The timing is right, and it was like the Lord trained me at Lawrenceville.”
Yoest said the co-op had an impressive pool of applicants to choose from when the board selected Drake. He sees her as “an answer to a prayer.”
“Laura’s just excellent,” said Henning. “She has huge gifts in development and a real passion to expand the ministry.”
Drake succeeds former director Beth Moffat, who moved to South Carolina to be near family, Henning said. “The board will miss [Moffat]. She was very helpful in the transition period.”
Yoest, who has led the board since the co-op’s reopening in October on the grounds of the Lutheran church at 1200 Athens Highway (U.S. 78) in Grayson, said the ministry has come a long way since that time, when it had to “start from scratch.”
He said the co-op has been serving about 135 to 150 families (about 500 family members, most of whom are children) monthly — about 6,000 people a year.
“That’s about what we were doing when we shut down originally,” he said. “But here in the last month, it has jumped significantly,” he said.
The co-op helped 517 people in the first two weeks of August — about double recent levels.
“I’ve never seen it this busy,” Henning said. The people who come are the working poor. With the construction industry hit so hard, the ministry is now seeing not only workers, but small business owners, he said.
The co-op issued a desperate plea to all pastors in the area this week, soliciting more contributions.
Churches, which are vital to the ministry, have come back on board since the re-opening, Yoest said. About 25 give some type of financial support, as well as food. About 10 others give food. But churches are seeing their revenues go down, too, he said.
Yoest is optimistic, however, that the community, and the co-op, will rise to the needs.
Drake says if every member of the churches who now support the cooperative gave one can of food per week and $1 per month, the co-op could serve the community “in a mighty way.” She also envisions a future in which support comes not only from churches, but from tennis teams, bridge clubs and individuals.
In addition to looking to the future, Drake takes the co-op’s mission one day at a time. So far it has worked, she said, giving the credit to her daily prayers and God’s help.
When 33 clients showed up for help on Monday and there were only a few food items on the shelves, Drake was concerned. But at the end of the day, they were able to serve everyone. Only a handful of the clients had needed food, she said. “It was amazing.”
Drake, who says her top priority is to help those in need and not turn anyone away, has other goals for the co-op, too — ones that involve its location, space, work flow and mission — which she discusses with no small amount of enthusiasm and passion.
“This is not just a job for me. I believe it is why I am on this earth at this time.”
Henning said the co-op probably needs to be 2 1/2 times larger in the volume of food and finances it can provide. He is confident Drake has the gifts to make that happen.
“If you wrote out a job description for the role of director, Laura would be that person.”
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Crematory plans upset homeowners
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. 78 in Snellville is home to all sorts of operations. There are churches, fast-food restaurants, offices, used car dealerships, pharmacies and gas stations.
But news of a crematory that will face the highway but back up to an established neighborhood has upset homeowners and seemed to catch the city unaware.
Cremation Society of the South, which has locations in Marietta and Stockbridge, plans to open a crematory at the corner of U.S. 78 and Abington Drive in Snellville.
Renovations are under way at the building there - a basic brick ranch that was once a residence but now is zoned for offices and professional use.
I live not far from there and often pass that way on morning walks. Until this week, however, I didn’t realize the issue that was brewing.
Homeowners who live in Abington Park, one of Snellville’s earliest major neighborhoods, have been distributing flyers and talking, trying to get the word out.
But there is no rezoning to oppose, no variance to fight. The city’s zoning laws allow crematories in areas designated for office and professional, said Jason Thompson, Snellville’s city planner.
Not that city officials expected that to happen.
“Who would have figured they would put a crematorium at a location like that, right on a major highway,” said Snellville Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer.
Concerns over the issue will likely lead the city council to review the zoning ordinance that allowed it, he said.
That will not change what is occurring now, however.
Chris Nuzum, president of Cremation Society of the South, said he feels he is offering a service to the community and wants to be a good neighbor. He said he chose Snellville because it is east of I-285 and toward Athens. He verified the zoning before he started the project. And he is willing to work with nearby homeowners to address their concerns.
“I’ve told them, ‘Tell me what I can do other than leave, and we will do it,” he said. If they want more landscaping, if they want to meet and find out more about the operation, if they want a fence - he’s open to their suggestions. “I just want to do everything I can.”
“We’re not Wal-mart,” Nuzum said. “We are not going to bring in a tremendous amount of traffic.”
No public gatherings will be held at the location, he said, although visits by family members may occur.
Nuzum said he has spent $250,000 renovating and adapting the building and grounds. He has put in hardwood floors and carpeting and more.
But it was the large heat exhaust pipe coming out of the roof that caught most homeowners’ attention.
Bruce Maney and his wife Charlie live in the house directly behind the crematory. Their back yard adjoins the back yard of the site. The Maneys have lived in their home more than 30 years and their house is paid for.
They say they don’t have a problem with Nuzum and realize that he is a businessman. “But I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind thinking that this would be considered in the best interest” of the community, Bruce Maney said.
The operation is on a lot that is less than a half acre (.42 acres) Maney said, and is bordered by residences behind.
Across the highway is a gated community where children line up daily during the school year to catch the school bus. The driveway to the building, where deliveries would occur, is on a street that is largely residential.
“We just never dreamed that something like this would happen,” Bruce Maney said. “We never imagined not wanting to sit out in our back yard.”
Nuzum said the operation would not produce smoke or fumes. The technology is such that only heat is released. He is planning to screen the exhaust pipe so that it appears more like a traditional chimney. He also has installed fire suppression systems and other upgrades that are not required, he said.
He thinks the issue is more that the operation is called a crematory or crematorium, rather than any real impact the operation will have on the area.
“There are some people who see crematories and funeral homes as reverent facilities because they house loved ones,” he said.
Homeowners I have talked to, however, would feel more reverent about it from afar.
Some in the neighborhood have distributed flyers, Maney said. Some have contacted the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, which must issue a license before the crematorium can be operated, hoping for assistance there.
Matt Carrothers, director of media relations for the Secretary of State’s office said in issuing a license, the state board performs an inspection to make sure that the operation meets state regulations, but “The Board’s rules and regulations address items that must be in the crematory, not issues specific to the neighborhoods. The Board will not get involved in local zoning issues,” Carrothers said.
Snellville’s zoning laws regarding crematories do not carry some of the restrictions that other governments’ laws do. For example, in Suwanee, crematories are not an allowed use listed under zoning laws. They require a special use permit, said Josh Campbell, Suwanee city planner, which means specific approval by city leaders.
In Lawrenceville, crematories are listed in zoning laws three times. In one case they are prohibited from being in the downtown overlay district, said city planning director Brad Leonard. In the other two cases they would only be allowed with special approval by the city.
Because Snellville’s zoning laws allowed the usage, no special approval by the city was required.
Snellville Councilman Robert Jenkins said the city of Snellville cannot restrict a use if the zoning allows it. If it does, the city can be taken to court.
Jenkins, who owns a home within blocks of the site, said he hasn’t heard from many homeowners concerned about the project.
“I suspect that the more people find out about it, there will be more discussion.”
Nuzum expects the crematory to begin operating in August.
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A toll for Ronald Reagan Parkway extension?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Most mornings and evenings, Monday through Friday, you can find me driving Ronald Reagan Parkway. Living in Snellville and working off Jimmy Carter Boulevard, I’ve found it the best route for my commute.
I’m not alone, of course. At last check, the parkway was traveled by 27,000 to 45,000 vehicles a day, depending on the location. It can get pretty crowded - even backed up at times like Monday morning when one lane was closed for median maintenance. Ronald Reagan Parkway doesn’t take me all the way to my office. I follow it to its end at Pleasant Hill Road (or sometimes get off at Lawrenceville Highway) and then zig-zag my way to work.
So, news that the county is interested in finding a private contractor who would extend the road to I-85 caught my attention. The idea is that the contractor would take on the project and then charge tolls on the new section to cover expenses and provide a profit.
Contractors have until Aug. 11 to submit proposals.
When Ronald Reagan Parkway was built, it was meant to fill the need for a cross-county connector. Gwinnett County had plenty of corridors that radiated from the Perimeter out, but few multi-lane roads crossing those corridors.
Ronald Reagan Parkway also was an important route to ease travel from Snellville to the Gwinnett Place Mall area.
The road was originally planned to extend from Snellville to I-85. It didn’t make it that far, delivering its traffic to Pleasant Hill instead.
Even without that last leg, the project cost about $44 million. It opened 14 years ago.
The project was a tough one. It ran into opposition all along the way. There were owners of homes in the path who opposed the route, environmentalists concerned about potential damage to wetlands and rare plants and others concerned about an historic home and an old quartz quarry used by Native Americans to make arrowheads.
The county dug up 200 orchid lady-slippers and donated them to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Plans were altered to protect wetlands, and historical artifacts were rescued, documented and donated.
Although those concerns were resolved, there was additional controversy when a newly elected county commissioner served as the real estate agent for a landowner along one proposed path for the last stretch to I-85.
Eventually, the plans for the last leg were set aside and have never been picked back up. Transportation priorities changed. And the last stretch would have cost about $81 million about 12 years ago. The price would be even more now.
Thus the interest in a public-private partnership, one of the first — if not the first — proposed by a county in Georgia.
Will demand support it?
I don’t know.
While I think the road should connect with I-85, I’m not sure if I would be willing to pay a toll for the extra length to the interstate.
It would depend on how much time and traffic the extension would shave from my commute. How much the toll would cost. How backed up I-85 would be once I got there.
Lots of questions.
I’ll be interested in hearing the answers.
What do you think about a public-private partnership to extend Ronald Reagan Parkway? Would you be willing to pay a toll for the last leg of the road?
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How do you keep kids reading in summer?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Happy summer! Stay safe and READ!!!” the school sign said.
I wondered how many would do that.
Not stay safe.
How many will read?
Summer reading programs have around as long as I remember. I recall walking to my elementary school library, a quiet and cool oasis, the two window air-conditioning units humming. We’d spend an hour picking out and stacking up our selections.
At home, we’d methodically work through them, logging them on the small, folded, paper sheets that would earn us recognition, if nothing else, when school resumed.
Today there are so many other attractions - and distractions - for kids. How many spend time lying around with books?
According to Denise Auger, community partnership coordinator for the Gwinnett County Public Library, 20,842 children - including teens - signed up for Gwinnett’s summer reading program in 2007.
The program has grown each year — some of that paralleling Gwinnett County’s population growth and the expansion of the library system. The number of library cards issued by Gwinnett is up 60 percent since 2000.
Gwinnett’s system has worked to accommodate and attract summer users, Auger said.
Among its efforts, the library allows online sign up for the summer reading program. Visit Gwinnett Public Library site. It offers separate programs for the preschool ages grade school ages, but offers them simultaneously to help out mothers who may have children in both ranges. Storytellers, puppet shows and a magician are among this year’s scheduled attractions at branches.
Because day care centers - due to liability issues and car seat rules - have cut back on outings to the libraries, the library is sending outreach staff to the day care centers. This year, libraries have added evening programs to better accommodate working parents and working teens.
Sessions directly targeting teens - including one where you learn to apply theatrical makeup — have been added, Auger said. It’s a fun activity that draws teens in and then can be connected back to literature, she said.
The library system also has garnered $285,000 in prizes and sponsorships from local businesses, some given to kids when they sign up and others reserved for those who complete the program and turn their reading logs back into the library. The prizes range from Chick-fil-A and Cici’s Pizza certificates to free passes to local museums and arts centers.
While it’s true there are other interests for kids nowadays, Auger said, and the library has to work “a little harder,” she doesn’t really see those other interests as competition. There is nothing like the summer reading program — it is right in the community, and it is all “absolutely free,” she said.
When my kids were young, we would sign up each summer. We’d start off strong. After a few weeks, however, summer trips, vacation Bible school and other activities would interrupt the effort. Sometimes we would get back on track and turn in the completed logs. Sometimes not.
About 16 percent of the kids who signed up last year turned in their reading lists at the end of the summer, Auger said.
“That doesn’t mean others didn’t complete the program,” she said. Mothers often find it difficult to get back and turn in the paperwork, she said.
This year, they are hoping the prizes will motivate more to do so.
Reading in the summer is more than just an inexpensive pastime. Multiple studies support the importance of reading to student performance. Check out a few
In one, researcher Barbara Heyns followed sixth- and seventh-graders in the Atlanta public schools through two school years and the intervening summer.
Among her findings:
• The number of books read during the summer is consistently related to academic gains.
• Children in every income group who read six or more books over the summer gained more in reading achievement than children who did not.
Do (or did) your children participate in summer reading programs? What’s been your experience? How do you encourage summer reading?
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Summer job horror stories?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s about time for some good old-fashioned horror stories.
Yep. The kids are out of school, the video games are going full blast, and you may have already heard the first whisper of “I’m bored.”
It’s time to pull out your collection of frightening summer job stories.
Everybody has at least one.
Maybe you picked up road kill off the south Georgia highways.
Maybe you cleaned bathrooms at Slumpy’s Bar.
Or maybe you worked for a political campaign.
Bring it out, shake off the cobwebs and watch the young eyes widen with every grotesque — and exaggerated — detail.
The best ones come from before the proliferation of fast-food restaurants — when teen jobs were more likely in dark stockrooms or mosquito-laden fields than at a drive-through speaker.
But even younger parents can play, because the real horror is in the telling.
My husband’s favorites are about his stints as a hotel maintenance worker in San Antonio, as a restaurant janitor in Ohio and as a stockroom worker at a Valdosta discount store.
My contributions are tales of cutting grass for the estates of the dearly departed (using push mowers and a machete), being a switchboard operator (remember Lily Tomlin’s “one ringy-dingy” in “Laugh-in), or serving as mobile librarian on a “Bookmobile” in rural Georgia. Some days I saw only the driver.
If your worst summer job was as lifeguard at the country club or Banana Boat girl at a beach resort, you have your work cut out for you.
Be careful not to overdo, however. Soon - far too soon - children reach the age where you want them to get a job. Pour on just enough to move them outside for sunshine and fireflies. Don’t warp their little brains. You don’t want them too picky.
Good summer jobs are elusive in the best of times. This year’s slumping economy has tightened the supply.
Sam Hall, director of communication for the Georgia Department of Labor, said experienced adult workers who have lost jobs in manufacturing, construction or financing may be competing for the seasonal positions teens often fill, many of which are in the leisure, retail or hospitality business. The rising cost of gasoline and its impact on disposable income could also affect how many seasonal positions are offered this summer, Hall said.
Here in Snellville, the city parks and recreation department has seen an increase in adults inquiring about seasonal jobs. The department’s summer jobs have long been filled, though, most by college students returning from last summer, said Cyndee Bonacci, parks and recreation director.
Complicating a summer job search is the already congested schedules of many of today’s teens. Fitting a job around high school sports or band practices, Scout camps, driver’s education and other obligations isn’t easy.
They should persevere, however. Think of all that is learned in those first days of employment:
• the importance of a strong work ethic, punctuality and social skills.
• the importance of a paycheck.
• the realization that work is — well — work.
• the realization that not all bosses are created equal.
• the realization that some bosses are not created at all; they are the result of scientific experiments gone bad.
After all, kids need fodder for their own summer job horror stories.
What’s your most memorable summer job story? What did you learn?
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