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DEL.ICIO.USCo-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.”
Permalink | Comments (20) | Post your comment | Categories: Susan Gast
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Comments
By Mark
August 14, 2008 1:02 PM | Link to this
Great subject, but I wonder if it will take as long to write another. The last one was posted for almost a month.
By Poste Haste
August 15, 2008 11:02 AM | Link to this
Venus in Beijing: Ode to Nastia
Oh, she slipped the surly bonds of earth, (turned cartwheels ‘cross the floo-or), and flung her eager task through footless falls of air. She danced on a lark, and did a hundred things we’ve never dreamed of. She wheeled, soared and swung high on bars in silent gasps. Arched and alone, she dangled dreams amidst the tumbling mirth, and, with delerious pace, struck the chord of freedom’s easy grace.
Venus in Beijing, Mona Lisa with a ponytail. A TEENage godess from above, and she belongs…to we.
By Mark
August 15, 2008 1:58 PM | Link to this
Poste Haste
Step away from the crack pipe…….
By what?
August 15, 2008 2:14 PM | Link to this
Poste Haste, what is wrong with you?
By Mark
August 15, 2008 3:50 PM | Link to this
Susan, you write one blog a month, and then censor them? I wrote nothing worth censoring. Funny, all of a sudden you care about one of your blogs.
By Darla
August 15, 2008 5:06 PM | Link to this
I have a page about the Co-op. I created it when I found that the Co-op didn’t have any web-presence, and I wanted to help spread the word.
I would appreciate it if Ms. Drake or anyone from the Co-op could contact me with ongoing updates of the Southeast Gwinnett Co-op’s donation needs.
Southeastern Gwinnett Co-op Page on Squidoo
I also have a Snellville blog where I would love to continue helping spread the word about donations needed.
By Susan Gast
August 15, 2008 11:58 PM | Link to this
Mark, Not sure what you meant about censoring. Haven’t deleted any of your comments.
Susan
By Darla
August 16, 2008 10:49 AM | Link to this
I think that the AJC system censors them, that’s why there is a “delay of up to 5 minutes before your comment appears.”
As to how often Susan blogs, or how much you feel she cares about her blog, as long as Susan’s supervisor at the AJC is happy with her work, that’s really all that matters.
Mark, you should consider writing your own blog, because you care about local news and issues. It’s pretty fun. You can get free blog sites at Blogspot.com
By wde
August 17, 2008 10:42 AM | Link to this
The Coop is such a great thing. I’ll try to up my donations but it is hard with the economy and rising food prices. Great blog, Susan.
And Mark, why don’t you go ruin someone else’s day?
By Poste Haste
August 17, 2008 11:16 AM | Link to this
Glad you loved the material, Mark. Feel free to steal. Then folks’ll think that YOU’RE the poetic genius instead of the pole-pleasin’, gobble-lipped cheek bulge your face truly is.
bwa
moron
Ode to Bill Murray: He slipped the surly bonds of earth and flew through the tumbling mirth. Downward, downward, ever downward his spirits lifted as he pulled the chord of anti-gravity and alit on the blades of alitness.
what a fall guy.
By Mark
August 17, 2008 9:08 PM | Link to this
Poste Haste
You’re no poet, crackhead. And you’ve obviously mislabeled the moron. Smoking that stuff will affect a small mind that way……
By Poste Haste
August 19, 2008 1:09 PM | Link to this
Well.
By Mark
August 25, 2008 3:48 PM | Link to this
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
By James A Bryant
August 25, 2008 5:40 PM | Link to this
Laura Drake is a saint of God; I am disabled living in Snellville, Ga. I was in need of financial help & food for my family. Mrs. Drake not only help with the payment of the bill and provided food for us, but she reached out to me in prayer. I was really feeling down that day. The prayer that she prayed uplifted me. Thank god for a caring women…
By Butt Geyser
September 1, 2008 4:21 PM | Link to this
A: Sarah Palin, Bristol Palin, and John McCain
Q: Name two hockey moms and a puck
By what?
September 2, 2008 1:52 PM | Link to this
Is this blog ever going to change, or is this permanent??
By Goose Bumps
September 7, 2008 10:18 AM | Link to this
Dont forget to support your local food drives with whatever you can afford. You’ll feel better and it really makes a difference.
By Cindy
October 18, 2008 8:08 PM | Link to this
2 months, same blog…
By ej
November 4, 2008 7:51 AM | Link to this
I guess Susan doesn’t work for the AJC anymore, emails sent to her come back as undeliverable. Too bad, I enjoyed this blog. Sign of the times.
By Cindy
November 6, 2008 10:16 PM | Link to this
The Duluth blog seems to be abandoned too.