Some congregants at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation on Clairmont Road have been known to turn in a different direction when they see Joanna Snider heading their way.
But she hardly takes it personally. Starting her fourth year as leader of a chapter of Philoptochos, the national Greek women’s charitable society, Snider recounts with an utterly untroubled laugh, “They kind of run the other way when they see me coming. Because (they say), ‘You’re always asking for money!’ ”
In English, Philoptochos means “friend of the poor,” and Snider, 56, is passionate about her organization’s mission, particularly when the people she’s lending a hand are hungry.
She was nominated as a 2012 AJC Holiday Hero by Communities in Schools of Atlanta, the local affiliate of a national nonprofit dropout-prevention network that helps students overcome obstacles. During the recession, hunger grew as an issue for many metro students.
Snider and Philoptochos raised $5,000 to help pilot a Blessings in a Backpack program at Mary M. Bethune Elementary School in College Park. The Louisville, Ky.-based Blessings provides weekend nourishment to students on the federal free and reduced-price meal program, sending them home on Fridays with a backpack filled with easy-to-prepare foods such as tuna fish and ramen noodles.
A teacher who left the profession in 1986 to raise her two daughters, Snider said she became sensitive to hunger among students at her first school, in the 1970s in south DeKalb County.
“I was really shocked,” she recalled. “I had breakfast duty, and, just coming out of college, I hadn’t realized that (some) children went to school to have breakfast. I had children who came to class hungry, especially Monday morning.”
Fast-forward to late 2010, when the national Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society, based in New York, provided $10,000 to seed Blessings in a Backpack in Atlanta.
“Joanna was just immediately engaged,” Communities in Schools director of development and communications Amisha Harding said. “At the time we only had enough money to provide backpacks for about half of the children in (Bethune). And she said, ‘No, that can’t happen. If every kid needs a backpack full of food to make sure they eat over the weekend, then we need to raise money.’ ”
Soon they had collected $5,000, which Communities in Schools was able to leverage to obtain a corporate sponsor to cover the remaining costs of a $26,000 program that served all 325 students.
Philoptochos’ work on hunger continues elsewhere. The 220-member chapter has provided meals to the clients of New Hope Enterprises, a job-training program west of downtown, and to the homeless and poor at Saint John the Wonderworker Orthodox Church in Grant Park. Philoptochos also donates grocery cards and other support to members of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation and non-members referred by social service agencies.
Snider continues to assist Communities in Schools of Atlanta after the program was cut from the budgets of Atlanta city and DeKalb County schools this year, reducing its services from 70 locations to 11. Harding asked Snider to join its Community Advocacy Team, charged with helping the agency now reliant on private donations.
For the second year in a row, Snider asked Harding to identify a family in need to which Philoptochos could provide Christmas dinner ingredients and presents. The agency selected the clan of recent West End Performance Learning Center graduate Shanteria Brown, 18.
As she waited for Snider’s group to arrive one recent morning in the school’s media center, Shanteria, who is pregnant but still plans to pursue nursing studies next fall, and her mother, Sonja Duboise, acknowledged that the family of six had experienced meager Christmases in recent years.
When Snider wheeled in a cart filled with bags and boxes cheerily wrapped in Christmas paper, Duboise, 39, proclaimed, “I’m about to cry.”
Immediately, these suddenly close strangers were joined in a scrum of tears and hugs.
“I hope this helps you a little bit,” Snider whispered to Duboise.
“It will,” the mother of four replied softly. “I’ve taught my children to have faith. We have had tough times and we will make it through tough times.”
About the Author
