At first glance, it may have looked like a block party, but Central Avenue was shut down in front of Fulton County Courthouse Saturday morning for a better reason — to provide aid to those in need.
The event, which was put on by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office and the F.C.S.O. Chaplaincy Program, provided items such as clothes, toiletries, shoes, a hot meal and even a DJ to homeless men and women.
It was the fourth time the event had taken place. Brenda Clemons, the F.C.S.O. community outreach coordinator, has been a part of all four and was happier with this year’s event than any other.
“It’s important to Sheriff (Theodore) Jackson that homelessness is not a crime,” she said. “We have so many homeless population in our jail that he wanted to give back.”
Those in attendance moved through stations receiving crucial items and stopping in between to dance to Outkast. Items included necessities such as soap, washcloths, towels, toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, combs, brushes, deodorant, nail clippers, hand sanitizer, feminine products, shaving cream, razors, mouthwash, petroleum jelly, cotton swabs, lotion, tissue, bandages, and much more.
All of the items distributed during the event were collected by the sheriff’s department and its chaplaincy program through donations from Fulton County employees.
Officials said they hoped to serve 1,000 people at the four-hour event Saturday. That would be the largest crowd in the four years of the event.
A census last year counted 6,664 people in shelters, transitional housing or living on the street in DeKalb and Fulton counties, said spokeswoman Tracy Flanagan.
“The numbers are increasing, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, because we want our homeless population to decrease,” Clemons said. “But the fact that they know that we’re doing it and they know that law enforcement is doing something other than locking them up (is good).”
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