When Terri Vish learned about Atlanta’s Centers of Hope, she was transported back to her childhood in Louisville, Ky. She was reminded of the time when the community rallied around her mother, who as a child, was diagnosed with polio.
“The community was really there for my mom, and I want to pay it forward to other kids the way my mother was helped,” said Vish, Northeast district manager for Starbucks Coffee Company.
On April 28, Vish organized more than 300 volunteers to help renovate Pittman Recreation Center and Anderson Park, two of the 16 Centers of Hope in Atlanta. The day of service was a part of Starbucks’ Second Annual Global Month of Service.
“I knew I wanted to give back to Atlanta’s poorer communities because that is where we need a presence,” said Vish. “When I learned about Centers of Hope, it made sense to get involved with them to create a safe place for children.”
The recreation centers were built in the 1980s, and have been reopening under Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration.
In addition to cleaning and renovating the Centers of Hope, the Atlanta Silverbacks and Kids and Pros provided free soccer and football clinics to the youth. “There is big need for these recreation centers so our kids do not take to the streets after school and in the summer,” said Buddy Curry, former Atlanta Falcons linebacker and coach for Kids and Pros. Kids and Pros hosts football clinics and summer camps for underserved youth and links kids with athletes to set examples of overcoming adversity.
The vision of Centers of Hope is to provide safe, structured spaces during out-of-school hours where young people can bolster their academic and technology skills, engage in robust physical activities and develop character-building traits to become productive citizens. The centers serve more than 1,000 children in the after-school programs.
“When we reopened the Adamsville and Thomasville centers in 2011, we started serving over 300 children a day. Before then, only 70 children used to participate in these two centers,” Reed’s Chief Service Officer Amy Phuong said. “With partners like Starbucks, we can bring these resources to better our communities.”
The Starbucks’ Global Month of Service is an initiative where store partners lead community service projects focused on the individual needs of the neighborhoods where they live and work. In 2011, over 60,000 volunteers completed over 1,400 community service projects across 30 countries.
In Other News: Allstate agency owners David Borenstein, Wayne E. Copper, and Trevor Roseberry received the 2012 Agency Hands in the Community Award. In addition to the award, a $1,000 grant was awarded to Susan G. Komen Foundation, First Tee of Atlanta, and Cameron Foundation, where the agents volunteer, respectively.
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