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TODAY'S ISSUE
Volunteers needed for Gwinnett's
Third Annual "Great Day of Service"
By Wendy Willis
Special to GwinnettForum.com

OCT. 18, 2002 -- On Friday, October 25th, the Gwinnett Coalition for Health & Human Services will host Gwinnett's third annual "Great Day of Service." Designed to gain community awareness for the Gwinnett Coalition and the many agencies and organizations the Coalition represents and supports, the event engages volunteers to work hands-on to make a difference in the community.

The goal is to strengthen Gwinnett by completing defined projects, educating citizens about the needs around them, forming new, lasting partnerships and providing a better community in which to live.

Volunteers are needed to staff 144 projects for 53 social service agencies, schools, and parks that are in need of a "helping hand." Numerous corporate and civic teams, as well as individuals, have already rallied in the effort, but more are needed. The Great Day of Service website, www.gwinnettgreatdayofservice.org, details the specifics of the event, features all agencies and descriptions of their projects, and allows on-line registration.

This day of community service will begin at 7:30 a.m. with a breakfast at the Atlanta Marriott-Gwinnett Place in Duluth, featuring Ann Cramer, community relations director, at IBM as keynote speaker. Corporate sponsors of the kick-off breakfast are: Georgia Power, Scientific-Atlanta, Avon, Community Foundation for NE Georgia, Nordson Foundation, Primerica, Waffle House, Discover Mills, People's Bank & Trust, Emory Eastside Medical Center, Gwinnett Daily Post, Technology Park/Atlanta, Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Gwinnett Extra, Advanced Computing Technologies, Inc., Proof of the Pudding and Chapter 11 Bookstores.

Following the breakfast, volunteer teams will go out into the community to assist with landscaping and painting projects, neighborhood education, food collection & sorting, playground refurbishment, blood drives, and much more. That afternoon, the volunteers will gather as a group again at the Hudgens Center for the Arts in Duluth at 3 p.m. to celebrate their hard work and accomplishments and be recognized for the difference they have made in Gwinnett County.

Just a vision for the Gwinnett Coalition for Health & Human Services three years ago, the "Great Day of Service" was created in the spirit of Gwinnett's slogan Š Success Lives Here.

Paige Havens, community relations & development director for the Gwinnett University Center, and chair of this effort explains, "The successes in Gwinnett are ever abundant, but there are significant needs in our community that are often overlooked. Many people in our community want to serve, but have no idea how to engage. This 'Great Day of Service' allows us as a community to set aside one day to come together, become inspired and to work side-by-side to address specific needs and complete defined projects. This event facilitates educating citizens and community leaders about the needs around them and actively engages them to serve those in need."

Ellen Gerstein, executive director of the Gwinnett Coalition for Health & Human Services states, "This has become an annual day of coming together. We are proud to have more than doubled the number of agencies we will serve through volunteer assistance. We are tremendously grateful for the support we have seen from the Gwinnett community. This is truly history in the making for Gwinnett County and is sure to be a model for other communities in years to come."
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ELLIOTT BRACK
Small Kentucky college prepares students
for life after graduation and for service
By Elliott Brack
editor and publisher
GwinnettForum.com

OCT. 18, 2002 -- As Gwinnett plans its Great Day of Service next week, we were at a college the other day that prepares its students by example for just that service.

It's Cumberland College in Williamsburg, Ky., just across the Tennessee line on Interstate 75. It's a liberal arts college with about 1,600 students, and is supported by the Kentucky Baptists. People in this part of Kentucky are by nature, a resident tells us, "Republicans first, and Baptists second."

The name is a good one, since the school is near Cumberland Falls, the Cumberland River and Cumberland Gap!

Cumberland College was founded in 1889 not just to serve the Appalachian area, says President Dr. Jim Taylor, but the state and nation, too. It counts among its graduates two former governors, a Congressman, five generals, an admiral, and numerous judges, doctors, missionaries and teachers.

Since Dr. Taylor came to the college in 1980, the school has taken off. The endowment has soared from $4 million to $50 million today. Meanwhile, new buildings have gone up, creating quite a beautiful campus. Among its major donors are names Atlantans will recognize, including Rollins, Fuqua, and Cathy. Kennesaw's Betty Siegel is a graduate. The College is the largest private employer in the town.

What makes the college stand out is that when its students graduate, the school keeps not only an academic transcript of their activity while there, but a verified service transcript, too. You see, all the students at Cumberland must perform some type of work or service, a minimum of 40 hours before graduation.

Dawn Warmoth, coordinator of leadership and community service, says many put in much more than 40 hours. "One third have at least 100 hours of service, and five per cent go over 500 hours."

Students may perform their service in the dining hall, on the grounds crew, in helping tutor, work in outreach programs, in their church or at other non-profits. Among the services of the college is a student-operated clothing warehouse, outfitting over the years some 8,500 families.

The students also build houses, somewhat like Habitat for Humanity. Dr. Taylor tells me that in all, students at the college have built 107 houses for residents of the area.

Once finished, "Students interview the applicants, and make their selection of who get to buy the house. We always have 200-300 families seeking our houses. We fit the payment to the family earnings. The only stipulation is that if the family moves, they must re-sell to the college, and we offer the house to others," says Dr. Taylor.

After their service, the students must write a paper about their experience. They get no academic credit for this service, as Dr. Taylor says, "For we look upon it as their contribution to the community." In effect, as Dr. Taylor explains, prospective employers want to look at this "second transcript," to get an idea of what their prospective employee is like.

Ms. Warmoth says "If you have two students with equal grades and personality, and then one has a service transcript, unless the student bombs the interview, usually the one with the service transcript gets the job."

What is unsaid by Dr.Taylor is that such experience prepares the graduates for volunteering later in life.

This idea is a tremendous way to train college students for what industry seeksŠ.people who go beyond just doing their job, and become real workers, leaders, in their communities.

That's Cumberland College, which many of us in Gwinnett have not heard a lot about, but outlines a wonderful way to prepare its students for life in community service after graduation.Back to top

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No fun for your Web site to be zapped!

If you tried to access the internet version of Gwinnettforum on Tuesday, October 15, you may have encountered problems. Somehow, a hacker got into the web server, and suddenly, when you tried to log onto www.gwinnettforum.com, you got a black screen telling you that the system had been hacked.

After being down a few hours, the service was soon restored. We apologize if any of you had problems accessing the site.

By the way, we always like to point out that not only the current Forum is available to you on the web, but also the Archives button will allow you to go to all the previously published materials. It's an amazing feature of the Forum, available to you without cost. Some publishers charge for the archived information, but not here at Gwinnettforum. Here's an additional feature: you can also search the site for topics that might be of interest to you.

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FEEDBACK:
10/18: Thinks article on Andy Miller a real gem

Editor, the Forum:

That was a great article about Andy Miller. I really appreciate your newsletter, but that article is a real gem.

-- Rob Coopman, Lawrenceville Back to top

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
About thoughts you get sometimes in church

"Some people are kind, polite, and sweet-spirited until you try to sit in their pews."

-- From Victor Nickelson, Dacula. Back to top

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