TODAY'S ISSUE: Atlanta Becomes Seventh Center for Local Food Bank
ELLIOTT BRACK: Gwinnett Grew Because of Tough Decisions by Past Boards
FEEDBACK: What? Life Savers Keep Pineapple as a Favored Flavor?
NOTEWORTHY: Brookwood Grad Wins Scholarship to U. of Virginia
TODAY'S QUOTE: For Perception, Even Daniel Webster Knew Its Importance

"Since the world is governed more by perception than by reality, it is fully as important to seem to know something as to know it."

-- Daniel Webster, via Bob Wilkerson, Norcross.

Lifesavers had a vote on changing flavors years ago. Recently we read a story on the changes! Lemon, lime and orange are out. Pineapple and cherry stay and are joined by watermelon, raspberry and blackberry.

Who makes those decisions? Nobody likes pineapple and never did.

-- Susan Shenefield, Lilburn

TODAY'S ISSUE
Food bank, Publix team up to feed the hungry in Georgia
Special to GwinnettForum.com

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga., Dec. 16, 2003 - Although the holiday season brings in half of the Atlanta Community Food Bank’s total revenue - the Food Bank faces the tough challenge of creating a new way to feed Georgia families during the rest of the year when donations are few.

To meet this challenge, the Atlanta Community Food Bank is partnering with Publix Super Markets to open the nation’s seventh for-profit Reclamation Center affiliated with a food bank. Due to a rising need for food assistance and a decrease in donations in the past year, the partnership was created as an innovative and unique long-term solution and is estimated to provide the Food Bank with significant future revenue and up to one million pounds of food annually.

"The Atlanta Community Food Bank is very excited about building a business model that creates a win-win partnership for the Atlanta Food Bank and Publix Super Markets," says Atlanta Community Food Bank Executive Director Bill Bolling. "It is our hope that this initiative will help feed more hungry families in a very critical time of need."

The Reclamation Center will recycle a percentage of unsaleable items from Publix Super Markets around the state. A per-scan reimbursement from Publix will cover costs and generate a profit for the Food Bank.

Products donated through the project will benefit over 700 community-based feeding organizations in metro Atlanta and north Georgia being served by the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

How It Works

The Atlanta Community Food Bank retrieves roducts from the Publix Distribution Center in Lawrenceville where stores in Georgia have returned unsaleable items. Once in the Food Bank’s warehouse, each product item is scanned and sorted. A pre-set code lets the scanner know if the items will be donated to the Food Bank or held for pick up by the products’ manufacturers.

Publix has contracted with the Atlanta Community Food Bank for an initial three-year period and pays a set fee for each scanned item. That revenue covers the basic costs of running the Reclamation Center and, after extra start-up expenses are covered, will generate some additional funds that will go back into the Food Bank’s general operating budget.

The success of a similar contract with the Daily Bread Food Bank in Miami and the growing costs of shipping Georgia’s unsaleables to their own Reclamation Center in Lakeland, Florida had encouraged Publix to propose this new partnership. There are only seven other reclamation centers affiliated with food banks in the entire country. The others are in Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Florida.

Atlanta Community Food Bank

Created in 1979, the Atlanta Community Food Bank annually distributes over 14 million pounds of food to over 700 community-based feeding organizations in metro Atlanta and north Georgia. In addition to food distribution, the Food Bank leads seven distinct community-building projects: Atlanta's Table, Community Garden Initiative, Hunger 101, Hunger Walk/Run, Kids in Need, Product Rescue Center and the Atlanta Collaborative Kitchen (TACK).

Publix Super Markets

Publix is owned and operated by its 121,500 employees, with 2002 sales of $15.9 billion. Currently Publix has 787 stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. The company has been named one of Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For in America" for six consecutive years. In addition, Publix's dedication to superior quality and customer service is recognized as tops in the grocery business, most recently by an American Customer Satisfaction Index survey. For more information, visit the company's Web site, www.publix.com.

The opening of a new food reclamation center in Lawrenceville will feed 700 metro Atlanta and North Georgia feeding organizations which are supplied by the Food Bank. Each year the Atlanta Food Bank distributes over 14 million pounds of food. And while the holiday season provides a much-needed boost, this year there has been an overall decrease in donations, making projects like the reclamation center necessary for the Food Bank to sustain itself the remainder of the year..

ELLIOTT BRACK
Tough decisions by former commissions reap plaudits today
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com

(Second of two articles. The first appeared on December 12.)

DEC. 16, 2003 -- Gwinnett has prospered with a relatively good and growing reputation in the Metro Atlanta community. Why? Friday we addressed one aspect, forward-looking leaders seeing infrastructure needs, especially roads, and getting the roads built and paved in advance of the anticipated growth.

A second aspect of providing infrastructure for the anticipated growth is the absolute requirement of having water available.

The Gwinnett Commission, over several years with entirely different people being in office, saw long-term needs, and took the sometimes painful steps that were not necessarily popular that ensured the good growth.

First came pledging beer-and-wine revenues in 1961 to prop up the water and sewer system, through fire hydrant rental system. This was made by a three man commission of Uhland Freeman, Dr. W.A. Elinburg and Minor Corley, who rotated the chairmanship back then.

The commission got legislation changed in the 1973 session of the General Assembly centered around the financial requirements of the county bonds. Essentially it allowed the county to back its water-sewer bonds with a 1.0 revenue formula coverage, instead of a 1.4 times coverage, and at the same time keep its financial health intact with the rating bureaus..

Meanwhile, the county was working to keep up with the growth, by improving the water delivery lines. It put in a 36 inch line toward Norcross, then a 30 inch line down Indian Trail Road toward Snellville. But that was not enough.

Wayne Shackelford, who was the executive assistant to the county commissioners back then, remembers this period in 1974: "Great areas of the county were out of water during peak hours every night. It was a major emergency, as the lower end of the county in the fast-growing Mountain Park and Snellville areas was running out of water most afternoons."

The problem was pretty simple: by the end of most days, all the water in the pipeline had been called on by the users, and those near the end of the line, were out of water. Essentially, the county did not have enough capacity in pipes or water tanks to deliver water needed. Home buying virtually stopped in the south end of the county, as residents of the area rented motel rooms along I-285 just to take baths.

It was a tremendous problem, as big to Gwinnett then as the current sewer problem may soon become to Atlanta.

What the commission did was to take a forward-thinking step: install a 48 inch water line all around the county, giving customers water pressure from two directions. Shackelford says: "A lot of relief came with that line, but not nearly all the relief needed. But it was a turning point in coming to qrips with awesome growth that had come, particularly in the Mountain Park area."

A few years earlier, the commission had originally bit the bullet when it came to water rates, by raising the price of water so that the county adequately covered its bond service debt with enough revenue to make bond-holders feel comfortable. Many people howled at the increased rates, but the commission faced the problem head-on, and took the action needed.

Yet what is so important to understand was that the commission made these long-range decisions in the face of the eastern and northern half the county not being developed.

Today those decisions of 1975 are still paying off for Gwinnett County. The concentrated development that is coming to upper areas of Gwinnett now, along the 1-985, I-85 and Highway 316 areas, have the imbedded water service that is essential for growth. Think of the howl that would be going up in these areas if, like in Snellville in 1974, there was no water pressure each night after 4 p.m.

Shackelford sums it up: "The key is that responsible elected officials always faced up to reality, and continue to do so right up to current days. There have been continual increases in rates to meet the obligations, and therefore Gwinnett does not have devastation of trying to catch up from many years of inadequate stewardship.

EMAIL PROBLEMS: Some of you have had difficulty in contacting me via email lately. WE have had server problems. An alternate address is ebrack2@bellsouth.net. We are still working on solving our server problems.---Elliott Brack

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