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TODAY'S
ISSUE
When
70,000 get together, you can bet something happens
By Rachael Holder
Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services
Special to GwinnettForum.com
AUG. 29, 2006 -- For one weekend in October, thousands of volunteers
will gather for what has become one of the largest volunteer initiatives
in the country. Celebrating its sixth anniversary, the Gwinnett
Coalition's Gwinnett Great Days of Service will be October 20-21.
Janet Schwalbe, vice president of Physician and Community Alliances
for Gwinnett Hospital, is the 2006 event chairperson. "This
is a great opportunity for the community to come together and help
those agencies who are less fortunate," Schwalbe said. "
Everybody has a chance to make a difference."
Not just your typical volunteer opportunity, the Gwinnett Great
Days of Service provides support to local nonprofit agencies that
struggle with growing needs and limited resources. Private businesses,
churches, civic groups, schools, individuals and families volunteer
with local nonprofit agencies, bringing valuable skills and resources
to those nonprofits that would otherwise not be able to afford.
Landscaping, building handicapped accessible ramps, food drives,
painting and other renovations are just a few of the typical projects
that local non-profit organizations seek and receive help with because
of the Gwinnett Great Days of Service. Last year, there were more
than 170 projects completed by the more than 70,000 volunteers and
donors.
Alice Cunningham, executive director of Hi-Hope Service Center,
a nonprofit agency that provides services to adults with developmental
disabilities, has seen Great Days of Service grow tremendously over
the years. "The service that these volunteers provide saves
Hi-Hope money that can be spent on client services." Cunningham
also credits that this volunteer weekend is a "fabulous experience
for our clients to build lasting relationships in the community."
The J.M. Tull-Gwinnett Family YMCA has participated in the Great
Days of Service since the beginning. Teresa Welborn of the YMCA
has seen first hand the difference that volunteers have helped to
make. " It makes us feel like the calvary has arrived,"
referring to the arrival of the volunteers with tools in hand. "
It may seem like a day out of the office for them, but for us, it
is more than exciting and we know the value of what they are contributing."
Many of the nonprofits like Hi-Hope and the YMCA that benefit from
the various projects make a special effort to send their own volunteers
to other sites. Volunteering promotes team building, leadership
development and is an excellent way to show that you too believe
that Success Lives in Gwinnett.
Things you can do to help make Great Days of Service successful:
- Hold a "supply" drive: Your group can hold
a supply drive and collect things like canned food, toiletries
and pet supplies to name a few.
- Dollar Makes a Difference: Make cash donations that will
be used to purchase additional supplies needed to complete projects.
- Collect School Supplies: Help ensure that each child
in Gwinnett County has all of the school supplies that they need
to have a great school year. Needed items include: backpacks,
notebook paper, pencils, erasers, calculators and binders.
- Donate landscaping materials: Each year, we receive project
requests from agencies that ask for assistance in beautifying
their grounds. Mulch, fertilizer, potted plants, pine straw and
trees are all useful.
There is something that anyone who wishes to help out can participate
in. If you or your company would like to volunteer or if you would
like to donate specific items, visit the Great Days of Service website
at www.gwinnettgreatdaysofservice.com
or call 770.995.3339 for more information.
ELLIOTT
BRACK
Gwinnett begins to reap benefits from organized
CIDs
By
Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com
AUG. 29, 2006 -- One of the more promising aspects of Gwinnett
life these days is the way communities are taking hard looks at
themselves, and doing something about it.
Brack |
It's happening within cities, and within areas outside cities in
the county. You can see it all through Gwinnett. Virtually even
Gwinnett city is on an improvement binge.
Outside the cities, the most organized and far-reaching aspect
is the creation of the Community Improvement Districts. One came
first along U.S. Highway 78, then around Gwinnett Place. Most recently
came the area from Norcross calling itself "Gwinnett Village."
These specific areas have property owners agree to tax themselves
to fund improvements throughout the district. It is seen as a way
for an area that has fallen into disrepair to pull itself up by
its boots in improving itself.
The formation of the first district came from Emory Morsberger,
who got the (U.S.) Highway 78 Association going, concentrating on
the corridor between Snellville and Stone Mountain.
These CIDs lobby for and leverage tax dollars to secure projects
to improve the districts. The upshot is that you see immediately
vast improvements in the area.
Near Gwinnett Place CID, improvements already visible include replacing
broken gutter covers and landscaping along roadways. It has improved
the Interstate interchange along Pleasant Hill Road, and is picking
up litter. It recently completed a transportation study, to develop
a master plan for the roadways of the area.
For the Highway 78 CID, the most visible aspect is landscaping
of the corridor. Each week the CID maintains the right of way, picks
up litter, removes graffiti and illegal signs and keeps the curb
and gutter noticeably cleaner.
It also has a public safety campaign of 2,500 hours a year of off-duty
police patrols. These policemen stop in and talk to merchants, and
make their presence known.
Among the 78 CID's long range projects is its identification of
$27 million in transportation funding improvements for the area,
some to begin in early 2007.
A recent project of Gwinnett Village includes tackling problems
at one of the deadliest intersections in the county, at Jimmy Carter
Boulevard and Singleton Road. The CID is seeking to address pedestrian
safety at this corner, and working with the county to move along
a $400,000 grant to improve this intersection. Construction is expected
in 2007.
Another aspect of CID impact is seen in simply getting property
owners of an area together. On August 23, some 75 individuals of
Gwinnett Village CID met to discuss potential improvements for the
area. On August 30, Wednesday night, these comments will be summarized
in a presentation at Global Mall at 6:30 p.m. Such gatherings would
not be taking place without the push by the CID to pull these people
together. It's a way to get neighbors to talk to one another, and
band together to move an agenda along.
Up until now, it has taken a potential deterioration of an area
to push property owners to consider organizing and taxing themselves
to improve their area. With the initial successes these community
improvement districts are gaining, perhaps other key business areas
of the county will consider a similar organization as a first step
in ensuring that their neighborhoods do not deteriorate.
We applaud these efforts. It's a good sign of real progress to
make sure that Gwinnett remains a good place to live, work….and
shop and play.
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FEEDBACK
Group
seeks to form national Negro Baseball League
Editor, the Forum:
M.E. Mayden Productions Inc. will be starting a new professional
baseball league in the spring of 2009, to be called the Resurrected
National Negro League Baseball Association. The league format will
consist of six teams initially, with future plans for expansion.
The Resurrected National Negro League Baseball Association will
have an 80 to 90 game schedule from June to the end of August. Each
game will be Monday through Saturday (no Sunday games) in addition
to league play-offs.
To honor those who faced adversity and paved the way, invitations
will be extended to former Negro League Players and managers to
take part in this exciting new venture.
The league is accepting bids and identifying the six cities that
would be interested having one of these professional teams. In order
to begin the schedule in the spring of 2009, I need to have this
process completed by March 1, 2007. In addition I am currently in
the midst of identifying individuals, partnerships and/or business
leaders that would be interested in partnering with me as part owner
in one or more of these teams. You may contact me at (773) 744-1040.
-- Shannon King, Chicago, Ill
UPCOMING
Snake
Day set Saturday at Dacula activity building
That's right, Snake Day is scheduled on Saturday, October 7, at
the Dacula Activity building, 2835 Old Auburn Road. Gwinnett Parks
and Recreation's outdoor interpretive program and the Georgia Herpetological
Society invite you for an afternoon with live reptiles and amphibians.
Classes will be held and the animals will be on display. There will
be a $3 per person charge.
NOTABLE
Another
Buford artist captures Suwanee Day design prize
The 2006 Suwanee Day logo has been unveiled and for the second
consecutive year, the winner of the Suwanee Day design competition
is, coincidentally, a woman from Buford. This year's winner is Amy
Maffei, the mother of two preschoolers and owner/creator of Sugarbug
Creations.
In 2005, Patricia Gee of Buford won the design competition.
Maffei's design was selected from among 57 entries from 31 artists
who submitted designs in this year's competition, which once again
is sponsored by Richport Properties.
The 2006 design, which features three different symbols of Town
Center Park and the Suwanee Day Festival in different colored squares,
will be used on Suwanee Day promotional materials, including the
official festival t-shirt.
The colors used in her design are, Maffei says, representative
of summer and fall colors. "I wanted to design something that
would appeal to people of all ages and all races and something that
would catch the eye of everyone," she says.
Maffei, who has a degree in graphic design and illustration from
the Art Institute of Atlanta, received $500 for her winning design.
The 2006 Suwanee Day pistachio-colored t-shirts adorned with Maffei's
design will be available at Suwanee City Hall beginning September.
7 and at the Suwanee Day Festival Information booth on September
16. The cost is $10.
The annual Suwanee Day festival will be marked on Saturday, Sept.
16 from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. at Town Center Park.
Gwinnett official
to Head state prison wardens' association
James L. Kraus, warden of the Gwinnett County Department of Corrections,
has been elected president of the Georgia Prison Wardens' Association
(GPWA), a 105-member nonprofit organization that promotes state,
county and private prison facilities in the State of Georgia. He
has been actively involved in the organization since 1996.
Kraus |
GPWA includes in its membership wardens from the 37 state prisons,
three private prisons, 24 county prisons, and more than 50 superintendents
from transitional centers, probation detention centers, diversion
centers, and boot camps. It provides networking opportunities to
discuss operating issues amongst corrections professionals, legal
and legislative updates and finances limited educational scholarships
to approximately 15,000 state and county correctional officers in
Georgia.
Kraus has been employed by Gwinnett County for 32 years, has served
as warden for 10 years, and is one of the longest serving current
Department Directors in Gwinnett County. He also holds the record
as the second longest serving warden in Gwinnett County history.
Clyde Phillips served for 32 years, a record that may not be broken.
RECOMMENDED
- An invitation: What
Web sites, books or restaurants have you enjoyed? Send us your
best recent visit to a restaurant or most recent book you have
read along with a short paragraph as to why you liked it, plus
what book you plan to read next. --eeb
GEORGIA
TIDBIT
Quakers
have long history in Georgia, arriving in 1768
The Quakers,
formally known as the Religious Society of Friends, constitute a
small Christian denomination that formed in England in the 1650s
in an effort to avoid overly ritualized worship.
Quaker Meetinghouse |
In 1768 Joseph Maddock, an English Quaker from North Carolina,
founded in Georgia the Quaker community of Wrightsborough. Subsequently,
he and another prominent Quaker, Jonathan Sell, organized the group
of 40 families who moved to Georgia. Governor James Wright gave
them 12,000 acres, on which the Quakers built homes, gristmills,
and a meetinghouse.
The Quakers, who have a strict policy of nonviolence, initially
did not support the Revolutionary War (1775-83). The Georgia Quakers
dismissed from their congregation men who fought in the war but
allowed them to rejoin when they returned to Wrightsborough if they
apologized. In 1780 and 1781 a group of patriots raided and attacked
Wrightsborough; 50 people were killed and buildings were burned.
Most devastating to the Georgia Quakers was the 1793 invention
of the cotton gin. Previously, the Quakers' main export crop had
been tobacco, which was expensive to produce. With the invention
of the cotton gin, other communities bought slaves to grow cotton
and began to make large amounts of money. Because of their antislavery
stance, instituted in 1774, the Quakers could no longer compete
in Georgia's economy. Gradually, many of them moved to midwestern
states. Of the few who stayed in Wrightsborough (which continued
as a town after they left), most renounced their faith.
In 1943 Quaker groups began meeting in Atlanta, where they bought
a meetinghouse in 1959. During the 30 years that the Quakers used
the meetinghouse, it served as the location for many important civil
rights and antiwar events, including a 1961 seminar on nonviolence
held by Martin Luther King Jr.; the planning of the 1967 protest
of the Vietnam War (1964-73), the largest peace demonstration ever
held in the South; and a speech by Nobel laureate Linus Pauling
on nuclear weapons.
In 1989 the Atlanta group sold its meetinghouse and in 1990 acquired
a larger one in Decatur. Atlanta Quakers also operate a Quaker school,
which serves children from prekindergarten through eighth grade.
In 1955 northeastern Quakers started a group in Augusta, which
remains active.
THOUGHT
OF THE DAY
The time when you do
not want to be a father
"The time not to become a father is eighteen years before
a war."
-- Author E. B. White (1899 - 1985)
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© 2006, Gwinnett Forum.com. Gwinnett Forum
is an online community commentary for exploring pragmatic and sensible
social, political and economic approaches to improve life in Gwinnett
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