Local News
It’s Almost Time for the Farm. Fresh. Market.
The 2021 Woodstock Farm. Fresh. Market. is making plans for the upcoming season, April 17-Dec. 18. The market will be open 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturdays on Market Street and in the backyard of Reformation Brewery in downtown Woodstock To create a safe environment for shoppers and vendors, organizers have created a set of guidelines. • Shoppers should not touch any items on vendors’ tables. Vendors will bag the items being purchased. • Vendor booths have been spaced farther apart; shoppers are asked not to stand or walk between booths. • Shoppers are asked to visit booths one at a time, and be patient as vendors help each shopper. • While waiting in line to be served, please maintain a proper distance from others. • Try to avoid cash transactions. Most vendors will have electronic options for payment. Hand-sanitizing stations will be set up throughout the market. Public restrooms are open at the Noonday Creek Trailhead. For more information, call 770-924-0406 or email kbennett@woodstockga.gov.
MUST Director Named to Executive Women Post MUST Ministries’ Yvonne Byars was selected as the 2021 chairwoman of Cobb Executive Women. Byars has been the senior director at MUST Ministries for four years and, prior to MUST, worked for Procter & Gamble in IT project management with a certification as a project management Yvonne Byars professional. “After spending 25 years in corporate, I was looking for something more fulfilling, and that’s why I chose nonprofit work,” Byars said. “I think my selection as chairwoman of Cobb Executive Women shows that MUST Ministries attracts individuals from Fortune 500 companies and other corporations. We’re able to bring skills from corporate and take them into the nonprofit world.” Byars oversees MUST Ministries’ Neighborhood Pantry program, which serves more than 100 schools in Cherokee and Cobb counties, has helped more than 20,000 clients and distributed over 1 million pounds of food to students and families. “Neighborhood pantries serve at-risk students and their families, and a lot of these households are struggling with the choice of paying rent or buying food,” Byars said. She also developed the concept of MUST Ministries’ new Neighborhood Mobile Pantry. “The innovative mobile bus will take fresh fruits and vegetables, frozen meats, breads, canned goods and even dairy, when available, to people living in ‘food deserts’ where groceries are not within walking distance,” she said. “We’re able to provide healthy food options in Cobb, Cherokee and surrounding counties.” The Cobb Executive Women’s mission is to inspire women to achieve success personally, professionally and within their community. The group holds monthly luncheons and community outreach events, including one this summer when the organization came to MUST Ministries to make sandwiches to feed children in the Summer Lunch program.
Northside Hospital Offers New Cancer Therapy
Photo by Abigail Peyton 8
AROUND WOODSTOCK | March 2021
Northside Hospital Cancer Institute Immunotherapy Program is one of just two programs in Georgia to offer the latest chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy. Tecartus (brexucabtagene autoleucel), from Kite Pharma Inc., is the first and only FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapy for adult patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). MCL is a rare subtype of nonHodgkin lymphoma, according to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Treatment often includes chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation. Immunotherapy essentially is strengthening and empowering a patient’s own immune system to find and attack cancer. It works by taking immune cells, genetically modifying them to be better tumor-fighting immune cells, multiplying them to great numbers (tens of thousands), and then infusing them into the patient. “We are excited to offer our patients the first and only FDA-approved CAR T-cell treatment for people with mantle cell lymphoma, whose prior treatment either didn’t work or stopped working,” said Scott Solomon, medical director of Northside’s Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) Matched Unrelated Donor Program and Stem Cell Processing Laboratory. More information is available at www.northside.com.
