CrossRoadsNews, Thanksgiving 2009

Page 1

THANKSGIVING

HOLIDAY

WELLNESS

When Jacqueline SmithCotter and her husband, Larry, adopted their fifth child, 14-year-old Sean, they also reunited him with his biological sister, Jasmine. 2

Holiday revelers can enjoy Christmas carols, cookies, hot cider and other treats as east metro towns hold celebrations to light their Christmas trees. 6

Panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt and free rapid HIV tests are among local initiatives to draw attention to the worldwide epidemic. 9

Coming full circle

Tree lightings

Copyright © 2009 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.

Thanksgiving 2009

World AIDS Day

Volume 15, Number 30

www.crossroadsnews.com

Thanksgiving A Time for Caring... Sharing... Helping... More than 1,000 families received boxes filled with turkey and other foods for a Thanksgiving dinner through an initiative spearheaded by Berean Christian Church’s outreach ministry.

Food donors open hearts for holiday By Jennifer Ffrench Parker

Thousands of adults and children will have turkey and all the trimmings on the table this Thanksgiving because of the kindness of their neighbors. On Saturday, families began lining up at 7:30 a.m. for Thankgiving boxes that Berean Christian Church was giving away at 11 a.m. They came from down the street in Stone Mountain and Lithonia, from across town in Decatur and Ellenwood, and from as far away as Gwinnett County seeking a little help to provide a traditional Thanksgiving meal for their families on Thursday. In October, 481,980 Georgians, or 10.2 percent of the state’s workforce, were unemployed. That slight rise in the state’s unemployment rate, from September’s 10.1 percent, matched the national unemployment rate of 10.2 percent for the first time in two years. County statistics were not available for October at press time, but in September, 40,790 people, or 10.7 percent of DeKalb’s workforce, were unemployed. State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond said the recession will not end for the thousands of jobless Georgians until more employers start hiring again. “Georgia’s public and private leaders must work together to develop a bi-partisan recovery strategy that focuses on three critical elements – protecting vulnerable citizens, including children, the elderly, and the sick; preserving our health, safety and educational institutions; and encouraging economic development and job creation,” he said. In the meantime, people who are unemployed have to make do to keep food on the table and roofs over their heads. As the nation sits down to its 388th Thanksgiving Day observance, individuals, students, churches, civic and community groups have been stepping forward to help fill in the gap. Columbia High School students prepared and served turkey dinners

CrossRoadsNews Photos by Jennifer Ffrench Parker & Curtis Parker

Stephanie Griffin, a social worker at Columbia High School, delivers cranberry sauce for people at the school’s annual Turkey Dinner.

More than 750 families lined up outside Berean Christian Church’s Family Life Center on Nov. 21 to receive free boxes of food.

year to nothing,” Thomas to about 400 homeless said. “I lost everything. people who were bused to We’ve hit the bottom of the school on Saturday by the bucket.” two local churches. Her story was echoed Robin Thomas of by other families leaving Stone Mountain, who with boxes packed with has been unemployed stuffing and cornbread, for months, made her green beans and yams to way to the Kerwin B. Lee Robin Thomas go with the frozen turkeys Family Life Center on Young Road to get one of the 1,000 in plastic bags. Some said they have been out of Thanksgiving boxes that Berean members prepared with help from work for a year or more. Thomas, who said she has lived other area churches and a host of out of her car most of the time other partners. The laid-off telemarketer for a this year, said she and her two home improvement company was daughters – including 25-year-old so grateful for the help that she Crystal, who is paralyzed from the broke down in tears while telling a waist down after a stroke – and two visitor about the year she has had. grandkids live in a cramped one“I went from making $88,000 a bedroom apartment right now.

“It keeps us out of the rain,” she said. “It keeps us out of the cold. We are going to make it. We’ve got love. That’s what keeps us together.” Vickie Anderson of Decatur still has a job as a cook at Canby Lane Elementary School in Decatur, but her $1,000 a month salary doesn’t go far for her and her 15-year-old daughter. “I appreciate the help so much,” she said. On Thanksgiving Day, she is cooking dinner for six people. When she got back to her car in the Berean parking lot, there was a puddle of antifreeze on the ground. “Oh no,” she said. “The car is leaking again. I got to get the car

fixed again. Lots of stuff going on, but I still feel blessed.” Barbara Martin, a mother of three youth ages 12 to 17 years old, called her Thanksgiving box “something excellent.” “Words cannot explain what they have done today,” said Martin who came all the way from Norcross. “It’s a beautiful thing.” The industrial sewing machine operator said she lost the job she had for 12 years in February because of lack of work. “I am trying to pay my rent this month,” she said. “I greatly appreciate the help.”

Food campaign took on life of its own. Page 4


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