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Gwinnett Daily Post THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2015
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Vol. 46, No. 58
Down to the wire
Malls, stores open for unfinished shoppers By Katie Morris katie.morris@gwinnettdailypost.com
Patricia Martin of Lilburn reacts as Lilburn Police Officer Vince Difatta hands over a $100 bill during Wednesday’s Secret Santa giveaway in Lilburn. (Photos: Kyle Hess)
Season of giving
Instead of tickets, Lilburn cops hand out $100 bills By Joshua Sharpe
joshua.sharpe @gwinnettdailypost.com
LILBURN — Grandmother of four Jessica Herd broke down Wednesday in an aisle at Dollar Tree and effused gratitude. “Thank you, Jesus,” she said, floored as a police officer handed her a $100 bill. “Oh my God! Are you for real?” Almedin Ajanovic, an officer with the Lilburn Police Department, was for real. He and several others on the force drove around town passing out the money — totaling $6,000 — as Christmas gifts. A donor, who asked to remain anonymous, gave the police the money, just as he did last year. His reasoning was to assure the public that police are here to serve, even amid tension between law enforcement and residents across the country. “We’ve got a huge crisis going on,” he said while handing over the cash at the station. The man asked officers to give money to any residents they saw fit, particularly those who might be hurting as Christmas looms.
It’s happened again — Christmas Eve is here, and there are still one or two folks left to buy for, or perhaps you still need to knock out the whole gift list. For all those procrastinators out there — you know who you are — there’s no need to melt down because Gwinnett County malls and stores are open Christmas Eve and welcoming last-minute holiday shoppers. “Our hours on Christmas Eve are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., so we will be open and ready for business and anticipate it to be a very busy day,” said Joan LaPier, marketing coordinator for Gwinnett Place Mall in Duluth. As for other area malls, Mall of Georgia in Buford will open its doors at 8 a.m. and stay open until 6 p.m., and Sugarloaf Mills in Lawrenceville will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Forum in Peachtree Corners and The Shoppes at Webb Gin in Snellville will both be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. If you still need to find a gift for that special toddler, tyke or teen in your life, Toys “R” Us has you covered. The big box toy store opened its doors to customers at 6 a.m. on Wednesday and will remain open until 9 p.m. Christmas Eve. There are two Toys “R” Us stores in See HOURS, Page 7A
Thrift store ‘here to help community’ By Katie Morris katie.morris@gwinnettdailypost.com
that prompted the officer to pull him over. Instead, Stanfield was stunned to get the $100 bill, a gentle warning and well wishes from the cop. (Another driver turned out to be wanted and got arrested,
BUFORD — When the Buford Ministerial Association created the Buford Community Thrift Shop more than 40 years ago, the goal was to offer locals quality items at modest prices. “I think back in the beginning the ministers wanted a place in the community that provides items for prices that people can afford,” current manager Connie Dunn said. Over the years, the nonprofit shop has changed locations and seen staff and volunteers come and go, but the mission has remained. The shop first opened its doors in 1974 at a location on Moreno Street; after 13 years, it outgrew that spot and moved to a larger facility on East Main Street. Six years ago, the Buford Community Thrift Shop relocated again to a spacious brick building on Wiley Drive, which was once the Buford School Administration Building. That’s when Dunn came on as manager, leading a staff of two employees and a handful of volunteers. The shop is packed with a variety of donated items, offering the community a bit
See GIVEAWAY, Page 7A
See THRIFT, Page 7A
$100 bill following an accident she had been involved in during Wednesday’s Secret Santa giveaway in Lilburn.
MORE ONLINE Visit gwinnettdailypost.com for more photos from the giveaway.
Capt. Thom Bardugon thanked the philanthropist, saying, “We’re glad to be the conduit through which all this goodness is being
shared.” The residents, naturally, were thankful, too. As Ajanovic approached Lawrenceville resident Journey Stanfield’s car window, Stanfield thought to himself that he couldn’t afford a ticket. He could’ve received one for the broken taillight
Mother, daughter graduate from nursing school together
By Joshua Sharpe
on Dec. 18 and posed for keepsake pictures with a sign that read, “FINALLY.” Christina and Ashley “It was surreal, like it Carter have reached the really wasn’t happening. end of an unusual journey Walking across that stage for a mother-daughter and really achieving my duo. goal and feeling the end The Lawrenceville of schooling, it was really residents graduated this surreal,” mother Christina month from Chamberlain said later. “To be able to College of Nursing’s Atdo it with Ashley made it lanta campus, where they even better.” were pursuing bachelor’s For the last few years, degrees. They walked the mom and daughter across the stage together went to the same classes,
joshua.sharpe @gwinnettdailypost.com
studied the same principles and did clinical training at the same time. They sat next to each other during their board exam. But they aren’t always attached at the hip. “I promise the umbilical cord is cut,” Ashley joked. Degrees in hand, the two are beginning work, separately. Ashley is at Barrow Regional Medical Center in Winder, Christina at Snellville’s Eastside
Medical Center. They considered going to the same hospital, but to no avail. They do, of course, still live in the same house and work in the same field, both being stationed in their respective hospital’s emergency rooms. So they still have the “support system” they built in school, Christina Ashley Carter, left, and her mother, Christina Carter, pose points out. for a keepsake picture from their graduation from nurs“We can still bounce ing school this month. The duo went to school together, taking the same classes, and finally walked across the
See NURSING, Page 7A stage to take their diplomas together. (Special Photo)
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