BENSON MANOR

Benson Manor is a 76-unit affordable senior housing community designed with stone and sturdy wood-like siding. Each apartment is approximately 540 square feet. Benson Manor is conveniently located close to shopping, churches, medical facilities, and a major bus route.

Residents must be 62 years of age or older. Some units have special features for mobility and sensory impaired persons. Income limitations are determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Residents pay 30 percent of their adjusted income for rent. Gross income must not exceed $24,400.00 for one person and $27,900.00 for two persons.

By Isadora Pennington

For anyone with an interest in history, architecture and research, the Atlanta History Center is a wonderful place to spend time. And for people drawn to nature, flowers and wildlife, the Atlanta Botanical Garden may be the perfect volunteer opportunity.

“I’ve always found value in research,” said Dr. Teresa Styles, docent at the Atlanta History Center. In her professional career, Styles worked for CBS News in New York, and later taught journalism and mass communications at North Carolina A&T State University before retiring in 2014.

As a young woman, Styles worked for Public Broadcast Atlanta in film production. “We were always at the History Center filming all types of great things that happened,” she explained. “I remembered it as a swell place to be.”

Styles earned her BA in English from Spelman College, later her MA in Film from Northwestern University, and also her doctorate in Mass Communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her career as an investigative journalist includes many stories, awards, travels and an international resume of published works.

Today, she does volunteer work and teaches as an adjunct professor at Morehouse. It keeps her busy, but she admits that it’s her own doing. Her love for work simply can’t be quelled by retirement.

Upon retiring from academia in North Carolina, Styles found herself missing Atlanta and moved back. “I just wanted to come home,” she said.

Shortly thereafter, she began volunteering in the archives. “A lot of people want to do research on their families and history here,” explained Styles.

At the Atlanta History Center archives, visitors can peruse primary source materials such as papers, magazines, newspapers and microfiches, and Styles is there to help guide them to the proper collections.

Another docent, Linda Bitley, refers to the archives reading room as something like a library.

“People come in and they’re looking for all sorts of information,” she said. A guest might request materials or records or need help navigating through the digital collections.

“I’m there to sort of take care of some of the details in between,” explained Bitley, who has been a volunteer for about four years, and worked as the Collections Manager before retiring. She handles accessing account information, registering new members, managing the catalogues and compiling documents or information that go with physical pieces of history, making them eligible for exhibitions.

There’s a special joy that Bitley gains from compiling various types of information into one easily accessible file, and learning about the items as she does. “When you’re dealing with historical objects, some of them have stories that goes with them,” she said.

Originally from Buffalo, N.Y., Bitley has been living in the South for around 30 years. As a young woman in high school and college, she helped with collections at libraries, and went on to become an art teacher. When her husband became a professor at Wesleyan College in Macon, Ga., Bitley worked on the newsletter and then in the collections at the museum on campus.

These days, Bitley is active at the Atlanta History Center, assisting with administrative tasks, research assistance and family programs.

“There are a variety of volunteer opportunities, and I can do more than one, which is really nice. I have the time to do it, and it keeps me involved with people who have similar interests and skills,” she explained.

At the Atlanta Botanical Garden in Midtown Atlanta, there’s a different kind of digging going on. Volunteers perform a variety of maintenance and educational tasks around the 30-acre property, from clean-up to leading tours.

The Garden Essential Maintenance volunteers, affectionately referred to as GEMs, are in charge of weeding, watering, pruning, mulching and more hands-on work, under the supervision of experienced horticulturists.

“It’s a nice way of saying you pull weeds,” said Paula White with a laugh. A career federal employee, White worked as Director of Cooperative and State Programs at the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for many years. She managed voluntary, educational and state programs from her office in Washington, D.C. “It was a pretty serious job, but it was wonderful,” she said.

White is a long-time dedicated gardener. Once, when moving, she rented and filled a moving truck with potted plants, peat moss and soil because the movers didn’t want to ship them with the rest of their