LOCAL SALUTE
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Mickey Goodman GreenLight Fund advisory member Jodi Cooper works with Leading Men Fellows to encourage young men of color to pursue educational careers.
Kelcy Rainer, therapeutic program director at Chastain Horse Park, with her favorite four-legged friend.
Four-legged Therapy Horses help with healing the anxiety scale. Afterward, it’s down to 0 to 3. We hope the skills they learn transfer to other parts of their lives.” Success stories abound. “One woman was scared to death,” says Rainer. “On her first visit, she couldn’t even walk into the barn. On the second, she walked down the center aisle between the horse stalls but scampered away if a horse peeked out. On the third, she not only walked into the stall but haltered a horse and led the filly through her exercises.” A teen who struggled with communication quickly learned all the horse terminology, could accurately review the prior session and took on a leadership role. Chastain also provides therapeutic horseback riding programs for a wide range of individuals with disabilities.
Horses have been found to be powerful therapists for people recovering from trauma. That’s why The Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation partners with Chastain Horsepark to provide funding for hippotherapy (derived from the Greek word for horse). The foundation is a longtime supporter of Wellspring Living, an Atlantabased facility for survivors of domestic sex trafficking and those at risk, where residents are encouraged to take part in the horsemanship-focused program at Chastain Park, designed to promote coping and social skills, as well as foster mental health. “The girls and women from Wellspring attend with a mental health provider who works alongside our licensed counselors who specialize in equine-assisted psychotherapy,” says Chastain Therapeutic Program Director Kelcy Rainer. “Many arrive with anxiety levels that measure 7 to 10 on
For more information, visit chastainhorsepark.org.
Tackling Food Insecurity
22
Empowering Young Men GreenLight Fund Atlanta, a provider of capital to innovative, sustainable programs that fill a dire need in the community, has selected The Literacy Lab’s Leading Men Fellows as their second investment. The organization’s mission is three-fold. It aims to close the literacy gap in pre-K students, empower young men of color with a new career path and diversify the teacher pipeline. “Research shows that black students from low-income families are significantly more likely to attend college if they have been taught by at least one black teacher,” says Buckhead resident Joli Cooper, executive director of Learn4Life and an advisory member of GreenLight. “We were shocked to find that out of 226 pre-K and kindergarten teachers in Atlanta Public
Chef Kevin Gillespie and his business partner Marco Shaw launched a program to address food insecurity.
Ed Carter
Celebrated chef founds new initiative Kevin Gillespie, award-winning chef, cookbook author and owner of Red Beard Restaurants, recently launched the Defend Southern Food Foundation with his business partner Marco Shaw. The aim is to decrease food insecurity in the Maynard Jackson school cluster while building the area’s economy by purchasing locally sourced products. “We buy 75% of our food from local farmers and ranchers, and
Innovative program helps close the literacy gap
100% of the produce grown on the Maynard Holbrook Jackson High School rooftop garden that we sponsor,” says Gillespie, a Buckhead resident. “We also receive food donations from a major meat producer and partner with Second Helpings Atlanta that rescues surplus food.”
March/April 2022 | Simply Buckhead
Gillespie has been involved in hunger-relief programs for decades, but when the pandemic hit and scores of food service workers were furloughed, he tackled the issues of hunger and unemployment head on by creating DSFF. Employees prepare 2,500 meals a day at his Beltline-adjacent location (formerly known as Cold Beer) for families identified by school personnel, then they deliver them to schools for distribution. The organization also partners with Center Parc Credit Union to provide the tools needed for financial literacy, as well as offering resources for other
Schools there was only one black man in early childhood.” LMF, one of the only organizations of its kind, began 17 years ago in Boston and will open its Atlanta office in 2022. During the first year of the program, 20 young black men ages 18 to 24 who have graduated from high school or have their GEDs will be selected as fellows, trained and assigned to schools with the most need beginning with the fall 2022 semester. “Most have never thought about a career in education,” Cooper says. “The program offers training, $15 per hour and a chance to continue their education once their year is up.” For more information, visit greenlightfund.org/sites/atlanta or theliteracylab.org.
necessary items, such as clothing. “In Georgia, one in six families goes hungry, and it’s one in five for children,” Gillespie says. “A donation of $20—the cost of a cocktail—can feed a family of four for a week. Customers can make donations at our restaurants or online.” For more information, visit gunshowatl.com.
Want to nominate a volunteer, company or nonprofit that gives back to the community in Buckhead, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs or Upper Westside? Please contact: editor@simplybuckhead.com
