COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD

a heart for the community

Dana Bryant’s love for “her people” extends far and wide, as she never turns away someone in need.

The Community Service Award is proudly given to an individual or organization that has gone above and beyond to serve the community in their personal life or as institution. Past recipients have included the likes of Councilwoman Roslyn Palmer, Missy Rollins, Alesia Brinson and Mr. Bennie Brookins. Th is year’s recipient, much like her predecessors, off ers a smiling face and is an encouragement to all, even in the darkest of times. Th is year’s Community Service Award winner is Dana Bryant.

When asked to describe Bryant, her family all agreed that she was an advocate for the underdog.

Bryant’s husband, said she fi ercely believed in taking care of “her people,” and by “her people” that could mean anyone in Decatur County.

Bryant’s husband believes her love for other people and taking care of them started at early age during a Christmas gift swap.

“Th ey did a little gift swap and she got a pair of underwear, but another girl wanted to swap with her because she really needed them,” he said. “Since then, it’s just been an ongoing process of wanting to help others.”

Bryant has had many jobs, but one of them led her to helping adults with developmental disabilities at Georgia Pines.

During her time at Georgia Pines, Bryant met an individual who loved robots. For years, she would go on to buy him a robot at Christmas, taking her two sons, Landen and Christopher over there on Christmas morning to build the robot for him.

Landen recalls the memory fondly, saying once the robot was fi nished no one could touch it. Th e robot would only be taken off the shelf to show others, as the individual’s collection grew for years.

“She would never treat anybody any diff erent,” Landen said. “She loved everyone from every walk of life.”

Christopher agreed with Landen, stating that his mom was a lifeline for many, and would oft en drop what she was doing to go help others.

“What’s so diff erent about her is that it doesn’t matter if she’s known you her whole life or 10 minutes, she’ll be there for you,” Christopher said. “She’s made some pretty signifi cant sacrifi ces for people who have no involvement in her day to day life, and you don’t see that much.”

Christopher said as kids, prior to the giving of the robot, his mom would adopt a family to provide Christmas for. However, she did not believe in just giving gift s and leaving. Christopher said the family would become a lifelong commitment to Dana.

“She made a point to continue checking on the people and being a source of encouragement to that family for the long haul,” Christopher said. “She made contact with those people all year; some of them it would be just a call, while some of them it would be stopping by and checking in.”

Bryant was a strong force in everyone’s life, and she truly made it known that she was there whenever anyone needed her.

Prior to Bryant working with mentally disabled adults, Bryant worked in the education system.

Christopher said his mom made it clear that her students were not just her students from 8 a.m.- 4 p.m., but they were her kids all of the time.

“When she was the director of PLC, she would get a call and tell us to get in the truck that one of her students needed something and we would go do it,” Christopher recalled.

Th is devotion to her students led the way for Christopher to become a teacher and coach and have the same mentality.

“I try to do that same thing and have that attitude toward my students and my players,” he said. “At the end of the day, she always had everyone’s best interests at heart and wanted them to realize their full potential.”

Christopher concluded that his mother is passionate about people in general and wants to help people in whatever capacity that may be, from a phone call to taking someone out to lunch. For that reason, it is clear to see how Dana Bryant has impacted the Bainbridge community with her constant outreach and love for people from all walks of life.

Winter 2022 / BAINBRIDGE LIVING 33