Making a Difference Archives - Reporter Newspapers

Buckhead’s Mountain Way Common to host cleanup April 20

by John Ruch | Apr 18, 2019 | Buckhead Reporter, Making a Difference | 0

Friends of Mountain Way Common will host a volunteer cleanup of the North Buckhead park on Saturday, April 20 to mark Earth Day. The cleanup will run 9 a.m. to noon at the park at 4124 North Ivy Road. According to a press release, the cleanup is for all ages and people of all physical abilities, with “no hard work involved.” Volunteers are asked to bring a trash bag and gloves. The event marks the environmental day Earth Day, which is officially observed on April 22. For more information about the park and the friends group, see its website...

Sandy Springs cars and barbecue event celebrates 10 years of fighting cystic fibrosis

by Evelyn Andrews | Apr 13, 2019 | Arts & Entertainment, Making a Difference, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

Cars & ’Q for the Cause, a Sandy Springs tradition that raises money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, will celebrate its 10th anniversary when it returns this year on May 4. The fundraiser started in 2009 as a small car show and barbecue in the parking lot of Choate Construction as a way for the company to try to save the life of a close family friend Leann Rittenbaum Ott, who died in November 2018. But the fundraiser will continue in Ott’s honor, the company announced. The event has grown to more than 1,200 attendees and features over...

Registration open for Volunteer for a Better Sandy Springs on April 27

by Evelyn Andrews | Apr 9, 2019 | Making a Difference, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

The annual community service event Volunteer for a Better Sandy Springs returns this year on April 27. Organized by Leadership Sandy Springs, VBSS will kick off at 8 a.m. with a welcoming message from Mayor Rusty Paul at North Springs Charter High School, 7447 Roswell Road. Volunteers will help with projects at local schools and clean several parks until 1 p.m. Some of those projects include helping Lake Forest Elementary School and Sandy Springs Middle School build out its STEAM-focused outdoor classrooms, a press release said. Volunteers will also help clean up Crooked Creek Park, a new park under...

Standout Students: Riley and Jack Buehner of Riverwood International Charter School

by Reporter Newspapers | Apr 9, 2019 | Brookhaven Reporter, Buckhead Reporter, Dunwoody Reporter, Education, Making a Difference, People & Places, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

Riley and Jack Buehner, two Riverwood International Charter School students, spent their winter break hand delivering 11 suitcases of shoes to children in Uganda. The trip to the African nation was part of a school project and a Boy Scout program meant to form connections with fellow Scouts on the other side of the world. Riley collected over 450 pairs of shoes with the help of his Scout troop and his brother Jack to fulfill Riverwood’s “Middle Years Programme,” which is required for the International Baccalaureate curriculum. The shoes were delivered to Uganda as part of the Boy Scout...

$3K grant supports Eagle Scout’s cleanup work at Buckhead’s Mountain Way Common

by John Ruch | Mar 23, 2019 | Buckhead Reporter, Making a Difference, People & Places | 0

Buckhead’s Mountain Way Common park has received a $3,000 grant that will support ongoing cleanup and reforestation work led by a local Eagle Scout. Matthew Keagle of Troop 370, sponsored by St. James United Methodist Church, has been working on the 13-acre park at 4134 North Ivy Road since 2016, amassing over 1,100 volunteer hours, according to park partner group Livable Buckhead. He and the parks’ friends group have now received a total of $12,000 in grant funds for reforestation. The $3,000 Restoration and Resilience Grant from the National Environmental Education Foundation will help them plant 100 trees, plus...

Los Niños Primero honored at Sandy Springs MLK Day celebration

by John Ruch | Jan 22, 2019 | Making a Difference, Sandy Springs Reporter, Slideshow | 0

The city of Sandy Springs marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day Jan. 21 with its annual celebration of a local social-service nonprofit organization. This year’s honoree was Los Niños Primero, which assists underserved Latino preschool children. The event offered an orientation to the organization’s work and is meant to encourage volunteering. For more information, see losninosprimeroga.org. Photos by Phil Mosier. Children in the Los Niños Primero dance program perform for the crowd. Maritza Morelli, executive director of Los Niños Primero, speaks to the attendees. Ingrid Lopez, a parent of a child in the Los Niños Primero program, shares her experiences....

Dunwoody remembers MLK with Day of Service

by John Ruch | Jan 22, 2019 | Dunwoody Reporter, Making a Difference, Slideshow | 0

Many Dunwoody residents braved freezing temperatures to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. with a “Day of Service” at Brook Run Park Jan. 21. Volunteers donated food and assisted with cleanups and plantings around the North Peachtree Road park. Participating organizations included the city, the Dunwoody Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, the Community Assistance Center, Second Helpings Atlanta, the Dunwoody Nature Center, the Daffodil Project and Trees Atlanta. Photos by Phil Mosier. Dunwoody High students Claire Porcher, left, and Molly Clinch bring food for donation. Members of the Dunwoody Chapter of Jack and Jill of America prepare to...

Around Town: His life changed, retiree finds new focus in helping kids

by Joe Earle | Jan 20, 2019 | Arts & Entertainment, Brookhaven Reporter, Buckhead Reporter, Commentary, Dunwoody Reporter, Education, Making a Difference, People & Places, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

Two moments changed Steve Wadley. Taken together, they convinced him to spend part of his retirement devoting his time, talents and experience to raising money for local organizations that support education in Atlanta’s inner-city schools. The first moment came when Wadley was a boy. He played football then on a team based in Buckhead. His team played in a citywide league and when he and his teammates played away games in poorer Atlanta neighborhoods, he saw that those players had nowhere near the level of support — the new equipment, the uniforms, the practices — that benefited him and...

Sandy Springs event set to honor late senior advocate Dorothy Benson

by Evelyn Andrews | Jan 17, 2019 | Making a Difference, People & Places, Sandy Springs Reporter, Top Stories | 0

Fulton County has announced a Jan. 28 to honor late senior advocate Dorothy Benson, the namesake of a Sandy Springs senior center. Benson, who died in November 2018 at the age of 97, according to an online obituary, helped create Fulton County’s senior centers, including the one that bears Benson’ name, the Dorothy C. Benson Senior Mulitpurpose Complex at 6500 Vernon Woods Drive. The Fulton County event will be held there from 4-7 p.m. The event is essentially the public memorial service to honor Benson, whose death had not been announced other than the obituary, for “her community activism, senior...

Buckhead’s Darlington Apartments displacement impacts tenant-aid nonprofits

by John Ruch | Jan 11, 2019 | Buckhead Reporter, Home & Real Estate, Making a Difference, Top Stories | 0

The real estate firm that displaced hundreds of Buckhead’s Darlington Apartments tenants for a “luxury lifestyle” renovation should pay the five-figure tab for social service workers who gave emergency assistance to tenants, a local nonprofit says. Meanwhile, the firm’s management division is a direct partner of another nonprofit that helps tenants — including those at the Darlington — avoid homelessness, in what the group’s director calls the “double-edged sword” of real estate companies’ charity sometimes being directed at problems they helped create. Buckhead Christian Ministry was hit with roughly $100,000 to $150,000 in unbudgeted costs to help more than...

20 Under 20: Honoring students who give back to the community

by Joe Earle | Jan 11, 2019 | Brookhaven Reporter, Buckhead Reporter, Dunwoody Reporter, Education, Making a Difference, People & Places, Sandy Springs Reporter, Slideshow | 0

The question arises every year as we consider nominations for our annual 20 Under 20 honors: How do these students find the time to give so much back to the community? As you will see, this year’s list is filled with young people who somehow manage to juggle their busy lives with doing extraordinary things to make Reporter Newspapers communities and the world a better place to live. As in previous years, we asked public and private schools along with service organizations and the general public to nominate students who have been active volunteers in their communities. These students...

After fire, Chastain Park Conservancy may get better HQ

by John Ruch | Jan 9, 2019 | Buckhead Reporter, Making a Difference | 0

Following a Jan. 4 fire that destroyed the Chastain Park Conservancy’s headquarters, the city will help it find a new or renovated home that might be better suited for its next decade of growth, according to District 8 City Councilmember J.P. Matzigkeit. “Out of loss can come opportunity,” said Matzigkeit, who co-founded the parks advocacy group and previously served as its board chair. Known as the Barn, the headquarters was a large hut made of prefabricated steel dating to the World War II era, located off Powers Ferry Road within the park. The Conservancy had planned to rename it...