Making a Difference - Reporter Newspapers

Dunwoody Woman’s Club offers college scholarships to local students

by John Ruch | Jan 20, 2021 | Dunwoody Reporter, Education, Making a Difference, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

The Dunwoody Woman’s Club is offering $2,000 scholarships to college-bound students from Dunwoody, Sandy Springs and parts of Doraville and Peachtree Corners. The club is offering three of its Student Achievement Scholarships. Eligible students are college-bound high-school seniors who live or attend school within the ZIP codes 30328, 30338, 30346, 30350 or 30360. According to a press release, the scholarships will be awarded to applicants who are judged by a committee to “demonstrate academic excellence, leadership, school and community involvement, and an exceptional desire for higher education.” The scholarships can be used for any educational expense and will be...

Photos: Volunteers aid parks and arts in Dunwoody’s ‘Day of Service’

by John Ruch | Jan 19, 2021 | Dunwoody Reporter, Making a Difference, Slideshow | 0

Many volunteers turned out Jan. 18 to aid parks and painting projects as part of the “Day of Service,” the city of Dunwoody’s annual way of marking Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Around 100 volunteers worked to uproot invasive species at the Dunwoody Nature Center on Roberts Drive and to paint a mural on a courtyard at the Spruill Center for the Arts on Chamblee-Dunwoody Road. Brook Run Park on North Peachtree Road was a volunteer site as well. With the event occurring during the pandemic, the attendance was limited by registration and volunteers worked in masks. Other MLK...

Worth Knowing: Boxing is knockout exercise for people with Parkinson’s

by Carol Niemi | Jan 6, 2021 | Brookhaven Reporter, Buckhead Reporter, Commentary, Dunwoody Reporter, Making a Difference, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

An estimated 1 million Americans are living with Parkinson’s disease, with 60,000 new diagnoses every year, 13,000 of them here in Atlanta. Many famous people have PD, including actor Michael J. Fox, who was diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease (YOPD) at age 29. So common is PD that most of us have known someone with it. I watched it destroy my former father-in-law — who before PD was a healthy, confident small-business owner — physically, mentally and emotionally. It also wreaked havoc on his brokenhearted wife, who regretfully sent him to a nursing home when she could no...

Meet students who found ways to support the community in the pandemic

by Collin Kelley | Jan 1, 2021 | Brookhaven Reporter, Buckhead Reporter, Coronavirus, Dunwoody Reporter, Education, Making a Difference, Sandy Springs Reporter, Slideshow | 0

January is usually the month we present our “20 Under 20” honorees, recognizing the extraordinary work students do in the community and for nonprofits. But after the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, divisive politics, and a new reckoning over racial injustice, it didn’t seem right to hold a competition. Instead, we decided to speak with young people who dedicated themselves to helping others and making a difference — even from behind their computer screens — during an unprecedented year. Asanshay Gupta, Atlanta International School Atlanta International School sophomore Asanshay Gupta, 15, developed an app to help makeshift COVID-19...

Researchers ask public to report wintertime sightings of monarch butterflies

by John Ruch | Dec 27, 2020 | Brookhaven Reporter, Buckhead Reporter, Dunwoody Reporter, Making a Difference, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

Researchers are asking for the public to report wintertime sightings of monarch butterflies in an attempt to better understand the famous, yet now threatened, insects. Earlier this month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ruled that the monarch belongs on the federal list of threatened and endangered species, but will not be yet due to pending work on other, more pressing candidates. That decision has been controversial, as national media have reported. The familiar orange-and-black monarchs are known for their seasonal mass migrations, where they fly south to Mexico in the winter and fly north to the U.S. and...

Buckhead Coalition donates $10K in Gas South fees to Shepherd Center

by John Ruch | Dec 22, 2020 | Buckhead Reporter, Making a Difference | 0

The Buckhead Coalition has donated $10,000 in fees from a Gas South program to the Shepherd Center. The Coalition receives a marketing fee for a deal where natural gas customers who switch to Gas South through the nonprofit get a discounted rate. The Coalition says it has donated its fees to the local rehabilitation hospital, located at 2020 Peachtree Road, for the past eight years for a total of $66,500. The donations specifically go to care for adolescents healing from sports injuries and other activities. The Coalitio is an invitation-only community group of 100 members that compiles detailed information...

Sandy Springs Woman’s Club helps fund food pantry

by Bob Pepalis | Dec 17, 2020 | Making a Difference, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

The Sandy Springs Woman’s Club donated $400 to the Community Assistance Center (CAC) for its food bank on Dec. 15. Woman’s Club members Marva Greene and Cheryl Abrams delivered the check to the CAC’s Sandy Springs location at 8607 Roswell Road. The CAC food pantry is open to anyone in need of assistance. New clients must register before going to the food pantry, which can be done by submitting an online form. Existing clients must check in at the food pantry in the back of the building or at the front desk of the Dunwoody office at 5 Dunwoody...

Buckhead’s Shepherd Center gets $80M grant from Marcus Foundation

by John Ruch | Dec 11, 2020 | Buckhead Reporter, Making a Difference, Top Stories | 0

Buckhead’s Shepherd Center will receive an $80 million grant from the Marcus Foundation, a donation that a press release calls “the cornerstone of the specialty rehabilitation hospital’s most significant, transformational expansion since its founding in 1975.” The 2020 Peachtree Road hospital is among the nation’s top rehabilitation and research facilities. According to spokesperson Leslie Jackson, it turns away patients from around the state and country due to lack of capacity. “The Marcus Foundation grant, which is intended for expansion and enhancements on our main campus, will enable us to serve more patients moving forward,” Jackson said. Two years ago,...

Merchants in Sandy Springs’ Prado shopping center offer drop-off boxes for food pantry donations

by Bob Pepalis | Dec 11, 2020 | Making a Difference, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

Visitors to The Prado can help stock the Solidarity Sandy Springs food pantry by bringing canned and non-perishable food items to many of the stores and restaurants in the shopping center at 5600 Roswell Road. Drop-off boxes will be positioned through Dec. 22 at the following locations: Atlanta Health Connection Chiropractic Clinic, Genki Noodles and Sushi, Hand & Stone Spa, Panda Express, The Peach Pit Prado and Under The Cork Tree. The food pantry is located in the former Publix grocery store building in The Prado at 5630 Roswell Road. The pantry was founded this year in response to...

Atlanta History Center to host free discussion with cooking experts to support Food Bank

by John Ruch | Dec 6, 2020 | Arts & Entertainment, Brookhaven Reporter, Buckhead Reporter, Dunwoody Reporter, Food & Drink, Making a Difference, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

A virtual “Holiday Hangout for Hunger” Dec. 15 will bring together several cooking experts and food writers in support of the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Hosted through the Atlanta History Center in Buckhead, the discussion is scheduled to include: Virginia Willis, author of many food-related books, such as “Secrets of the Southern Table: A Food Lover’s Tour of the Global South.” Mary Kay Andrews, a bestselling mystery novelist and Buckhead resident who is also a cookbook author. Tiffanie Barriere, an award-winning bartender formerly of One Flew South at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Tamie Cook, former culinary director of the...

Latin American Association accepts toys for gift drive through Dec. 7

by Holly R. Price | Dec 5, 2020 | Brookhaven Reporter, Making a Difference | 0

The Latin American Association is accepting toys for its annual holiday drive at its Brookhaven headquarters through Dec. 7. Each year, the LAA collects and distributes gifts to hundreds of Latino children during the holidays at its “Spirit of Giving” events. This year will be a little different with a drive-thru experience to follow COVID-19 safety protocols. The group is accepting new, unwrapped toys at the Atlanta Outreach Center at 2750 Buford Highway in Brookhaven from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The LAA also accepts cash donations and gift cards from Kroger, Walmart, Five Below, Dollar General and Dollar...

Worth Knowing: CAC leader leaves a legacy of helping others

by Carol Niemi | Nov 28, 2020 | Brookhaven Reporter, Buckhead Reporter, Commentary, Dunwoody Reporter, Making a Difference, People & Places, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

After 23 years as CEO of the Community Assistance Center, Tamara Carrera has announced her intention to retire. Her legacy will be hard to equal. CAC was founded in Sandy Springs in 1987 by 10 local congregations to address growing poverty in the community. For the next six years, it operated out of the scout hut at one of the member churches. Then in 1993 along came Carrera, a bilingual native of Ecuador new to Atlanta, with an MBA in nonprofit management and a desire to get involved. Her family joined Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church, where on Mission Sunday...