She's working fulltime as the elementary school cafeteria manager and shuttling five kids to various sports and activities. She's in charge of an active youth group, trekking groups of kids all over Atlanta to Six Flags, bowling and beyond. She recently took in her teenage nieces after her brother died. By all accounts, Melody Guinn's to-do list shouldn't include spending evenings over the first two weeks of December standing outside in windy 40-degree chill filling boxes of food for the needy of Morgan County.
Her family and friends tell her she's crazy. Her co-workers say it might be best to take a year off. But Guinn's heart--which is what guides her in the end-- says there are people in greater need than her and the show must go on.
"In our family, the motto is 'sharing is caring,'" she says.
What began as a simple project with her son's pre-K class has blossomed into a full-scale, non-perishable annual food drive at Morgan County Elementary. And while people have made donations, even turkeys and cash occasionally, this is one charity whose needs continue to grow even as the volunteer staff stays the same.
Guinn is even planning an enclosure on her carport to allow for a year-round weekend food pantry for the working poor who can't make it to the Caring Place or other weekday food pantries.
As school counselor Stacy Waldron put it to me, "This is all Melody." It's her crusade. Her truck. Her storage facility. It's her family, husband and five kids who pack all the boxes and personally deliver them."
Guinn is reserved and humble, crediting her grandmother with her 'do-unto-others' approach.
"If I can't help but two families... if I can't help but one person..." Guinn says, "it's in me to help. Because hopefully that one person will turn around and help someone else."
Guinn puts a tidy conclusion on my homegrown charity adventure. Giving is something within us. One of the impulses we can't really control. And if we can help, we do.
And if someone we help helps someone else? The giving is all the sweeter.
Guinn Family Christmas Food Drive
Morgan County Elementary School
1640 Buckhead Road
Madison, GA
770-597-0618
Thursday, September 30, 2010
THRU WITH FLU
The second or so Saturday in October, stay away from Highway 44 in front of Putnam General Hospital. Unless you like traffic. Or need a flu shot.
As word has spread, the annual free "Drive-thru to stop flu" has attracted exponentially more people, over a thousand last year, forcing an early start-time just to clear snarled roadways.
Eight nurses stand at the ready over four lanes of traffic. As car windows roll down, sleeves roll up. A little brief paperwork, a healthy apple and the driver is off, armed to face another vicious flu season.
Paid for in full by the Putnam General Auxiliary, President Pat Henderson says that while they love to help different hospital departments with their "wish lists," the flu shots are the primary focus of their many fundraisers.
"With the bad economy, flu shots are usually not a priority," Henderson says. "Food, shelter and clothes are a priority." And, she says since the CDC can't predict which flu strain will be active each year, annual shots help build protection for different strains.
The price tag is far from cheap. Nearly $20,000 in the past three years, not including band-aids, needles and fruit.
The group hosts events almost year-round to make their money. In July there’s a linen sale. November 22, it’s the $5 jewelry sale. December 5 is the annual Love Light tree lighting and veteran salute. January 28 is the popular soup luncheon and March 26, a fashion show, both at First United Methodist in Eatonton.
With some volunteer retirees headed back to paying work, Henderson says they're always seeking new members. The community and hospital are counting on them.
Flu Shot Drive-by
Putnam General Hospital Auxiliary
101 Lake Oconee Parkway
Eatonton, GA Pkwy
706-485-2711, ext. 249
As word has spread, the annual free "Drive-thru to stop flu" has attracted exponentially more people, over a thousand last year, forcing an early start-time just to clear snarled roadways.
Eight nurses stand at the ready over four lanes of traffic. As car windows roll down, sleeves roll up. A little brief paperwork, a healthy apple and the driver is off, armed to face another vicious flu season.
Paid for in full by the Putnam General Auxiliary, President Pat Henderson says that while they love to help different hospital departments with their "wish lists," the flu shots are the primary focus of their many fundraisers.
"With the bad economy, flu shots are usually not a priority," Henderson says. "Food, shelter and clothes are a priority." And, she says since the CDC can't predict which flu strain will be active each year, annual shots help build protection for different strains.
The price tag is far from cheap. Nearly $20,000 in the past three years, not including band-aids, needles and fruit.
The group hosts events almost year-round to make their money. In July there’s a linen sale. November 22, it’s the $5 jewelry sale. December 5 is the annual Love Light tree lighting and veteran salute. January 28 is the popular soup luncheon and March 26, a fashion show, both at First United Methodist in Eatonton.
With some volunteer retirees headed back to paying work, Henderson says they're always seeking new members. The community and hospital are counting on them.
Flu Shot Drive-by
Putnam General Hospital Auxiliary
101 Lake Oconee Parkway
Eatonton, GA Pkwy
706-485-2711, ext. 249
Sunday, September 5, 2010
FERST IN BOOKS
Sitting hunched over her dining room table, licking stamps and stuffing children's books she paid for into padded envelopes, Madison's Robyn Ferst never doubted that her charity would be big.
"She's the ultimate visionary," says Shauna von Hanstein, Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy's director of operations.
Going from soliciting kid readers at local festivals and the supermarket to sponsored programs in 73 counties of the state and joining Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in forging a partnership with Rotary International is definitely big.
As a child, Ferst had degenerative hearing loss and books gave her a world where being unable to hear didn't matter. She couldn't imagine a house without books.
It impresses me that this charity doesn't sit back waiting for people to ask for help. They actively advertise trying to reach more children. Their goal is to offer a book every month to every child under five in every county of Georgia.
They're motivated by the thought that having books in the home prepares a child for school and learning success. And they believe a larger group of better readers will someday result in a larger, better-educated workforce.
My youngest and I will be sad on his fifth birthday this winter when the books stop coming. But we have a huge library of well-read, well-loved stories that have him well on the way to reading himself.
Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy
P.O. Box 1327
Madison, GA 30650
www.ferstfoundation.org
706-343-0177
"She's the ultimate visionary," says Shauna von Hanstein, Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy's director of operations.
Going from soliciting kid readers at local festivals and the supermarket to sponsored programs in 73 counties of the state and joining Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in forging a partnership with Rotary International is definitely big.
As a child, Ferst had degenerative hearing loss and books gave her a world where being unable to hear didn't matter. She couldn't imagine a house without books.
It impresses me that this charity doesn't sit back waiting for people to ask for help. They actively advertise trying to reach more children. Their goal is to offer a book every month to every child under five in every county of Georgia.
They're motivated by the thought that having books in the home prepares a child for school and learning success. And they believe a larger group of better readers will someday result in a larger, better-educated workforce.
My youngest and I will be sad on his fifth birthday this winter when the books stop coming. But we have a huge library of well-read, well-loved stories that have him well on the way to reading himself.
Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy
P.O. Box 1327
Madison, GA 30650
www.ferstfoundation.org
706-343-0177
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