FOOD CRUSADER

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