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Brookhaven
Oakhurst Elementary named Safe Routes to
School Resource Center Partner of the Year
Lou Walker Senior Center Performing Arts
Group to celebrate A Festival of Flowers’
City to host Touch-A-Truck
Brookhaven will hold its first Touch-A-Truck
event June 27, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Blackburn
Park. Children will get a chance to hop into a fire
truck, meet a police K-9 and turn the lights on in a
Brookhaven police car.
Krispy Kreme will provide breakfast treats and
coffee, as well as a fun dipping station for the kids.
Blackburn Park is located at 3493 Ashford Dun-
woody Road. For more information, visit www.
broolmavenga.gov.
Decatur
CASA to hold volunteer informational
meeting
The public is invited to attend a volunteer in
formational meeting for DeKalb County Court Ap
pointed Special Advocates (CASA), July 9 from 6:30
to 7:30 p.m.
The meeting will be held at Gregory A. Adams
Juvenile Justice Center, 4309 Memorial Drive in De
catur.
This session will provide an overview of the pro
gram for those interested in becoming CASA volun
teers. Training classes will be held 4 to 7 p.m., Thurs
days, from July 30 to Sept.3. DeKalb County CASA
is a nonprofit organization that recruits, screens and
trains community volunteers who are appointed by
a juvenile court judge to advocate for the best inter
est of an abused or neglected child placed in foster
care. The program is designed to give abused and
neglected children in foster care a powerful voice and
uses dedicated, concerned, well-trained community
volunteers to protect the child’s best interests.
For more information or to RSVP, contact Jus
tine Kingsley Ferreira at (404) 378-0038 or justine.
ferreira@dekalbcasa.org.
Suite 20 Day Spa, through its nonprofit founda
tion JABY Inc., will host its 2015 International Trail-
blazer Awards on July 19 at the Porter Sanford Per
formance Arts Center, 3181 Rainbow Drive, Decatur.
The awards program, in its sixth year, recognizes
outstanding community leadership and this year will
honor: Senegal Ambassador Jane Gardner, DeKalb
Superior Court Judge Tangela Barrie, former WSB-
T V anchor Monica Pearson, actor Ro Brooks of Ty
ler Perry’s The Haves and Have Nots, Greater Piney
Grove Baptist Church Pastor Dr. William E. Flippen,
Atlanta Rotary District 6900 Gov. Alicia Michaels,
community activist Darlene Lewis, international
makeup artist Rubby Polanco, Florida State Uni
versity Law student and Miss Tallahassee Northwest
Florida 2015 Lauryn Collier.
The red carpet event, which will be hosted by
WSB-TV’s Veronica Waters, will start at 5:30 p.m.,
followed by a buffet dinner.
Tickets, which are now on sale and must be
purchased in advance, are $25 per person, $40 per
couple, and $50 for VIP admission. There will be no
ticket sales at the door. For more information, go to
www.jabyinc.com,Eventbrite.com, or call (404) 286-
9664.
Oakhurst Elementary School was selected as the
2015 Georgia Safe Routes to School Resource Cen
ter’s Partner of the Year for the metro Atlanta area.
Winners of this award are chosen based on the prog
ress of their Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs
during the past year in getting more students to walk
and bike to school and increasing the awareness of
SRTS within their communities. The Georgia Safe
Routes to School Resource Center has recognized
outstanding partners with the Partner of the Year
Award since 2011. Clairemont Elementary won the
award in 2013 and Renfroe Middle School won in
2014.
Under the leadership of parent champion Heath
er Tell, more than 60 percent of students regularly
walk and bike to school—the highest percentage of
any City of Decatur school. The school sponsors a
monthly Walk and Roll to School Day celebration,
with themes and prizes to encourage participation,
donations from local businesses, and bicycle bells for
kids. Safety tips are included in the school’s weekly
newsletter, and all 450 students learned basic bike
safety at the annual fall health and wellness festival.
For more information on the City of Decatur
Safe Routes to School program visit www.decaturga.
com/srts.
lithonia
Firelight folktales scheduled
Professional storyteller and hike leader Jonah
McDonald, adventure guide and author of Hiking
Atlanta’s Hidden Forests: Intown and Out, will lead a
hiking, campfire and storytelling event on June 27 at
the Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve.
There are two options in this free, rain or shine
event.
From 3 to 5 p.m., participants will gather at the
nature center and then go on a one-mile beginner
hike, stopping in a few shady spots for story breaks.
The folktales will be suited to the age of the children
who attend. Participants also will be treated to in
sider information about the plants and animals that
call Arabia Mountain home.
From 7 to 9 p.m., participants will gather around
the fire pit next to the nature center for a primitive
fire starting demonstration. Then they will sit around
the fire and listen to folktales before ending the day
with s’mores.
The Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve is located
at 3787 Klondike Road, Lithonia.
Email kimberly@arabiaalliance.org to RSVP.
Roam Arabia Mountain with Ranger Robby
“Never the same hike twice. See where the spring
breezes take you and discover new favorite areas,”
states an announcement about hikes at the Arabia
Mountain Nature Preserve, 3787 Klondike Road, Li
thonia.
The preserve will offer free, guided hikes on June
26, 8-10:30 a.m. The hikes are moderately difficult
and there will be several stops to take in the sur
roundings.
“Take time for yourself and get away from it all
in this peaceful natural setting,” the announcement
states. Closed-toe shoes and plenty of water are rec
ommended.
On Tuesday, June 30, at 2:30 p.m., the Lou Walk
er Senior Center (LWSC) Performing Arts Group
will present a musical drama titled “A Festival of
Flowers.”
The narratives and musical arrangements are by
Gwendolyn F. Thomas and the production is com
posed of three acts, “The Creation,” “The Elements,”
and “The Flowers.”
Artistic stage decor will be by LWSC instruc
tors Lileith Jones, providing the floral design, and
Samuel O. Williams, providing drawing/painting
and sculpture.
Local youth to be featured in the performance
include Alexandria Cannon, a 17-year-old classical
pianist, and Cheyanne Crawford, a 16-year-old fe
male vocalist.
The event will feature a cast of senior citizens of
LWSC performing music, drama, dance, poetry and
fashion. The highlights of the performance will in
clude performances by the LWSC Praise Dancers and
The Smooth Sophisticated Gents. Choreography is
by Thomas, Taliah Hasan and Sharon Patterson.
The Lou Walker Senior Center is located at 2538
Panola Road, Lithonia. Admission and parking is
free.
Countywide
Photo contest kicks off National Parks and
Recreation Month
DeKalb County Department of Recreation, Parks
and Cultural Affairs, The Champion Newspaper,
Discover DeKalb Convention & Visitors Bureau and
Southern Airways Express will present a photogra
phy contest focused on increasing awareness of the
county’s parks and recreational facilities.
Open to amateur and professional photogra
phers, the contest runs July 2 until July 31. A list of
subjects will be provided to all participants by the
DeKalb County Department of Recreation, Parks
and Cultural Affairs; and photos must have been
taken between January 1, 2014, and July 31, 2015.
In conjunction with the photography contest, a
free photography workshop led by professional pho
tographer John Glenn will be held July 9, 6:30 to 8:30
p.m. at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center’s Sam Gold
man Retreat, 980 Briarcliff Road in Atlanta.
Winning photographs will be selected by a
panel of judges. Winning photographers and their
work will be recognized at an event in September at
Callanwolde Fine Arts Center and featured in The
Champion Newspaper and in Discover DeKalb’s tour
ism publications. Prizes will be awarded to first-, sec
ond- and third-place winners and will include such
premiums as flights on Southern Airways Express
and a weekend hotel stay in DeKalb County.
All photographs submitted must be taken in
parks owned, managed and listed by DeKalb County
Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Af
fairs.
The Department of Recreation, Parks and Cul
tural Affairs’ mission is to provide safe parks and
facilities, enhance the quality of life as a provider of
recreation and cultural experiences and ensure a cus
tomer- focused parks system.
To participate in the contest or to register for the
photography class visit www.dekalbcountyga.gov/
parks. For additional information call (404J-371-
3695.