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4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, December 21,2022
‘Hometown Hero’ winner donates to K.A.R.E. for Kids
Erica Jones Dawson County News
Logan Summers, left, presents K.A.R.E. for Kids Executive Director Tiffany
Buchan with a $50 check he won through Modern Woodmen's "Hometown
Hero" award.
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
This week, local non
profit K.A.R.E. for Kids
got a special surprise for
Christmas: a visit from
local young man Logan
Summers with a check to
donate to the organiza
tion.
Summers was present
ed with the “Hometown
Hero” award by local
financial advisor Alex
Williams with Modern
Woodmen of America
back in the end of
October. The award is
something that Modern
Woodmen does for all
local advisors to recog
nize the people in their
community who help to
make it a better place,
and he won the award for
going above and beyond
and overcoming all of his
obstacles.
Summers is in Dawson
County High School’s
Learning Independence
for Employment, or
L.I.L.E. at Dawson, pro
gram, which is aimed at
helping exceptional stu
dents overcome their
unique obstacles and
bridge the gap between
high school and a career.
He was nominated for the
Hometown Hero award
by Ashley Caray, the high
school’s Community
Based Instruction (CBI),
Community Based
Vocational Instruction
(CBVI) and Transition
instructor.
As part of the award,
Summers was presented
with a $50 check from
Modem Woodmen to give
to any local organization
of his donation. During
the presentation in
October John Megel
Chevrolet, where
Summers has worked for
three years as an intern
and then an employee,
offered to match the
donation, making the
total $100. Summers
immediately picked
K.A.R.E. for Kids as his
organization of choice.
Summers and Caray
paid a visit to K.A.R.E.
for Kids’ office on
Tuesday Dec. 13, where
he presented the check
from Modern Woodmen
to the organization’s
executive director, Tiffany
Buchan. Handing the
check over with a big
smile, Summers said that
he’s proud to be able to
bless others in the com
munity through the dona
tion.
“They need the money
more than I need it,”
Summers said. “I feel
proud of myself for giv
ing it to them.”
Buchan, who was
brought to tears by the
gesture, said that receiv
ing the donation from
Summers was a huge
blessing to her and to
K.A.R.E.
“It’s just wonderful
because with him being
young he could have
spent it on so many other
things; it just means a lot
that he’s giving back to
the community,” Buchan
said. “He’ll put a smile
on a child’s face.”
“That’s part of our les
sons is giving back; it’s
kind of come full circle
that it’s the little seed we
planted to give back,”
Caray added. “That’s
something he just has in
his heart.”
Woman’s Club donates two freezers to The Place of Dawson
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
On Dec. 12, the Dawson County
Woman’s Club donated two freezers to
The Place of Dawson at RIC-Rack’s
food pantry.
The food pantry is located at 829
GA-9 where the RIC-Rack food pantry
was before the nonprofit merged with
The Place of Dawson County.
According to Amy Palmer, outreach
coordinator for The Place of Dawson
County, the freezers are something that
the food pantry has been needing for
quite some time.
“We had some deep freezers but they
were harder to find things, to bend
down, so this is a lot easier for the vol
unteers to get things out of,” Palmer
said.
One of the members of the Woman’s
Club, Sue Benitez, volunteers at the
food pantry with her husband and knew
firsthand the need for the new freezers.
So she brought the idea of purchasing
the new freezers to her fellow club
members.
“Sue was here trying to pull stuff out
of the freezer so she knew that this was
something that would help,” club mem
ber Debbie Borovitcky said. “We voted
unanimously, priced them and provided
the money to buy them.”
Patty Kurz, one of the regular volun
teers at the food pantry, said that as a
volunteer she’s very excited about the
new freezers.
“I work here on Thursdays and these
freezers are wonderful for us; we used
to be digging in these other ones all the
time and this is so much better,” Kurz
said.
“It’s a huge help to really effectively
be able to serve our families and it helps
the volunteers as well to have adequate
space to store food and get it to the fam
ilies,” Palmer added. “We’re very
blessed and very thankful for the
Woman’s Club and their continued sup
port of our mission.”
For more information about The Place
of Dawson at RIC-Rack including how
to volunteer or help the nonprofit or
how to apply for assistance through the
food pantry, go to theplaceofforsyth.org.
Erica Jones Dawson County News
Members of the Dawson County Woman's Club stand in front of the two
freezers the group donated toThe Place of Dawson at RIC-Rack for use in the
nonprofit's food pantry.
Kids, adults revel in holiday cheer at annual Christmas party
By Julia Hansen
jhansen@dawsonnews.com
During the Special Needs
Apostolate’s second annual
Christmas party, area locals joyful
ly partook in holiday festivities
culminating in a much-anticipated
visit from the man in the red suit
himself, Santa Claus.
The apostolate hosted the Dec.
17 fun night at Higgins Hall with
in Dawson County’s Christ the
Redeemer Catholic Church.
Starting 10 years ago, two of the
church’s attendees, Tony and Anne
Marcini, began working with
other congregants and area com
munity members to start the
group.
Over time, interest and partici
pation grew for the group’s gather
ings, which have included up to 50
people and typically include about
20 regular participants.
The apostolate is open to com
munity people of all disability lev
els, ages and denominations as a
way for participants to have fun in
a safe environment, Tony Marcini
said.
Between 20-30 participants,
their friends and families came out
to Saturday’s holiday party, which
included free holiday treats along
with familiar games like comhole
and basketball.
At one of the game booths,
attendees went fishing and caught
ever-portable Hot Wheels toy cars.
Then, everyone could share in
festive dancing to tunes such as
“Jingle Bell Rock,” “Rockin’
Around the Christmas Tree” or
“Santa Claus is Cornin’ to Town.”
With the aid of holiday helpers,
Santa arrived at the church around
7:30 p.m., bringing holiday cheer
and heartfelt gift bags to the room
of giddy participants.
While some children were a lit
tle timid to greet old St. Nick, oth
ers jumped at the chance to tell
him their Christmas wishes, from
smaller toys to gaming systems.
Each attendee was also given a
“Special Needs Apostolate” orna
ment to commemorate the
Christmas event.
Marcini explained that he and
other congregants are still working
on building a sensory space for
special needs members in the
church’s lower-floor Life Teen
room. The room will include fea
tures like crash pads and special
calming devices.
Starting this spring, Marcini
said the church intends to hold 9
a.m. Masses on the first Sundays
of each month. The Masses will
be live streamed in the sensory
room, and communion will be
brought down to people in the
room.
“It’s a way for families who
might come to church separately
because they’ve got someone at
home they need to be with,”
Marcini said. “Hopefully, we will
be able to provide an environment
where the entire family can come
to church.”
The Special Needs Apostolate
will host its next game night on
Feb. 11 at the church.
For more information or further
questions about the apostolate,
contact Tony Mancini at 770-403-
4580 or by emailing sna@ctrcc.
net.
Above, Ava Oglesby, center,
meets Santa during the
Special Needs Apostolate's
Dec. 17 Christmas-themed
fun night at Christ the
Redeemer Catholic Church.
Left, Gemma Wagner, left,
tells Santa and one of his
helpers what she would like
for Christmas during the
jolly man's visit to the apos
tolate's holiday party.
Photos by Julia Hansen
Dawson County News
FROM 1A
Officials
Longtime resident Alexa Bruce was also
elected for her first term to the District 3
seat, replacing one-term commissioner and
longtime public servant Tim Satterfield.
Bruce defeated opponent Deanna
Dickinson for the position during the May
primary election.
“I’m excited about the new people going
to come on board,” Fausett said.
Stowers voiced his love for the commu
nity where he grew up and appreciated
“the fact that we still have a lot of agricul
ture in the north end of the county.”
“I love nature and the environment. We
have to be mindful as we move forward
[so] that we take care of the resources
we’re given,” Stowers said of future land
use.
Bruce shared that she was “super excit
ed” to serve since the election in May.
“I’m kind of ready to hit the ground run
ning,” she said, “and work with county
employees to serve the citizens.”
County commis-
sioners-elect Seth
Stowers and Alexa
Bruce were sworn
in to office at the
Dawson County
Government
CenterThursday
afternoon. Both
Stowers and
Bruce will begin
their terms on
Jan. 1,2023.
Dawson County News