Newspaper Page Text
The Official Newspaper of the Diocese of Savannah
Vol. 100 No. 16 Thursday, August 6, 2020
Put Faith in Your Opinions
southerncross-sav.org
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A volunteer caseworker, standing, provides service to a Daybreak brother inside the novel coffee house-themed day shelter in Macon.
Photograph by Donnell Suggs
Daybreak remains a Macon mainstay
BY DONNELL SUGGS
MACON, GA.- Stan Jones
looked up at the clock on the wall
and hurried to finish cleaning up
the kitchen at Depaul Daybreak.
Located on Walnut Street a block
and a half away from the heart
of Mercer University’s campus,
the resource center, a project of
Depaul USA, a national orga
nization that provides every
thing from financial assistance
to showers to food and cloth
ing for those without homes and
the less fortunate, began serv
ing the communities in Macon
in 2012. Every weekday the cen
ter is open to anyone that needs
them. On a recent Monday morn
ing, following breakfast, which
is served daily, Jones wanted
to play the piano that rests in
the corner by a window deliver
ing more than enough sunlight
for the 60-ish Jones to be able to
play under. He sat down on the
wooden bench, his black, red, and
green baseball cap read, “I’m not
60, I’m 18 with 42 years of expe
rience”. He began to play several
improvisations, more Jazz than
classical - more joyous skill than
planned performance.
Jones is one of many partici
pants/volunteers at Daybreak,
who give their time to helping
the facility run while also uti
lizing the many on-sight ser
vices for themselves. “I was com
ing down here as part of my
daily routine and decided to
start volunteering because this
place has done a great deal for
me,” said Jones who moved to
Macon in 1982 and had fallen on
tough times not long after hav
ing served a nearly 22 year pris
on sentence. He was homeless in
2014, and Daybreak was there
for him when he had nowhere
else to go. “I don’t mind giving
back. Wherever I can fill in to
help, that’s what I’ll do.”
The volunteers, like Jones,
make up the heart of what
Daybreak is doing in Macon. It
is giving back in its purest form.
‘You don’t realize that when
COVID-19 hit, besides Daybreak,
a lot of services and options
were closed,” said Daybreak
Director Sister Theresa Sullivan,
Daughters of Charity. She listed
places like local library branch
es and fast food restaurants as
places people go during the day
for wifi use, a quick meal or just
a place to get out of the elements.
It was 95 degrees the afternoon
of Monday, July 27. “So many
services have gone online so
without computer access it’s hard
for people to get things done that
way. A lot of time, those kinds of
resources we are able to connect
people with.
Jones volunteers in the kitch
en more often than not but he
also plays the piano. “I play
after I come in and finish my
work,” said Jones who learned
to play “as a little boy.” “I do it
for the glory of God because he
is an awesome God,” Jones says
of working at Daybreak. “Plus,
working here gives me an oppor
tunity to play the piano for folks
and I like that.
Open Monday through Friday,
7:30 a.m. -11 a.m., and 12 p.m.-
4 p.m., the hour break allows for
cleanup and a reset. Daybreak
offers so many on-site services
that sometimes it is hard to
imagine this much help is avail
able for any and everyone that
needs it.
The people who frequent
Daybreak are not referred to as
clients or customers but rath
er as “brothers and sisters. They
can take showers, get laun
dry done, use telephones and
See DAYBREAK page 4