Newspaper Page Text
Austin Morrison is MDA state ambassador
Austin Morrison, an energetic
10-year-old from Cumming, has
been named State Goodwill
Ambassador for the Atlanta
Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Austin will make public appear
ances throughout the community
to encourage volunteers in the
association’s year-round educa
tional and fund-raising cam
paigns and also will take part in a
number of special events.
IrW'
PL'. } J
t iffl
Austin Morrison
Austin is the son of Tim and
Leigh Morrison. His condition
was diagnosed as spinal muscular
atrophy at the age of 7. Spinal
muscular atrophy is one of the 40
neuromuscular diseases covered
by MDA’s research and care pro
grams.
Austin is fun, witty and a real
“people” person. He has been an
MDA camper for two years,
where he loves to swim. His hob
bies include playing Nintendo,
loving sports - wheelchair soccer
and basketball, particularly
through the AAASP league. He
studies hard, enjoys math and art
and does well in school. He is in
Memorial
fund for
Flye family
established
By Laura Lavezzo
Lifestyle Editor
In remembrance of Heidi Flye
and her two young daughters,
Kroger has set up a memorial
fund to benefit Egleston
Children’s Hospital and Scottish
Rite Children’s Medical Center.
Flye and her daughters Cady, 6,
and Audrey, 4, died following a
July 1998 automobile accident
involving a drunk driver who
crossed double yellow lines and
struck their car.
Together Kroger, Nationsbank
and Marcus Flye, husband and
father of the victims, have set up
The Heidi, Cady and Audrey Flye
Memorial Fund. Marcus has
requested all funds raised be
granted to the intensive care units
at Egleston and Scottish Rite’s
children’s hospitals. Six-year-old
Cady was cared for in Egleston
for the two days following the
accident before she died, while
Audrey was taken to Scottish
Rite. Heidi, who died at the scene
of the accident, was a pharmacist
at the Kroger store on Bethelview
Road. >
For more information on The
Heidi, Cady and Audrey Flye
Memorial Fund, contact any
Nationsßank or Kroger store in
Cumming.
Professional
W- In-Home
™ Pet Sitting Services
In Mom* Pat Sitting...
• Reduces Animal Stress
• Eliminates Imposing on Friends,
tv&gnoors or r&rrwy
Pat Watoh...
• Follows Deify Food A Exercise
Routine
• Cares tor pets per your instructions
• Brings m MW* i Newspapers
• waiOfS plants
• No Charge lor HUGSI
770.887.7930
www.patwatch-lnc.cqm
• a-malyatwatehS|uno-com
the fifth grade at Mashburn
Elementary School. Austin has
two brothers: Zack, age 12, and
Kasey, age 6. He also has two
dogs, Sally and Bigfoot.
Austin’s parents have been con
tinually supportive of MDA.
Austin has participated in many
MDA events, including lock-ups,
a Jump-A-Thon and a very suc
cessful golf tournament that his
parents sponsored for MDA in
Cumming.
MDA is a voluntary health
agency working to defeat 40 neu
romuscular diseases through pro
grams of worldwide research,
comprehensive services and far
reaching professional and public
health education. The association
funds some 400 research projects
in the U.S. and abroad yearly. It
also supports some 230 hospital
affiliated clinics, at which people
with any of the diseases covered
by the association receive med
ical care and support services.
The MDA clinics serving the
Atlanta area are located at Emory
University and Scottish Rite
Children’s Medical Center.
On Monday, April 19, at the
Olde Atlanta Club in Suwanee,
the second annual Forsyth
County Muscular Dystrophy Golf
Challenge, sponsored by Smurfit-
Stone Container, will be held. A
fun and challenging day of golf
and fellowship is planned.
jßf /B/ gB B / jB /B/ B/
O g/g g / g/g g/g gg /
I ■
E B ’ B ■BB IS
Le d i eaii e d WH|MM|9g^ y KUI
io Our
11881
2UD Jjjvriiin Aytuufe Cu
Tv? 1/7.
UauHee /»
HKlr ' ■■ * XZ . • /
■ —-- * / V H an f J/ m/g ,9 H/f,
fc, iUhi - Ju ■ ry r i/ty#z r/tA r
y ” . • / ► ' 4 “Vitiir Perpetual care cemetery and mausoleum.”
‘Dedicated in 1963.
Locally owned and operated.
(770) 887-2387
;; 1390 Dahlpnega Hwj • ( umming. GA 30040
r ' r ’ i . , ■ ■ -
ARTS & COMMUNITY
MBS’- ’J' ML *3
rw "1
Photos/submitted
Austin Morrison, right, was named State Goodwill Ambassador
for the Atlanta Muscular Dystrophy Association. The 10-year-old
Austin is shown with his brothers (L-R), Kasey, 6, and Zack, 12.
Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.
with a shotgun start at 10 a.m. A
cocktail reception with a silent
auction and raffle also are sched-
uled. For further information, or
if you are interested in volunteer
ing or making a donation, call
Leigh Morrison (770)781-8541.
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, March 28,1999 I
Grayson keeps on giving
By Laura Lavezzo
Lifestyle Editor
Grayson’s Gift Inc. is a nonprof
it organization recently formed in
Forsyth County to help the fami
lies of special needs children.
Due to a concern that parents of
special needs children were not
networking well enough for sup
port - in large part because of the
demands of their private lives -
some local parents have taken it
upon themselves to set up such a
support system.
In 1996, a support group for
mothers of children with special
needs formed at Cumming First
United Methodist Church. Lori
von Schmeling, a former special
education teacher and mother of a
special needs child, attended
many of these meetings, and
came to realize two things.
“Parents were not being
informed of their rights and of all
the resources available to parents
of children with disabilities, and
most parents don’t have the time
to attend monthly meetings for
support due to the nature of their
families,” she said.
Lori decided a monthly newslet
ter would provide more support to
parents because then they
wouldn’t have to leave their
homes for advice and information
- and just as important, they
would realize they were not alone
in the situation.
Along with two other parents
from the support group, Suzanne
Campbell and Kathy Evans, and
one self-advocate, Carol
Underhill, who has a disability
herself, Lori applied for a grant
through Advocacy Alliance. That
grant made it possible to publish
the first informative newsletter,
which was named “Community
Alliance,” in October 1997. One
month later, with a fast-growing
readership, the Community
Alliance founders held their first
educational workshop for parents
and educators. More workshops
followed over the course of the
next several months.
In the summer of 1998, Lori and
her Community Alliance partners
decided to incorporate as a non
profit organization because the
newsletter interest had grown so
greatly. Interest and support from
Forsyth County and beyond
became evident.
Like most children, Grayson
Perry was bom into a family that
loved her and had great expecta
tions of what her future could
hold.
Unlike most children, Grayson
was born with Down Syndrome, a
genetic disorder, which was
accompanied by a congenital
heart defect. Although the infant
See GRAYSON, Page 28D
PAGE 25D