4B Midweek Edition - May 13-14, 2020
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
LIFE
COMMUNIS NEWS
Worth their weight in gold
Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia honored
19 girls with the Girl Scout Gold Award at a
virtual Highest Award Ceremony on Sunday,
May 5.
The Gold Award is the most prestigious
award for Girl Scouts
Among those awarded are Sara Laine
of Gainesville and Troop No. 10849. Laine
designed a mental health education system
for middle schoolers. The program, intended
to be taught by an older peer, is to raise
awareness about mental illness and mental
health. She hopes the program inspires a
generation without a stigma against mental
illness, according to a news release from the
Girl Scouts.
Ansley Talafous of Cleveland and Troop
NO. 11728 also was awarded. Talafous and
her team built a nature trail at a local Scout
camp that gave safe access across a creek.
She also created nature lessons for youth
to use along the trail. Her trail and les
sons will be maintained by the staff at the
camp.
Turning the ship
Gainesville native Mark Braza, 32, is a
finalist for the Service to America Medals in
the emerging leaders category.
Braza is an assistant program manager for
the Department of the Navy, who is responsi
ble for leading nearly 30 government organi
zations and contractors to plan and execute
key elements of a $5 billion overhaul of
technology and weapons systems on the USS
John C. Stennis, a Nimitz-class nuclear air
craft carrier, and two power plants.
His efforts so far have saved tens of mil
lions of dollars and ensured that the aircraft
carrier will remain a state-of-the-art warship
for the next quarter century, according to
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the Service to America Medals website.
Braza has worked for the Navy for 10
years, joining right out of college.
Food for those in need
In three donations, John Soules Foods
donated enough food for over 890,000 serv
ings. That included 20,000 pounds of food to
charities in the Atlanta area. The company
has operations in Gainesville.
“We feel there is a real need right now
and we want to lend a helping hand to our
neighbors,” said John Soules, Jr., president
and Co-CEO of John Soules Foods, in a news
release. “Our hope is that providing protein-
rich foods to local food banks will ease the
burden many are facing at this time. ”
Randy and Friends crafts some
thanks for firefighters
Earlier this year, firefighters from Gaines
ville Fire Department’s Station 1 came to
Randy and Friends and taught a class on fire
safety.
Recently, Randy Owens was able to bring
them a serving tray made in the nonprofit’s
wood shop and baked goods.
The back of the tray reads “Thank you
for your good words and works” to remind
them they are appreciated, Marty Owens,
co-founder of the nonprofit, said.
Owens brought similar gifts to other fire
stations and to those in law enforcement, she
said.
Photo
courtesy
Randy
and
Friends
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Lawns are the new wedding
venue in age of coronavirus
BY LEANNE ITALIE
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Love in the age of corona-
virus sometimes requires a lawn.
Couples with dashed wedding plans due
to lockdown restrictions have been tying
the knot on those tidy green spreads instead,
including at least one loaner.
Danielle Cartaxo and Ryan Cignarella
were supposed to get married in West
Orange, New Jersey, on April 11 at a venue
with sweeping views of the New York
City skyline. Rather than abandon their
Easter Weekend nuptials, they headed
outdoors.
The tricky part was finding a lawn. The
two live in Wayne, Pennsylvania, about 100
miles away, but they had a marriage license
issued in West Orange, where Cartaxo lived
until she was 5.
“We still felt like at the end of the day
making that commitment to each other was
important and we didn’t want to wait,” Car
taxo said.
But they were barred from marrying in a
public space. That’s where a stranger, Janice
Berman, comes in. A friend contacted Ber
man, and she offered her front lawn, with
a few yellow spring blooms on one of her
bushes as backdrop.
“My husband played the 'Wedding March’
for them on a speaker,” Berman said. “We
watched from the porch. It was really fun.
They were so sweet.”
The couple’s maid of honor and best man
attended at a safe distance, as did Cartaxo’s
parents. The bride, in a short white dress,
held a bouquet. A small, handwritten “Just
Married” sign marked the occasion. They’ll
have a party later.
“You have to be grateful in times like
this,” Cignarella said. “Sometimes when
you put goodness out into the world it kind of
comes back to you.”
In Muskego, Wisconsin, Kalee and Tim
Gbur weren’t in need of a borrowed lawn.
They used their own for their wedding on
April 18.
They had originally hoped to marry last
October, but Kalee’s paternal grandmother
fell ill and died in December at 101. Her
grandparents’ wedding anniversary was
April 18, and her chosen venue, a grand
hotel nearby, was free on that date.
Then the pandemic struck and the cou
ple’s plans were scuttled once again. What
was once supposed to be a big affair with
more than 250 guests was moved to their
lawn.
“We went through weeks of trying to
decide. Should we move our date altogether?
Should we keep it April 18? I said, 'You know
what, I don’t want to give up our date. I want
to honor my grandma,”’ Kalee said.
They were going to keep it small and
simple. Then her mother and sister stepped
in with balloons and a huge “Just Married”
sign with their names in their wedding col
ors, purple and gray. Loved ones decorated
their cars and stood in the street, honking
their horns in celebration. A neighbor built a
wooden backdrop adorned with tea candles
and flowers.
Somebody else provided a white plastic
aisle runner.
“When we were doing this we were like,
this is just not going to be what we wanted,
but it actually ended up being better than
what we wanted. It really touched our
hearts seeing everybody there, just coming
together,” Tim said. “I wouldn’t change a
thing.”
With social distancing in place, and high
wind blowing, Kalee’s not sure exactly what
their impromptu guests actually heard dur
ing the ceremony.
“They were pretty far,” she laughed.
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Photo provided by MICHAEL WARGO I Associated Press
Newlyweds Danielle Cartaxo and Ryan Cignarella kiss while wearing masks after getting
married in West Orange, N.J. on April 11. Barred from getting married in a public space due
to lockdown restrictions, Cartaxo and Cignarella got married on the front lawn of the home
of a stranger who offered to help.
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