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ESOL Teacher Gives Back
During a typical summer, camp direc
tor Carly Robinson would be welcoming
hundreds of children from metro Atlanta
to a 160-acre facility in North Georgia. The
campers would go tubing on a river that
runs through the property. They would
learn to build fires and tie knots, learn
about trees and insects, amphibians and
birds. They would live in cabins, pick veg
etables and fruits from a large garden and
learn how to make tasty dishes using the
garden produce.
Until Kelli Bivins visited the camp in
early June. She saw the garden and imme
diately thought she knew people who could
use the vegetables. An English to Speakers
of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher
who works for the Clarke County School
District, Bivins decided to pick and dis
tribute the food in Athens neighborhoods,
including East Athens, Pinewoods and
Bethel Midtown Village, where many of her
students and their families live.
“I’m not teaching, but I want to be doing
service in the summer, and this is what I
can do safely,” Bivins said. “I just wish my
students could be helping me.”
Once or twice a week, she makes a
30-mile trip to the camp and spends an
hour or so finding jalapeno, banana and
bell peppers, along with yellow squash,
cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, tomatillos,
corn and purslane, which covers big patches
of the garden plot. Latinx people include
purslane as an ingredient in various sauces,
Bivins has learned, and people who know
its usefulness are thrilled to get it. After
picking vegetables, Bivins lays them on a
table and then places them in coolers in her
trunk before heading another 30 miles back
to Athens.
“I go to trailer parks that most people
don’t even know exist,” Bivins said. “I open
my trunk and offer people vegetables, and
they’re so grateful. I want them to take
what they need.”
If there are tomatillos in the harvest, she
may visit Latinx families, while a bumper
crop of green beans takes her to African-
American families. On one of her forays
into hidden trailer parks, she spotted some
elderly folks sitting under shade trees in
the yard. They happily accepted some veg
etables, and now she visits them regularly.
Another development is that Bivins’ neigh
bors have started giving her vegetables
from their backyard gardens for her to dis
tribute, as well as clothes and art supplies.
Sharing with others “ful
fills me,” Bivins says. “I’ve
always felt that sharing food
is a good way of healing a
community. We have a lot
hurting us now; this simple
act feels right.” [Rebecca
McCarthy]
Odds and Ends
A judge has awarded the
ACC Commission District
6 seat to Jesse Houle,
agreeing with the Board of
Elections and ACC Attorney
Judd Drake that Georgia
law voids the votes cast for
incumbent Jerry NeSmith,
who won more votes despite
dying in an accidental fall
three days before the June
9 election. The decision is
under appeal.
Every family with a child
enrolled in Clarke County
public schools is eligible for
$256.50 per child from the
Georgia Division of Family
and Child Services and
Department of Education.
Families enrolled in SNAP will automati
cally receive the funds on their EBT cards.
Others must apply at dfcs.georgia.gov/
pandemic-electronic-benefit-transfer. The
program is for students who receive free
or reduced lunch, so all families with CCSD
students are eligible because school lunches
are free for all CCSD students.
CCSD will host a town hall meeting from
5:30-7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 5 to answer
questions about the start of school. It
will be streamed and archived on CCSD’s
YouTube channel. Go to bit.ly/askccsd to
submit a question. [BA] ©
to Daniel. These less lethal, although still
potentially deadly, weapons were deployed
only against individuals who tried to pick
up, snuff out or kick tear gas canisters.
Doing so effectively would have cleared the
gas, allowing protesters to remain in the
area. Therefore, those who disturbed the
tear gas canisters were shot, in accordance
with ACCPD policy. The decision to shoot
was made by each officer at
the scene individually and
was not explicitly authorized
by Police Chief Cleveland
Spruill, who did authorize
the use of tear gas.
Nineteen people were
arrested that night, with the
tents, milk and other items
seized by police.
Originally, police had
claimed that stacks of bricks
were found inside the tents
that could have been thrown
at officers or used to smash
windows. However, at this
press conference, Daniel
admitted that the tent “did
not have anything signifi
cant in it of weight,” with
video evidence showing one
officer lifting it easily.
Daniel did discuss one
failing of ACCPD’s han
dling of this event: not
maintaining clear lines of
communication with protest
organizers after the planned
events for the day ended.
[Chris Dowd]
This summer, the camp is shuttered
because of the pandemic. The garden
Robinson had planted in early spring was
doing well, but with no one to pull weeds
or pick vegetables, it was becoming over
grown. The zucchini were as big as missiles,
some of the tomatoes were melting on the
vine. “I was thinking, well, there’s next
year,” Robinson said.
Kelli Bivins loads produce into her truck.
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