Do-Gooders Blog

Features stories on East Cobb residents doing good and giving back to the community. A place for East Cobbers to recognize random acts of kindness and announce volunteer opportunities.

Get out your sundress and give cancer a hat-titude on June 23.

June 11, 2013 Leave a Comment

The Hat-titude Big Hat Brunch is coming to East Cobb on June 23.

Hat-titude is an education and awareness event that gives men and women a platform to rally in support of the fight against cancer. The Hat-titude Big Hat Brunch expresses the aspirations and expectations of Atlanta’s cancer supporters. It’s a fundraising effort that raises awareness for ALL forms of cancer, and benefits the American Cancer Society and other deserving charities. The disease is not just limited to breast, prostate and liver. It’s multifaceted, which is why Hat-titude stands to highlight all forms and variations, in both men and women… and we do it in style!

Hat-titude was birthed from experience. Jerika Head, an Atlanta native and community socialite, takes this event very seriously. Just over two years ago, she lost her mother to a form of this devastating disease and has since used her experience to educate others.

“There is so much I did not know about cancer when it tragically hit my family,” testifies Jerika, “My hope is to change the lives of those around me through education and ultimately heal, encourage and prevent the negative impact of this disease.”

Hat-titude is purposed to raise money for deserving charities. This is our forth year and we’re excited about the growth and the part we’re playing in providing key information to men and women to possibly help save a life!

This year, Hat-titude will take place at The Pavilion of East Cobb (736 Johnson Ferry Road ATL 30068) on Sunday, June 30, 2013 from noon-4pm. The attire is set as “Bowties and Sundresses” where the attendees are encouraged to wear hats of different colors to represent the various forms of cancer. This way, the event is not only stylishly uniformed, but neutralized from gender and race and focuses the attention on the heart of the effort.

Tickets are available in advance for a minimum $50.00 donation. Portions of the proceeds will benefit cancer research. Highlights of Hat-titude include brunch, cocktails, silent auction, a live band with musical performances, an “Ask the Doctors “panel, a special Care Giver Award presentation, a big hat fashion show and a celebratory, twoline parade!

To learn more about the event, log on to www.hat-titude.com or contact: Jerika Head, Founder, at 678-310-9068 or info@hat-titude.com.

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Filed Under: Do-Gooders Blog, [Featured], [PostToSocial] Tagged With: Big Hat Brunch, Fight Against Cancer, Hat-titude

Set in stone: Pope students craft tile mural

May 24, 2013 Leave a Comment

Students in the Transition Academy program at Pope High School gather in front of a mural they created, which contains 4,200 individual pieces.

Students in Pope High School’s Transition Academy were excited to unveil an art mosaic that encourages their classmates and others in the east Cobb school to find their strengths.

“We focus on everybody’s strengths and building their strengths,” said teacher Cheryl Horacek. “‘Strength: Find Yours’ is what we came up with to describe our transition academy and felt like that was a good message for the entire school. It’s about finding your strength and going for it.”

The Pope academy serves 14 students between ages 19 to 22 who are intellectually disabled. It helps students who have met their academic requirements learn life skills.

Kelly Karr, a Marietta resident who volunteers at Pope, connected academy teachers with ArtForce1, the foundation that provides these opportunities for students.

“We all thought it would be so cool to do something so permanent out of ceramic tile,” she said. “That artwork will still be communicating these guy’s message to whoever sees it forever and that’s really neat.”

Art therapist and Kennesaw State University art education professor Rick Garner started ArtForce1. It began in 2002 at Lassiter High School.

“We are working with people who are facing life challenges, either in the classroom here or in the health care setting,” Garner said.

He said it’s been a pleasure to work with Pope’s students.

“The excitement is wonderful but also part of this project is about bringing recognition to their work, beyond the classroom setting,” he said. “I think this is an effective way of doing it and they really enjoy it.”

With the help of Kerr, the students voted on multiple designs for their specific project.

“We talked about the strengths in our jobs,” said 19-year-old student Jonathan Coty.

He was very excited to talk about the mosaic.

Gabriel Warner-Gonzales, also 19, explained how the mosaic was made.

“We made mosaics with broken plates,” he said. “(Karr) broke the plates. We used a white glue to stick the plates on the board.”

Nineteen-year-old Wesley Heaton said they put cement between the pieces to hold the broken pieces of plate together.

“We wore goggles. The powder wasn’t good for us. We wore gloves on our hands,” he said. “It was amazing.”

Over a five-week period, each student had an opportunity to put together their own piece, eventually bringing them all together to convey the message of their class mosaic. More than 4,200 pieces of broken material were used to create the mosaic.

Warner-Gonzales’ mother, Donna Lehman, became teary-eyed describing what it has meant to her to see the students create the mosaic.

“It’s so exciting. It makes you want to jump up and down,” she said. “They have a very strong program here that is letting them become independent and learn skills and believe that they can do things.”

She also said her son has loved art since he was a child and began drawing even before he first spoke at age 5.

“He draws constantly,” she said. “I have thousands of his pieces. He does very detailed, tiny little pieces.”

Horacek said watching her students complete the project has been incredible.

“We work on independent skills, work behavior skills and functional living skills, so it’s good for them to be able to have a creative outlet,” she said, adding that it’s also therapeutic for the students.

“Students who normally don’t focus on something for a very long time would sit and work on this for two hours … attention to detail that we haven’t really seen before,” said academy teacher Kyle Roberts.

Both said they hope this is an art project they can continue with students in future years.

“We didn’t know what to expect but it turned out so well,” Horacek said. “We’d like to put one in every hallway if we could.”

(Reprinted from the Marietta Daily Journal. Written by Lindsay Field May 23, 2013. Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – Set in stone Pope students craft tile mural)

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Filed Under: Do-Gooders Blog, [Featured], [PostToSocial] Tagged With: Pope High School

How to Help Victims of the Oklahoma Tornado

May 22, 2013 Leave a Comment

One of the most devastating tornados in U.S. history tore through Oklahoma City Monday, wreaking considerable damage to the suburb of Moore.

The Oklahoma City medical examiner’s spokesperson originally reported at least 51 deaths, including 20 children, though those counts are no longer thought accurate. The storm reduced homes to piles of rubble and destroyed entire neighborhoods. Two elementary schools, one in Moore and another on the town’s border with Oklahoma City, were among the devastated buildings.

Recovery will be an arduous task. Beyond the buildings, infrastructure such as phones lines, TV cables and cell connections will need to be restored.

Since the tornado struck, several online campaigns have mobilized to help the storms’ many victims. If you’re looking for ways to help, start with one of the following charitable organizations.

Convoy of Hope: Using online fundraising platform HopeMob, Convoy of Hope hopes to raise $15,000 in seven days for the town of Moore. The organization set the one-week goal because it says the first days are the most important for recovery.
RYOT’s Oklahoma Victims Fund: RYOT, the online media platform that helps you take action when reading the news, has set up an Oklahoma Victims Fund, for which it’s covering all processing fees. RYOT’s initial goal is to raise $10,000.
Text to Give to the American Red Cross: As always, you can text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the organization. Your donation will go toward the Red Cross’ Emergency Relief Fund, which is working to provide relief in Oklahoma and Texas.
Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Fund: You can also donate online to the Oklahoma Southern Baptist Convention’s Disaster Relief Fund. All donations will go directly to tornado victims.
Salvation Army: You can donate to the Salvation Army’s Oklahoma Tornado Relief, which will go toward the Oklahoma City chapter.
Save the Children: Save the Children launched a donation page to raise money for the victims or the Oklahoma tornados.
United Methodist Committee on Relief: You can either text RESPONSE to 80888 to make a $10 donation or donate online to the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s fund for Oklahoma.
Jewish Federations of North America: The Jewish Federations of North America have set up the Oklahoma City Tornado Relief Fund, which is accepting online and postal donations.
Central Oklahoma Humane Society: Several new campaigns have been added to Causes.com, raising money for victims of the tornados. One unique giving option comes from the Humane Society of Oklahoma, which will help the lost and injured pets of Moore, Okla.