The W.O.W.'s hold up a few of the sweaters they gave me last Thursday for Gwinnett County Seniors.

Last February, I met Mary Anne Lamb (shown back row on the left) at Run The Reagan 5K in Snellville, GA.  AHCS had a booth at the race and Mary Anne stopped by. I remember telling her about our “Sweaters For Seniors” program. She told me that her women’s group at Brookwood Baptist might be able to help us collect some sweaters.

Lo and behold! She was right as last Thursday AHCS was invited to the “Girl Friends’” meeting at Mary Anne’s Lawrenceville home.  It was a chilly winter night but you’d hardly know it thanks to the hospitality of these women. Warmly welcoming me in, I was given the floor to discuss our “3rd Annual Sweaters for Seniors” program.

Martha McCance (back row 3rd from left) introduced me to the W.O.W.s and pledged that they’d help next fall. One of my requests is that we get more Gwinnett County Schools involved this year. It seems that K-5 aged kids in particular love to collect sweaters for seniors. Martha explained, “We have some members who work at  Gwinnett County Schools and we’ll ask them to help.”

A huge thanks to Mary Anne, Martha, Lori and the rest of the “GF’s.” (I hear they also help seniors at Sunrise Assisted Living on Five Forks Trickum.) So with all they have on their plates, we appreciate their help with S4S all the more!

Let’s give a shout out to the principal, teachers, staff and of course, the K-5 students at R.L. Norton Elementary in Snellville! On Friday, August 15, the Gwinnett County School joined our efforts to collect new and ‘like -new’ sweaters for Gwinnett County Senior Services.

Also, on Friday, “Sweaters For Seniors” made the 6 o’clock news! (And 5 AM, noon, 11 PM, too) The sweater drive was featured on CBS Atlanta’s “Good Deeds.” The ongoing segment of anchorperson, Tracye Hutchins highlights unique and giving efforts made in the Atlanta metro area. ”Sweaters” is thankful to have been featured by Ms. Hutchins on “Better Mornings” for the 2nd year. Thank you Tracye, Steve (CBS interview/camera man) and CBS Atlanta for helping us spread the news about “S4S.” Also thanks to Tom Balsamides at Chick-Fil-A on Hwy 124 and Brad Spratte, Hwy 78 for partnering with us on this much needed project for Gwinnett’s aging population. For more information on how Gwinnett Senior Services, helps our community, please click here.

You have to get up pretty early in the morning to know everything Maria Spartis knows. That’s because Maria Spartis is responsible for educating a classroom of 4th graders at the Galloway School in Atlanta. And to help her do that, she watches CBS 46 “Better Mornings” weekday mornings, 5-7 AM before she goes to school.

“I love the variety of things they have because it’s a brief summary of news, weather, local restaurants and events in the city,” Maria explains.

One of the events that caught her attention happened to be our “Sweaters for Seniors” (SFS) program. (As luck would have it, we, Alternative Home Care for Seniors, were invited to “Better Mornings” for an on-air interview with anchorwoman, Tracye Hutchins on Monday, November 17.)

And as further luck would have it, Maria Spartis was watching. (more…)