Home > Social Butterfly > Archives > 2008 > September > 02 > Entry
Back from Beijing, now off to the beach
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Carla and Brent Brown
One of my colleagues, recently back from a trip to China, warned that it takes a few days to feel right upon returning. He was not kidding.
But I did rally to make it to the Blessings of Grace fundraiser at the Marietta Wine Market on Saturday afternoon. The new charity was established this year by security management firm owner Brent Brown and wife Carla, and Cobb Superior Court Judge Tain Kell and wife Sheri.
Blessings of Grace aims to assist couples who cannot have children on their own to obtain fertility treatment. The Kells’ son was conceived through an in-vitro fertilization procedure. The Browns’ twin daughters were conceived with in-vitro and donor eggs.
“We were lucky in so many ways,” Brent Brown said. “We knew we’d have children. We didn’t know how.”
Because of his professional success, the couple was able to pursue several rounds of fertility treatments. Throughout their ordeal, they were mindful of the couples who also longed to become parents, but lacked the financial means to pursue multiple procedures, Brent Brown said.
“Our rides home (from doctors’ appointments) would be focused on other couples who couldn’t afford it,” he said.
Marietta Wine Market proprietor Randall Heard, left, pours a round for Brent Brown and Ann and James Hudgins
Bentley, right, whose owners also own the wine market, kept a hopeful vigil near a tray of cheese cubes. He had to settle for a pat from George Yinat Jr., 9, with dad George Sr.
Blessings of Grace hopes to make its first gift, known as a scholarship, to a couple this December, Carla Brown said. A board of directors, guided by medical professionals on the board, will decide on the recipient, she said.
And now, off to St. Simons
I’ll be back Sept. 8 after a jaunt to the coast for a beach trip and the wedding of two friends. Let’s hope Hanna decides to skip slamming into the Georgia coast.
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