Home > Gwinnett > Rick Badie / My Opinion > Archives > 2008 > September > 27 > Entry
Community volunteers’ impact felt in every party
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
People line up outside the Norcross Cooperative Ministry before the doors open on the days it serves the public. Their needs vary — food, money for utility bills or the rent, and jobs. It’s a scene repeated at Gwinnett’s other cooperative ministries, located in Lilburn, Duluth, Lawrenceville, South Gwinnett and Northeast Gwinnett.
And given our sour economic state, there’s an uptick in clients.
“We’re seeing about 900 to 1,000 families a month,” said Leslie Buchanan, job services coordinator at the Norcross co-op.
It’s volunteers and staff members such as Buchanan who make nonprofits tick. The community organizers. The civic-minded. The volunteers and do-gooders. All represent duty and patriotism, the so-called American tradition.
In the current mad race for the White House, though, their sacrifice has been ridiculed, ruled inconsequential in the scheme of life, even less so in the governance of a gigantic government.
Don’t tell that to Shirley Cabe, executive director of the Norcross co-op, which just turned 20 years old. A Norcross native, she’s a founding member of the agency.
I always expect to hear from Cabe during the holidays, when demand dwarfs donations. She usually asks me to help spread the word:
“Christmas gifts and canned goods are needed. Please donate.”
If anybody knows what community means, it’s people like Cabe. They know people of all walks — what’s on their minds and in their hearts and souls.
For them, it’s not about polls. It’s about networking, strategizing, appealing to all aspects and agendas of the community to help the downtrodden.
To make a difference.
What better way to learn a community, city, state or nation than through a grassroots prism? What better way to prepare yourself to deal with all stripes of people, of different incomes, experiences, and perspectives?
Cabe wasn’t in the office when I called a few days ago. Unusual.
“She actually took a vacation,” the receptionist told me.
So I talked to Buchanan, the job services director. She became a volunteer seven years ago, then eventually joined the staff. Despite the job title, she still puts in volunteer hours at the agency on Mitchell Street.
“There is a need in the community,” she told me.
What Gwinnett residents such as Buchanan and Cabe contribute in the form of community service extends beyond party affiliation.
Feeding the hungry, finding jobs for the unemployed and helping a family keep shelter speaks volumes. You may not like the purpose they serve, but the nobility of such service requires no defense.
And it definitely shouldn’t be mocked.
Permalink | Comments (33) | Post your comment | Categories: Rick Badie
Comments
By NOWICUNVME
September 27, 2008 10:42 AM | Link to this
Absolutely! Sadly, empathy and caring for others less fortunate is not a quality that can be learned, it’s a quality the comes from deep down within, from the heart. These diligent community workers are so often the forgotten heroes of society, but are shown tremendous favor from Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and sincerely appreciated and blessed by those that truly understand their unselfish giving of themselves without expecting any type of compensation in return. Don’t ever take for granted what you have, for it can be taken away just as quickly and you’ll never know if you might one day have to end up on one of these lines for help.
By Nana
September 27, 2008 11:57 AM | Link to this
Hello Rick, I agree that these volunteers are needed and probably unappreciated. That being said however, I feel this is a way for you to push Obama as everyone knows he was a community organizer. That’s great and commendable. My questions is though what good did he do? I am not saying he didn’t do any good I would just like to know what he did do and the results of his work in the communties that he worked in.
By Incogneto
September 27, 2008 12:23 PM | Link to this
Never a dull moment to serve the posturing of innuendo politics. The Community Organizer n Chief Obama has taken quite a few political cheap shots admittedly.
Service to community is service to country. Service to country should never be mocked at any degree, only recognized and lauded as duty served.
By Stone
September 27, 2008 6:25 PM | Link to this
Incoherent- When “service to the country”, in this case being a community organizer, is used to convey that one has executive experience equivalent to a sitting Governor or former mayor it can and should be mocked. Notice he isn’t saying that line anymore because it is laughable. I believe Obama and McCain are both qualified for the job.
By NOWHECANTVME
September 27, 2008 6:46 PM | Link to this
Stoned- Go sleep it off. The country could do better than either Obama or McCain notwithstanding their past commendable services.
By GAPeach
September 27, 2008 9:22 PM | Link to this
Obama was a “community organizer” but not the kind that was mentioned in your article. He was out registering voters . . why? Because he was building support for when he ran for office. According to the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia on the internet: “Three basic types of community organizing are grassroots organizing, faith-based and community organizing, and coalition building. Political campaigns often claim that their door-to-door operations are in fact an effort to organize the community, though often these operations are focused exclusively on voter identification and turn out.” Obama was in it to benefit himself.
By LT5000
September 27, 2008 9:48 PM | Link to this
I knew Blubbering Badie couldn’t resist penning Obama infomercial before the elections.
Typical Blubbering Badie tripe that is served up thrice weekly.
Blowbama the Community Organizer was collecting money for his friends William “I bombed the Pentagon” Ayers and Jermiah “God Damn America” Wright.
Badie, lose some weight and squeeze into a cruiser and do a ride a long. Betting on Obama isn’t going to get you anything but more egg on your face. Next to the egg on your face left over from the Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast.
LT5000
By "Spank" the monkey
September 27, 2008 10:32 PM | Link to this
Nowhecantvme that’s what you call a non sequitur. Why waste our time and yours if you have nothing worthwhile to say. Stone made a valid point. What is yours or do you even have one?
By Exlax
September 28, 2008 12:31 AM | Link to this
Spanked monkey waste- you and stoned have no valid points. Anything keeping your made constipation from moving along?
By "Spank" the monkey
September 28, 2008 9:59 AM | Link to this
Thanks ex-lax, your incoherent, alcohol induced, anal post says everything about you yet adds nothing to the discussion. You and nowhecanvme should get together.
By Exlax
September 28, 2008 10:58 AM | Link to this
You’re welcome spanked monkey waste. It is evident you remain constipated and unable to contribute anything more in discussion than passing the flatulence of a stoned wino awaiting the DTs.
By "Spank" the monkey
September 28, 2008 1:03 PM | Link to this
You’re repeating yourself ex-lax, boring.
By BW
September 28, 2008 1:18 PM | Link to this
A sitting Governor of a state that has a far smaller population than Gwinnett. Living next to our two greatest enemies, Russia and Canada makes you an expert on foreign relations?
Wikipedia as a sound source, now that is funny.
Here is an article about community service and yet some comments just blow off community service and volunteering as nothing more than a joke. It isn’t very hard to tell who is involved in their communities.
By "Spank" the monkey
September 28, 2008 1:28 PM | Link to this
BW- Canada is one of our greatest enemies? Being a community organizer is equal to being a sitting governor? BW must stand for BackWards becuase you’re the joke. Obama ‘08- even if losers like BW want to jump on the bandwagon it’s OK.
By BW
September 28, 2008 1:56 PM | Link to this
Satire me boy, satire, run to the Wikipedia and look it up.
Our commissioners have more power than she. Her town was smaller then Mayberry they had to barrow a town drunk, btw…was it cold there?
By "Spank" the monkey
September 28, 2008 6:50 PM | Link to this
Uh, she is the governor, idiot, of the largest state in the union with just as much power as any other governor if not more, (look it up) and is not the mayor of a small town.
By terry lemm
September 28, 2008 7:07 PM | Link to this
Last Year New Life Academy had a very successful food drive prior to Thanksgiving. We will be doing again this November. We do however have to keep in mind that these efforts need to be ongoing, not just during the summer months.
Now some argue that folks should take care of themself, and not rely on the system.. And to a certain extent I agree with that. However it is good to know the Co-Ops are available when the rocky times come.
So thank you to all that donate time, money and food the all the co-ops!
By What is she, and idiot?
September 28, 2008 7:48 PM | Link to this
“It’s very important when you consider even national-security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America. Where—where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to—to our state.”
By What is she, and idiot?
September 28, 2008 7:50 PM | Link to this
COURIC: Why isn’t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?
PALIN: That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the—it’s got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.
By What is she, and idiot?
September 28, 2008 7:54 PM | Link to this
Couric, neither aggressive nor patronising, asked Mrs Palin about Mr McCain’s record of supporting deregulation and what examples she could give of the senator supporting oversight of the financial sector. She suggested failed mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but Couric wanted another. “I’ll try to find some,” the Governor said, “and bring them to you.”
By What is she, and idiot?
September 28, 2008 7:55 PM | Link to this
Couric: You’ve cited Alaska’s proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?
Palin: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and, on our other side, the land-boundary that we have with Canada. It’s funny that a comment like that was kinda made to … I don’t know, you know … reporters.
Couric: Mocked?
Palin: Yeah, mocked, I guess that’s the word, yeah.
Couric: Well, explain to me why that enhances your foreign-policy credentials.
Palin: Well, it certainly does, because our next-door neighbours are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of.
By What is she, and idiot?
September 28, 2008 7:59 PM | Link to this
Here’s but one example of many from her interview with Hannity:
“Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we’re talking about today. And that’s something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this.”
When Couric pointed to polls showing that the financial crisis had boosted Obama’s numbers, Palin blustered wordily: “I’m not looking at poll numbers. What I think Americans at the end of the day are going to be able to go back and look at track records and see who’s more apt to be talking about solutions and wishing for and hoping for solutions for some opportunity to change, and who’s actually done it?”
By Folyd the Hemorrhoid
September 28, 2008 8:21 PM | Link to this
Another series of blabbering Badie-head Obama infomercials orchestrated by the idiot brigade.
Floyd the Hemorrhoid
By BW
September 28, 2008 8:50 PM | Link to this
Spank” the monkey, the largest state (don’t know where ruling over land mass makes sense) with a population far less than Gwinnett’s. Her claim to fame me boy is being a Mayor before Governor. Unless moose start voting she is road kill.
Man, oh man, talk about pure desperation on the part of the GOP Palin is the great white hope.
By Hmmm
September 29, 2008 8:07 AM | Link to this
It’s 3 a.m., a few months into 2009, and the phone in the White House rings. Several big hedge funds are about to fail, says the voice on the line, and there’s likely to be chaos when the market opens. Whom do you trust to take that call?
So what do we know about the readiness of the two men most likely to end up taking that call? Well, Barack Obama seems well informed and sensible about matters economic and financial. John McCain, on the other hand, scares me.
Remember, his chief mentor on economics is Phil Gramm, the arch-deregulator, who took special care in his Senate days to prevent oversight of financial derivatives — the very instruments that sank Lehman and A.I.G., and brought the credit markets to the edge of collapse. Mr. Gramm hasn’t had an official role in the McCain campaign since he pronounced America a “nation of whiners,” but he’s still considered a likely choice as Treasury secretary.
By Wow
September 29, 2008 8:10 AM | Link to this
The real revelation of the last few weeks, however, has been just how erratic Mr. McCain’s views on economics are. At any given moment, he seems to have very strong opinions — but a few days later, he goes off in a completely different direction.
Thus on Sept. 15 he declared — for at least the 18th time this year — that “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.” This was the day after Lehman failed and Merrill Lynch was taken over, and the financial crisis entered a new, even more dangerous stage.
But three days later he declared that America’s financial markets have become a “casino,” and said that he’d fire the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission — which, by the way, isn’t in the president’s power.
By What is he, and idiot?
September 29, 2008 8:11 AM | Link to this
And then he found a new set of villains — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored lenders. (Despite some real scandals at Fannie and Freddie, they played little role in causing the crisis: most of the really bad lending came from private loan originators.) And he moralistically accused other politicians, including Mr. Obama, of being under Fannie’s and Freddie’s financial influence; it turns out that a firm owned by his own campaign manager was being paid by Freddie until just last month.
Then Mr. Paulson released his plan, and Mr. McCain weighed vehemently into the debate.*But he admitted, several days after the Paulson plan was released, that he hadn’t actually read the plan, which was only three pages long. *
By What is she...
September 29, 2008 8:21 AM | Link to this
McCain retracts Palin’s Pakistan comments
WASHINGTON (CNN)— Sen. John McCain retracted Sarah Palin’s stance on Pakistan Sunday morning, after the Alaska governor appeared to back Sen. Barack Obama’s support for unilateral strikes inside Pakistan against terrorists
“She would not…she understands and has stated repeatedly that we’re not going to do anything except in America’s national security interest,” McCain told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos of Palin. “In all due respect, people going around and… sticking a microphone while conversations are being held, and then all of a sudden that’s—that’s a person’s position… This is a free country, but I don’t think most Americans think that that’s a definitve policy statement made by Governor Palin.”
Saturday night, while on a stop for cheesesteaks in South Philadelphia, Palin was questioned by a Temple graduate student about whether the U.S. should cross the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan.
“If that’s what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should,” Palin said.
During Friday night’s presidential debate in Mississippi, Obama took a similar stance and condemned the Bush administration for failing to act on the possibility terrorists are in Pakistan.
“Nobody talked about attacking Pakistan,” Obama said after McCain accused the Illinois senator of wanting to announce an invasion. “If the United States has al Qaeda, bin Laden, top-level lieutenants in our sights, and Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act, then we should take them out.”
McCain emphasized Sunday, Palin “shares” his view on the matter.
By Jais
September 29, 2008 11:57 AM | Link to this
Obama is a joke. He’s a dumb little career politician with delusions of martin luther kingdom. The guy is an empty sack of wind. Joe biden is the jimmy carter of the senate- completely innefectual wherever he goes.
McCain will win because he’s white and is willing to work with special interest. We all know the oil companies win in the end.
By Bubba
September 29, 2008 1:57 PM | Link to this
Ummm…. I didn’t see Badie mention Obama, or Palin, or McCain. Don’t need to say nuthin’ ‘bout Biden. No one remembers him.
I did see him mention something ‘bout people doing something for their communities. Something like people who “contribute in the form of community service [that] extends beyond party affiliation.”
I’m changin’ the channel now. Deep sea fishing runs on ESPN the Ocho.
By Cindy
September 29, 2008 4:09 PM | Link to this
Rick,
You could write us something about the bailout (lack of) and how we in Gwinnett will be affected. Whaddayathink?
No need in writing about gas…too cliche.
By Jais
September 29, 2008 4:19 PM | Link to this
00000oooooooo!
By Now that's a leader
September 29, 2008 4:26 PM | Link to this
McCain Pounds Obama Over Response to Financial Market Crisis
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Despite having insisted that his announcement last week of a temporary campaign suspension was not political, Sen. John McCain made it clear today that he plans to use his return to Washington, D.C., as campaign fodder in the last five weeks before election day.
“I went to Washington last week to make sure that the taxpayers of Ohio and across this great country were not left footing the bill for mistakes made on Wall Street and evil and greed in Washington,” he said.
And he accused Sen. Barack Obama of “watching from the sidelines,” despite Obama’s similar return to Washington last week and a pledge by McCain and his top aides not to politicize the discussions.