The Homewood Star | August 2011 |
www.TheHomewoodStar.com
neighborly news & entertainment for Homewood
Volume 1 | Issue 5 | August 2011
Tornado Dog
Homewood Happenings
Wish granted
- pg 17
- pg 6
-pg 9
A runner’s tale, seven years after cancer By MADOLINE MARKHAM
Jennifer Andress became a local celebrity when she was featured on the cover of Runner’s World in July. Like the others featured on eight different covers, the Hollywood resident had “outrun cancer” and found her way into a running addiction. Andress had responded to a call for cancer survivors on the Runner’s World Facebook page earlier this year and went to New York for a photo shoot in March. The magazine’s editor detailed how Andress, 42, had been diagnosed with breast cancer at 35 when she was 24 weeks pregnant with her second son. She had a masectomy and six lymph nodes removed while pregnant. Three weeks after giving birth, she began radiation and four months later had another mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. All of that was seven years ago. She’s been cancer free since 2005 and busy running and raising her two boys, Will, a rising first grader, and John, a rising third grader, with her husband, Keith. The press she received this year was a way for her sons—and all the people she has met in recent years who don’t necessarily know
Jennifer Andress with her husband and sons before the Boston Marathon in April. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Andress.
what happened—to learn her story. After her magazine debut, Andress was written up in The Birmingham News,
Magic City Post, and other local media, and it was hard to find a copy of the issue with her cover around Birmingham.
“People tell me they’re glad to have a normal person on the cover who is passionate about running,” she said. Andress’ sons loved sitting on the set of the Good Day Alabama on Fox 6 when their mom was interviewed and then watching the weather broadcast. “It was amazing,” John told his mom afterward. Will knows all the stories of all the runners in the issue and their diagnoses, just as he can name every president and every teacher at Shades Cahaba Elementary by first and last name. He asked if they could frame the cover with Amy Dodson, a professional runner who lost her left leg to sarcoma at age 19 and later had her cancerous left lung removed, like they’d framed the one with his mom. Runner’s World wanted Andress to come to New York for a photo shoot on April 11, the day Representative Paul DeMarco was dedicating a new metal slide at Shades Cahaba. The dedication was an event she couldn’t miss. DeMarco is a close friend who was in her wedding, and the slide was built specially for her two sons and other hearing impaired students at the school; the existing plastic slides could
See ANDRESS | page 17
August Features Jimmie Hale Mission thrift store opening in Mazer building Editor’s Note
2
Mayor’s Minute
4
City Council
5
Back to School Q&A
7
The Great Book of John
8
Lauren Denton
10
Boot Camps
11
Homewood Sports
12
Business Spotlight
14
Restaurant Showcase
15
School House
16
Calendar of Events
18
Like us
Pre-Sort Standard U.S. Postage PAID Birmingham, AL Permit #656
www.TheHomewoodStar.com
By RICK WATSON Bargain hunters in Homewood and surrounding communities will soon be able to “get a bargain and give a blessing” when the new Jimmie Hale Mission Possible Bargain Center opens later this year. The upscale thrift store has leased the former Flooring & Rug section of the Mazer complex on Green Springs Highway in Homewood. All profits from the Mission Possible Bargain Centers go to support nonprofit Jimmie Hale Mission’s programs and services for homeless and disadvantaged people in Birmingham. Jimmie Hale began a lease on the Mazer Flooring & Rug building on July 1 with a goal of opening for business in September. Vestavia Hills had earlier turned down a proposal for their new Bargain Center location. According to Tony Cooper, , who has been the executive director of Jimmie Hale Mission for the past 21 years, many people in the area support the mission, but a vocal group in opposition turned out for the city council meeting where it was under discussion. As it turns out, Mike Mazer called a few days later and offered Mazer’s Flooring and Rug showroom in Homewood as a retail space for the Mission Possible Bargain Center.
Tony Cooper, executive director of Jimmie Hale Mission, in front of what will soon be their newest thrift store location. Photo by Rick Watson.
“The Homewood Chamber of Commerce told us they wanted us to come to Homewood, and when I went to the Homewood City Council meeting to discuss the proposal, they gave Jimmie Hale Mission a standing ovation,” Cooper said. The Mazer building is “move-in ready.” “All we have to do is add a loading dock and build dressing rooms to be ready to go,” Cooper said. Cooper is excited about the location
A Father and Sons Operation Mon-Thur: 7-7 Fri: 7-6:30, Sat: 9-4 1915 Oxmoor Rd. • 871.6131 hunterscleaners@gmail.com
c i r b a F of Life
because it’s in the middle of a vibrant, high traffic business district just off of Interstate 65 and close to Hoover, Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills. He said that because thrift stores share customers, being close to the Salvation Army and America’s Thrift Stores is a bonus. The Homewood facility is the fourth Mission Possible Bargain to open since the original store opened in the Eastwood
See JIMMIE HALE | page 9