Educator survey focuses on school challenges during pandemic
Officials relate dangers, stress diligence as vaccine rollout continues
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Publix grocery store worker bags fans with caring attitude By CATHY COBBS newsroom@appenmediagroup.com
ALAN MOTHNER/SPECIAL
Volunteers at Spruill Center painted the plaza on Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.
Volunteers roll up sleeves to contribute on MLK Day By CATHY COBBS newsroom@appenmediagroup.com DUNWOODY, Ga. — Despite restrictions on group activities during the nation’s pandemic, Dunwoody volunteers executed a number of projects around the city on Martin Luther King Day, Jan. 18. “We’re working hard to provide important volunteer opportunities that are safe and socially distanced,” Dunwoody Mayor Lynn Deutsch said. “Even in these challenging times, we want to continue our tradition of honoring the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. with community service projects for all ages.” Some of the work began the day
before in Brook Run Park, where volunteers with the Daffodil Project, a national organization that aspires to build a living Holocaust Memorial by planting 1.5 million daffodils around the world, installed 500 bulbs around the park. The following day, the organization continued work, planting 4,500 more bulbs at Brook Run. The local effort is part of a worldwide initiative to plant 1.5 million daffodils to represent the 1.5 million children murdered during the Holocaust. Organizers say that, to date, 520,000 bulbs have been planted.
See VOLUNTEERS, Page 7
DUNWOODY, Ga. — William Blackshear loves everyone, and he’s not afraid to tell them. Blackshear, who has been a bagger at the Publix Super Market on Chamblee Dunwoody Road for four years, believes it’s his mission to bring joy and comfort to his customers. “God has placed me here to be a blessing to people, to lift them up and to be kind to them,” Blackshear said. “Especially during times like these, with so much hatred in the world, this is when we need to love people more, and they need to know they are loved.” He hands out encouraging cards to customer, and always ends his grocery delivery with, “I love you” or “God bless you.” People who meet him often aren’t aware of his struggles. Blackshear was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia in his youth and was told he wouldn’t live past the age of 20. That was 40 years ago. He says that’s one of the many reasons that he needs to spread positivity throughout the world. “I’m here because God wants me to do good things in the world,” he said. “God brought me to this Publix to bring peace, joy and love to everyone I meet.” Publix employees call Blackshear a “difference-maker,” and the epitome of the organization’s philosophy of giving back to the community. His popularity is evident in the fact
MISTY CREEK COMMUNITY CHURCH/SPECIAL
William Blackshear gets the feel for a vehicle he received from an anonymous member of Misty Creek Community Church.
that the line for his station is often longer, even when there are other cashiers available. Customer Pamela McKinstry of Dunwoody is a fan. “Every time I saw William, he would ask about my family,” she recalled. “But after my mom died (in August 2020), I carried on and said everyone was fine. One day I told William about her death, and he stopped what he was doing, laid hands on me and prayed like no doctor of divinity ever could. He is so gifted.” Chrissa Hammond feelsthe same love from Blackshear every time she goes shopping at Publix.
See PUBLIX, Page 6