Religious organizations rally to help community ► ONLINE AT THECRIER.NET
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A fiery December, cooled by community response By JEFFREY ALBERTSON newsroom@appenmediagroup.com DUNWOODY, Ga. — The outpouring of support from the community has helped Dunwoody residents cope with losses following two catastrophic structure fires, one to a home on Dec. 2, the other to an apartment building on Dec. 21. Fundraising for the house fire has been organic, comprised of donations to a GoFundMe campaign. The amounts may seem nominal, yet the sheer multitude of donations bypassed the $15,000 goal. The fundraising effort for the Scott family, who lost their home at the beginning of this month, totals $42,114. The GoFundMe link, https://gofund.me/a0a212fc, contains messages of tragedy, triumph and encouragement — from friends and neighbors. “We feel so incredibly grateful to be-
long to such a loving community,” Kelly Scott said in a post on the page. The family was at home when the fire began. Their two dogs perished. Scott’s harrowing narrative recounts receiving phone calls from neighbors about the house fire and pleas for people to not tamper or trespass on the site. She mentions catching people picking through the ruins of her home. An update on Dec. 19 said the family is still searching for a new house. Nineteen days after the house fire, catastrophe struck again in Dunwoody. Shortly after 4 p.m. last Monday, smoke started billowing from the 2300 block of the Dunwoody Village apartments. When the fire was suppressed that night, at least one building was damaged with multiple families displaced. Several people were injured and an expectant mother went into labor.
A statement from Atlanta Gas Light utility company said two field service employees sustained injuries while responding to an incident at a Dunwoody apartment complex where a contracting firm working on a project unrelated to their company damaged one of their lines. With immediate speed, the Dunwoody community took action to help fire victims for the second time this month. The community used the social media platforms NextDoor and Facebook to arrange a gift card drive with local organizations serving as collection points on Dec. 22. Donations were collected on the mobile payment service Venmo. Donations can still be made to the username @Laurence-Harris-1. A GoFundMe has been set up at gofund.me/a819f0fa.
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CATHY COBBS/CRIER
Lucas Woosdorp, 15, his brother Leo, 12 and friend Ryan Kuniansky, 13, lined up on North Peachtree Road holding signs encouraging people to donate gift cards to victims of the Dec. 21 apartment fire at the Dunwoody Village Apartments.
DUNWOODY YEAR IN REVIEW
City withstands trials, tests through COVID pandemic By CATHY COBBS newsroom@appenmediagroup.com DUNWOODY, Ga. – Well, that didn’t really go as planned. The beginning of 2020 in Dunwoody was filled with promise. Lynn Deutsch, the city’s first female mayor, was sworn into office, a new 950-student Austin Elementary opened its doors and the City Council was making significant progress crafting changes that would make the city more pedestrian- and bike-friendly.
Dunwoody’s businesses were thriving, residential and commercial real estate was booming and everything was going as planned. That is, until COVID-19 arrived. The first indication of trouble was reported in the Crier on March 12, about the first confirmed cases in Georgia, several Fulton County residents who contracted the virus after returning from a trip to Italy. It became front page news after that, as the city, businesses and individuals were faced with fighting an invisible dis-
ease about which little was known. The world as Dunwoody knew it came to an abrupt halt in the spring. City officials closed down non-essential government services in mid-March, halted in-person meetings and instituted a shelter-in-place order on March 26. DeKalb County Schools moved to virtual instruction in mid-March. The City Council’s attempt to institute a mask ordinance in July was thwarted by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who declared that local governments could not pass harsher
mandates than what had been outlined in his executive order. Local restaurants and Dunwoody’s non-profit organizations were forced to change the way business was conducted. City officials helped by relaxing restrictions on outdoor dining, issuing rent forgiveness and distributing federal, state and local relief funds to area nonprofits. Some of Dunwoody’s most treasured traditions, including Lemon-
See REVIEW, Page 2