Hoover's Magazine, August/September 2020

OHENRY’S COFFEE BLENDS • MELINA FIORELLA’S ARTISTRY • THE STURGEONS’ TEACHING LEGACIES

8 WAYS TO SERVE IN HOOVER A GUIDE TO VOLUNTEERING

THE KEY TO CHANGE A CONVERSATION ON RACE RELATIONS

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 HooversMagazine.com Vol. 9 | Issue 3 $4.95

farmhouse

CHARM INSIDE BLOGGER JAMIE MONTGOMERY’S LIGHT & BRIGHT HOME

2 August/September 2020

HooversMagazine.com 3

FEATURES

44

8 WAYS TO SERVE IN HOOVER Looking for a way to volunteer in the community? Here are a few organizations based here in Hoover to help you find a place to serve.

THE KEY TO CHANGE In the wake of national and local events, two pastors sat down to talk about race relations and how a Christian view of the Bible informs them.

4 August/September 2020

PHOTO BY LINDSEY DRENNAN

49

29

13

PHOTO BY JEREMY RAINES

arts & culture

13 Painting Memories: Melina Fiorella’s Artistry on China 19 Book Nook: Changing Times 22 Read This Book: Black Voices with Alabama Ties

schools & sports

23 Spellbound: Jill and Richard Sturgeon’s Teaching Reflections 28 Five Questions For: HCS’s Summer Feeding Program

food

& drink

29 Well Rooted: OHenry’s Blends at Stadium Trace

in every issue 6 Contributors 7 From the Editor 8 The Question 9 The Guide 20 Aldridge Gardens 54 Hoover Area Chamber 58 Out & About 62 Marketplace 64 My Hoover

35 Five Questions For: Cinnaholic Bakery’s John Rumore 36 Five Questions For: Hometown Fare’s Shelby Adams

home

& style

37 Montgo Farmhouse: A Look Beyond the Front Porch

HooversMagazine.com 5

contributors EDITORIAL

Alec Etheredge Madoline Markham Keith McCoy Scott Mims Emily Sparacino

CONTRIBUTORS

Aliza Baker, Intern Aliza was born and raised in a small town in Georgia, but she currently lives in Birmingham where she attends Samford University. Her lifelong interest in human psychology grew into a love for hearing people’s stories and

Aliza Baker Lauren Dowdle Lindsey Drennan Jeremy Raines Heather Jones Skaggs Lauren Winter

getting to tell them in her own words. In her free time, you might find her

DESIGN

Lindsey is a lifestyle and wedding photographer as well as a graphic

Jamie Dawkins Kate Sullivan Green Connor Martin-Lively

MARKETING

Kristy Brown Darniqua Bowen Kari George Caroline Hairston Rachel Henderson Rhett McCreight Kim McCulla Viridiana Romero Lisa Shapiro Kerrie Thompson

reading a mystery novel in a local coffee shop or going on a spontaneous road trip with friends.

Lindsey Drennan, Photographer designer. She has been in the wedding industry for over six years with Lindsey Ann Photography and has a passion for design as well. When she’s not working, you’ll find her renovating her house or playing with her golden, Aiden. You can follow her photography at @liindsey and her renovations @themodernrenovator on Instagram.

Jeremy Raines, Photographer Jeremy grew up in the small community of Cottonwood, just south of Dothan. He lived in the Wiregrass region his entire life before moving to the Birmingham area in 2017. He lives with his wife, Madison, and their spoiled Maltipoo puppy, Zoey, in Helena. In addition to his work as a freelance photographer, Jeremy is a multi-program coordinator for the Middle Alabama Area Agency on Aging in Alabaster.

ADMINISTRATION Hailey Dolbare Mary Jo Eskridge Daniel Holmes Stacey Meadows Tim Prince

Lauren Winter, Photographer Southern to the core, Lauren Winter grew up in Birmingham and now lives in Bluff Park. She is mama to two little girls, and owner of Fresh Grace Photography, which specializes in lifestyle family photography and weddings. In addition to her girls, Lauren’s favorites include sweet tea, camping, football, bluebirds, thunderstorms and puppy breath.

Hoover’s Magazine is published bimonthly by Shelby County Newspapers Inc., P.O. Box 947, Columbiana, AL 35051.

Hoover’s Magazine is a registered trademark. All contents herein are the sole property of Shelby County Newspapers Inc. [the Publisher]. No part of this periodical may be reproduced without written permission from the Publisher. Please address all correspondence (including but not limited to letters, story ideas and requests to reprint materials) to: Editor, Hoover’s Magazine, P.O. Box 947, Columbiana, AL 35051.

Hoover’s Magazine is mailed to select households throughout Hoover, and a limited number of free copies are available at local businesses. Please visit HooversMagazine.com for a list of those locations. Subscriptions are available at a rate of $16.30 for one year by visiting HooversMagazine.com or calling (205) 669-3131, ext. 532.

Advertising inquiries may be made by emailing advertise@hooversmagazine.com, or by calling (205) 669-3131, ext.

536.

6 August/September 2020

from the editor

I

ON THE COVER

I had no idea when I drove past Veterans Park every weekday for years growing up that I’d one day be given the opportunity to tell the stories of the community that starts there and stretches from Bluff Park to the Galleria to Ross Bridge to Greystone. But here I am, in a year none of us saw coming, getting to do just that for the first time, and what a joy it is even in all the uncertainty we are all walking in!

To the outside eye, Hoover might look like highways and shopping centers, but in this magazine we get to explore the beauty of its natural areas and homes, the depth of the stories its people live, the complexities of its culinary landscape and so much more.

In this issue that looks like a peek at the delight to the eyes Melina Fiorella paints on china and almost any surface imaginable. It looks like the back story of OHenry’s and a step inside their new Stadium Trace location—plus a recap of all the restaurants open or opening soon there. It looks like stepping back in time with Jill and Richard Sturgeon and their decades teaching at Spain Park and Hoover high schools, starting before they began dating.

It looks like the visual delight that is our tour of Jamie and Skot Mongomery’s farmhouse-style home in Heatherwood that has garnered Jamie quite the Instagram following. It looks like a taste of the new Cinnaholic Bakery opening in the Village at Lee Branch on Highway 280 as well as the Hometown Fare breakfast/lunch/ dinner-to-go spot coming soon to Ross Bridge. And it looks like a conversation about how Hoover City Schools has served meals to kids in quarantine from spring to summer this year.

It also looks like a turn toward more serious topics in our feature well. Heather Skaggs researched a guide to Hoover-based nonprofits in need of volunteers and how you can support what they do. And just after that we captured a conversation between Shades Mountain Baptist Church Pastor Danny Wood and Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Dr. Michael Wesley about race relations. It took place in June, but their words are ones I know I need to keep hearing over and over again.

More than anything, I hope the stories we tell in this magazine deepen your connection to the places and people around you. I always welcome your ideas of ways we can best do that in our future issues—feel free to email me any time with story ideas.

Here’s to the richness of our community even in the midst of all the craziness of 2020!

Montgo Farmhouse

Jamie and Skot Montgomery custom designed their farmhouse-style home in Heatherwood, and Jamie chronicles its journey on Instagram.

madoline.markham@hooversmagazine.com

Photo by Lauren Winter Design by Connor Martin-Lively HooversMagazine.com 7

“ ” THE QUESTION

If you could only eat one more dish from Hoover ever, what would it be?

Chicken fingers from Famous Fred’s because they are delicious, the sauce is to die for, and the Zarzaur family that owns it are some of the sweetest people you will ever meet!

Farrelly’s waygu skirt steak, fried green tomatoes, smoked fish dip, and peach bread pudding.

Spicy Basil Beef from Blue Pacific at Hoover Food Mart. It’s absolutely perfect every single time and has the most amazing flavors that complement one another.

Smothered Turkey Wings, Macaroni & Cheese and Sweet Potato Casserole at Jake’s Soulfood Café.

- Laura Adkins Alberson

- Carolyn Bunch

Pistachio-crusted salmon over orzo pasta salad at Bellini’s. Best salmon dish I’ve ever had.

- Judy Myrick Miller

Burrito Al Carbon from Iguana Grille with rice and beans. Queso and a marg on the side, but of course.

- Aaron Watkins

8 August/September 2020

- Mary Pat Pampu

- Tukyshanna Colbert-Slaughter

Bacon cheeseburger from Green Valley Drugs. Been eating it since 1990 and my parents and grandparents for decades before me!

-Kat McGee

Catfish at Bluff Park Diner for my husband and Tip Top Grill’s cheeseburger for me!

- Anna King Chatterton

THE GUIDE

REGIONS TRADITION SEPT. 23-27 GREYSTONE GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB This annual golf tournament has been rescheduled from its original May date due to COVID-19, but the show will go on with social distancing precautions, starting with the Pro-Am on Wednesday, Sept. 23. Find tickets and more information at regionstradition.com, or watch it live on the Golf Channel.

THE GUIDE AROUND TOWN

CHURCHES

DRIVE-THROUGH MEALS On Wednesdays 4-6 p.m. this summer, First Seventh Day Adventist Church on Lorna Road is distributing bags of dry, non-perishable foods along with hot meals to those who need assistance, and refilling hand sanitizer. They have set up a drivethrough at their church on Lorna Road to pick up items without having to exit their cars. The first week the church gave out 50 bags and served 90 hot meals. “The COVID-19 virus has ravaged our nation, and the local community has suffered from the pandemic’s effects. Realizing that many are impacted, we are lending our

AUG. 9 A Night of Hope Hoover Met Complex 6:30 p.m. nightofhopetour.com

assistance to help,” says Pastor Christian Ronalds, pictured in the middle.

Photo by Heather Skaggs

FRIDAY NIGHTS IN AUGUST

Free Friday Flicks 6:30 P.M. PARK OPENS, MOVIE AT DUSK Veterans Park COVID-19 might have delayed this summertime tradition, but it came back to life with social distancing setup starting at the end of July. The park will be marked with seating areas for family groups, and masks are required when you are not at seat. Find updates the “Free Friday Flicks” Facebook page, and here’s the schedule:

uAug. 7: Frozen 2 uAug. 14: Aladdin uAug. 21: Sonic the Hedgehog

CURBSIDE SERVICE

10 August/September 2020

AUG. 14-31 Birmingham Restaurant Week Participating Restaurants bhamrestaurantweek.com AUG. 25 Municipal Elections Polling Locations in Hoover AUG. 25 Summer Shindig Old Baker Farm, Harpersville AUG. 21-23 World Deer Expo BJCC Exhibition Halls AUG. 29 Bark & Wine Benefitting Shelby Humane Society Marriott Birmingham 280

LIBRARY

As of this issue’s time of publication in mid-July, the Hoover Public Library is offering curbside pick-up for books and more as well as online story times and other virtual programming. Visit hooverlibrary.org for more details on those services and other updates.

AUG. 8 Three on a String Shelby County Arts Council, Columbiana

SEPT. 4 Will Kimbrough with Guest Dean Owens Shelby County Arts Council, Columbiana SEPT. 11 Patriot Day Remembrance Ceremony Hoover Fire Station 2 8:30 a.m.

SEPT. 12 11th Annual Bob Sykes BBQ & Blues Festival DeBardeleben Park, Bessemer SEPT. 17-18 Whale of a Sale Consignment Sale Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church

THE GUIDE SEPT. 25-27 Homestead Hollow Arts & Crafts Festival Springville

SATURDAYS THROUGH EARLY SEPTEMBER

SEPT. 26 Red Shoe Run Virtual 5K Benefitting Ronald McDonald House Charities of Alabama SEPT. 26 Head Over Teal 5K/10K Benefitting Laura Crandall Brown Foundation Any Virtual Location SEPT. 27 Revvin’ 4 Research Benefitting Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama Heart of Dixie Harley-Davidson, Pelham

Farmers’ Markets Everyone knows the freshest, most delicious produce comes from local farmers. Check out these farmers’ markets in Hoover to know where you can snap up all the best fruits and vegetables from 8 a.m. to noon.

The Marketplace at Lee Branch uLee Branch Shopping Center parking lot uMarket is open through the end of August.

uthemarketplaceatleebranch.com Valleydale Farmers Market uFaith Presbyterian Church, 4601 Valleydale Road uThe last official market date is Sept. 5, but a couple of farmers will contribute to setup in the parking lot through October or November. uvalleydalefarmersmarket.com

HooversMagazine.com 11

&CULTURE

ARTS

LIVING MEMORIES Melina Fiorella paints lifelike images on everything from china to lamps.

BY LAUREN DOWDLE PHOTOS BY JEREMY RAINES HooversMagazine.com 13

G

Give Melina Fiorella a blank canvas, and she’ll turn it into a masterpiece. Whether it’s on a vase, piece of china, platter or lamp, she can use her talents to paint life-like images on whatever is in front of her.

Her Hoover house, which she’s lived in for the past 48 years, has become a piece of art in itself. She’s painted all of the lamps there, along with her 14-karatgold-trimmed china sets, platters, punch bowl, cups, goblets, vases, an umbrella stand and much more.

She originally started by painting fabric and soon took art lessons. From there, she moved to watercolors but ran out of wall space for her creations. Then, she started painting china, which she’s been doing for nearly 30 years now.

Melina uses photos she’s taken as the inspiration for her pieces. One of her recent photos was of the flowers her family gave her for Valentine’s Day, which she

14 August/September 2020

plans to paint on a platter.

Her three children, six grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren serve as both the inspiration and the recipients for many of her projects. All four of her granddaughters have painted china with her, and she used to take them to art class when they were younger.

“They like seeing me paint, and they’re happy when I’ve done something,” Melina says of her family. “But when they’ll really appreciate it is when I’m not around.”

When asked if she has a favorite piece she’s painted, it was like choosing between her children. “The reason I rarely sell my china and give very little away, except to my friends and family, is because I honestly love it all,” she says.

Though each piece is special to her, two especially stand out. One is the chandelier in her home, which

Melina Fiorella hand painted the china and vase set on her dining table.

“The reason I rarely sell my china and give very little away, except to my friends and family, is because I honestly love it all.”

- Melina Fiorella she took apart and recreated using painted tea cups and saucers. “That’s probably my most outstanding piece,” she says. The other is a 52-tile table she painted with pictures of her children when they were younger sitting on the beach.

Melina now competes in world and international china painting competitions and has also been featured in various publications. She says it never gets old seeing her city be featured as well. “It does something to me to see my name in a magazine with ‘Hoover, Alabama, USA,’ next to it,” she says. “I love Hoover.”

In 2013, she received a third-place ribbon at the World Organization of China Painters (WOCP) show and convention in Mobile, for one of her pieces. The vase featured a portrait of her granddaughter wearing her first communion dress, which Melina also sewed.

With only 22 ribbons given out at the competition, Melina says it was quite an honor, though she didn’t realize how prestigious the recognition was until afterward. “I went into it blindly,” Melina recalls.

“Some of the ladies who went with me to dinner that night said, ‘You don’t understand: Some of the teachers are crying because they didn’t get a ribbon.

But you did.”

But there’s more to her than her watercolors and artwork too. Melina also enjoys sewing, which started when she would create her children’s Halloween costumes.

She’s a master at cooking too and currently is working on a cookbook to pass her recipes for dishes like her Lebanese meat pie, shrimp and grits, dough and biscuits.

“These are things that are priceless,” she says. “If I HooversMagazine.com 15

Melina holds one of the heirloom dresses she made for her granddaughters. don’t take pictures of the food and write down the recipes, we’re going to forget how I did stuff.”

She enjoys cooking for family and recently hosted an heirloom baby shower for her granddaughter, which required two months of cooking beforehand and featured pieces Melina had painted. For the party she also hung a collection of heirloom dresses, which she refers to now as “picture-taking clothes,” she had made for her granddaughters through the years along the fireplace.

As a present, she made her great-granddaughter a 16 August/September 2020

quilt with her name hand-embroidered on it. The shower showcased Melina’s many talents but, more importantly, her love for her family. “The food was over-the-top delicious — quite an art to all of it,” Melina says. “That baby shower was probably better than any wedding.”

So, while she enjoys all of her artwork that lines the walls of her home, for Melina, what’s important is the memories she makes there with her loved ones. “I’ve seen four generations in this house,” Melina says.

“I’m still blown away about that.”

Melina is currently putting together a cookbook of her recipes.

HOOVER MAYOR Proven Leadership

Promises Kept

Plan for Hoover

Growing current strong partnership with Hoover City Schools $

Continue building Hoover's economy for the future Invest in Hoover’s Neighborhoods Solving Traffic Congestion Maintaining Strong Public Safety Expanded Diversity and Inclusion Efforts

VOTE

AUG. 25

FRANKBROCATOFORMAYOR.COM

Paid for by Frank Brocato for Mayor

HooversMagazine.com 17

18 August/September 2020

BOOK NOOK

Changing Times The Hoover Library closed to the public on March 14. It was a sad day and a chaotic time for us all. Having spent decades establishing ourselves as a community center where people come together face to face, we had no protocol for such an event. This closing was completely new territory for us here and for libraries everywhere.

With that said, the beauty of librarians is we have a solitary mission to serve our public to the best of our abilities and with the best resources available.

Within two days of closing, we uploaded our first streaming storytime video. We immediately began reaching new users from across the United States. One follower from Los Angeles said we were no longer a city library, but “America’s library.� We are still producing these videos daily, and they have grown in sophistication. In July, Alabama Public Television started streaming our storytimes for the entire state.

Library Director We quickly took to other virtual platforms and began sharing as much of our resources as possible. We stopped fines and extended checkout timeframes. We helped people get new cards or update their expired ones so they could take advantage of the myriad of digital resources we already had available including eBooks, eMagazines, downloadable audiobooks and streaming movies.

Book groups, movie discussions, music lessons, trivia nights, homework assistance, crafts and art exhibits all moved to Facebook, YouTube, Instagram or Zoom. Even our annual Summer Reading program went entirely digital. One program, Live from My Living Room, which features shortened musical sets from a variety of artists, reached followers from all over the United States, the UK, Poland and Australia!

As of this writing, our curbside service is active and serving several hundred cars per day. By the time you read this, we may have opened the doors to our building. We will no doubt look a little different with active social distancing, limited occupancy and reduced services. Nevertheless, be assured, your librarians are creative and are constantly seeking innovative ways to serve you better, even if it is from the safety of six feet.

Moving forward, we hope that some of these new practices will become permanent making the library even more convenient for you to use. We have plans to continue curbside delivery, online book clubs and streamed storytimes indefinitely. And remember, our digital resources are always available online.

Thank you for your patience as we navigate the months ahead.

We have missed you, and we look forward to having you back.

Amanda Borden

HooversMagazine.com 19

News from our Chief Executive Officer Tynette Lynch

Taste of Hoover Mark your calendars now for Hoover’s social event of the Fall, Taste of Hoover at Aldridge Gardens! Last year over 30 of Hoover’s top restaurants and caterers, along with local breweries and distilleries, shared their talents with a huge, sell-out crowd. No one left hungry!

This year’s date is Thursday evening, October 8th. It is our FIRST event since returning from the COVID-19 stay-at-home, so we are expecting a BIG crowd!

October 8th will be here before you know it —mark your calendars now. Tickets go on sale later this summer. Visit Aldridgegardens.com for updates.

Restaurants who wish to participate should contact Jennifer Gowers at (205) 918-7670 or jennifer@goproeventsolutions.com.

Nature looks different every day at Aldridge Gardens, some flowers are just starting to bloom while others have peaked, which seems to be the new “normal” of our lives these days. But the sun always rises and sets and we continue to plant and enjoy the beauty that we have at Aldridge Gardens.

June summer camps were a huge success as the kids enjoyed their daily outdoor routines with some distancing in place. And our beautiful weddings and celebrations resumed with a few “healthy” adjustments as well.

With fall just around the corner plans are underway for our annual “Taste of Hoover”, scheduled for Thursday, October 8 , 5 to 8 pm on the grounds of Aldridge Gardens. We have plenty of space to spread out and enjoy tastings from our local restaurants and caterers while adhering to social distancing for health concerns. Space to roam and enjoy the serenity of our beautiful Gardens is a gift we continue to be Blessed with. And we have seen record numbers of visitors to our Gardens this year which makes us smile every day as we open our gates.

Our outdoor Pavilion has become quite the popular spot at which to book events and our weekends for Fall and into 2021 are filling up quickly. Also, reservations for photography sessions are very popular and fill up very fast so if you are planning on booking an event or a photography session you can contact Amanda Baker, our Director of Sales and Events at abaker@aldridgegardens.com or visit our website www.aldridgegardens.com to schedule an appointment.

We could not do what we do without the support of all of our visitors, members, corporate sponsors and the City of Hoover, and for that we say Thank You.

3530 Lorna Road • Hoover, Alabama 35216 • 205-682-8019 • www.aldridgegardens.com • info@aldridgegardens.com

New Master Plan Additions Even though we took some “time away” in March and April, the grounds staff worked tirelessly around huge crowds, keeping the Gardens beautiful!

And, they found the time to install Phase 1 of our new Community Orchard! Originally conceived as a community garden, we changed to a

community orchard to allow larger COMMUNITY access-not everyone is a gardener!

The orchard will be open soon to the public to harvest blueberries, thornless blackberries, raspberries, figs and oriental persimmons without charge.

Please just respect the plantings and

2020 Summer Camps Aldridge Gardens’ 2020 Summer Camps were a TREMENDOUS success—a BIG thank you to the campers and their parents! Although the Gardens limited the camper population to 40 per session due to the pandemic, campers enjoyed Science, Art and the ever-popular American Girl Doll camps under the Pavilion in a socially distanced, safe environment.

Also a hearty thank you tour corporate sponsors, to our own Debbie McDonald (Aldridge Gardens’ Education Coordinator), to our camp teachers, and to the Hoover Belles—this year’s camps were the best ever!

harvest only what is needed-- leave some for others to enjoy!

The orchard is located in the front lawn, close to the parking lot, and is accessed by the Lorna Road loop sidewalk that goes around the lawn.

There are steps leading to the path across from the Gardens’ main drive!

ARTS & CULTURE

READ THIS BOOK

Black Voices with Alabama Ties Recommendations from

Our Editorial Staff

As protests following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis took place at the start of the summer, books about race relations and the black experience in America started to sell out at local bookstores and national online retailers alike. Likewise, librarians and bookstore owners in our community are great resources for recommending reads that speak to these topics. As one more starting point in those conversations, here’s a list of titles by black authors (and one illustrator), all set in our state. Each comes recommended by our editorial staff, who have found that words and pictures that take place closer to the place you call home have all the more power to shape how you see the world around you and respond accordingly.

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

By Bryan Stevenson There’s a reason Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times said Stevenson “may, indeed, be America’s Mandela.”

In his book, Stevenson recounts his years as a young lawyer founding Montgomery-based Equal Justice Initiative to defend the wrongly condemned in the farthest reaches of the criminal justice system—many of them on Alabama’s death row—and how it transformed his understanding of mercy and justice. There’s also a young adult version available and a 2019 film by the same title.

Homegoing

By Yaa Gyasi This novel follows the parallel paths of two sisters from Ghana in the eighteenth century and their descendants through eight generations, illuminating how oppression spills through from generation to generation and creates systemic problems. Latter chapters take us to a cotton plantation in Tuscumbia, Alabama, and the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, among other settings, not far from where Gyasi, a Ghana native, was raised in Huntsville.

Barracoon

By Zora Neale Hurston We have a new mural across from the Pizitz Food Hall to thank for introducing us to Cudjo Lewis. Back in 1931, Zora Neale Hurston interviewed him in Plateau, Alabama, a community 3 miles from Mobile that he and other former slaves had founded. At the time, the 89-year-old was the only living person who had been transported from Africa to America as a slave. In this volume, Hurston, an Alabama native herself best known for writing Their Eyes Were Watching God, captures his story and the tragedy of slavery.

Let the Children March

By Monica Clark-Robinson & Frank Morrison “I couldn’t play on the same playground as the white kids. I couldn’t go to their schools. I couldn’t drink from their water fountains. There were so many things I couldn’t do.” So begins this children’s book account of the thousands of African American children who marched in Birmingham for their civil rights after hearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak in 1963. Frank Morrison’s emotive oil-on-canvas paintings that are paired with Clark-Robinson’s poetic words earned this book a Coretta Scott King Honor Award for Illustration in 2019.

Gone Crazy in Alabama

By Rita Williams-Garcia In this book for middle grades, Delphine, Vonetta and Fern travel to Alabama one summer in the 1960s to visit their grandmother, Big Ma, and her mother, Ma Charles, and uncover family history and bonds along the way.

This is the third book in a trilogy, so be sure to start with the first, One Crazy Summer, to see how these sisters visit kin all over the nation and discover their own strength along the way.

22 August/September 2020

SCHOOL

&SPORTS

SPELLBOUND

In three decades of teaching, Jill and Richard Sturgeon’s passion for literature, history and students never wavered.

BY MADOLINE MARKHAM PHOTOS BY KEITH MCCOY HooversMagazine.com 23

O

Jill and Richard have an old-fashioned school bell outside their home. Both of them taught Hoover high school students for three decades before retiring this year.

Over his years teaching, Richard Sturgeon amassed a personalized T-shirt collection that his AP U.S. History students designed. One features a sketch of “The Sturgeonator,” and another the words “Sturgeon for President” with a quote from him on the back: “Historical proof that smart is sexy.”

What’s the story behind that one? “(My students) all know James Madison was my guy,” Richard notes, explaining he’d studied Madison in graduate school.

“I tell them James Madison was our shortest president.

He was shy and nerdy, a boy genius. But he married Dolly Madison who was vivacious and outgoing, and the girl lots of people wanted to marry. He was assisted

by George and Martha Washington—never hurts to have the father of the country as your wingman. Who got the girl? The short, shy, uber smart genius boy. It’s historical proof that smart is sexy.”

24 August/September 2020

If Richard taught you at Berry High or Hoover High School between 1989 and 2020, you know about his encyclopedic knowledge for Madison and that he’s not afraid to correct tour guides at historical sites if they get their facts off. At the end of the day, that was the heart of his teaching career just as it was his wife Jill’s teaching English—a passion for the subject matter, as well as the students themselves. “They are inherently interesting, we just have to make (the subjects) come alive for themselves,” Richard explains.

James Madison is to Richard what William Shakespeare is to Jill, who most recently taught twelfth-grade English at Spain Park High School as well as a Shakespeare elective she developed. For her teaching Shakespeare unlocks what at first seems like a foreign language to students for them to see what the writer had to say about the human condition. “It’s

Richard flips through a marked-up book on James Madison he drew information from for his AP U.S. History lectures at Hoover High School.

poetry, and that’s the greatness of it,” she says. “He borrowed a lot of his plots because he was a business man who wanted to make a buck, but the plays are (about) the language.”

Although the couple wrapped up their careers at Hoover and Spain Park, respectively, when they retired in May of this year, they first met when they both taught at Berry High School, the predecessor to Hoover High before Hoover opened in 1994.

The first time Richard saw Jill she was sitting on a bench outside the library at Berry in 1989. He’d just been hired to teach history and had come in for a meeting that summer when they were introduced.

Their second date was to a movie theater in Hoover where they saw students, and word quickly got out at the school. But “she dumped me by putting a note in my box at school, which I still have,” Richard tells.

The second time they started dating, they kept it quiet until they were engaged, driving to movie theatres in other parts of town.

“Even some of my teacher friends didn’t know we were dating,” Jill recalls. “I was teaching Night by Elie Wiesel at the time (when we got engaged). All these teachers were running around excited and I was showing them the ring, and then I had to walk back in and teach Night (about the Holocaust).”

Speaking of Berry, Jill actually went to the school herself from seventh to 11th grade and even had ninth grade English in the same classroom she taught in.

The English teacher she remembers most was from eighth grade though. “Ms. Taylor would come in with her coffee and doughnut after smoking a cigarette,” she says. “She would have you spellbound with Robinson Crusoe and Evangeline and all these old things.

HooversMagazine.com 25

She’s still directing theater in Birmingham.”

Jill took a break from teaching at Hoover High School when their daughter Elizabeth was born in 1997 and taught part time at Jeff State. By 2003 she was back in the high school classroom, this time at the new Spain Park High School with its first class of seniors. She soon brought back the Shakespeare elective class she’d first taught at Hoover High—the only class she taught Elizabeth in when she was a student at Spain Park.

Since 1998, Richard has primarily taught A.P. U.S. History but also instructed religion and philosophy electives and a law academy class. In fact, when the current curriculum was introduced, he suggested it be a two-year course, looping the same students from 10th to 11th grade, and that’s just what he’s done most every year since then.

“When you have the looping like that you get really close, and so his classes bond in different ways with each other and with him,” Jill says. Which explains the T-shirts and as well another gift he has, a stuffed bear wearing a vest and glasses that plays a student’s recording of an imitation of Richard talking about a brouhaha—a word he likes to use to refer to a conflict—and a backpack that held notes from the students that gave it to him.

In her three decades teaching high school, Jill went from days with no computers in a classroom where she had to referee use of black and yellow CliffsNotes books to days where each student has a computer that can fit in their pocket with countless plot summaries accessible. But even with all those changes, her enthusiasm for “selling” a love of literature has never died or even wavered, from Animal Farm and Things Fall Apart with ninth graders to Beowulf and Macbeth with seniors.

Plus, as Richard notes, studies show kids who read fiction become more empathetic and more caring. As to his own subject, “It illustrates what it means to be human, so we understand how we got to where we are and how we interact with one another,” he says.

Today as both teachers reflect on their years in the classroom, 26 August/September 2020

Berry High School’s newspaper ran an article on three sets of teachers who were married featuring the Sturgeons’ then-recent wedding photo.

Richard can talk about students who went on to receive their doctorates in history and Jill about students whose own children she would teach and more. She taught one former student’s three sons at Spain Park, and several former students later taught with her. Another former student’s wife gave their daughter Elizabeth her first job. Still another former student’s wife, who was later a colleague, told her the

only two books her husband kept from high school were Night and To Kill a Mockingbird—both from her class.

At the end of the day, “I guess I am a very selfish teacher because I love the stuff I teach,” Jill says.

We’re not convinced “selfish” is the right word here, but the love is more than evident for the decades of students both she and Richard taught.

IS PROUD TO WELCOME TO OUR EXPERT TEAM OF PHYSICIANS

Beau Grantier, M.D. SPORTS MEDICINE

Michael F. Blum, M.D. | Ekkehard Bonatz, M.D. | George Robert Booker, M.D. William S. Craig, M.D. | Michael T. Ellerbusch, M.D. | Christopher Heck, M.D. Dewey H. Jones, M.D. | John S. Kirchner, M.D. | William D. Krauss, D.O. Michael D. Smith, M.D. | William D. Sudduth, M.D. | C.J. Talbert, M.D.

Call 205-605-8180

today to schedule your appointment.

Grandview Physicians Plaza 3686 Grandview Parkway Suite 430 Birmingham, Alabama 35243

Less Pain. More Living. www.SouthlakeOrthopaedics.com HooversMagazine.com 27

SCHOOL & SPORTS

There’s no doubt Melinda Bonner cares deeply about the children of Hoover. Part of her job is to oversee that 14,000 students in Hoover City Schools are fed lunch, but she and her team also ensure children qualified for free and reduced price meals have something to eat not just during the school year but also during the summer and, as of late, in quarantine.

We chatted with her about the Summer Feeding Program and how it went into action on the fly when the COVID-19 quarantine began.

5

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR

Melinda Bonner

Hoover City Schools Child Nutrition Program Director PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

How have others taken on a similar mission to yours?

Hoover Helps has given us funding for our bus. When COVID hit, they packaged up nonperishable items, so students got ready-to-eat food from our team and another bag from Hoover Helps the first week. Then the mayor had employees from the Hoover Rec take vehicles to apartment complexes with food from Hoover Helps. Hoover Helps also worked What moments kept you going in with our school counselors, and for more quarantine? severe cases they’d call Publix and order We have an SRO at every location. Those $300 worth of food and had it delivered are the SROs those kids recognize, and via Shipt. Grace Klein also had reached that kept them connected. They see their out and shared their applications; you can lunch room ladies, and the lunch room get nonperishables and produce from ladies had that feeling of connection—not them. just on a Google meet. We started recognizing cars before they even got to What does your setup look like this us; we knew how many bags they needed. summer?

We started the Tuesday after Memorial How did you setup shop to feed kids Parents who lost jobs were crying and when school was out of session this saying it was so helpful to have food. Day for Summer Feeding. People drive up Other times they were excited to get out of to the bus at Simmons Middle School and spring?

People walked out on March 13 thinking the house and said it was the highlight of pick up meals directly from their car they were coming back, so we gathered as the day. We saw a lot of people in pajamas. window to an emergency window that was outfitted for that purpose. Bumpus much food as we could from all schools We got thank you notes from children.

The Blount family who owns and Berry middle schools are serving food and made one central location at Green Valley. We could get the required McDonald’s locations gave us vouchers to this summer too, but we prepare components for breakfast and lunch in a hand out for free kids’ meals and value everything at Green Valley and serve there too. Right now we are serving about 500 gallon Ziploc bag with cereal, fruit, meals for locations in Hoover. meals a day. sandwich, chips, baby carrots and a little Why did the Summer Feeding Program start, and what did it look like in past years?

At the time 25 percent of the enrollment in Hoover City Schools of 14,000 students was approved for free or reduced meals, and we knew there were children out there that needed that support in the summer.

For the past two years we have offered meals at the Hoover Library, and they could eat anywhere they wanted to on site because USDA wanted to guarantee the children were getting the food. We also took an old bus being retired and stripped it out and put a cooler on the inside.

Everyone is starting to recognize the bus; we call it Meals in Motion. That’s how we transport food from Green Valley Elementary where we prepare it to the library and different apartment complexes.

28 August/September 2020

something special. We already had insulated bags we were using for breakfasts at Green Valley—which has more than 50 percent of students eligible for free and reduced meals—and were already familiar with our summer feeding program, so it was an easier transition.

From the day school closed until May 22 we served 17,602 meal bags, so about 35,204 meals.

&DRINK

FOOD

WELL ROOTED

OHenry’s Coffees is pouring its rich history and blends into a new Stadium Trace Village location.

BY LAUREN DOWDLE PHOTOS BY LINDSEY DRENNAN HooversMagazine.com 29

OHenry’s owner Blake Stevens sits in the coffee shop’s new Stadium Trace Village location.

M

Most people don’t end up owning the business they worked for during college, but then again, Blake Stevens isn’t most.

As a Samford student in 1996, he spent hours studying over a warm drink at OHenry’s Coffees on 18th Street in Homewood, well before there were coffee shops on every corner. Over coffee there he began building relationships with both the employees and customers, so the shop seemed like the natural choice when he needed a place to work. Anyway, coffee had been a part of his life since he was a child when his grandmother would fix him a cup with condensed milk.

Blake remembers spending time with OHenry’s

30 August/September 2020

founder Dr. Henry Bright during his first few weeks on the job, filling coffee bags and working on the Christmas blend at their roasting facility in Homewood. Even then, he realized how passionate Bright was about the shop and its coffee. “He loves what he does, and it shows with what he started,” Blake says. “It made an impact on me, how he went about his day, how he talked about the coffee and cared for it.”

Blake later worked with the second owner, Randy Adamy, learning from his restaurant expertise. After five years with the shop though, he took a job with Starbucks, helping the chain launch stores across the Southeast. It was during that time he met his now-

MORE STADIUM TRACE VILLAGE EATERIES NOW OPEN

uThe tavern-style Big Whiskey’s serves up all of the classics like

buffalo chicken dip, ribeye, tacos, pasta and more, making it more than just a sports bar.

uCajun Roux Bar & Grill brings

Conecuh cheddar biscuits are popular on the OHenry’s breakfast menu.

the tastes of the bayou to Hoover with everything from oysters and gumbo to po’boys and crawfish. uFamous for its strawberry cake, Edgar’s Bakery is a full bakery that also serves breakfast and lunch. uMelt is the king of comfort food with its grilled cheeses, tomato basil soup, deep-fried Oreos and more. uMooyah is the stop for anyone craving burgers, fries and shakes. uAt Smoosh, customers pick

two baked goods, an ice cream flavor and toppings to create their ultimate dessert — or choose from a shake, cone or sundae. uThe casual chicken joint

Super Chix has everything from

sandwiches and tenders to salads wife, Anna, at the Opelika Starbucks drivethrough. But after 14 years with the company, Blake was ready to come back home, taking a job with a staffing company in Birmingham.

He’d kept up with Adamy during his time away, and one thing led to another for him to end up purchasing OHenry’s in November 2019.

What’s new since he’s been at the helm of the coffee company is the latest OHenry’s location in Hoover’s Stadium Trace Village, adding to their coffee shops in Homewood, Brookwood Village and Highland Park, as well as license locations at Samford and Protective Life. A Berry High School graduate, Blake has deep roots in Hoover and says the community felt like the natural choice. “It’s a beautiful location in a great

spot,” Blake says. “We’re starting to see regulars throughout the day, and the chairs are filling up — even though they are 6 feet apart.”

While the Hoover location fosters the same homey atmosphere that has kept customers coming back to OHenry’s for more than 25 years, this shop has an open, bright feel that sets it apart. Towering bookshelves with faded books cut into the exposed brick wall, helping to create a southern-industrial setting.

And though the paint might still be fresh, there’s a richness to the new location that makes it seem like it’s been part of the community for generations. Part of that is thanks to the black-and-white photos shared by the Hoover Historical Society that line the walls.

and custards.

COMING SOON

uBaumhower’s is known for its wings, beer and being the place to watch the big game.

uEverything about Taco Mama is

fun and funky, from its atmosphere to menu items like tacos, burritos and margaritas. uDescribed as game-day food

with a taste of Lousiana, Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux serves dishes

like shrimp and grits, catfish, pasta, po’boys and more.

HooversMagazine.com 31

Your pathway to the perfect home.

A Relationship Company

32 August/September 2020

arcrealtyco.com

(Still) Serving Children Safely

ChildrensAL.org

It has always been our priority

to ensure the safety and well-being of each child in our care — and that remains our commitment as we continue our mission during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Here’s how we have redesigned our operations to keep our patients and their families as safe as possible: Customers can also slip notes about their OHenry’s stories into a box on the mantle and read a few from others that have been framed, including a doily note that captures a couple’s love story.

Their messages span five years, covering their engagement, first child and then how they spent their anniversary at the coffee shop.

At both the new shop and the others, Blake wants to continue adding to the legacy the Bright and Adamy families left, focusing on three things. “It starts with coffee, community and connections,” he says. “People need connection and their community now more than ever, and we see ourselves as an important part of that. We provide them with a great place to come and meet and enjoy a cup of coffee.”

As for the coffee, it has the same roast profiles and recipes that Bright started with in 1993, continuing his commitment to quality, top-grade coffee. “We know what connecting around a great cup of coffee can do for people,” Blake says. “We’re staying true to who we are.”

As a part of the third focus, connection, a large community table sits in the center of the new Hoover shop for guests to gather around. There’s also a table nestled in the corner on a wooden stage if they’d prefer something a little quainter. Or, they can enjoy their drink outside on the covered patio.

Behind the counter are more than a dozen coffee bean options— espressos, hot and cold coffee options, frappes and freezes. The iced coffee royale is especially popular during the summer months, and they serve different flavors of their brewed coffee each day.

There’s even a Buccaneer blend (Go Bucs!), a dark roast coffee similar to their house blend.

q All visitors are screened immediately for signs of illness and fever. q We follow Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines for cleaning and disinfecting our facilities. q Our staff practices safe hand hygiene. q We are wearing masks for your safety.

Thank you for wearing your face covering. q All visitors to campus are required to wear masks. q Waiting rooms have been reconfigured to accommodate social distancing guidelines.

HooversMagazine.com 33

Patio seating is available at the Stadium Trace Village location of the coffee shop.

All the beans for these are roasted right off I-65 in West Homewood and sourced from coffee-growing regions, including Brazil, Costa Rica and Kenya. They also purchased a whole crop from a farmer in Columbia.

It isn’t only their coffee that creates life-long customers, though.

For breakfast, it’s hard to beat their Conecuh cheddar biscuit or bacon, egg and cheese on a croissant. Customers can also enjoy dishes like a chipotle lime chicken bowl, deluxe grilled cheese, chicken salad and veggie wrap for lunch.

What’s next for Blake and the OHenry’s team? They’re looking at expanding into other communities around Birmingham and the Southeast and adding more people to their team they can invest in. But for now, they’ve been focused on extra steps to keep both employees and customers safe during the pandemic. The shop is now offering home deliveries within a 30-mile radius and plans to continue to so continue that service. Residents can find their coffee across the street from the shop at the Publix at Trace Crossings too.

What has remained the same in all of Blake’s time both behind the counter and in front of it is watching many relationships and connections form between people who would have never come in contact at any other place. “We bring people around a great cup of coffee,” he says.

The Hoover shop is located at 1024 Marble Terrace, Suite 110 in Stadium Trace Village. It’s open Monday through Thursday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information, visit ohenryscoffees.com.

MAKING THE WORLD SAFER ONE EDUCATED FIREARM OWNER AT A TIME Serving Birmingham & Surrounding Areas Since 2009!

Our indoor range has 28 lanes and accommodates •pistols •bows •ries •shotguns

205-822-3600

1561 Montgomery Highway, Hoover, AL 35216 34 August/September 2020

FOOD & DRINK

5

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR

John Rumore

Cinnaholic Owner + Operator PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

When a Berkeley, California, couple started a cinnamon roll bakery, they were sure to market the rolls as being made from scratch and gourmet before they mentioned they were dairy- and egg-free. But don’t worry, most of their customers can’t taste that it’s anything other than delicious. A few years and Shark Tank episodes later, longtime Hoover resident John Rumore is bringing the Cinnaholic concept to Alabama after he and his wife, Vallee, saw its success in Atlanta and Knoxville. It’s set to open in The Village at Lee Branch on Highway 280 next to Moe’s in the former Southern Spoiled Boutique space. John says to check their Facebook page for updates on their exact opening date, but in the meantime we chatted with him to get a menu preview.

How did the Cinnaholic concept get started?

It was started in Berkeley, California, by Shannon and Florian Radke. They worked on perfecting the cinnamon roll recipe for at least a year and opened a location in 2010. They went on Shark Tank in 2014, and from there they started franchising.

It’s taken off since then, and we are at around 40 locations right now with more under development.

want the customer to feel like family when they come in. Their products are all made from scratch and are dairy-free, egg-free and cholesterol-free, so they are great for people who have dietary restrictions. It looked like it would be a hit here.

Tell us more about these cinnamon rolls.

Most of the customers who come in don’t realize the cinnamon roll is dairyfree because it’s a great tasting product.

You get to choose from 20 different How did you come to bring the concept frostings and 20 different toppings to customize it—all made from scratch. We to Alabama?

Both my father Duke Rumore and uncle make the pie crumbs and edible cookie Joe Rumore were in the radio business in dough in-house, and some of the other options are strawberries, the ’50s and ’60s, and I attribute a lot of topping my work ethic and drive to them. My dad blueberries, apples, bananas, chocolate would go to the station at 6 a.m. and sold chips and a fudge-style brownie crumbled his commercials and everything. Then he up. When it comes to frostings, there’s had four Rumore’s Buggy Bath car washes strawberry, vanilla, cream cheese, orange on top of it that my brother and I ran. We cream, Amaretto, caramel and others. Or sold the last one in 2018 and started you can buy cookie dough and put toppings looking at franchises. We found that on it too. All the stores source their coffee Cinnaholic is family-oriented, and they locally, and we are proud to partner up with Baba Java in Hoover to serve their

product. We have an espresso machine ordered, and we’ll do iced coffee.

What do you recommend ordering?

Our number one seller is The Cookie Monster with cream cheese frosting, homemade cookie dough, chocolate chips and chocolate sauce. My favorite is Mamaw’s Pecan Pie. It was developed by the Knoxville store and has maple frosting, fresh pecans, homemade pie crumbs and caramel sauce. The Knoxville location has actually held the No. 2 spot for volume and sales after the Berkeley store.

Do you cater?

Our catering has gone over really well for bridal showers and weddings. We can setup a DIY bar, so you choose your own icings and toppings. We make a baby bun that’s a smaller version of our regular roll for catering. We also cater cookies and brownies, and we make a cinnacake where several cinnamon rolls are baked into a cake and topped with any toppings you like.

HooversMagazine.com 35

FOOD & DRINK

5

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR

Shelby Adams

Hometown Fare Owner PHOTO BY AMD DESIGNS

Ross Bridge’s newest restaurant isn’t a hard concept to decipher. A Ross Bridge resident himself, Shelby Adams simply wants it serve the food his family and their neighbors want, their hometown fare if you will. By August he’s planning to open up for breakfast, lunch and pick-up dinners Tuesday to Saturday, with plans to potential add more days and hours later. The original concept was to have a dine-in option for breakfast and lunch, but that will likely start as pick-up only due to COVID-19. We chatted with him about the menu and more as he was preparing for opening day.

Can you tell us about your background in food and where the idea for Hometown Fare came from?

I have been in the restaurant business for over 20 years. When I was newly married, I wanted to not work nights, so we opened Icing on the Cookie in Homewood. We had one child, and then when my wife got pregnant with twins five years ago, we moved to Ross Bridge for more space. We love being here and living here and wanted to open something to benefit us as well as community.

and vinaigrettes. Our peach salad has grilled peaches, candied pecans, goat cheese, grilled red onions, arugula and molasses vinaigrette. A cobb salad will stick around. In the summer we will have the best BLT I can have with heirloom tomatoes and our own basil aioli. Our What’s on the breakfast menu?

We’ll have quick service with homemade pimento cheese will be sold in pints and on biscuits with seasonal preserves as well as a sandwich that can be grilled. We will an assortment of scones, yogurt parfaits make our own aioli for it and use half olive with yogurt and fruit, and sous vide egg oil and half rendered bacon fat, and we bites. We’ll also have shakshuka. It’s an roast our own bell peppers and use the egg dish with a tomato sauce with spice best cheddar and cream cheese. It is really and smoke to it; you poach the eggs in it good. and serve with feta cheese and lime juice What will y’all offer?

We will be a fast casual place for and cilantro. It’s a healthy way to start the What else should people know about breakfast and lunch with afternoons day that I don’t know that you can get Hometown Fare?

In the evenings the space can be used focused on take-home dinners. We’ll have anywhere else in town. for private gatherings and cooking dinner items in the fridge: staples like classes. We have a chef’s counter with What should we order for lunch? lasagna and chicken pot pies, and our eight seats. We plan on doing Sunday Lunch will be soups, salads and weekly menu will have four or five entrees suppers once a month family-style where sandwiches.

Everything will change that will be seasonally created. They will be composed dishes with braised meats seasonally. The salads will be clean with you have one set menu and everyone gets good lettuces and vegetables and textures the same thing.

36 August/September 2020

and vegetables and sauces—cleaner and healthier foods. For example, I had some neighbors try a braised lamb with summer veggies and Israeli couscous and herb yogurt, and they loved it.

&STYLE

HOME

MONTGO FARMHOUSE Spacious porches are just the start of what makes this Heatherwood home so cozy.

BY MADOLINE MARKHAM PHOTOS BY LAUREN WINTER HooversMagazine.com 37

A

A decade of marriage took Jamie and Skot Montgomery from Troy University where they met to East Tennessee to Colorado—eight addresses in all.

They’d lived in an 800-square-foot apartment and an old home full of both charm and the need of repairs, and that’s just the start of the list. So when they moved back to Alabama, they had figured out just the home they wanted to create and found a wooded 3-acre lot in Heatherwood, near Mountain Brook Community Church where Skot is a youth minister, to do so on.

Jamie knew she wanted a modern white farmhouse with an open floor plan, a master bedroom on the main floor and spaces for their kids upstairs, but she wanted to give it her own mark too. Her design inspiration started with a picture of an arch she envisioned for the living room. Next up she picked an Alamo shade of Meridian Brick for that arch and then carried it around to select design elements from there.

Working with architect Carrie Taylor, they decided on custom details for her and Skot’s vision for large porches in front and back and hers for a window above the kitchen sink. Ten-foot ceilings on the main floor added a more dramatic effect to the Alabaster White walls, with touches of shiplap on the fireplace and staircase. With two young boys, Jamie is also all about durability too as you’ll notice with her Mohawk Antique Craft waterproof laminate floors, and also all

38 August/September 2020

about the practicality of storage space to hold toys and more to keep the main areas looking nice.

When it came to interior decorating, Jamie above all else wanted her home to feel warm and cozy. She started with a neutral palette and then added coastal tones for accents and textures like wood and brick.

She likes to mix a few higher end pieces from Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware with more inexpensive pieces from Target and Home Goods and fixtures from Amazon and Wayfair. She tops all of that off with a splash of antique like the ladder Scott’s Antique Market in Atlanta that sits near her living room and holds blankets.

All of her design picks are chronicled on the @montgofarmhouse Instagram account she started after her family moved into their home just over a year ago. She had a 1 month old at the time and was hungry for an outlet for creativity, an excuse to pick up her camera again and a connection to community from home.

Although her “day job” is as a pharmacist, she’s always liked hosting, crafting and making things pretty, so posting feels natural she says. Now more than 15K followers have taken note too. “People are always looking for inspiration and something they haven’t seen,” she says. And that’s just what the Montgo Farmhouse provides.

Study Jamie wanted a splash of fun to see when you walk into the home and see this room on the right, so she recently added a splash of blue to the cabinetry as a part of Better Homes & Gardens’ One Room Challenge.

The chairs and end table both came from Target and harken to the neutral palette in the rest of the home.

HooversMagazine.com 39

Nursery Jamie wanted Smith’s room to have calming neutral colors. Skot built the board and batten, and they painted it to coordinate with a pattern from Livette’s Wallpaper.

40 August/September 2020

Kitchen After picking out her brick color, the next design element Jamie found was this champagne bronze Delta faucet. Using it as the base of her white kitchen, she selected a texted Taj Mahal quartzite for the island and a simple white quartz for the rest of the countertops. She also knew she wanted an apron sink with a window behind it to watch her kids outside.

Living Room This space shows off the Montgomerys’ mix of splurge and budgetsaving items. Their couches came from a Restoration Hardware outlet, but then Skot built the built-in shelves and barn door cabinet and the chandelier came from World Market.

HooversMagazine.com 41

Master Bathroom A claw foot soaking tub by a window was a must for Jamie, so that’s just what she got.

Powder Room Jamie paid only $15 for this sewing table at a junk store in Chelsea, limewashed it and then set a sink they found on eBay for $100 on top of it. Surrounding it is a greenery wallpaper by Magnolia Home.

BEHIND THE SCENES Construction: Alan Simpson, Highland Construction & Preservation

Architect: Carrie Taylor Architect

Dining Room Flower Arrangement: Bloom & Petal Kitchen Vintage Turkish Rug: Vintage Rugs by the Bay

Study Rug: MDH Posh Interiors

Front Porch Planters: Blackjack Horticulture

42 August/September 2020

Back Porch This spacious porch is an extension of the living room and acts as Skot’s man cave with a TV and grill too. Skot built the bed swing himself, and the dining table is from the Summer Classics Home outlet.

Window Planters Skot added a “Montgo Farmhouse” marker to the window planters he built for the front of the house.

HooversMagazine.com 43

8 Ways To Serve

In Hoover

Looking for a way to volunteer in the Hoover community? As Maya Angelou wrote, “When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed,” and that’s certainly the case in the city where you live, work and play.

Here are a few organizations based here in Hoover to help you find a place to serve.

By Heather Jones Skaggs | Photos Contributed

44 August/September 2020

1.

Hoover Helps

Their Mission:

Numerous Hoover children are food insecure and eat breakfast and lunch provided at school. During the weekends, many children do not have food or enough food. Hoover Helps is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that is actively engaged with school leaders, churches, businesses, and other organizations to help match community resources to address current unmet needs such as food insecurity.

How You Can Get Involved:

There are volunteer opportunities to help local feeding projects and backpack feeding programs at Hoover schools. Faith-based organizations or businesses can help sponsor feeding projects by volunteering as a group or by providing monetary donations.

Reach Out:

Greg Bishop, hooverhelps@gmail.com Website: hooverhelps.org Facebook: @hooverhelps

2.

Neighborhood Bridges Hoover

Their Mission:

Neighborhood Bridges engages the community in a campaign for kindness using technology to quickly identify and fill basic needs of children and families in need. Hoover residents simply visit the website and enter their email address.

Once this happens, weekly emails and social media posts go out that identify a specific need of someone in the community.

Instructions are then sent to the donor on how to get the items to the individual in need. It’s all anonymous acts of kindness that helps neighbors in Hoover.

How You Can Get Involved:

Visit neighborhoodbridges.org/community/hoover-al enter your email address and then confirm your email.

Reach Out:

hoover@neighborhoodbridges.org Website: neighborhoodbridges.org/community/hoover-al Facebook: @neighborhoodbridgeshoover

HooversMagazine.com 45

3.

Hoover Cop Stop

Their Mission:

Cop Stop’s vision is to honor the heroes who protect the community every day by serving those that serve us. Its volunteers deliver fellowship and goodwill by serving a meal each month to the Hoover Police Department and encourage personal relationships between residents and local law enforcement. It’s also is a local chapter of the national Cop Stop organization.

How You Can Get Involved:

Contact Hoover Cop Stop organizer Brandi Guthrie for more details. Volunteers sign up to bring food for meals potluck style as well as other opportunities.

Reach Out:

Brandi Guthrie, brandiguthrie@att.net Facebook: Hoover Cop Stop

4.

Laura Crandall Brown Foundation

Their Mission:

In 2009, Laura Crandall Brown passed away at the age of 25 from ovarian cancer. Her loving and courageous spirit inspired her friends and family to create the Laura Crandall Brown Foundation to honor her life, memory, and vision of helping others. LCBF works to fulfill a threefold mission: offering hope through early detection research of ovarian cancer, empowering communities through gynecologic cancer awareness and enriching lives through support.

How You Can Get Involved:

During GYN Cancer awareness month in September the Laura Crandall Brown Foundation will host its 11th Annual Head Reach Out: Over Teal race. You can take part in the tradition of running or Irene Goddard, Development Director, igoddard@thinkoflaura. walking in LCBF’s Head Over Teal 5K or 10K race on Sept. 26, org Website: thinkoflaura.org which is being held virtually. Register at runsignup.com.

Facebook: @LCBFoundation

46 August/September 2020

5.

Neverthirst

Their Mission:

Neverthirst is a faith-based nonprofit that works to bring clean drinking water to areas with no access to clean water.

More than 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation, and hygiene-related causes. Nearly all deaths, 99 percent, occur in the developing world. Neverthirst networks with professionals to install wells in areas such as India, Cambodia, Napal, South Sudan, and Chad with belief that where there is clean and living water, life flows.

How You Can Get Involved:

Volunteers and donations are always needed. People can also help with thank you notes and other various tasks.

Reach Out:

admin@neverthirstwater.org.

Website: neverthirstwater.org Facebook: @neverthirst Â

6.

Hoover R.I.S.E

Their Mission:

Hoover R.I.S.E works to leverage the expertise and compassion of Hoover community members toward ensuring that Hoover City Schools students maximize academic achievement, personal development, and a sense of belonging through mentoring and other programs.Â

Reach Out:

Kandace VanWanderham, kvanwanderham@hoover.k12. al.us or rise@hoover.k12.al.us Website: hoovercityschools.net/Page/2657 HooversMagazine.com 47

For all your backyard playground needs!!

7.

Kitty Kat Haven

Their Mission:

CALL

205-408-4386 for more info!

This organization is focused on saving abandoned, stray, and injured cats and kittens. Kitty Kat Haven provides the cats with complete vetting in a safe and loving environment, and cats are available for adoption to loving homes. Cats from Kitty Kat Haven are also up for adoption at Gatos and Beans Cat Cafe.Â

How You Can Get Involved:

Kitty Kat Haven is looking for cat lovers to help keep the their facility clean and feed and socialize the many cats and kittens in their care.

NOW ALSO SELLING AY COMMERCIAL PLAY EQUIPMENT! 86 CALL 205-408-4386 FOR MORE INFO!

3165 CCahaba h b VValley lle RRoadd Birmingham, AL 35124

www.backyardalabama.com

Reach Out:

kittykathaven1@gmail.com Facebook: KittyKatHavenRescue Website: kittykathavenrescue.org

8.

Grace Klein

Their Mission:

Grace Klein Community is a 501(c)3 non-profit that works to build relationships that mean something and that can encourage and spur people on to be better.

Their mission is to show people that they are loved and to spread the idea that everyone has something to give. Local efforts include food drives, emergency needs and serving meals. Grace Klein also has global outreach to Senegal, South Africa, and India.

How You Can Get Involved:

Grace Klein has a need for volunteers to serve at their various drive-through locations packing food boxes, loading boxes into cars, and collecting information.

Reach Out:

Natalie Spronk, natalie@gracekleincommunity.com Website: gracekleincommunity.com/all-event-list/ ways-to-serve/ Facebook: @GraceKleinCommunity 48 August/September 2020

E TH O T Y E K E G N A H C

, two nd s t n e al ev lations a c o l and t race re s them. l a n natio alk abou le inform f o e wak own to t the Bib e h t In at d w of s e i s v r o n past Christia ed ribut t n a o tos C how | Pho m

arkha

Tra

bed nscri

ne M adoli

by M

HooversMagazine.com 49

Danny Wood, second from left, and Dr. Michael Wesley, to his right, speak on a panel at the 2019 Southern Baptist Church’s Pastor’s Conference.

Pastor Danny Wood opened his sermon on Sunday, June 7 with a history lesson, starting from when he grew up in the 1960s and then painting a picture of the racism that he says is still on people’s hearts.

It was 13 days after George Floyd had been murdered in Minneapolis, and seven days after protests had taken place in downtown Birmingham calling for justice.

But before he started his sermon, recorded to watch at home due to the COVID-19 quarantine, Wood invited his predominantly white congregation at Shades Mountain Baptist Church into a conversation he’d had that week with his friend Dr. Michael Wesley, senior pastor of Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, a predominantly African American congregation in the West End. Wood and Wesley have been friends for a number of years since they were introduced by Christian Service Mission executive director Tracy Hipps. They have been on mission trips and worked on mission projects together, and they have each preached at the other’s church. Together they’ve shared in many conversations, and among the things they share is having a Hoover address. But this day their focus was on “racism and the gospel.”

Here we share that conversation, edited some for length and clarity. To watch their full conversation, find the “A Conversation on Racism & the Gospel” video on Shades Mountain Baptist Church’s YouTube page or at shades.org/media.

50 August/September 2020

“Even though people today are not responsible for slavery, they have benefitted from the system that has been in place.”

- Dr. Michael Wesley

think the George Floyd murder brought it to the consciousness of people, and it’s emblematic of what the system has been where the knee has been on the neck of people of color no matter what arena.

With Christian pastors beginning to teach the truth Wesley: Systemic racism is a whole system that has of scripture, we have a chance to bring it to the been designed to be anti-black. It’s been in existence forefront the wrongness of the system and not just a for more than 400 years in this country. It began with particular incident. slavery, and it continued for 100 years under Jim Crow Wood: You can look today and say after 50 laws. People of color have always been relegated to a second-class citizenship. Many people believe that something years things are so much better than they God did not create people of color the same as he did were in the ‘60s, but it’s that underlying systemic white people, and as a result laws have been made in racism that a lot of us—I say that as a white race— government, in education, in politics, in banking, in don’t see. real estate. In every aspect of the systems of this Wesley: You probably have been stopped by a country, there have been racial divides… We are at a point where the systemic understanding is coming to a police officer, but there’s never been any fear in your heart that your life would come to an end as a result of forefront.

I live in Ross Bridge, but there were times when that stop. Growing up I remember one night in the car communities like that would have been considered red with my dad with several of his children in the car, lined, when bankers would not lend the money to and he was stopped by a white police officer. I remember the fear that was there. My dad explained move into certain communities…

There have been more and more young people wo afterward that he wanted to go home with his family, have been coming out, and I think that holds the key so he was not going to say anything or do anything to where change may be. People of older generations that would cause that man to hurt him in front of his (have seen) that this is the way this is. Even though family… I have had to teach my sons as they were people today are not responsible for slavery, they have coming through their teenage years to be aware of benefitted from the system that has been in place. I how to handle themselves and how to speak Wood: You have explained the term “systemic racism” in the past to where you helped me understand it in such a great way. Can you explain what systemic racism means?

HooversMagazine.com 51

“There are some things our government needs to do, but from the moral, spiritual standpoint it would seem like this is the perfect opportunity for the church to step up.”

- Pastor Danny Wood

intelligently and appropriately so they will be not be church to step up. hurt should they be stopped.

Wesley: This is a golden moment for the church Wood: Where do you think this (movement) is and for white churches and leaders and black leaders not to pound on what was wrong but how we go going to lead? forward in fixing the system. I don’t agree with looting Wesley: I think it can’t just be African American or burning businesses. I think it has to be teaching and leaders speaking up because when it’s just African elections, and each one of us has to look in front of us American leaders speaking up people think that’s and see how we might be able to make a difference what they were supposed to do. They have always where we are right now as we go forward from this spoke against it. But when white leaders and white moment. pastors and the whole gamut of leadership begin to Wood: We have laws on the book, but we still have rise and say this is not right, that provides the impetus for change. When younger generations begin to racism on our hearts. The 15th amendment gave understand and see the inequities that are not right… voting rights, but the white legislature came up with that gives us the great opportunity for change to take black codes that prevented them from getting registered. place in this nation and in this town.

Wood: Back in the 1960s the Letter from the Birmingham Jail from Martin Luther King was precipitated by the eight pastors who were telling him to wait, and he came back with “justice delayed is justice denied.” At that moment the church could have stepped up and done something, but we didn’t and we said we’ll just let the government do it. Now here we are 57 years later and we have another opportunity. There are some things our government needs to do, but from the moral, spiritual standpoint it would seem like this is the perfect opportunity for the

The Heart Knows There Is Only One Right Choice

Paid for by John & Melody Greene

52 August/September 2020

Wesley: That’s part of what I mean by systemic.

Some people think the Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery, and we passed Civil Rights Act and now we are good. But that’s not true. There are still so many underlying things where we come right behind those major landmark legislations and put in place unwritten codes to keep the situation from being done like it should.

At the end of the day, when we go to heaven, all of us who are Christians, I don’t believe there will be a white section and a colored section or a black section.

• Preventative Care & Wellness • Surgery • Online Store • Boarding • Grooming Join our Healthy Paws Club anuual wellness plans to save you money while providing your pet the best preventative care!

1665 Montgomery Highway, Hoover. AL 35216 205-822-4779 • PATTONCHAPELAC.COM

Concerned about the well-being of your loved one?

We’re concerned about their

incredible-being.

“There’s no magic bullet that will solve this problem. It didn’t all start at once, and it won’t all go away at once. But we can do it one family, one person at a time.”

- Dr. Michael Wesley AT SOMERBY, WE ARE PREPARED 24/7 TO PROVIDE

I think we’ll just be in heaven. I don’t think there will be a black Jesus or a white Jesus, I think there will be Jesus and we will worship him as one people. I think earth is that dry run for heaven, so it’s time now that we begin to be that one body that Christ died for.

Wood: We have 5,000 members (at Shades Mountain). The question for them is, “What kind of impact can I have?”

COMFORT AND CARE.

• Secure apartments supplied with everything residents need • Chef-prepared meals delivered right to our residents’ doors • Maintenance, laundry service and daily housekeeping UNCERTAIN TIMES CALL FOR CERTAIN CARE — AND A COMMUNITY THAT’S WARM, ENGAGING AND

Wesley: I think it begins with the home. We have a biblical model in the book of Deuteronomy. Talk to your children as you go along the way, put it on their frontlets and foreheads. I think parents have to teach their children the wrongness of systemic racism and try to make sure that we don’t perpetuate what has generationally been passed on to us. As those children are communicating with their peers, they can have those discussions too.

When integration came, I was assistant principal at Smith (School in Roebuck). I felt for the first time real hope because I knew those children were eating lunch together, playing in the band together, playing on the same team. I thought these kids will grow up not with the misunderstanding of each other that previous generations had grown up with. I still believe that’s how the hope can take place.

The church is the hope of the world. We are the hope because what’s preached is then reinforced at home, and I think if we can do that, that can make the difference.

There is no magic wand that no one will be able to wave and it will all go away. There’s no magic bullet that will solve this problem.

It didn’t all start at once, and it won’t all go away at once. But we can do it one family, one person at a time.

CONNECTS WITH YOU.

TO LEARN MORE OR TO TAKE A VIRTUAL TOUR, VISIT SOMERBYSPARK.COM INDEPENDENT LIVING ASSISTED LIVING MEMORY CARE 20 0 O n e Ni n eteen Bl vd .

H oover, AL 3524 2

S O M E R B Y S P A R K . C O M • 8 0 0 . 9 7 7. 1 0 1 7

HooversMagazine.com 53

Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce C O N N E C T I O N S

#eatshopplayhoover We recently launched our new website, www.eatshopplayhoover.com.

This website serves as another platform for you to market your business.

As we all transition “back to work” we continue to carry the banner of

#eatshopplayhoover and now we have a t-shirt! With your purchase of a tshirt you can support the Chamber’s Scholarship Program and have a great reminder of Shopping Small and Shopping Local!

Let’s all work together and #eatshopplayhoover!

Ambassador of the Quarter Shannon Driver We would like to recognize the Hoover Area Chamber of Commmerce Ambassador of the Quarter for First Quarter 2020!

Congratuations to Shannon Driver for being Ambassador of the Quarter~First Quarter 2020!

Shannon and her husband, Kyle, are franchisees with N2 Publishing. They own two private neighborhood magazines here in Hoover that are mailed to the Trace Crossings and Preserve communities.

Shannon loves connecting the residents in her neighborhoods not only to each other, but also to the local businesses who partner with the magazine as advertising sponsors. Apart from the magazine, they host private social events for the residents and businesses to mix and mingle in person and they also offer digital ads on Facebook and Instagram to compliment the print ad.

Something that sets them apart is that all of their articles are written by the residents in the neighborhood. They feature stories about their families, kids, pets, recipes, and really, anything the residents would like to see in their neighborhood

magazine. Businesses like that the content is all about the individuals that live in the communities, because of that, they know it is being read each month.

Their magazine in The Preserve (Beyond The Rock) celebrated its 5 Year Anniversary this summer and the Trace Crossings magazine (Trace Living) will be two this fall. As a company, N2 also has private magazines in Liberty Park, Greystone and Ross Bridge. In the fall, a new magazine, BeLocal Hoover, will be coming out. This will serve as a local guide to the area for recent movers.

Shannon enjoys networking around Hoover and loves to refer those in her network to individuals looking for a product or service. If a business wants more business in these neighborhoods, Shannon can help you reach them in print, in person and on social media!

Shannon Driver | Area Director Trace Living & Beyond The Rock N2 Publishing | shannon.driver@n2pub.com | 281.804.9665

We would also like to thank Joe Thomas with Aspis Advisors as the Program Sponsor for the 2020 Ambassadors!

If you would like to know more about Aspis Advisors and We are committed to helping people pursue their financial goals.

We offer a wide range of financial products and services to individuals and business owners.

We believe you will be better able to identify your goals and make informed decisions to help reach them by our providing you financial education and information.

3000 RIVERCHASE GALLERIA 54 August/September 2020

HOOVER, AL 35244

Scholarships Awarded to Seniors

The Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce recently awarded four scholarships totaling $11,000 to four members of the Hoover High School Class of 2020.

Chloe Arnold - Arnold won a scholarship named in honor of former Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Bill Powell and his wife, Dr. Gail Powell. Arnold plans to attend the University of Alabama at Birmingham as a DeanÕs Nursing Scholar, a program designed for academically talented high school students who plan to become a nurse.

William “Zach” Baker - Baker won a scholarship named in honor of Jefferson County Commissioner Jimmie Stephens. He plans to attend the University of South Alabama, pursue a degree in exercise science and become a physical therapist for intensive care unit patients.

August and September Events We want everyone to be safe and healthy as we navigate through this new normal so we will be evaluating our events month by month, and we connect virtually with the eventual goal of being face to face very soon.

Camylle Lollar - Lollar plans to attend Auburn University, major in chemical engineering and then pursue a masterÕs degree in business administration. Her goal is to become an engineering project manager.

Chandler Smedley - Smedley plans to attend the University of Alabama and pursue a chemical engineering degree.

Photos Courtesy of Iron City Studios

205 - 988 - 5672

WWW.HOOVERCHAMBER.ORG HooversMagazine.com 55

New Members AS OF JUNE 29, 2020

uHedden Real Estate 5/18/2020

uLawson State Community College 5/21/2020

uVistage Worldwide 6/12/2020

uAlabama Education Association 6/16/2020

uNorthpointe Bank 6/22/2020

uOrtho Alabama Spine and Sports 6/29/2020

uWingstop 7/6/2020

uPho-Pho Asian Cuisine 7/8/2020

Thank you to our 2020 Board of Trustees

The Presidents Circle of the Board of Trustees Antonio D. Sankey, Antonio D. Sankey & Assoc., LLC John Lyda, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Tim Puthoff,Brookwood Baptist Medical Center Bill Inabinet,Synovus Bank Mark Garnett, HealthSpring of Alabama, Inc. Joel Smith, Hendrick Hoover Auto Mall Paul Dangel, Hyatt Regency Birmingham-The Wynfrey Hotel Henry King, King Acura Karen Waldrop, Regions Financial Charlie Conklin, Charlie Conklin, Sentry Heating, Air Conditioning & Plumbing Daniel Holmes, Hoover’s Magazine, Shelby County Reporter Sam Hess, Jet’s Pizza Sam Hess, Tropical Smoothie David Custred, McLeod Software Past Presidents of the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce Kathleen Spencer, Spencer Consulting Group* Dan Ellis, TASC* Lori D. Moler, Children’s of Alabama* Chris Schmidt, J.D., Daniel Corporation* Joe Thomas, Chairman, Capstone Financial Group* Terri Q. Williams, AT&T Alabama* Jason Cobb, America’s First Federal Credit Union* Dan Mikos, Mikos-Kampakis Insurance* Jerry Cross, Jefferson County EIDA* Jerome Morgan, Jr., Oncort Professional Services Richard Head, RE/MAX Advantage* Terry Turner, Terry D. Turner, Jr., J.D., Attorney at Law* Bill Powell, Honorary Presidents Circle *Designates a Past President of the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce The Board of Trustees Eric Land, ABC 33/40 Television Steve Swofford, Alabama Credit Union Timothy C. Lee, M.D., MPH, Alabama Heart & Vascular, P.C. Alison Steineker, Alabama Power Company Jabo Waggoner, Alabama Senate, District Sixteen Linda Cencula, Avadian Credit Union Joey Fernandez, BB&T Bank Robert P. (Rob) Fowler, Balch & Bingham LLP Heather McInnish, BancorpSouth Deborah Stephens, Behavioral Health Systems, Inc. Ken Crow, Belk Ashfaq Taufique, Birmingham Islamic Society Leanne Messer, Brookdale Place University Park Jamie White, Brown Heating & Cooling

3000 RIVERCHASE GALLERIA 56 August/September 2020

Paul Huckeba, C B & S Bank Garland Stansell, Children’s of Alabama Bobby Haynes, Costco Wholesale Randolph Pickell, Diversicare of Riverchase Mike Hawthorne, Edge Realty Group Fred Johnston, Express Oil/Tire Engineers Cody Burns, FOX 6 WBRC Debbie Hultquist, Fresenius Medical Care Keegan Jett, Galleria Woods Retirement Community Leisha Harris, Grandview Medical Center Len Luther, P.E., Gresham, Smith and Partners Neil Thakor, Holiday Inn – Hoover Kerry Bradley, Hoover Tactical Firearms Charlie Faulkner, Jefferson Credit Union Tony Cooper, Jimmie Hale Mission Joe McGee, Legacy Community Federal Credit Union Dwight Burrell, Long-Lewis Ford Lincoln Bridget Baughan, McDonald’s Keith Pennington,UAB Medical Center West Todd Beegle, On Tap Sports Café Chuck Herndon, Peoples Bank of Alabama Dr. John R. Phillips, III, PT Orthodontics Hugh Morrow, Broker, RE/MAX Preferred Rick Smith, Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa Mike White, Riverchase Galleria Andy Davis, St. Vincent’s Health System Sam Dillender, Santek Waste Services Kent O’Rear, ServPro of Birmingham Dr. Jack Schaeffer, Schaeffer Eye Centers Sarah Turner, Signature Homes Alain Gallet, Terracon Monique Holiness, The Home Depot-Inverness Elena Horn, The Home Depot-Riverchase Bethany Bell, The Trails at Cahaba River Tara J. Elliott, Troy University Phillip Corley, Wallace, Jordan, Ratliff & Brandt, LLC Darin Boykin, Walmart SuperCenter, Highway 150 Richard Edwards, WalMart of 280 Sherry Webb, Webb Payroll Service, Inc. Tanja Bell, Birmingham Airport Authority Ira Levine, Levine & Associates Hayley DeShazo, American Family Care Zeke Ethridge, Alabama Vein & Restoration MedSpa David Wanniger, Comfort Care Home Health & Hospice Benjamin Yim, Omniwon Digital Bob Mitchell, Oddessy Early Schools Lyndsy Yim, Retail Specialists Karen Ingram, Somerby St. Vincent 119 Jerry Forester, Ortho Alabama Spine and Sports Bedzzz Express, David Riddle

HOOVER, AL 35244

F i n d U s O n l i ne

Sign up for our weekly newsletter

|

Access our member directory

Hoover Chamber Officers and Board of Directors

Chamber Officers Paul Dangel 2020 Board President

Alison Howell Steineker Paul Dangel, The HyattRegency Wynfrey Hotel 2020 Board President

Alison Howell Steineker, Alabama Power Company 1st Vice President

David Custred, McLeod Software 2nd Vice President

Kathleen Spencer, Spencer Consulting Secretary

Adam West, Warren Averett CPAs Treasurer

1st Vice President

David Custred 2nd Vice President

Terry Turner Immediate Past President

Kathleen Spencer Secretary

Adam West Treasurer Terry D. Turner Jr., Gentle, Turner & Sexton Attorneys Immediate Past President

Greg Knighton, City of Hoover Liaison

April DeLuca, Magic City Law Legal Advisor

Jeff McDowell, McDowell Security Services, LLC

Greg Knighton City of Hoover Liaison

April DeLuca Legal Advisor

Board of Directors Matthew Allen, JBMC Media Inc.

Sandy Syx, Doozer Construction

Lynn Ray, Business Telephones, Inc.

James Robinson, Spire

Emilio Cerice, Regions Bank

Tyler Williams, BlueCross BlueShield

Ben Yim, LA Wax Club

Mike White, Riverchase Galleria

205 - 988 - 5672

uMatthew Allen uJeff McDowell uLynn Ray uMike White uDavid Custred uBen Yim uSandy Syx uJames Robinson uEmilio Cerice uTyler Williams uTerry Turner

WWW.HOOVERCHAMBER.ORG HooversMagazine.com 57

OUT & ABOUT

1

ROSS BRIDGE FARMER’S MARKET

2

3

4

PHOTOS BY ALIZA BAKER

Every Friday night in June and July from 4-8 p.m., Ross Bridge held its annual summer market featuring live music, local food trucks, lots of homemade goods and more.

1. Clem Summers- Naughty But Nice 2. Crystal Early, Michaela McCrary and Samantha Wade- Rock Creek Boutique

5

6

7

8

3. Dan Floid- Chaffin Farms 4. Ellie Pomeroy, Nadia Washington, Christian Congleton and Libby McClendon 5. David Jordan 6. Ed Cassar 7. Jennifer Dimbo- Nana Bakes 8. Justin Hill- Eastaboga Bee Company 9. Erin and Daniel Hammonds 10. Justin and Devane Boone 11. Kelly and Bobby McGurk 12. Kirk and Allison Creel 13. Morghan Cannon and Cori Shipman 14. Heather Eron, Anne Diggs and Donna Oswald

58 August/September 2020

OUT & ABOUT

9

10

11

12

13

14

HooversMagazine.com 59

OUT & ABOUT

1

BISTRO PROVARE REOPENING

2

3

4

PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED

Bistro Provare, a café run by Jefferson State culinary students, reopened in June and served takeout this summer Mondays - Thursdays, 11:30 a.m.- 1 p.m. with a menu that changes weekly.

For more information about Jefferson State’s Culinary Institute, visit jeffersonstate.edu/chi.

1. Grilled salmon sandwich with lettuce, tomato and jalapeño aioli, with collard greens

5

6

7

8

2. Chinese braised pork shoulder with rice and shaved Brussels sprouts 3. Student Moni Bell 4. Jennifer Ngatia, Elizabeth Tran, Grace Wilson, Madison Harvel, Carie Brown and Anahi Ortiz 5. Student Amber Beavers 6. Student Anahi Ortiz 7. Student Carie Brown 8. Student Jennifer Ngatia

60 August/September 2020

OUT & ABOUT

HOOVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY OFFICER INSTALLATION

1

2

PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato installed new officers of the Hoover Historical Society at the Hoover-Randle House on May 15 with attendees both on Zoom and at a social distance. Barbara Randle and Tahara Evans hosted the event.

1. Gene Fuller with other members on Zoom

3

2. Inez McCollum with an original painting of herself dressed as a docent at the Ol’ Stinson Place cabin, now the Folk Lore Center in Bluff Park 3. Edna McWilliams presents the Crouch Award.

HooversMagazine.com 61

MARKETPLACE

Marketplace Hoover’s Magazine • 205.669.3131

Need appliance or air conditioner parts? How about a water filter for your refrigerator? We have it all at A-1 Appliance Parts! Call 1-800841-0312 www.A1Appliance.com

Mechanic needed.

Must have own tools and five years experience. Apply in person: 1105 7th St N, Clanton. Or call for appointment 205-7554570 HIRING EXPERIENCED FULL CASE ORDER SELECTORS $19.03 per hour plus production $$$ incentives. Grocery order selection using electric pallet jacks & voice activated headsets. Great benefits including Blue Cross health & dental insurance & matching 401k. Pre-employment drug test required.

Apply Online: WWW. AGSOUTH.COM Automation Personnel Services Hiring IMMEDIATELY For: Automotive Assembly, General Labor, Production, Clerical, Machine Operator, Quality, Carpentry, Welder, Foundry. Positions In: Calera, Clanton, Pelham, Bessemer, McCalla. Walk-in 62 August/September 2020

applications accepted.

Clanton (205)2800002. Pelham (205)444-9774.

Avanti Polar Lipids is looking for full and part time employees.

Submit resume to jobs@avantilipids. com •Highly proficient math skills required.

•High school diploma required.

Bama Concrete Now Hiring: Diesel Mechanic 4 Years Minimum Experience.

CDL Preferred.

Competitive Pay. Great Benefits. Apply in person: 2180 Hwy 87 Alabaster, 35007 Bent Creek Apartments.

Affordable 1 and 2 Bedroom. On-site Manager. On-site Maintenance. 3001 7th Street. North Clanton, AL 35045.

TDD#s: 800-5482547(V) 800-5482546(T/A) bentcreek@ morrowapts.com Office Hours: MonFri, 8am-4pm. Equal Opportunity Provider/ Employer Immediate need for LPN’s. Full time LPN Position with sign on bonus. BMC Nursing Home. Responsible for patient care and supervision of CNA staff. Will also provide treatment and

HooversMagazine.com

meds for residents.

Apply online or call Human Resources at 205-926-3363 bibbmedicalcenter. com Boise Cascade Now Hiring for Utility Positions. Starting pay $13.66/hour.

Must be able to pass background screen.

Please apply at www. bc.com Core Focus Personnel 205-826-3088 • Now Hiring Production Mill Worker, Jemison.

12hrs (days/nights), ability to pass drug test, background check, physical.

Positions working in outside temperature conditions. Previous manufacturing experience required. $11.75/hr to start. $2000 SIGN ON BONUS NEW PAY SCALE TO QUALIFYING DRIVERS EVERGREEN TRANSPORT, is accepting applications for local drivers in the Calera and Leeds, AL, area. Must have Class A CDL, good driving record, 1 yr verifiable tractor trailer experience. Good pay and benefits. Apply in person at 8278 Hwy 25 South, Calera, AL, or call for info 205668-3316.

Industrial Coatings Group, Inc. is hiring experienced -Sandblasters -Industrial Painters Helpers. Must be able to pass drug test and e-verify check. Must be willing to travel.

Professional references required. Please send resume to: icgsecretary@hotmail. com or call (205)6889004

Are you a motivated professional? Are you looking for a dynamic career? Are you ready to control your own level of success? See why McKinnons’ is an exciting place to work and grow. Now accepting applications for Sales, Service, and Detail Shop. Apply with the receptionist.

205-755-3430

Owner Operators Wanting Dedicated Year Round Anniston, AL www.pull4klb.com

Shake up your career!!! Are you looking for something new and FUN? Milo’s is always looking for great managers to come join our growing and dynamic team. Apply online at miloshamburgers.com

Lancaster Place Apartments.

Location, community & quality living in Calera, AL. 1, 2, & 3 bedroom apartments available. Call today for specials!! 205668-6871. Or visit hpilancasterplace.com Marble Valley Manor.

Affordable 1 and 2 Bedroom Apartments for Elderly & Disabled.

Many on-site services!

2115 Motes Rd, Sylacauga. 256245-6500 •TDD#s: 800-548-2547(V) •800-548-2546(T/A).

Office Hours: MonFri, 8am-4pm. Equal Opportunity Provider/ Employer

Oxford Healthcare in Montgomery currently hiring certified CNA’s and/or Home Health aides in the Clanton, Marbury and Maplesville areas.

Must be able to pass complete background check, have reliable transportation and have a strong work ethic. Serious inquiries only. Call 334-409-0035 or apply on-line at www.

Oxfordhealthcare.com Specializing in all your hair care needs SERENITY SALON Barber/Stylist Chairs Available for Rent 2 Convenient Locations

MARKETPLACE •2005 Valleydale Rd. •Pelham •3000 Meadow Lake Dr. Suite 107 Call Nichole 205-240-5428 South Haven Health & Rehab NOW HIRING!!! •LPN’s & RN’s -$5,000 Sign-on Bonus for Full-Time shift •CNA’s Apply in person: 3141 Old Columbiana Rd Birmingham,AL-35266 Nursing assistant to care for high functioning quadriplegic home health patient in Jemison. Must have valid drivers license.

Part-time. Call Mr. Wilbanks 205-9083333 CLOCK REPAIR SVS. * Setup * Repair * Maintenance. I can fix your Mother’s clock.

Alabaster/Pelham. Call Stephen (205)6632822 Electrician - FT Supreme Electric, local-based company in Pelham. Must be willing to learn & work hard. Go to: supremeelectric-al. com Print employment application under Contact Us. Mail to: Supreme Electric 231 Commerce Pkwy Pelham, AL 35124 or call 205-453-9327.

Become a Dental Assistant in ONLY 8 WEEKS! Please visit our website capstonedental assisting.com or call (205)561-8118 and get your career started!

Popeyes Seeking friendly, motivated, dependable Crew Members. OPEN INTERVIEWS DAILY 2:00pm-5:00pm 3300 Pelham Parkway.

Immediate Openings!

Start work this week! Apply online: work4popeyeskitchen. com GENERAL LAWN CARE Specialist in large yards 2+ acres.

Serving Chilton, Coosa & many more areas.

Bi-weekly, weekly or one-time services available. SPRING CLEANUP SPECIALS! Call Alex today for details: 1-205-9553439 ~Military & Senior Discounts~ Alabama Air Power Inc Now Hiring Industrial Air Compressor Technician Will cross train person with mechanical skills, Electrical and/or HVAC knowledge Blue Cross Health and Dental Paid Vacation Paid Holidays Apply In Person 1293 Hwy 87, Alabaster Acceptance Loan Company, Inc. Personal loans! Let us pay off your title loans!

224 Cahaba Valley Rd, Pelham 205-663-5821 Pharmaceutical Grade Pharmaceutical Grade CBD Oil, a unique concept for sublingual absorption.

Helps pain, anxiety, energy & more.

Order from home

205-276-7778. www.

CiliByDesign.com/ BrendaGlaze $Cash Paid For Used RV’s!$ Motor Homes, Travel/Enclosed trailers, consignment welcome, Cars and Trucks, Pick up available, Mccluskey Auto and RV Sales, LLC 205-833-4575 Construction Workers Needed for Local Construction Company. Must be experienced and dependable. Job is five days a week.

Salary based on skills.

Must have remodeling experience. Call Adam 205-863-9059 Pop & Sons Demolition & Junk Removal (205)9488494 junkguys2014@ gmail.com •Junk Removal Services •Demolition•More!!

FREE QUOTES!! ALSO WITH THE MENTION OF THIS AD GET $20 OFF!!!”

Service Tech, Inc. Heating & Air Conditioning AL Cert# 89282 Now Hiring Full-Time Certified Technician •Minimum 5 years experience •Residential, Commercial and Refrigeration •Ipad Experience •On-Call Rotation Apply at: www.servicetechhvac. com Sitting Angels Home Care, LLC NOW ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS Doctor Appointments, Bathing/Dressing Meal Preparation, Errands,

University Baptist Child Development Center is pleased to announce that our First Class Preschool program was awarded The Harvest Place Christian Church Join a New Classroom Grant by Governor us for worship every Ivey and the State SUNDAY The Harvest Place Christian Church Department of Early Childhood Education.

14 Westside Ln, Columbiana, AL 35051 Our second classroom Bishop Wales Williams, will house up to 18 preschoolers who Jr Chief Apostle are 4 years old by •Morning Worship September 1, 2020.

Sunday 11am •Life Tuition is incomeEnrichment Classes Sunday 10:15am •Join based and we provide meals at no additional Us Every Tuesday charge. Register Night at JOYFEST at http://alprek.

•Midweek Worshipasapconnected.com Begins at 6:30pm WE ARE NOW HIRING www.getyourharvest.

Lead and Auxiliary org teachers for First Class 4-year-old Pre-K Western programs. School International Gas & year positions with Cylinders, Inc Signcompetitive pay.

On-Bonus! Hiring Lead teachers must SOLO & TEAM CDL Drivers •2yrs Exp•Pass have degree in Early Childhood Education/ D.O.T Physical/ Development. Auxiliary Background Check •Hazmat Endorsement teachers must have Child Development Apply Online: www.

Associate (CDA) drive4western.com or 9hrs Early EOE Childhood Education/ Experienced Termite Development.

Experience in First Technician or someone experienced Class program & bilingual skills a plus. in route-service work For questions about and wants to learn new profession. Work- registration or to apply for a teaching position, vehicle/equipment contact Lorrie Ozley: provided. Must universitybaptistcdc@ drive straight-shift, gmail.com 205-665have clean driving 4039 record/be 21/pass background/drug test.

HVAC Company with Training provided.

43 years in business Insurance/401K offered. M-F 7:00-4:30 NOW HIRING EXPERIENCED + 1 Saturday/month.

TECHNICIAN Will Pay $13hr. Send train! Drug test resume to facsmith@ required. Mon-Fri charter.net 8:00am-5:00pm Call 205-663-2199 Laundry,Light House Keeping and More.

Lenette Walls, Owner 205-405-6991

HooversMagazine.com 63

MY HOOVER JANET HALL

Longtime Fox 6 News Anchor + Hoover Native

Memory Central

Star Lake Star Lake holds wonderful memories for me. As a kid living in Green Valley I would ride a bicycle at the lake with my friends, usually on our way to Green Valley Drugs to buy candy and a comic book. Later as a teenager, I would jog around the lake for exercise. I remember we referred to the Hoover Police Department as Hoover Five-Oh, a play on Hawaii Five-Oh, and the fact there were only five officers at the time. As my own children visited with my parents it was always a treat to go to Star Lake and feed the ducks. Occasionally, I still drop by for a calm moment.

In The Family

Berry Middle School As a graduate of the old W.A. Berry High School on Columbiana Road, it was fun for me to see my son and daughter both attend Berry Middle School. It’s nice to see the Berry name carried on in the new school, especially because my husband is related to W.A. Berry—in fact he and our son have Berry as their middle name.

A Legend

The Finley Center I love that this facility is named after Coach Bob Finley who took the Berry Buccaneers through many winning football seasons back in my high school days. It’s always my honor to emcee the Finley Awards recognizing Hoover school students for outstanding character each year too.

A Walk In The Park

Veterans Park Veterans Park always has something going on! We’ve been there for festivals, track meets and most often to walk the dog.

Wine & Dine

Bellinis Restaurant This is one of our favorite spots to gather with friends for a nice meal or a glass of wine. The food is wonderful, and there’s just the right atmosphere for conversation and a good time. It’s also a short drive from where we live in Inverness Point.

64 August/September 2020

Emergencies can’t wait Your safe care is our #1 priority.

In a emergency, there’s no reason to delay your care. We go above and beyond to ensure safety for you and your love ones. We offer safe, high quality care you can count on 24/7.

This is your community built on care.

Social Distancing

Wear a Mask

Clean Environment

Separate Care Areas

Schedule an appointment at BrookwoodBaptistMedicalCenter.com or call 877-909-4233

66 August/September 2020