Homewood Life, May/June 2020

A TRIBUTE TO DR. BILL CLEVELAND • FROM LAKESHORE TO THE WORLD • HOLLAND & BIRCH JEWELRY

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CORONA VIRUS CANDIDS • WEDDING BELLS • FEEDING KIDS MAY/JUNE 2020 HomewoodLife.com Volume Four | Issue Three $4.95

care

CURBSIDE

HOW ASHLEY MAC’S ADAPTED IN QUARANTINE

IN AN EMERGENCY,

A COMMUNITY BUILT ON RESPONSIVENESS In an emergency, you have the power to choose where to receive expert care. Insist on going to Brookwood Baptist Medical Center. As your community of care, take comfort in knowing we’ll always be here when you need it the most.

For more information, visit BrookwoodBaptistMedicalCenter.com For life-threatening emergencies, call 9-1-1

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“ TAKE ME TO BROOKWOOD BAPTIST.”

A PL AL IC ED

DR ZA

BROOKWOOD BAPTIST MEDICAL CENTER: EMERGENCY ROOM

O WO OK BRO

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DR ER NT CE AL C I ED

Brookwood Baptist Medical Center 2010 Brookwood Medical Center Dr. Birmingham, AL 35209 PENDENCE CT INDE

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FEATURES SPECIAL SECTION: LOVE IN THE TIME OF THE CORONA VIRUS

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CORONA CANDIDS As the COVID-19 quarantine restrictions began, Lucy Baird set out from her Homewood home with her camera to see how people were making life work.

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WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD A quarantine might have reduced the guest list at Laura Smith and Eric Corscadden’s wedding, but it certainly didn’t minimize their joy.

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A TALE OF THREE FEEDINGS When there’s a need to feed kids, churches, restaurants and schools rise up.

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Lakeshore Foundation researchers are looking for ways to bring exercise for people with physical disabilities or chronic health conditions far beyond its walls.

2 May/June 2020

PHOTO BY LINDSEY CULVER

FROM LAKESHORE TO THE WORLD

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PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

arts & culture

in every issue

11 A Second Story: The Authenticity Behind Holland & Birch Jewelry 20 In Style: Neutrals or Color—You Pick!

22 Read This Book: What to Read When Missing Bookstores

schools & sports

30 Five Questions For: Kevin Maddox on School Construction

& drink

5 From the Editor 6 The Question 7 The Guide

23 All for the Kids: A Tribute to Dr. Bill Cleveland

food

4 Contributors

54 Chamber Connections 56 Out & About 62 Marketplace

HL 64 My Homewood

31 A Mom Who Knows: The Comfort of Ashley Mac’s 37 Five Questions For: Edgewood’s Local 39

HomewoodLife.com 3

contributors EDITORIAL

Stephen Dawkins Alec Etheredge Madoline Markham Keith McCoy Scott Mims Emily Sparacino Briana H. Wilson

CONTRIBUTORS

Lucy Baird Lauren Brooks James Culver Lindsey Culver Meredith Elder Hillary Stegall Gamble Jamison & Lindsay Kate Skinner Lauren Ustad

DESIGN

Angela Caver Jamie Dawkins Kate Sullivan Green Connor Martin-Lively

MARKETING

Darniqua Bowen Kristy Brown Kari George Caroline Hairston Nick Heady Rachel Henderson Rhett McCreight Kim McCulla Viridiana Romero Briana Sanders Lisa Shapiro Jessica Steelman Kerrie Thompson

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

Lucy Baird, Photographer

Lucy appreciates and practices multiple types of photography such as portraits, landscapes, family photos and street photography. She loves living in Homewood and is a regular at Provision Studio. If you’re interested in a photoshoot, you can contact her at photosbylucyb@gmail. com.

Lindsey Culver, Photographer

Originally from the Midwest, Lindsey is a photographer who lives in Homewood with her husband, Chris, and two mischievous children, Smith and Roland (along with their dachshund puppy, Sweeney Todd).

When not working as a baby and child photographer, she can be found with her hands in the dirt of her flower and vegetable garden, with a cup of coffee in hand around the clock, hosting hot tub parties for her friends and attending every local musical theater performance. Lindsey loves Homewood and getting to know more of its residents through her work with Homewood Life.

Hillary Stegall Gamble, Photographer

Hillary started Je Vois Photography over 10 years ago, primarily as a wedding and portrait photography studio. She lives in Homewood with her husband and three daughters. She stays very busy developing smile wrinkles while singing, cooking, exercising or taking pictures of real moments.

Lauren Ustad, Photographer

Lauren lives in Homewood with her husband, Joe, their three daughters, and their 2-pound Yorkie they refer to as “Boobie.” She spends her professional time posing itty bitties and chasing little munchkins. In her free time you can probably find her slaving away at their most current renovation project or building Legos with her self-proclaimed super heroes.

Homewood Life is published bimonthly by Shelby County Newspapers Inc., P.O. Box 947, Columbiana, AL 35051.

Homewood Life 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, Homewood Life, P.O. Box 947, Columbiana, AL 35051.

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

Advertising inquiries may be made by emailing advertise@homewoodlife.com, or by calling (205) 669-3131, ext. 536.

4 May/June 2020

from the editor

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ON THE COVER

That Curbside Life

Ashley McMakin carries out a bag of to-go food from her Soho restaurant Ashley Mac’s during the COVID-19 quarantine.

Photo by Lindsey Culver Design by Connor Martin-Lively

The world we are sending this issue out into is a much different one than we were first started to plan stories for. As I write from my front porch-turned-office, I am struck by the oddity of it all. The bright green of spring is bursting out in all its beauty, the air is a perfect crisp 70-something degrees, my neighbors are walking by and I’ll join them (at a distance) later today to continue to log far more hours outdoors than I ever have in a season. There’s beauty in being home more, in talking to neighbors more, in seeing far more families playing games in their yards on a Sunday afternoon.

And yet around us darkness looms in news reports and in what we hear from our neighbors serving in healthcare—our heroes in all of this—and those who work in finance, small businesses, restaurants and more. Nearly vacant streets midday are eerie. The unknown is terrifying. Homeschooling kids and keeping them entertained are far from easy. It’s just plain sad not to hug our friends and gather around tables and ballfields together, not to celebrate birthdays and weddings like we always have.

Through it all though, our sidewalks and fences are becoming chalk art exhibits, teddy bears and kids’ artwork are peppering our windows, and tangible reminders that “we are all in this together” are popping up all over our city (see also: the side of Battle Republic building on Central Avenue thanks to Fitz Hand Painted Signs).

As the COVID-19 quarantine set in and we were all rallying together to support our restaurants and retailers while trying to stay sane at home, all of it transformed this issue, and our social media too. Events we planned to photograph were cancelled, so we asked for your pictures of activities at home instead. We created a photo essay of Lucy Baird’s quarantine candids, found out about Laura Smith and Eric Corscadden’s intimate wedding reception in her parents’ living room, and followed how kids were being fed lunches after schools had been closed.

We ended up opening our narrative on Ashley Mac’s with her tales of quarantine menu adaptions and curbside pickup (and felt we should shoot our cover accordingly), and our story on Homewood City Schools Superintendent Dr. Bill Cleveland’s retirement this summer was updated to say he’d temporarily be staying on to see the system through this unprecedented season.

This isn’t the issue I ever would have planned, this isn’t the time of life we ever would have chosen, but there are beautiful stories being written under this dark cloud of COVID-19 and we’re here to share them. I’d love to hear the ones you are seeing and living—feel free to reach out any time!

madoline.markham@homewoodlife.com HomewoodLife.com 5

“ ” THE QUESTION

You don’t really know Homewood unless you know _________.

Joe Falconer and his moon pies!

- Rebecca Harrison

To honk in the tunnel.

- Amanda Lewis Dwyer

- Pam Greene White

OLS BBQ 4th July

- Bobby Naccari

The importance and meaning of the blue bows.

Sam’s Super Samwiches, West Homewood Baseball Park, the Homewood pool, Mr. Frank, NYP, Sam’s Deli, all the various alleys, and We Love Homewood Day…

All the words and all the arm motions to “Hoorah for Homewood” - both the SSG (now Spangle) and cheerleader versions.

Homewood Musical Instruments/Bob Tedrow

- Amber Joi Thomas

- Missy Harris Bienvenu

6 May/June 2020

Playing under the mushroom at the pool, catching candy at the parade, that band and dance team are just as cool as football and cheerleading, Mr. Thorne…

- Mindi Mullins Perlis

- Kelly Cannon Drake

THE GUIDE

HERO MEALS Quickly after much of Homewood began to shut down in the pandemic, Real & Rosemary started delivering food and coffee to those working in the medical field as a way to say thank you to nurses, doctors and other medical staff. Anyone could purchase a hero coffee or hero meal on realandrosemary.com, and the restaurant matched each meal purchase meal for meal.

Photo by Mary Fehr HomewoodLife.com 7

THE GUIDE RESTAURANTS + RETAILERS

Local Distancing

RETAIL

Masks on Demand

In response to the medical mask shortage, The Smocking Bird, a sewing supply store on Linden Avenue, asked customers to sew face masks to help.

The store posted instructions for how to make them on their Instagram profile and ran a contest to win a $100 gift card for whoever makes and brings in the most masks.

As restaurants started to close their doors and start curbside pickup and delivery during the COVID-19 quarantine, Homewood resident Dylan Spencer wanted to help. So he built a website, localdistancing.com, along with Vince Perez and Trey Oliver. Through it, customers can purchase gift certificates from retailers and restaurants and find information about their curbside pick-up or delivery options along with donate to GoFundMe accounts for employees out of work.

“I don’t know what the future holds, I do know this: I love feeding people,” Bandit Pâtisserie owner Kristen Hall (pictured) shares on the website. “I love making pastries. I love the power that food has to transform literally every situation. So I place my raw and unyielding hope in these things and the incredible community that is here to support and defend the fabric of our city. And, as much as I can, I’ll be focusing my time on how to keep magical pastries in the hands of those I love. Goodness knows, we all need some comfort right now.

We will do this.”

HISTORY

Homewood History Hunt Local historian, history teacher and Homewood native Jake Collins revived #HomewoodHistoryHunt during this time where many families are at home. He posted historic photos on social media and offered chances to win The Homewood Book, a pictorial history of Homewood he co-authored, for submissions of photos of you and your family at those same sites today. Prize or no prize, it sure sounds like fun! Find the photos on @thehomewoodbook on Instagram.

Find Upcoming Event Listings

Due to the COVID-19 quarantine that began in mid-March, many local events have been cancelled, and as of producing this magazine issue in mid-April, it was unknown when scheduled events would resume. To give our reader the most up-todate information, we will be posting events details as they are confirmed on homewoodlife.com and on our social media at @homewoodlife. Please check those places for event updates for May and June.

8 May/June 2020

THE GUIDE COMMUNITY

Quarantine Turn-Up

Homewood Middle School teacher Steve Sills, aka DJ Sillz, took his spinning skills to a “Quarantine Turn-Up” on virtual “Club Facebook” each night during the COVID-19 quarantine. Anyone could join his Facebook live music session each night at 7 p.m. on his page for the party and comment live to see who from the community is tuning in too. In one night alone the Facebook Live had 1.1K comments.

SCHOOLS

Art in the Garden As the quarantine set in, spring was in full bloom especially at Homewood City Schools Garden.

The blooms were documented on the garden’s new Instagram account, @hcsgarden, and through it they spread the word for community members to decorate wind socks and to bring them to display at the garden—at a social distance of course. Through the Instagram account they also shared the story of the garden’s wooden benches made by Alabama Sawyer.

SCHOOLS

A Sweet Reunion

Social distancing isn’t easy for Ellie Morrow, so her teacher at Edgewood Elementary School Michelle Keel made a special trip to see her during the COVID-19 quarantine. As of print time, teachers were also hoping to schedule a car parade around students’ neighborhoods to see the classes they will have to complete the school year with at a distance.

COMMUNITY

An Isolation Reflection

Many people took to sharing on social media their reflections on an expected season of social distancing and a lot more family time at home than anyone had imagined. Mom Lacey Viner shared this at the end of what would have been spring break and what had become everyone’s second week in quarantine.

“This week, we sit next to the sunny window with our closest little loves alone. We read beloved stories aloud in silly voices while wearing slippers. We flip through old photos and fold socks and answer catechism questions and play dominos. I use food in the refrigerator wisely. I turn off my phone and wish I had a record player. We only do half a math worksheet some days. We whisper secrets and listen to Billie Holladay as loud as we can tolerate. We try on all the jewelry from the jewelry box and pretend to have a country estate sale in Yorkshire. We make our beds and break in the stiff deck of cards. We say the Lord’s prayer together. We make Christmas cinnamon rolls and sing ‘Joy to the World.’ I think about my neighbor I have never met. I decide not to prematurely flip the calendar to May. We tell jokes and watch carpenter bees. We wave to the garbage man, and I don’t tell them their PJs are on backwards. We are thankful for Mr. Rogers, day baths, the seven BIG books in the Harry Potter series, the absence of mosquitos, Sally Lloyd Jones. We try to remember the last time we wore jeans. We argue and have tea parties. We paint with watercolors and throw away things in the back of the junk drawer.

We miss our friends, so we call them. I find a renewed longing for liturgy, so I pass the peace to the Shipt shopper. We linger at the dinner table. We walk on the road, use a magnifying glass, listen for owls. We find ourselves afraid and distracted and quieted and disappointed. We are exhausted and awake in the night. We know community afresh.”

HomewoodLife.com 9

THE GUIDE COMMUNITY

A Birthday to Remember COMMUNITY

In This Together Sometime in the third week of quarantine, Fitz Hand Painted Signs added this piece of art to the side of the Battle Republic building that faces Central Avenue as you approach 18th Street, reminding everyone that we are all in this together. Throughout Homewood families painted stained glass-style sidewalk chalk, hung art and stuffed animals in their windows, and more to connect with their neighbors from afar.

10 May/June 2020

Evan and Finn Hayes turned 8 on Feb. 3, the week after they lost their dad to a long battle with pancreatic cancer, but boy was their birthday marked with joy and surprise! The Homewood Fire Department truck arrived with gifts in hand to deliver to the boys and then sent them on a scavenger hunt all over Homewood with families lined (at a social distance) all along their street to send them off. “It was magical,” their neighbor Emily Holm told us. “It brought tears to everyone’s eyes to see what a caring, loving and accepting community we are lucky to live in.”

Props to Birmingham Lawn Party for the yard decorations and to the businesses that donated items or hosted the boys: Edgewood Elementary PTO, Edgewood Creamery, Dreamcakes, Hero Doughnuts, Homewood Sporting

Goods, Cottage Basket, Savage’s Bakery, Little Professor, Cookie Fix, Homewood Toy & Hobby, and Cahaba Cycles.

&CULTURE

ARTS

A SECOND STORY

Gold, silver, leather or beaded, Holland & Birch is as much about authenticity and honoring others as it is design.

BY LAUREN BROOKS PHOTOS BY LINDSEY CULVER HomewoodLife.com 11

L

Little did Suzanne Jones know that an attempt at creativity and design would open up so many doors and change her life.

During a tough period in her life, Suzanne realized at 32 that she was a high-functioning alcoholic and credits God with changing her life through Alcoholics Anonymous. Through these major life and career changes, she started making jewelry as a creative outlet—a beauty from ashes kind of story as she likes to call it.

It all started with trying to replicate a fashionable necklace for her daughter and finding a hand stamping kit on a random aisle at an arts and crafts store. Before long, a good friend’s counsel led her to try her hand at creating and selling in larger quantities for Girls on the Run, Daisy Troops, and in Short and Sweet, a local consignment shop.

And all along Homewood was there to support her,

12 May/June 2020

Holland & Birch owner Suzanne Jones works in her studio/shop in downtown Homewood.

buying her pieces from her mailbox for years in what would eventually become her Holland & Birch line. “I wasn’t great at first but after I started making more, I realized I was delving into this creative world and could produce an income this way,” she says.

A mom to four kids and wife to C.J., Suzanne had sold real estate locally for 11 years and helped start Homewood Fit, a women’s fitness group, before venturing into jewelry. Real estate, she says, is where she got her “first taste for selling.” When it came to the jewelry business, her first wholesale outlet was in Fab’rik, a clothing store in downtown Homewood. “I didn’t know if I could handle the wholesale order,” Suzanne admits. “But (their owner) Melissa (Mistrot) was a great cheerleader to me and assured me it was.”

With more successes under her belt, in 2015, Suzanne took the plunge and leased a space in a building in Homewood across from SoHo and split

HomewoodLife.com 13

14 May/June 2020

Homewood resident Brooke Gibson models Holland & Birch designs.

TOP SELLERS AND FAN FAVORITES Estelle Earrings

In a fun turn of events, Mary Holland and a friend helped her mother come up with the concept for the Estelle earrings. These gold-plated teardrops, which have suede, leather, or ribbon wrapped around them, are based on a weaving technique taught by their elementary school art teacher. $38.

Custom Brass Birch Cuff

The hand stamped brass cuff is a best seller and can accommodate up to 13 letters. According to Suzanne, “loved” is the message most people request. But “hope” and “be still” follow closely behind as customer favorites. $38.

the rent with three other friends. One of these friends, Dawn Curtis, called the studio space Second Stories because it was literally on the second floor of the building. It became a place to minister to and encourage women in various forms. Dawn went on to write her Second Stories books and Suzanne created a Second Story bracelet, with new jade stones and gold plated charms, which she still sells—in fact, it’s one of her best sellers.

After a year or so of being in this studio, Suzanne found out she was unexpectedly pregnant with her fourth child, Ollie, who she refers to as her bonus baby, and she ended up moving out and adding workspace in her home. Having an infant made working from home a necessity, but secretly she dreamed of having her own space.

After a couple of years, she knew it was time to make a change. “By the time Ollie was 2, he was throwing my beads down the stairs, and I realized I needed to get out of the house,” she says.

That’s when a friend told her about a recently renovated space in Homewood’s SoSo Commons. When she visited, she knew right away it was the spot to open Holland & Birch. “The walls were already painted my logo color and it was move-in ready,” she says. “I never dreamed that I would have a store front, but I knew the business would grow and it

14K Gold Cross and Chain

Another popular purchase, the 14K tiny cross necklace that comes in lengths of 16 or 18 inches.

“You can shower, sleep, sweat, and swim in it,” Suzanne says. $48.

Second Story Bracelet

Made with new jade stones and a gold plated stamped charm, Suzanne says she tried to retire this style (pictured above) but people kept asking for it. $28.

Leather Cuffs

Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman’s nonprofit organization, Show Hope, ordered 150 of these oneof-a-kind bracelets made from vintage belts for Show Hope, his family’s non-profit organization and helped put Suzanne on the map. $45.

HomewoodLife.com 15

would be ok.”

The area of shops, which include Cottage Basket, Lindsey Culver Photography, Stems & Styles, are anchored by two long-time landmarks, Upside Down Shoe Repair and Spray Tan Ann. Holland & Birch officially joined them in January 2018.

That move, like most everything with Holland & Birch, didn’t necessarily have a traditional business plan. “Whey I try to plan, things don’t tend to work out as well as when they just organically happen,” Suzanne says. “Things just happen when the Lord knows I need them to happen.”

She does have part-time staff and a wingman, Kelly Dorrough, who, she says, help her hold it all together.

“I have type A girls who work with me and balance me,” Suzanne says. “I function best in a messy space— it’s organized to me and I know where things are. I tell my mom that I’m sorry for how my room was when I 16 May/June 2020

was growing up.”

The 700-square-foot-ish studio and shop is the perfect size to display the jewelry and other accessories while chairs and a sofa offer a cozy atmosphere for customers to visit and linger.

“I’m authentic and open and that allows other women to share their struggles too,” Suzanne says.

“But it’s also a happy place—sort of like a sorority house.”

Display cases, shelves, and tables present jewelry that women can purchase and/or have customized with initials, words, or phrases. Shoppers come to buy gifts for Mother’s Day, graduation, birthdays, and Christmas, and often end up getting a little something for themselves, too.

A bookcase on one wall of the shop displays the Bitty Birch collection—smaller, adolescent versions of the jewelry perfect for younger customers. Stud

“Things just happen when the Lord knows I need them to happen.”

- Suzanne Jones earrings, hand-stamped bracelets, and smaller necklaces make sweet offerings for little girls. Suzanne also offers girls’ birthday parties at her shop where guests can make an age-appropriate necklace and bracelet.

Suzanne also loves to sell jewelry as fundraisers for ministries, adoptions, hurricane relief efforts—anything people can get behind to help worthy causes.

“People are going to give to a good cause. My heartbeat is giving back to people and helping them find hope in heartache,” she says.

“I especially love doing fundraisers for individuals who have a hard story. Their friends literally support them through buying and wearing jewelry that supports their cause.”

One customer lost her infant son last fall to a rare disease, and Suzanne made her a bracelet as a gift. The woman was so touched by it that Suzanne offered to make more bracelets as a fundraiser.

The profits from these sales went to the foundation that researches the disease. “She had so much gratitude because this was something she and her friends could do to honor her son’s life,” Suzanne says.

Likewise, Suzanne has ongoing fundraisers for Big Oak Ranch, Breast Cancer Awareness, Meals OnCol (a meal delivery service for cancer patients), Mwana Villages (an orphan prevention program), Williams Syndrome, Milla’s House (a grief center in Memphis), Hope for Autumn (helping families affected by childhood cancer), Parkinson’s and Second Stories (a ministry that helps women tell

Since 2012

Birmingham.woodhouseSpas.com 125 Summit Blvd | Birmingham Al 35243 | 205 905-7676 HomewoodLife.com 17

their redemptive stories).

With the fundraisers, she offers three price points to give options: hand engraved brass cuff bracelets, the Second story new jade stone bracelets with hand stamped charms, and the 14K gold filled cross necklace.

No matter the cause, Suzanne makes most of the jewelry there herself—it’s a studio as well as a shop— but has also trained other women in Homewood to help make and fulfill orders. Today jewelry shops around the country order from her and sell Holland & Birch jewelry in their shops, from Seaside to Michigan.

The company name has organically evolved and expanded, just like the business itself. “Holland” is a family name, and Suzanne’s daughter, Mary Holland, 14, was the first one who wore her jewelry.

“Birch” was added later as a counterpart for 18 May/June 2020

“Holland” to contrast the traditional with a trendy, boho feel. At first, Suzanne considered using the word “wood,” but then a friend sent her several specific types of trees and their meanings and one in particular jumped out at her because it described her life journey.

“I wanted a contrasting name when I rebranded four years ago,” says Suzanne. “So we added ‘birch’ because the name suggests renewal and new beginnings. Birches, a hardy tree, are one of the first trees to appear on fire-swept land.”

And indeed each piece bangle, earring or necklace Suzanne crafts rings of the same theme of renewal that led her to start it all.

Find Holland & Birch at 1816 28th Ave. S., @hollandandbirch on Instagram or hollandandbirch. com. The storefront is open Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and can be reached at 205-283-5338.

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IN STYLE

Neutrals or Color

BY MEREDITH ELDER PHOTOS BY LAUREN USTAD 5

1 2 1. MINKPINK LINEN BLAZER Rock this on-trend blazer all summer long.

Hemline | $109

2. WHITE KARLIE KNIT TANK This basic knit top will coordinate with anything and everything.

Hemline | $67

3. MINKPINK LINEN TROUSER SHORTS Pair these neutral shorts with the matching blazer or spice it up with a fun blouse.

Hemline | $79

4. GOLD & BLACK CHINESE LAUNDRY SHOES These color block sandals are just what your summer wardrobe’s been looking for.

Hemline | $70

3

5. CHEETAH PRINT BEADED FASHION EARRINGS Add a splash of animal print to any outfit with these statement makers.

Cottage Basket | $26

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1

1. WHITE JOIE BEE TOP Step aside ‘80s, puff sleeves are back. Elevate your wardrobe with this charming top.

Shea Davis Boutique | $148

Meredith Elder is a local content creator sharing her west coast flare on southern style as a freelance stylist and social media specialist.

2. OLIPHANT BOTANICA SKIRT This bold, energetic skirt is perfect for a summer fiesta or even a day at the office.

Shea Davis Boutique | $196

3. OLGA BERG – NATURAL RILEY CROC BAG

3

2

Use the top handle for a clutch look, or switch to the shoulder chain for a crossbody look.

Shea Davis Boutique | $78

4. METALLIC GOLD JOIE BALED SANDAL

4

Mixing a little metallic into your wardrobe is just what your closet needs.

Shea Davis Boutique | $138

ACCESSORIZE

1. GOLD BAMBOO BANGLE

1

3 2

Cottage Basket | $28

2. GOLD CUFF Cottage Basket | $39.99

3. COLORFUL BEADED FASHION EARRINGS Cottage Basket | $28

HomewoodLife.com 21

READ THIS BOOK

What to Read When Missing Bookstores Recommendations from

Elizabeth Cole Goodrich Thank You Books Co-Owner

Photo by Virginia Jones

When Laura Lilly Cotten, Kristen Iskandrian and I opened Thank You Books in Crestwood—not far from my Homewood home—in December, we had no idea that we would temporarily become an online bookstore at thankyoubookshop.com trying to preserve the aspects of connection and relationship. I hope it is working, but we are missing our people already. So, in that spirit, I offer this list of books set in bookstores as balm until we can be together again.

Diary of a Bookseller

By Shaun Bythell A friend who is a reader, writer and dedicated bookstore fan gave me this book, and it is wry, funny, and so very Scottish. I loved this window into the world of the used books business, and the trip to Wigtown, Scotland, a small town utterly devoted to books and booklovers.

Paris by the Book

By Liam Callanan I tend to read a lot of books set in Paris, and I loved this story of marriage, mystery, parenting and a brave woman navigating uncertain terrain. It’s a story set beside other stories, wrapped up in the magic of Paris, with characters you won’t want to let go of when it’s done.

Shakespeare and Co.: A History of the Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart

By Krista Halverson, Ed. A history of the beloved and storied Shakespeare and Co. bookstore, which serves as bookseller, meeting place, artistic hub, and home away from home for literary expats just across the Seine from Notre Dame.

There’s so much here to love. Alongside the history of the shop, this collection includes essays and poems from Allen Ginsburg, Anais Nin, Ethan Hawke and others, as well as never before published photographs of some of the most talented expats living in Paris from 1951 until now.

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

By Robin Sloan Set in the San Francisco Bay area during the tech boom, this fun read by the wacky smart Robin Sloan is a kick, from the main character’s early 20s malaise to the thrill of a young love story to the surprise of a didn’tsee-that-coming mystery. This book has some things to teach us as we find ourselves with time on our hands and more reliant than ever on technology for connection.

Shadow of the Wind

By Carlos Ruiz Zafon Set in Barcelona, the New York Times Book Review called this book “Gabriel García Márquez meets Umberto Eco meets Jorge Luis Borges for a sprawling magic show” when it was published in the US in 2005, and I find myself recommending it often at the store for people who are looking for mystery, fantasy without too much of the supernatural, or just a great read to fly through. But it’s on this list because of the absolutely intriguing Cemetery of Forgotten Books that plays a significant role in the plot.

22 May/June 2020

SCHOOL

&SPORTS

ALL FOR THE KIDS

A tribute to a school superintendent who can dress as Elvis one minute and lead a board meeting the next.

BY MADOLINE MARKHAM PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED HomewoodLife.com 23

Dr. Bill Cleveland with the Homewood City Schools service dogs: Delta, Russell and Maize.

T

Two memories stand out to Jimmie Pearson from the early ’90s at Botten Field Junior High School in Jefferson County. Pearson was the school’s principal at the time, and Bill Cleveland was one of his social studies teachers and coaches.

The first was seeing Cleveland’s mom, who was ill at the time, at every basketball game and football game Cleveland coached. “That stuck with me that (she cared) enough about family members that she would do that,” Pearson says. “My family was young at that point, and I said (if we only) can be close to how his family interacted.” He quickly learned that Cleveland embodied his mother’s relentless dedication not just to his own family but to the whole community of a family.

The second was watching when the teams

24 May/June 2020

Cleveland coached had to sit and wait for the gym to come available for practice. Rather than just letting the students talk or play, he would get them to study up until their practice time. “That was phenomenal to me,” says Pearson, the current Homewood Middle School principal. “I could see at that time he would be a leader.” Plus, “If his kids needed something, he’d go to their house,” Pearson continues. “He took it on as a personal badge of honor to help people, and he kept up with them as they went off to college.”

And the same Mr. Cleveland the teacher Pearson knew in 1994 is the same Dr. Cleveland the Homewood City Schools superintendent today—a “family man who cares about the kids,” he says. “He has touched my life in a special way. Even though he is younger than me, I looked up to him by watching

Cleveland, far right, meets with a group of former Homewood City Schools administrators to talk about the system's history and consistent vision for empowering students.

that. And that’s translated from being a superintendent to a teacher to a community member.” For Pearson that looks like Cleveland dressing up as Elvis one minute, being a guest speaker in a social studies class the next, leading a board meeting the next, and coming to a sporting event the next.

In fact, Jimmie Pearson says Cleveland knows more kids at HMS than he does. “When he comes into the building, he’s five-ing them, he’s hugging them,” Pearson says. “He knows their parents and some of their grandparents. He went to school with some of their relatives and knows their background.

He’s talking to them like it’s his daughter or son since he knows them. It’s such an outstanding trait.”

There’s no doubt that there’s no superintendent quite like Dr. Cleveland, so it was a bittersweet moment when he announced in February he would retire on June 30 after 12 years as a student in the school system and 12 as its superintendent and that he planned to join LEAN Frog Business Solutions as the vice president of sales and operation. And it was

an equally poignant moment in mid-March when Cleveland decided to temporarily delay his retirement to lead the school system through the COVID-19 crisis—a decision telling of the character countless students and parents in Homewood have seen him live out with equal parts compassion and action for years.

Former HCS superintendent and current grandmother of five Homewood students Jodi Newton recalls hiring Cleveland to be the principal of Homewood Middle School just as they were finishing construction of its new building in 2004. “I remember that he was so energetic and optimistic,” she says.

“We walked the school that was under construction, and he seemed enamored with it. I thought he had a good balance of appreciation of music and sports, and a strong grounding in academics.” Plus many of the Homewood parents had been his peers growing up, and Newton notes, he has an “incredible sense of humor.” (Or in HMS teacher Steve Sills’ words, “He’s a straight up trip. He’s a ball of laughs.”)

But what Newton remembers most from that first HomewoodLife.com 25

Cleveland, far right, was president of his senior class at Homewood High School. Here he is pictured with other class officers in his senior yearbook.

“(Bill Cleveland) has touched my life in a special way. Even though he is younger than me, I looked up to him by watching that. And that’s translated from being a superintendent to a teacher to a community member.”

- Jimmie Pearson

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26 May/June 2020

Cleveland at the We Love Homewood Day 5K

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WE DO WHAT WE DO BECAUSE CHILDREN HAVE DREAMS.

year is the first day Cleveland first walked into the new building with students midway through the year. “I remember…how excited (the students) all were and what positive influence he seemed to have with them,” she says. “He had only known them four months and he knew their names, he knew something about them and their families, and he seemed to have such a great personal connection with so many different students.”

Current HCS Director of Student Services Cristy York, then a HMS teacher, vividly calls to mind the initial impression Cleveland made as a leader that year too. “I just remember being so appreciate of how in charge of it he was and how much ownership he took,” York recalls. “He really took care of the teachers and made (the move) as seamless and organized as possible. He calmed everyone’s nerves about the move and made it was easy as possible for us.”

After the move, the part of that school year that York will never forget is the final faculty meeting. For it, Cleveland donned a tuxedo with tails and had a piano rolled out on the stage in the lunchroom. And then he broke out in song—and not just any song but one he’d written about different things that had happened with faculty and staff that year. “It was absolutely hysterical,” York remembers.

Even when Cleveland became the school system’s assistant superintendent and then superintendent 12 years ago, he joined in on the HMS PTO Sports Challenge each year where faculty play eighth grade students in basketball. “You could always count on Dr. Cleveland to come lace up,” Sills says. He’d take shots from half court and make them—and the kids were amazed. After all, Cleveland, a fierce University of Kentucky basketball fan, is a as competitive as he is caring.

And even as superintendent, Cleveland would often help serve

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HomewoodLife.com 27

Cleveland with Laura Tate and Matt Kiser at Edgewood Elementary

lunch in school cafeterias or pick up a broom, and when “Snowmageddon” hit in 2014, he was sweeping snow and spreading sandbags, not waiting for maintenance workers to do it. He wasn’t above any of it.

Sills has example after example of how Cleveland is “the type of guy that makes everyone feel special.”

Sills’ oldest daughter Makiyah graduated from HHS last year, and Cleveland still regularly texts him to ask how she’s doing and tell him he’s keeping up with

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her track scores at UAB. On Sills’ desk sits a handwritten note Cleveland gave him after his eighth grade football team won the metro championship two years ago—a memory also marked by Cleveland joining him on the sidelines during the game. “He’s very intentional about making sure he sees what you do,” Sills says.

Homewood City Schools talks a lot about every student reaching their full and unique potential, but Sills knows Cleveland really means it. “I hear his voice in the back of my head often when I am teaching or coaching, (telling me) to get every ounce of hard work that he or she has out,” Sills says. “He’s challenged me.”

Not only that, but Sills has seen Cleveland sit at the hospital during a faculty member’s child’s surgery—just one marker of his constant care. “He just loves people,” Sills says. “The person he is transcends race, gender, socioeconomic status. He is a man for the people.” And, according to Sills, his “people” want to be for Cleveland too. “When teachers get teacher of the year awards, we are a reflection of our leader and our leadership,” Sills says. “That’s our way as a school system of paying him back. He won’t look at it like that, but we want to make him look good.”

HomewoodLife.com 29

5

SCHOOLS & SPORTS

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR

Kevin Maddox

Homewood City School Superintendent + Construction Liaison RENDERING BY GOODWYN MILLS CAWOOD

If you’ve driven past Homewood High School lately, you’ve noticed its back side is starting to look quite grand. As it gains 108,000 square feet and many new facilities, it’s also getting a new entrance on the side facing Lakeshore Drive. Since the school opened in 1972, it’s seen a few additions, but this new one is certainly the largest and comes with the biggest cosmetic overhaul. As of writing this in late March, the project was on track for completion on June 27, well in time for classes to start back in August. To learn more about what we will see then, we chatted with Kevin Maddox, the Homewood City Schools assistant superintendent who is acting as the liaison between the school system, general contractor MJ Harris General contractor and architecture firm Goodwyn Mills Cawood—who we have to thank for the idea to flip the front of the building.

HHS isn’t the only construction project Homewood City Schools have seen lately. What all has led up to this one?

It all began with the track at Waldrop Stadium. We gutted and rebuilt our entire track from the ground up. And then we had an elementary package last summer where we replaced carpet, tile and paint and renovated our cafeterias in Edgewood and Shades Cahaba to have new furnishings and serving lines. We also just completed elementary additions, adding four classrooms at Edgewood and six at HallKent, and we have redone all entrances at the schools to make them more secure. At Homewood Middle School we added onto the gym and added six classrooms internally with flexible space. Ultimately the high school is the big project though.

Last summer we did interior work there as well as renovated the media center and cafeteria before starting the addition.

Can you give us an overview of the high school construction addition?

The current front is flipping to the 30 May/June 2020

current back, and the new front will face Lakeshore with a parking area out front.

We are adding a completely new fine arts center with a new band, choir and dances room and a new theatre—all state-of-theart facilities. We’re also adding a new weight room, locker rooms, a training area and athletic offices. All of those things have helped us modernize our campus.

Parking will continue to be a challenge in our land-locked area, but we are gaining some parking, around 45 spots, in the new front. When we renovated the inside of the existing building last summer, we renovated all of our science labs, so they are brand new and up-to-date.

What are some of the architectural features of the new high school design?

The entire front of the school will be highlighted with stone that covers roughly half of the front, so it will really accent the facility and make it look more modern.

The new entrance will be highlighted by an atrium that will be the centerpiece of the new front, with Terrazzo flooring with the Patriot logo in it and a grand stairwell up to the second floor where you can look down to the first level.

Can you tell us about the new theatre at HHS? Before we had an auditorium style theatre where the seats angle downward.

How is school population growth calling This one is a black box theatre, so the floor for more space in school facilities? is level and it gives you flexibility on how We have a “bubble” coming through the you use the space because there is no middle school that has reset the new permanent attached seating. There will be number for a class of students will be. For risers on the perimeter you configure a long time it’s been 250-275, but soon it however you like. That’s what everyone will be in the 350-375 range. Now we will wanted and is now the norm in modernizing be ready with our new facilities. a theatre. The original theatre was demoed in the cafeteria expansion.

&DRINK

FOOD

A MOM WHO KNOWS Even when life spins out of control, the Ashley Mac’s team is delivering comforting food to families.

BY MADOLINE MARKHAM PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED HomewoodLife.com 31

Ashley Mac's founder Ashley McMakin with her husband, Andy, and their three children at their Homewood restaurant in Soho.

A

As the COVID-19 quarantine started to affect restaurants, Ashley McMakin knew she couldn’t necessarily change the wider circumstances, but she and her team at Ashley Mac’s could help deliver comfort to the dinner table. “I think food naturally brings people together so most people have good memories of a meal around the table and the particular comfort food brings,” she says. “Being able to still have a good meal reminds you that life is going to be okay and bring some normalcy to things when everything feels like it’s going to spin out of control.”

And so even as their dining rooms closed, the Ashley Mac’s team offered up all of their gourmet to-go items that almost seem like they were designed

32 May/June 2020

for a time like this, with frozen casseroles, soups, sides and desserts, plus their refrigerator case with items like chicken salad and broccoli slaw. They brought their takeout model curbside, kept six feet between their employees and started offering a delivery option.

When Ashley saw their surplus of produce from all their previously scheduled catering orders, the restaurant started selling produce boxes that quickly sold out. One night at 2 a.m. she was thinking about how her kids can’t see their grandparents even though they are in town and added a fun pack of kid-friendly foods grandparents could send to their grandkids, plus a Sweets for Your Sanity pack with moms in mind—all in an

effort to get creative with delivering their menu to what people were wanting as they spent time at home.

For Ashley a good dessert or meal is also something to look forward to at the end of the day— especially when working from home and/or home schooling kids as is many of her neighbors’ reality this spring. “It is something comforting whether it’s baking your old childhood recipe or ordering takeout from a local business,” she says.

In all of this, Ashley was no stranger to rapidly adapting a business to demand. For her the past 15 years in the food business have gone by in the blink of an eye.

Back when she and her husband were living in a condo complex off Highway 31 in Homewood in 2005 as newlyweds, Ashley was cooking and catering out of her tiny kitchen when they met their new downstairs neighbor. “Do you need a job?”

Ashley’s husband, Andy, asked the neighbor. And with that, they had their first employee. The neighbor would walk upstairs to meet Ashley, and they’d drive to Sam’s Club on Lakeshore to buy their supplies and get to work on catering parties of up to 50. In that era Ashley used family recipes for sour cream biscuits, strawberry cake and casseroles and added her own concoctions to the mix by trial and error with inspiration from travel, eating out and magazines.

From there, Ashley and the neighbor would commute to a new kitchen space in Bluff Park.

When catering customers started asking for small portions of casseroles, she’d portion them and leave them in a small refrigerator. As demand came from areas like Homewood and Mountain Brook, she opened a little room in the bottom of her grandmother’s antique store in Cahaba Heights to be a pickup spot.

HomewoodLife.com 33

Ashley Mac's now offers three hot family meals including their Lemon Rosemary Chicken, pictured.

34 May/June 2020

MCMAKIN FAMILY ASHLEY MAC’S FAVORITES Ashley’s Favorite: Pimiento Cheese

Her Husband Andy’s Favorite: Baked Beef Stroganoff Their Kids’ Favorites: Chicken Salad

Greek Pasta Salad Poppyseed Chicken Casserole Cupcakes Cookies Brownies

Eventually Ashley Mac’s found a storefront in Cahaba Heights that had a kitchen and seating in the front. Ashley’s plan was never to open a restaurant, just to cater. But Andy, an accountant, thought something needed to be done with the extra space, so he convinced his wife to open a café. When it first opened, the menu was written on a scratch piece of paper with signature items you can still order at Ashley Mac’s today: Baby Blue Salad, Chicken Salad, Turkey & Spinach Aioli and Apple Havarti sandwiches, and the Salad Trio.

As the McMakin family grew from one child to two to three, they expanded their cafes to Inverness and then Riverchase and finally back to where it all began in Homewood in part of the former Dodiyo’s space in Soho in 2018.

Those first five years Ashley was cooking 10 hours a day and so exhausted by the end that she’d just bring home an Ashley Mac’s dish or get takeout for dinner. Later when her kids were babies she took a

step back from the business and cooked more at home, experimenting with recipes that would later make it to the Ashley Mac’s menu. These days with kids in elementary school and a full schedule of after-school activities, she finds herself picking up Ashley Mac’s frozen meals and soups for dinner again.

It’s part of why she started offering a set of family meals—poppy seed chicken, lemon rosemary chicken or steak—you can call an hour a head to order hot too, for those nights when a family needs dinner fast, and not the kind that requires defrosting. “As a busy mom I can relate to that,” she says. ”Everyone has a lot going on. We are really focused on convenience for people but also not sacrificing great ingredients and food.”

Before the pandemic, Ashley had never thought of putting a barbecue chicken pizza she makes at home on the menu, but the longer families were at home, the more she thought about different HomewoodLife.com 35

“Being able to still have a good meal reminds you that life is going to be okay and bring some normalcy to things when everything feels like it’s going to spin out of control.”

- Ashley McMakin

offerings for customers and decided to try it, along with a four cheese flavor her kids prefer. “I felt complimented when they said it was better than Little Caesar’s,” she says.

Whether it’s pizza or local causes, Ashley is always looking for her food business to fill needs. A few years ago when she got involved in a mentorship program at Cahaba Park Church called Jobs for Life, she started thinking about how to employ people with difficult pasts. Before long they began to partner with Changed Lives halfway house to give jobs to men who lived there, and today many of their staff members have come out of that program.

“That’s become close to our hearts over the years,” Ashley says. And now those men are apart of another mission closer to Ashley’s heart: sharing comforting, fresh food to help families through busy weeknights and weeks of quarantine alike.

36 May/June 2020

5

FOOD & DRINK

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR

Lyndsey & Jonathan Sealy Local 39 Owners/Operators PHOTO BY STUART FRANCO

Jonathan Sealy has spent two decades crafting cocktails and more at Highlands Bar & Grill, but when he and his wife, Lyndsey, started dreaming up a place of their own it was the neighborhood that mattered most. Lyndsey grew up in Edgewood, and now the couple and their son live there. They knew the kind of food and drinks they wanted next door, and that’s what they’ve brought to life in Local 39 in the former Saw’s on the Side spot next to Saw’s BBQ on Oxmoor Road. Here’s what they had to say about the new restaurant/bar.

How did Local 39 come to be?

Lyndsey: We live right down the street and would come into Saw’s on the Side when it was open before and noticed what the space could be and how delicious the wings are.

Jonathan: I knew the landlords in Edgewood, and I mentioned I had a couple of ideas. And they gave us a call that day.

Lyndsey: We landed on a partnership with Hunter Lake and Mike Wilson from Saw’s where we are owner operators and they still have a portion of the business as well that allows us access to the Saw’s menu items.

Where’d you get the name and how’d you come up with the concept and interior look?

Lyndsey: We wanted a local neighborhood bar, so we were doing research on the neighborhood. We realized the tracks they uncovered on Broadway were Route 39 on Birmingham Electric Rail Company. It’s a good neighborhood bar that we wanted to have—we created where we want to hang out.

Jonathan: We want a little escape, where you could just get a quality drink or snack, something easy to stop in for an escape when you have a full schedule.

Lyndsey: I grew up within three blocks of where we are now, and there’s a lot of kidfocused food. We wanted something more geared toward adults but that still had kid options. It’s a tiny little shotgun place. We spent about a month cleaning and detailing the place. Some friends help us reupholster the booths with an olive color that gives it a warm feeling and build out the tables for us.

We refinished the floor and painted a wall and brought in live plants and hung a few things on the wall.

What should we order to eat?

Lyndsey: The menu is really simple. We kept the Saw’s burger, sweet tea fried chicken and the wings, and we added a great kale Caesar and a mixed greens salad. We have a crawfish boil at our house every year, and I’d always make pimento cheese and Jonathan would make boiled peanuts. We offer both of those now as snacks. We don’t have desserts since there are so many dessert options

around us.

What’s on tap?

Jonathan: We are sticking with local beers like Trim Tab Good People, Fairhope IPAs, Trim Tab 205, Goat Island Pilsner and Blood Orange Berliner-Weisse. We have a full bar that’s still expanding and a wine list.

It looks like Tito’s is the leader but we have a bourbon list going.

Lyndsey: We don’t have a cocktail list, but we do the classics like Old Fashioneds and Fresh 75s. If you order a mimosa or screwdriver, you will have fresh squeezed juice.

What’s your reception in Homewood been like?

Lyndsey: People have been so cool and welcoming. People love the food. We have folks who come back every weekend. We have one couple we see every Saturday afternoon at 3:00 for wings. We are so grateful to our friends who helped us build this place out. Our son is working as a dishwasher, and his aunt and my girlfriends help out.

HomewoodLife.com 37

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CORONA

Quarantine Candids PHOTOS BY LUCY BAIRD

As the eeriness of COVID-19 quarantine restrictions began in Birmingham, Lucy Baird set out from her Homewood home with her camera to see how people were making life work.

“This pandemic is making us isolated so I wanted to emphasize solitude, but at the same time there are lot of people who are reaching out and there’s a lot of hope in it,” she says. First she walked around UAB, “the heart of healing,” she calls it, and then swung by nearby bars to see people fighting for their businesses. Other images she took at her Edgewood home and on walks in the neighborhood, capturing the long days of boredom and the heroism in health care alike.

38 May/June 2020

RIGHT PAGE CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Reading on the front lawn; outside The Collins Bar; an empty frozen food aisle at Trader Joe’s; outside UAB Hospital; medical professionals walking toward UAB; one of the many creative ways families found to encourage neighbors from afar.

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CORONA

HomewoodLife.com 39

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CORONA

What a Wonderful World The COVID-19 quarantine might have reduced the guest list at Laura Smith and Eric Corscadden’s wedding, but it certainly didn’t minimize their joy.

By Madoline Markham | Photos by Hillary Gamble/JeVois Photography Laura Smith never thought she’d meet her future husband at Meet the Teacher night at Edgewood Elementary, but then again she never thought her wedding would take place during a pandemic either.

None of that would mean her story wouldn’t be more full of love and support from family and friends than she could have imagined though.

It all started in the fall of 2018 when Laura was teaching a third-grade student named Graham Corscadden who had lost his mom to cancer a year and a half earlier. At the Meet the Teacher night at the start of the year, she noticed Graham’s dad Eric was cute. What she didn’t know at the time was that 40 May/June 2020

Eric noticed her too—and that she wore no wedding ring.

Throughout the year Laura attended some of Graham’s sporting events just as she did for other students. Each time, she and Eric talked some and enjoyed the other’s company. Three weeks before school let out, Eric took the risk of asking her out. “I was surprised in a good way,” Laura says. They started dating, but Eric waited until the school year ended before he told his boys.

“How would you feel if I dated Ms. Smith?” Eric asked Graham and his younger brother Liam.

“For real?” Graham replied. “She really cares

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CORONA The new Mr. and Mrs. Corscadden with Graham and Liam

about me.”

“Graham and I had this bond to begin with,” Laura recounts. “It was neat to see how God was able to have Graham learn to trust me in that way (as his teacher first).”

After Eric proposed in October 2019, the couple thought about having a small wedding with just family at a nearby destination like Toccoa Falls in Georgia, but they decided to simplify by keeping the festivities in Homewood. Plus, Laura had been involved at Dawson Family of Faith ever since she herself was a fifth grader at Edgewood and wanted to get married in the church that had meant so much to her over the years.

From there Laura and Eric set a date of the Saturday that would kick off Spring Break, and the RSVP list grew to around 200. In other ways, though, they planned to keep the celebration simple, with Laura’s sisters and niece as the only bridesmaids and Eric’s sons as the groomsmen along with a reception at Dawson.

Just over a week before the wedding, Laura had started to hear that schools in other states were closing due to the COVID-19 outbreak. “But I didn’t think it would happen here,” she recalls. “On Friday the 13th my students and I said we’d see each other on Monday, and in the back of my head I thought, ‘This better not affect my wedding!’”

But affect it it did. That same day Alabama announced schools state-wide would be closed for three weeks. Churches started cancelling their Sunday services. And the permitted event size shifted from 500 to 50 to 25. But March 21 was the date Eric and Laura had planned on since October for them to become a family of four. They didn’t want to change it. “I definitely shed tears and went through frustrations, but I tried to think the most important part was to be married and start our new family,” Laura says.

For Laura, the hardest parts of changing their wedding plans were texting their guests to tell them only family could attend the ceremony and realizing HomewoodLife.com 41

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CORONA

Laura and Eric left their ceremony at Dawson in an Auburn fire truck, and her sister surprised them with on-theme cookies for both of their professions.

the time and money her family had invested in many of the wedding plans—including the order of 100 Auburn-colored shakers—would be gone. That and her grandparents, who are older and have health issues, decided it was wisest not to come.

But other parts of the wedding would go on as planned. Their wedding party was already small, and minister Andy Cartee had told them he was willing to do the wedding in a backyard if need be.

The ceremony could still take place at Dawson just with extra space between the guests in pews and a 42 May/June 2020

shorter program than planned originally. The pianist was still in, as was their photographer Hillary Gamble and hair and makeup artist Madeline Hulsey. Alyce Daniel Designs simply scaled down the floral order. “It was almost like the Lord knew that all of this was going to happen and was already prepared for that,” Laura says.

At the end of the day, Laura wanted to get married and prioritized the top three things she wanted to go on. She wanted to feel like a bride in her white dress with her hair and makeup done. She wanted

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CORONA

“Everybody was rooting for us, and it was touching to me seeing how much people love and care for us and spent time praying for our family.”

- Laura Smith Corscadden family pictures with the two boys to document the memory of the day. And she really wanted to exit the church in the 1984 Auburn fire truck they’d planned to leave in that Eric had driven when he was a firefighter in Auburn (he now works for Tuscaloosa Fire Department). And indeed she got all three and more.

As added surprises, family friends offered to video the ceremony so others could watch it, and some of Laura’s friends came to sit on the front steps of the church during the ceremony and were actually able to both be in the sanctuary for the ceremony and cheer them on with Auburn shakers as they exited the church. Plus, other friends had parked their cars in front of the church to take part in the celebration.

“It was still incredibly special, and honestly I feel like I was able to enjoy every detail,” Laura says.

“Everybody was rooting for us, and it was touching to me seeing how much people love and care for us and spent time praying for our family.”

The reception moved to a place of extra importance to Laura—the Sutherland Place home

where she was brought home from the hospital and grew up. Baker Joni Dial scaled down the white cake they’d originally planned, and her parents catered Taco Mama for everyone. Dancing hadn’t been a part of the plan for the Dawson reception, but in her parents’ living room she and Eric danced to “Beyond” by Leon Bridges and she and her dad to “What a Wonderful World.”

The next day Eric and Laura left not for Costa Rica as originally planned but for a beach house on Anna Maria Island that remained open for the whole week. Seven days later they returned to Liam and Graham to start a new chapter, not just as a family but with school taking place at home for the remainder of the year. Luckily, Laura already knew what it was like to be Graham’s teacher. “We are being quarantined all together, and now I am taking on that role as mom and I am also a teacher,” Laura told us just after returning from their honeymoon.

“It was perfect timing for us to start our family together and start a new normal since what I really wanted was to bond as a family of four.”

HomewoodLife.com 43

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CORONA

Lunch prep at Homewood Bagel Company (center) and Homewood Middle School (right and left)

A Tale of Three Feedings When there’s a need to feed kids, churches, restaurants and schools rise up.

By Madoline Markham | Photos Contributed Rachel Fowler will never forget waving to the kids her staff is used to serving meals to daily. Instead of going through the cafeteria line like usual, they were driving by Homewood Middle School as the Child Nutrition Program (CNP) staff placed meals in their trunks. It’s an odd setup compared to business as usual, but still one full of silver linings.

“A lot of the kids think we live here at school,” says Rachel, the CNP Director for Homewood City Schools. “It’s wonderful to have that even if it’s eight feet away. The best part of our job is feeding the kids.”

And feed kids they did after school was shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic starting in midMarch. The first day they served about 120 meals to any child 18 and under—no enrollment or residency required—who came to Homewood Middle School.

That grew by around 50 cars a day that first week.

The next week they switched to distributing six meals a time twice a week, with 274 cars coming through in one day.

The Homewood CNP usually doesn’t operate when school isn’t in session, but they were able to get a waiver to continue their services for students who usually rely on school breakfasts and lunches.

44 May/June 2020

As the program continued past the second week, the CNP team watched their grocery vendor fill in gaps where they were short, heard from more volunteers than they had room for, and generally were taking things one week at a time with intentions to serve kids as long as they could.

When Homewood Bagel Company owner Ginny Leavens learned her kids were going to be out of school for three weeks starting in mid-March, she immediately thought of the families who usually rely on school lunches to feed their children. So she posted on social media to offer meals to those kids, and with that came a flood of donations of granola bars, juices, cereal, money and more to provide breakfasts and lunches for kids who need them.

“We had a pouring out of people who wanted to help,” says Homewood Bagel head baker Laura Tucker. “It’s been a huge blessing for families who need it. It’s been a lot of our staff, but they have been working so hard to make sure these kids are loved on.”

Each day during quarantine as the bagel shop

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CORONA

continued to offer curbside pick-up and delivery for bagels, the HBC staff also served up ham and cheese, turkey and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, you name it to kids who came by in need.

As time went on, they started to see from more kids and parents come who said they had been referred to the shop to get their child a meal. “We don’t want to turn anyone away,” Laura says. “Everybody is working together and we are taking everything a day at a time.”

Back on March 7 the Trinity United Methodist Church youth group packed 40,000 shelf-stable meals with rice, beans, pasta, protein and the like as a part of their Discovery Weekend retreat, not knowing about a food crisis to come right around them less than 10 days later. They planned to share their food meals with the Community Food Bank of Alabama, but when the COVID-19 quarantine hit, they were able to share some of those meals with families who rely on school lunches but were no longer getting them since school had been called out of session.

And that’s not all. Trinity adapted its backpack ministry that delivers food to food unstable families via kids’ backpacks at school to send home with the kids who were coming to Homewood Middle School for lunches. Plus the Food Share food pantry held at the church’s West Homewood campus on Tuesday afternoons was also able to allow their participants to pull up and have food delivered directly into their cars. Eighty-two households came through the pick-up line in just one day operating under the new system alone, and Trinity removed a previous limit on the number of visits allowed per month.

Through it all, volunteers were not just willing and able but also full of joy, Trinity Director of Outreach Kristan Walker says.

“In something like this that is so chaotic and out of your control, it’s hard to feel like you can’t do anything,” she says. “So a lot of these folks are happy to be able to do something for someone else right now.”

HomewoodLife.com 45

46 May/June 2020

From Lakeshore to the World Lakeshore Foundation researchers are looking for ways to bring exercise for people with physical disabilities or chronic health conditions far beyond its walls.

By Madoline Markham | Photos by Jamison & Lindsay Kate Skinner

Want to cycle at home? There’s a Peloton bike for that. Want to work out with a gaming console? Try a Wii. Want to weigh yourself to track your health goals? Buy an inexpensive scale. But what if you are a wheelchair user? The answer isn’t as simple. But research at the Lakeshore Foundation is looking to change that.

First off, there’s a Peloton-like bike under development known as AVEED (pronounced “avid” and standing for Advanced Virtual Exercise Environment Devise) that comes with electronic adjustability to fit each rider’s personal setup. You can also turn on the video screen to start a trail ride virtually through trails around Birmingham like

Red Mountain Park or use other online riding platforms like Zwift.

Also in the works is a Wii-like gaming board that works across all gaming systems and reduces barriers for all users to play and get exercise. It’s at the same threshold as a door, which allows access to the board without a ramp, and comes with hand rails for those who have poor balance. A new round of testing on it started in January, and those behind the project hope that before long it will be commercially available.

And then there’s a scale that’s in development for wheelchair users. Typically scales for wheelchair users scales cost around $2,500. Thanks to a HomewoodLife.com 47

Dustin Dew, Lakeshore Foundation's director of research operations, works with a foundation member on a project.

collaboration with UAB engineering though, there’s a lightweight prototype in development though that would be around a tenth of that price tag with a platform that users would wheel on top of.

But these projects—and a now-completed Apple watch feature—aren’t coming to life in a silo of a research center. In fact, what makes Lakeshore Lakeshore is that its research happens in the same building where around 3,000 people with physical disabilities or chronic health conditions come for recreation.

“The people we are developing these interventions for are located right outside our lab door,” says Dustin Dew, Lakeshore’s director of research operations. “We can bring someone in to get their feedback to make sure our research is relevant and that it is something the population wants to happen.”

48 May/June 2020

LAKESHORE 2.0 When Lakeshore Foundation President Jeff Underwood was hired to work for the fledging nonprofit 28 years ago, its core mission was still the same as it is today—“providing programs for physical activity for people with physical disabilities and chronic health conditions under the premise that sheer movement is so important to stay active and maintain independence and be healthy,” he explains.

The foundation had grown out of its neighbor Lakeshore Hospital, which started in 1973, when its staff realized how important it was for people who were discharged from the hospital to stay active.

In short, the Foundation provides physical activity programs not typically found through your local recreation center or YMCA. And while they had certainly done that well for more than two decades, around 2010 its leadership began to see a

The Nutrition Lab in the new addition at the Foundation is equipped with audio-visual equipment to film and broadcast teaching times.

bigger version of that gap to fill. If they were truly interested in the people they served, they want to take a more holistic approach to address nutrition and mindfulness, and with that holistic approach they wanted to look beyond their campus with research-based program.

“We realized then that there was little hard evidence as to the benefits of the programs we provide,” Underwood explains. “We see everyday people are better because of their experience here but we wanted to put some science behind that for them to be more data-driven. And we wanted it to then be replicated.”

Far beyond Lakeshore Drive there are 61 million people in the U.S. who have some form of disability— that’s a little over a quarter of the population. And Lakeshore wanted to reach more of those people, people who have multiple physical barriers to leave their house and/or don’t have a facility like

Lakeshore nearby, which is true of most of the country including some bigger cities. “We also realized a lot of people who fall into our mission who just can’t get here,” Underwood says. “There’s a lot of barriers that a person with a disability has just in getting out of the house and doing everyday things.”

That was when the UAB/Lakeshore Research Collaborative started in 2012 led by Lakeshore Foundation Endowed Chair Dr. James H. Rimmer, a leading expert in rehabilitative science for more than 30 years now working at UAB in the School of Health Professions. Lakeshore works with faculty across UAB including the School of Engineering on design projects, the kinesiology department in the School of Education on movement studies, and the School of Health Professions to help better their students preparing for work in the medical field.

Today around 20 research projects are happening HomewoodLife.com 49

Lakeshore is piloting exercise classes for people of varying ability levels with plans to train local YMCAs in how to teach them.

LAKESHORE FOUNDATION BY THE NUMBERS u92 aquatic, fitness and recreation programs u14 local, national and global advocacy initiatives u20 research projects u12 competitive sports including wheelchair basketball and rugby, and power soccer u1 U.S. Olympic & Paralympic training site u10 housing units for injured military who come to learn how to pursue an active, healthy lifestyle 50 May/June 2020

at Lakeshore Foundation at any given time with around $7 million in annual funding as its researchers work closely with UAB’s faculty and students. “We are looking to technology to extend programs beyond what we can do on this campus and broaden the reach and depth of what Lakeshore is doing,” Underwood says.

To house all of this, the Foundation has a new facility addition built to facilitate a more holistic vision and expand its work in tele-health.

TOUR DE LAKESHORE Our tour of Lakeshore’s new facilities starts in space surrounded by natural greenery from outdoors. Light flows into floor-to-ceiling windows in the

Mindfulness Studio that looks much like a typical workout room.

Except it’s primary design is to foster calmness for guided meditation and breathing, yoga and tai chi, all centered on getting the mind focused back in a positive way. Each week you’ll find participants in there not just practicing mindfulness but also filling out surveys afterward as part of a pilot project called MENTOR (Mindfulness Exercise Nutrition to Optimize Recovery) funded by the CDC. Next to it is the Movement Studio, a fancy name for a group exercise room. On Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays dance choreographers lead the class to facilitate cardio respiratory training. It’s being tested for 12 weeks at a time with different functional levels—with those who

they will soon roll it out into Greater Birmingham YMCAs. Beyond the Movement Studio is a Nutrition Lab with kitchen equipment that doesn’t look out of the ordinary until you look closer. One range has buttons that someone can easily use with Braille, while another range has knobs that are better for someone with limited finger dexterity to use. You can also change the height of a table with the press of a button to lower it for one of their many youth participants or someone who uses a wheelchair for mobility, and the ovens open from the side and have buttons within reaching distance for someone who is seated.

It’s also setup for cooking action, be it a

use a wheelchair or can only use one side of their body. The end goal is to take this kind of class to telehealth and train fitness professionals at local YMCAs to deliver the same class for different functional levels.

“Lakeshore wants to almost put itself out of business because we would love for all fitness centers to be fully inclusive and have that knowledge level to train somebody who has survived a stroke or has a spinal cord injury or has Parkinson’s through exercises,” Dew says. It’s all part of a $5 million, five-year grant through National Institute on Disability Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research. Now that it’s been tested at Lakeshore

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Dew works with a Lakeshore participants who are wheelchair users to develop new technologies to allow them to better exercise at home and more.

nutritionist demonstrating how to alter recipes to be more healthy, how to cook with one side of your body if it’s been affected by a stroke, or turning on its web conferencing system to train Olympic and Paralympic athletes. (Did we mention yet that Lakeshore is also a Paralympic training site?)

To complete the tour, you’ll stop at a set of five telehealth suites. Each small room is home to a monitor, a web cam, table and chairs and can be used to lead someone in their home in one-on-one exercise or check in on how their exercise using a tablet video is going.

From these suites, another study is looking out how therapy for MS patients compares via telehealth with the therapy on tablet videos vs. in person. This study funded by the Patient Center Outcomes Research Institute has more than 700 people enrolled in the trial from Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. “If we can deliver it at home, we can save that participant with MS time from going into 52 May/June 2020

a neurology clinic to receive their therapy,” Dew says.

And not far from those rooms is an Innovation Studio where many of these videos are filmed against an infinity wall, giving instruction for everything from yoga to dance. Last year alone they created more 200 videos exercise, nutrition and movement videos.

No matter the project that comes its way, Lakeshore researchers are looking at how to fit their work into the lives of the people they see as they walk into work each day and others like them, always asking, “How can we take the expertise of things happening here at Lakeshore and delivering it to people who can’t make it to a place like Lakeshore?”

“If we are not driving change on a national level and reducing barriers to physical activity for people with a disability, we are not doing what we need to be doing,” Dew says. But we’d say they are.

[Newbor n + Child + Family Por traiture] info@apeppermintphoto.com + 205.807.6431 w w w . a p e p p e r m i n t p h o t o . c o m HomewoodLife.com 53

Homewood Chamber of Commerce C O N N E C T I O N S

Hashtag Campaigns During the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, Homewood Chamber of Commerce implemented some new hashtags to support local businesses. #CurbsideHWD was created to support shops that offered curbside service of goods. #TakeoutHWD helped to spread the word about restaurants offering takeout food. #OnlineHWD supported local businesses that offered online sales.

Recent Event Recap Saturday, February 1st: Ribbon Cutting at Precision Studio to celebrate their new location!

Tuesday, February 4th: February Ambassador Meeting at Shiki Thai!

Our Homewood Chamber Ambassadors gather monthly at member restaurants to discuss business in Homewood, plan events and take on ambassador assignments.

Tuesday, February 18th: February Membership Luncheon at The Club.

Our monthly membership luncheon featured a panel of experts on the arts in Homewood.

Thursday, February 20th: Ribbon Cutting for Bearden Design et Boutique

7 HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD 54 May/June 2020

HOMEWOOD, ALABAMA 35209

F i n d U s O n l i ne

Sign up for our weekly newsletter | Access our member directory Purchase Buy Local Homewood eGift Cards

Tuesday, February 25th: Ribbon Cutting at Benchmark Physical Therapy, celebrating the opening of their second location in Homewood!

Tuesday, March 3rd: March Ambassador Meeting at Ash Homewood. Our Ambassadors enjoyed the cuisine at Ash Homewood.

Thursday, March 5th: Business After Hours at Brookwood Baptist Medical Center was a joint chamber networking event hosted by multiple area chambers.

Monday, March 9th: Ribbon Cutting at Nabeel’s Café & Market, to celebrate their recent building upgrades!

205 - 871 - 5631

5 Questions Blog Series To support the many questions that small business owners have during the COVID-19 crisis, Homewood Chamber started a new series on our blog titled “5 Questions With…”. Each post features a different subject matter expert that is relevant to business owners. We have interviews with Attorney Hugh Nickson, Financial Advisor Rachel Reynolds, PR Pro Mandy Williams and more. Check out the new series on the “News” tab at homewoodchamber.org.

Hugh Nickson

Mandy Williams

Rachel Reynolds

WWW.HOMEWOODCHAMBER.ORG HomewoodLife.com 55

OUT & ABOUT

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EXCEPTIONAL FOUNDATION CHILI COOK-OFF

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PHOTOS BY JAMES CULVER

Booths of chili—so much chili—filled the parking lot at Brookwood Village on March 7 to benefit The Exceptional Foundation’s work to meet the social and recreational needs of individuals of all ages who are mentally challenged.

1. BL Harbert Team 2. Protective Life Team 3. Libby, Ryan, Bebe and Margaret Burge 4. Hannon, Margot and Liles Doody 5. Chili Birds 6. Matt and Rae Sarver, and Molly and Miller Duncan 7. J. H Berry & Gilbert Inc. Team 8. Cecile and Luna Jones 9. M & B Hangers Team 10. Command Alkon Team 11. Harris Doyle Properties Team 12. Nancy, Charlotte and Robert Kilpatrick; Whitney and Anderson St. Laurent; and Kelly and Lewis Nelson 13. Sheri, Oakley, River and Jon Gallyot 14. Matt Benton, Michael Sellers and Andrew Davis

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OUT & ABOUT

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Riverside

LOCK 17 ROAD TRACT

TRACT

268± Acres In Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

253± Acres in St. Clair County, Alabama

$1,500,000

$415,400

The Lock 17 tract is approximately 268± acres of pine and hardwood hills in Tuscaloosa County. Just off of Watermelon Road this tract offers a peaceful setting along the Black Warrior basin. Good balance of forest land and open well pads and a power line make for great habitat for the plentiful wildlife. Offered at $415,400.

Chandlar Graham

Qualifying Broker

The Riverside Tract & its multiple uses are only 45 minutes north of Birmingham. This tract has over 3 milesof frontage on Lake Logan Martin/Coosa River. 200± acres of the property are under a consevation easement limiting the development of the property but still allowing the owners to utilize the property attributes.There are 53 ± acres that are unencumbered by the easement giving the owner all rights and benefits of the property.The proximity to the river and the existing ponds and lakes have real potential to become a excellent waterfowl property.

cgraham@larsonmcgowin.com Phone: 205.977.7706 | Mobile: 334.734.1382 www.larsonmcgowinproperties.com

500 Office Park Drive Suite 430 Birmingham, AL 35223 | Branch Offices: Greenville, Alabama | Mobile, Alabama | Merryville, Louisiana Licensed in AL, MS, TN, LA, TX, AR, GA, KY, FL, & SC

HomewoodLife.com 57

OUT & ABOUT

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KIWANIS PANCAKE BREAKFAST

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PHOTOS BY JAMES CULVER

The Kiwanis Club of HomewoodMountain Brook welcomed all for hot cakes, sausage and coffee, plus a Kid’s Zone and more on March 14 at the Exceptional Foundation.

1. Jamie Brabston, Grace Butler and Natalie Flemming 2. Kiwanis Club of Homewood Mountain Brook 3. Brad, John David and Tucker Lowe 4. Kathy Purvis, and Pam and Tom Donaldson 5. Cassidy Hyde, Grace Pickard and Laura Reed Cunningham 6. Kelsey, Francis, Greg and Harley Martin 7. Dan and Lynn Phifer 8. Darrell and Kelly Hazelwood, and Buddy and Patty Stanford 9. Carol Reed, Kathy Purvis, Mary Rasberry, Sally Martin and David Allison 10. Sherry Scarborough and Bill Clement 11. Robbie Lee, Nathan Pierson and Del Wright 12. Chad Moseley; and Alex, Harvey and Woods Ray 13. Madison Blair and Martha Louise Waters 14. Buddy Stanford, Linda Lucas and Dick Stanford 15. J. Pilson and Drew Payne 58 May/June 2020

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OUT & ABOUT

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STAY-AT-HOME ACTIVITIES

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PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED

Homewoodians started staying home in self-quarantine with the increase of COVID-19 in mid-March. Here are some photos they shared of family activities during that time.

1. Christopher Seaman 2. Ladd Leavens 3. Ellie Morrow 4. Mary Carolyn Anderson 5. Wells Boyd 6. Andrew, Maggie and Mary Caroline Reid 7. Millie Bryce Ratliff 8. Lois Anne, Hudson and Bo Winslett 9. Carolina Rose and AnnahLilly Conklin 10. Bennett Hardin 11. Henry and Elliott Martin 12. Lucy and Henry Murray 13. Conall and Aletheia McBride

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OUT & ABOUT

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WE'RE EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THE WINNERS OF HOMEWOOD'S BEST IN AN UPCOMING ISSUE! 11

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MARKETPLACE

Marketplace Homewod Life • 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 1-800-841-0312 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 $18.58 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 applications accepted. Clanton (205)280-0002. Pelham (205)444-9774.

62 May/June 2020

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: 800548-2547(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 meds for residents.

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HomewoodLife.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.

ETS RESTORATIONS •Retaining Walls •Concrete Work •Demolition •Landscaping •Construction •Tree Removal •Tree Trimming •Bobcat Work •Hardscapes •Hauling Residential & Commercial FREE ESTIMATES!!! CALL NOW (205)209-7787 $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 205-6683316.

Now Hiring Heavy Equipment Operators and CDL Drivers Competitive pay and benefits.

Pre-employment drug test required Equal Employment Opportunity Employer Call: 205-298-6799 or email us at: jtate@ forestryenv.com

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 Owner Operators Wanting Dedicated Year Round Anniston, AL www.pull4klb.com Lancaster Place Apartments. Location, community & quality living in Calera, AL. 1, 2, & 3 bedroom apartments available.

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•Caregivers-ADL’s, assist with medications and some lifting 7am3pm, 3pm-11pm, 11pm-7pm •Activity Director Part-Time •Cooks-some 12/hr shifts Call Shay McNeal 205-620-2905

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Equal Opportunity Provider/Employer 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. 205755-3430 MedHelp Clinics Now Hiring •Front Desk Receptionists with billing experience •Certified Medical Assistants with at least 2yrs of experience We are looking to fill full-time & part-time positions at our Pelham and Birmingham locations. We’re always looking to hire qualified personnel Open 7 days a week 8am-8pm Monday-Friday 8am6pm Saturdays 1pm6pm Sunday Qualified Applicants should apply at: www.medhelpclinics. com Shake up your career!!! Are you looking for something new and FUN? Milo’s is always looking for great managers

MARKETPLACE to come join our growing and dynamic team. Apply online at miloshamburgers.com 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 •2005 Valleydale Rd. •Pelham •3000 Meadow Lake Dr. Suite 107 Call Nichole 205240-5428 Nursing assistant to care for high functioning quadriplegic home health patient in Jemison. Must have valid drivers license.

Part-time. Call Mr. Wilbanks 205-908-3333 CLOCK REPAIR SVS. * Setup * Repair * Maintenance. I can fix your Mother’s clock.

Alabaster/Pelham. Call Stephen (205)663-2822 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.

Wilton Water and Gas Board HIRING WATER TECHNICIAN •Fulltime position available •We offer BCBS health insurance & state retirement •Starting pay $12/hr depending on exp. Duties include but not limited to: •Reading Meters •Repair Leaks •Installing Water Lines •Repair & Replace Flush Plugs •Replace Gas/Water Meters •General Maintenance of Gas System •Cutting Grass •Maintain Town Properties and Main Buildings •Generally Available to Respond Within 30/min to Emergency Call-Outs, at Anytime of Day/ Night Year Round •Skilled Operation of Backhoe & Variety of Hand Tools Requirements: •Valid AL DL •HS Diploma/GED Apply In Person or Contact Melissa with questions:205-665-2021 Email resumes: melissa@wilton-al.org 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.

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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: 205955-3439 ~Military & Senior Discounts~ 10-20 Acre Tracts Partially cleared. Ideal for pasture. Isabella school district. $3000 per acre. Possible owner financing with 10% down. Call 334524-7722 or 256-5958425 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.

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Must have remodeling experience. Call Adam 205-863-9059 Pop & Sons Demolition & Junk Removal (205)948-8494 junkguys2014@gmail. com •Junk Removal Services •Demolition•More!!

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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, Laundry,Light House Keeping and More.

Lenette Walls, Owner 205-405-6991 The Harvest Place Christian Church Join us for worship every SUNDAY The Harvest Place Christian Church 14 Westside Ln, Columbiana, AL 35051 Bishop Wales Williams, Jr Chief Apostle •Morning Worship Sunday 11am •Life Enrichment Classes Sunday 10:15am •Join Us Every Tuesday Night at JOYFEST •Midweek WorshipBegins at 6:30pm www. getyourharvest.org Western International Gas & Cylinders, Inc Sign-On-Bonus! Hiring SOLO & TEAM CDL Drivers •2yrs Exp•Pass D.O.T Physical/ Background Check •Hazmat Endorsement Apply Online: www. drive4western.com EOE Experienced Termite Technician or someone experienced in routeservice work and wants to learn new profession.

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M-F 7:00-4:30 + 1 Saturday/month. Pay $13hr. Send resume to facsmith@charter.net Brian’s Tree Service Trees cut from the top down!

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Licensed Therapist SERVICES AVAILABLE: •Deep Tissue •Swedish •Acupressure •Hot Stone •Foot Massage Same-Day Appointments • Weekend & Evening Hours • Walk-Ins Available • 844 US Highway 31 South, Alabaster AL. OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK! 9:30am9:30pm 205-624-2211 AL License#E-3013 DONAVAN LAKES FISHING CLUB & INN Marion, Perry Co. AL •8 Lakes •17 Piers •Camping -Bass, Bream, Crappie, Catfish- Memberships $1000 for 2020.

Contact Thomas Wilson 334-247-2101 wils5789@bellsouth.net www.donavanlakes.org

HomewoodLife.com 63

MY HOMEWOOD ERIK HENNINGER West Homewood Advocate

Tacos Please

Los Valedores Taco Truck My favorite comfort food comes from the little blue taco truck or trailer (there are two) on the corner of Green Springs and Oxmoor. I usually prefer their Al Pastor (grilled pork) tacos, but if I’m getting crazy I’ll mix in some Campechanos (pork, chorizo, and beef), their massive burrito or even bigger Tortas sandwich (yes, with two fried eggs).

Pool Time

Patriot Park Water Slide I grew up in a neighborhood where my summertime world centered around the community pool, so you can imagine my excitement about the pool at Patriot Park. We may have had a high-dive for a short window when I was a kid (thanks lawyers), but we never had anything close to a triple-loop, jet-powered water slide, complete with self-propelled launch bars.

Slow Your Roll

Homewood Cycling Community About six years ago, I headed over to Cahaba Cycles and purchased my first adult mountain bike. From there, I got involved with Homewood’s Slow Your Roll Sunday ride, a Wednesday night ride leaving out of Seeds Coffee, as well as Bob’s Bikes Ride and other group rides. These days you can find me riding from West Homewood to Red Mountain Park or Lakeshore Greenway.

The Alma Mater

Samford University “The Bubble,” as we used to call it for many reasons, is what brought me to Homewood from Memphis back in 1998. On a recent bike ride, Graham, our 10-year-old, and I detoured off Lakeshore Trail to tour the campus, and I was surprised how much I missed it. Graham even put up with my stories about freshmen shenanigans at Pittman Hall and spring days playing Frisbee on The Quad.

Work in Progress

West Homewood Village When I moved to West Homewood in 2005, there was very little business or community activity. Fifteen years later, with growth like Seeds, Pizzeria GM, Ash and Nexus, it has become the up-and-coming walkable destination we all hoped for.

64 May/June 2020