Georgia Magazine - September 2010 - (Page 8)

COMPILED BY JENNIFER J. HEWETT Georgia glimpses • Silver success. Tiger Mountain Vineyards in Tiger garnered a silver medal in June for its 2008 Petit Manseng wine at the San Francisco International, the nation’s most prestigious wine competition. See tigerwine.com for more information. • A boost to Scouting. Mayfield Dairy recently donated $5,000 to the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta. Pictured below, from left, are Girl Scouts representatives Brenda Strozier, vice president of product sales/membership, and Ann Hooper, board chair; Scottie Mayfield, president of Mayfield Dairy; and Marilyn Midyette, CEO of Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta. Dolls of hope • New baby! Zoo Atlanta recently introduced its first giraffe calf to the zoo’s African Plains habitat. Born July 13, 2010, to 3-yearold Glenda, the calf soon will be introduced to her other family members as well as the ostrich and zebras that live in the habitat. See zooatlanta.org for updates on her progress. • Get in free! Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites says “thank you” to visitors and volunteers as part of National Public Lands Day and National Hunting and Fishing Day by offering everyone free admission and parking and waiving the fishing license requirement for anglers on Sept. 25 at its sites around the state. See www.georgiastateparks.org/events for special Free Day in the Parks programs. 8 When the Rev. Spencer Nix with the Canton-based nonprofit service organization, Grace to the Nations, approached doll maker Gwen Lord with a proposal to send dolls to Haiti after January’s devastating earthquake, Lord jumped right on board. Lord has been making cottonand-fabric dolls since the ’60s, but began marketing them through her Waleska-based company Things of Joy when their popularity grew. Even though Things of Joy started out as a source of income for Lord, she’s turned her entire dollmaking business into a nonprofit foundation known as Eppie Everywhere. Through this, Lord has visited needy children in countries such as Russia, Australia and Cambodia to personally donate her dolls. Nowadays, all of the proceeds from every doll she sells, whether it’s online or in stores, goes toward making and sending the dolls overseas. As part of this new endeavor, dubbed “Project Judy,” Nix asked Lord to make 1,000 dolls to go to Haiti’s orphanages and hospitals. So far, Lord, along with a group of 59 volunMore online at www.georgiamagazine.org teers, has been able to make more than 600 of her specialty Eppie dolls, and 300 of them are now in the hands of Haitian children. Lord would like to see the Haiti project to go on for years. Transporting the dolls can get costly, but Lord says that the community has completely grasped Project Judy in terms of time and labor. “The help has just been enormous,” Lord says about the volunteers who have helped her finish the dolls. “We meet every Tuesday in the church from 1 to 3:30 p.m. to stuff and dress the dolls.” To donate to Project Judy, send a check or money order, payable to Eppie Everywhere Foundation Inc., to 110 Pueblo Court #1014, Waleska, GA 30183. Go online to www.thingsofjoy.com and www. judy4haiti.com for more on this project. —Sarah Bakhtiari Above: More than 50 community volunteers have helped sew, stuff and dress dolls going to Haitian children as part of Project Judy. Left: Waleska resident Gwen Lord heads up the doll-making efforts for Project Judy. GEORGIA MAGAZINE ZOO ATLANTA EPPIE EVERYWHERE FOUNDATION INC. ® ® http://www.tigerwine.com http://www.zooatlanta.org http://www.thingsofjoy.com http://www.judy4haiti.com http://www.judy4haiti.com http://www.georgiastateparks.org/events http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - September 2010

Georgia Magazine - September 2010
Contents
Viewpoint
Mailbox
Picture This!
Georgia News
Calendar
Currents
Special Energy Report
A Fast Track to the Airwaves
Crossing Cultures
Georgia's First Botanical Garden
The 2010 Washington Youth Tour
Higher Education in Georgia
Around Georgia
Travel Guide
My Georgia
Georgia@Home
Georgia Gardens
Georgia Cooks
Cookbook of the Month
Snapshot

Georgia Magazine - September 2010