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Care Like King: Join MLK Days of Service Beginning Jan. 14

CREDIT: Facebook/Volunteer Memphis

This coming January 15th, Martin Luther King Jr. would have been 92 years old. Though his life was tragically cut short, his legacy lives on through service for others and the community.

“Doctor King said, ‘Life’s most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others?'” says Andrea Hill, director of Volunteer Memphis. “MLK Days of Service asks people to ‘Care Like King’ and volunteer to help themselves and their communities through service.”

Facebook/Volunteer Memphis

MLK Days of Service volunteers

Those who would like to participate in MLK Days of Service can choose to volunteer during this King birthday week in a myriad of ways through a plethora of organizations. Visit the Volunteer Memphis website for a listing of available opportunities. Everything from outdoor cleanups to virtual webinars designed to educate people on financial literacy, leadership skills, and much more will be available to honor King’s legacy. Last year, volunteers completed more than 5,000 hours of service across 10 Mid-South counties for MLK Days of Service. This year, our community can lead the way to exceed that number.

If service is beneath you, leadership is beyond you. King was a great leader because of his dedication to serving others.

“Everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service,” said King. “You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.”

It’s time for us all to be great and care like King.

Care Like King: MLK Days of Service, choose your volunteer opportunity online from Volunteer Memphis, volunteermemphis.org, Thursday-Monday, Jan. 14-18.

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News

Salvation Army’s “Pictures of Hope” Cards For Sale

In June, celebrity photographer Linda Solomon came to Memphis to show 15 children living at the Salvation Army’s Purdue Center of Hope how to use disposable cameras.

It wasn’t just a way for them to spend their day. Their goal was to use the cameras to take a photo of something that they wished for. And what these kids — the victims of physical abuse, broken homes, drug-related environments — wished for wasn’t fancy cars, or big homes, or iPods.

On the “wish list” sheets the kids filled out, 11-year-old Rodriguez hoped “for my grandfather to come back alive.” Eleven-year-old Cairolto’s dreams included “curing illness and saving lives.” And 9-year-old Jarmine said her main dream was “to see my Dad again” (he had been in prison for years).

Solomon helped the kids figure out how to capture those elusive dreams with photographs. With a grant from General Motors, one photo from each child was then printed on a holiday card, above their specific dream. Inside, each card reads “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.”

Memphis was just one of 11 cities across the country chosen to be a part of the “Pictures of Hope” project. Boxes of 15 cards are $20 each. For more information about the project and to order cards, visit the Salvation Army website.

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News The Fly-By

Shell Sale

CREDIT: Thomas R. Machnitki

As experienced second-hand shoppers know all too well, the contents of any given yard sale are usually only as interesting as the host. That’s why thrift-store junkies and pawnshop-aholics might want to know about a yard sale being held this weekend at the Overton Park Shell.

Volunteers from Support Our Shell (formerly Save Our Shell, the group that’s been staving off shell demolition since 1985) have been clearing out decades’ worth of backstage trash and treasure in preparation for the historic amphitheater’s long-awaited renovation. Before that happens, however, some of the trash and treasure will be sold at “One Last Look Backstage at the Shell Yard Sale” Saturday, May 5th, and Sunday, May 6th.

Built in 1936, the Overton Park Shell has played host to countless musical events and theatrical extravaganzas ranging from Sondheim to Shakespeare. It is famously the site of Elvis’ first paid concert, but it is also remembered for performances by the Grateful Dead and such seminal Memphis acts as Moloch and Mudboy and the Neutrons.

“It’s not like we’re going to be selling anything from the ’30s,” says David Leonard, vice president of Support Our Shell, explaining that proceeds from the sale will go toward creating and maintaining an archive for historic materials. “We will be selling an enormous forklift that needs a little work, a lot of sound equipment, speakers, speaker parts, some lights, some big shop fans, office furniture, appliances, lumber, some prop columns, and posters from events like Shell Shock, Memphis Mayhem, and Saturday at the Shell.”

Even the shell’s metal wings, which were added in 1970 after a 1969 fire damaged the original structure, are being sold with a buyer already in place.

“For all of the people who have been a part of Save Our Shell, this is like a miracle,” Leonard says of the deal between the city of Memphis and Friends of the Levitt Pavilion to restore and program the Overton Park Shell. “We’ve always said that if the shell was ever actually saved, we wanted to become a support organization. But after 20 years, it all started sounding like one of those never-ending ‘going out of business’ sales.”

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News The Fly-By

Mission: Physician

A visit to a coastal village on the Eastern Cape of South Africa sounds like a pleasant vacation. A team of Memphis health-care professionals, however, worked harder than ever on a recent trip to Dutywa, a village in the region on the verge of becoming a city.

Local New Direction Christian Church pastor Stacy Spencer and church member Charlsetta Gipson organized the trip to bring medical services to residents of Dutywa and the surrounding area, which lacks medical infrastructure.

Spencer and Gipson recruited family-care physician Twyla Twillie, dentist Steve Ballard, sickle-cell specialist Patricia Graves, and obstetrician Lanetta Anderson-Brooks, along with about 10 registered nurses. The group spent three days last month serving roughly 300 patients a day.

“It was an interesting community to spend time with,” says Anderson-Brooks. “They don’t have any doctors that practice in the community, so the primary goals of this mission are, long-term, to open a clinic, and short-term, to introduce the concept to the community and see how well it would be received.”

The group chose Dutywa because of the village’s importance as a regional education center. “Kids within a 100-mile radius will get their education there,” Anderson-Brooks explains. “Most of the kids are living away from their parents in hostels.”

Dutwya struggles with growing pains. “It’s becoming a city, but there’s no infrastructure,” Anderson-Brooks says. “People have cell phones but no running water. People are suffering from basic health needs that can make or break a community, such as poor nutrition and bad water.”

The group made advance accommodations to ensure access to medicine and basic equipment. “We had a scout team go out six months prior to the trip, and they determined the needs. They knew I would be doing pap smears, so they had a bed that could accommodate a pelvic examination and a light,” says Anderson-Brooks.

While the Memphis group made referrals and hoped to positively impact Dutywa’s public health in the short-term, they realize that one mission is only a beginning.

“One of the biggest barriers to making a long-term change is understanding the cultural differences and then starting to work within those confines,” says Anderson-Brooks. “We have plans for 30-day, 90-day, and then a one-year follow-up. We want to set a new standard in the community.”

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

Letters to the Editor

Guns and Disasters

Regarding the “Cheat Sheet” (April 5th issue): While I would agree in theory with the premise that law enforcement officers would have better things to do than confiscate the guns of law-abiding citizens during the aftermath of an emergency or natural disaster, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that some in law enforcement thought otherwise.

I’m not sure a Tennessee state law will be any more useful in protecting our rights than the Bill of Rights was for those in New Orleans. However, I’m a proponent of the measure anyway. I’m certainly an advocate of revealing the abuse of power by any level of our government. And, if nothing else, this measure has brought renewed attention to some of those abuses.

Tracy Addison

Memphis

An MLGW Experience

My husband and I received a letter from MLGW saying that over the course of 2005-2006 we weren’t charged properly for gas due to a meter malfunction. It took MLGW over a year to figure out its mistake, and they have now issued us a bill for over $500 for “back charges” and kindly said that payment arrangements can be made.

What is the proof of these charges? They sent us a nice spreadsheet that we could have recreated. Why, after a year of inconsistent billing, are they just now telling us we owe them? Does it really take that long to catch such a critical error? Does the city think we have that kind of money just lying around?

Why do so many get perks while we have to pay for a year of MLGW’s mistakes? I think this is an unfair practice, and I do not think we should owe back charges of any kind. My husband and I plan to contact MLGW and not only dispute these extra charges but demand proof that we even owe them in the first place. I am curious as to how many other Flyer readers have experienced this problem.

Farrar Lindner

Lakeland

Editor’s note: If you have experienced similar problems with MLGW, please let us know.

Food vs. Cigarettes

Is it right that food pantries go bare because Tennessee’s food tax is so high? Absolutely not!

Is it right that while Tennesseans pay 8.35 percent tax on groceries, the tax on cigarettes is only 20 cents per pack? No way!

Tennessee’s current tax system places unfair burdens on the backs of our state’s most vulnerable while giving smokers the benefit of a low tax. This is not just. We must reduce the burden of heavy taxation on food and increase the tax on cigarettes.

Governor Bredesen proposes to raise the cigarette tax in order to increase the budget for education. We suggest that increased spending on education will not improve the success of our state’s children if they are not receiving adequate nutrition at home. Sadly, some families have to make the hard choice of which groceries to buy because high taxation eats away at their critical buying power.

Current bills in both the state Senate and House of Representatives propose a food tax/cigarette tax swap. SB 93 and HB 114 propose to decrease the food tax by 3 percent and increase the cigarette tax by 40 cents per pack. Contact your legislators and tell them you support these bills.

Emily Orten, Erica Thomas,
Sherika Goodman

Memphis

The volunteer state

In honor of National Volunteer Week, April 15th-21st, I am writing to urge more people to do as I have done and volunteer at animal shelters. Though it can be dirty cleaning cages and scrubbing runs, it is very rewarding not only to help cash-strapped nonprofit shelters but also to see the animals in their care heal, begin to trust, and blossom.

How much joy I’ve gotten fostering kittens, grooming those whose coats need attention, and socializing the very fearful ones who have less chance of finding a home. Those who love animals are sorely needed no matter your skill level. Come help out!

Cheryl M. Dare

Memphis