Submitted information and photos:
On a 100 degree day, 105 members of the National Charity League (NCL) of East Cobb gathered at St. Ann Catholic Church for the 2nd Annual Impact Day. The event aimed to benefit The Sandwich Project, a nonprofit fighting food insecurity in Metro Atlanta. NCL East Cobb’s mission is to foster mother-daughter relationships in a philanthropic organization committed to community service, leadership development and cultural experiences. Lexi Bretl, a 2027 Ticktocker (daughter), said the day left her with “a great feeling of giving back to our community, and it was neat seeing everybody come together to make so many sandwiches!”
After a brief membership meeting, Silke Shilling, Former VP of Philanthropy, led the group through a Roots of Hunger Activity geared toward helping the young ladies understand the concept of how the greatest difficulties with food insecurity isn’t the lack of food, but rather the inequality of distribution and accessibility. The Ticktockers were given a brown bag with a various number of snacks in them upon their arrival. At Mrs. Shilling’s direction, they opened the bags to find that they did not all get the same amount. “It felt unfair not to get the same amount of food as my neighbor,” said Brooklyn Paulin, a 2026 Ticktocker.
The 60 Ticktockers were then tasked with equitably distributing the snacks to everybody in the room. The chaos in the room, as Mrs. Shilling pointed out, is what many food programs and families face trying to get the correct amount of food into the hands of those in need. She continued with some statistics that 1 in 8 Georgians, including 500,000+ children and numerous households with veterans, are affected by food insecurity. Miss Paulin said that “the event deepened my understanding and interest in world hunger. It also helped me understand the complexities of the food distribution system and of fixing the issue of equal food distribution.”
The Sandwich Project, established in 2020 in response to the challenges posed by COVID-19, is a nonprofit organization with a network of volunteers who make and deliver fresh, homemade sandwiches to people experiencing food insecurity throughout Metro Atlanta. With over 4,000 volunteers and more than 30 collection sites, they serve over 60 charities. Since June of 2021, NCL East Cobb has contributed an impressive 46,646 sandwiches to The Sandwich Project. Additionally, fifteen of our mother-daughter duos or trios from NCL East Cobb have generously donated over 625 sandwiches each.
Finally, with the generous support of Whole Foods Merchants Walk, Publix Charities, and Costco Perimeter, the members of NCL East Cobb demonstrated their commitment by making a total of 1,645 nutritious sandwiches! This more than doubles the sandwiches made at NCL’s first Impact Day last year. In an email to the chapter, Silke Shilling confirmed that the sandwiches were distributed the following day to the Community Assistance Center and St. Vincent de Paul Society, and will most likely be all eaten by Monday the 17th!
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all NCL East Cobb members for their participation and a special thank you to the individual members who dedicated extra time to make this initiative a resounding success!
For more information about NCL East Cobb, please visit https://www.nationalcharityleague.org/chapter/eastcobb/
For more information about The Sandwich Project, please visit https://www.thesandwichproject.org/.
Related:
- Cobb Interfaith Habitat Coalition begins 24th house
- Family Promise of Cobb County receives $18K grant
- Groundbreaking held for Cobb ‘Veterans Village’
- Cobb school students earn ‘Silver Pen’ awards from Kiwanis
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A special needs student who was left out of the main portion of Sprayberry High School’s graduation ceremony last month pleaded with Cobb Board of Education members Thursday to make sure something like that doesn’t happen to anyone else.
Ashlynn Rich, an honor student and varsity athlete at Sprayberry, spoke during a public comment period Thursday night at school board meeting.
Shortly after her remarks and those of her mother, Linda Ramirez, who had filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale issued a formal apology.
Rich, who has Down Syndrome, was given her diploma with several other special-needs students before Sprayberry’s ceremony began. During the formal commencement, however, they waited in a hallway and were escorted out of the Kennesaw State University Convocation Center before the event had concluded.
“Graduation is a special moment and I wanted to share it with my friends, just like everyone else,” she said. “I don’t want any other student to go through what I did.”
Ragsdale said that Rich’s exclusion from Sprayberry’s commencement was “not a policy issue but a personnel issue” and he could not elaborate more. He said that “it appears to be a decision made by an individual employee, perhaps with the best intentions, that should have been made by a parent.
“On behalf of the district, I apologize to Ashlynn and her family,” Ragsdale said, as the audience broke out into applause. “What happened should not have happened.”
The Cobb school district gives parents of special-needs students options for how they want their children to participate in graduation ceremonies. Ramirez was told that Ashlynn could graduate with a small group of peers at the school, with her full class at KSU or both.
Ramirez has said she wanted her daughter to take full part in graduation at KSU, but learned about different plans right before the ceremony.
“Her exclusion was not just an oversight,” Ramirez said at Thursday’s meeting. “It was a significant and painful moment of discrimination.
“My daughter was made to feel different, separated from her peers, in a moment that she had earned. The act of segregation not only hurt Ashlynn but also sent troubling messages about how we value our students with disabilities.”
Ragsdale did say new measures were being put into place to ensure that the parents of special-needs students have input into their child’s graduation. That process will include a written agreement between school staff and parents before the ceremony.
In the aftermath of Sprayberry’s graduation, the Cobb school district initially responded to outcries on social media, saying that’s “the worst place to find accurate information about students and schools.”
But a few days later, the district acknowledged what had happened with Rich, and said that it didn’t meet the district’s standards for graduation.
During his remarks Thursday, Ragsdale said that his staff began investigating the incident following concerns from board members and the administration.
He said the new consultation process will be “ensuring there are no misunderstandings, and no employee is making a decision without the clear input of a parent or guardian of a student with an exceptionality.”
At the meeting Thursday, Ragsdale and board chairman Randy Scamihorn met with Rich and Ramirez and other supporters, who wore red in support of Rich’s favorite color.
Rich, who also operates a homemade baked goods business, intends to go to college and study culinary arts.
