After a successful inaugural event in 2025, local organizers are making a 5K dedicated to eliminating veteran homelessness an annual event. The Mighty Hero Homes 5K is one of the events that benefit the McDonough-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that seeks to provide affordable, permanent homes for all U.S. veterans. The organization is planning the first Mighty Hero Homes community construction in Henry County. “Events like this are important for the local community to recognize that this is not just a VA problem or organizational problem,” explains Drew Walston, founder and CEO of Mighty Hero Homes. “We all benefit from our...
Seasoned with Love
The holiday spread on this issue’s cover is what the table looks like every year at Tanya Jaynes Boatwright’s house: turkey ham, dressing, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, black-eyed peas, maple pecan sweet potatoes and collard greens, most of them made from recipes handed down through her family. “I just decorate it a little differently every year,” she says. “But that’s basically it.” Boatwright and her husband, Kevin Boatwright, have run BoJaynes Specialty Foods with their family for more than 15 years, and their shop on Keys Ferry Street in McDonough carries the same feeling. It is part natural...
Life of Literacy
About 100 educators, educational supporters, and advocates convened in Henry County for a statewide literacy conference. The Georgia Association of Literacy Advocates gathered at Creekside Christian Academy in Hampton in July 2026 for a one-day literacy summit, Literacy in Full: Science, Meaning and Voice. The event was the first of its kind in more than a decade for GALA, an organization of Georgia educators and supporters of literacy and equity. “We wanted to take the science of research and show how it looks to practice it,” explains Dr. Andrea Carter-Robin, Conference Planning Committee Chair and board member for GALA. “They...
And the Show Goes On
In McDonough, Georgia, inside an old building many people pass without a second glance, a theater has been quietly teaching a town how to gather. For 35 years, The Henry Players have survived on long nights, volunteer hands, borrowed patience, and the stubborn belief that art matters even when money is tight and the world is distracted. That belief lives in people like Amanda Massie and Melissa Rice, two women who came to the theater by different roads and stayed for the same reason. One grew up in theater and learned to love both the spotlight and the work behind...
Why Native Plants Matter in Henry County
When was the last time you noticed butterflies, ladybugs, hummingbirds, or even lightning bugs in your yard? I have a simple favor to ask: step outside and take a look at your landscape. Is it neat, green, and well-kept? Maybe a little wild? Or somewhere in between? Now ask yourself: is it truly alive? Here in Henry County, many of our landscapes are filled with plants from far beyond Georgia. While they may be ornamentally beautiful and familiar, they often provide little support for the birds, butterflies, and pollinators that keep our ecosystems thriving. Native plants, those that have grown...
Getting (and staying) Better
The Piedmont Henry emergency department saw a record number of patients in the month of March, eclipsing 8,800 encounters. It was a busy month, but it didn’t feel that way for staff members, patients or visitors because of some process improvements focused on seeing patients early and often. “The process starts with a patient checking in with a nurse in the lobby and being triaged,” said Jason Tavel, Director of Emergency Services at Piedmont Henry. “This lets us catch things that might need immediate attention but also gives us a baseline for the reassessments that take place during their stay...
Seasons Seem Long, But Life Is Short
During my childhood, I remember hearing the wise words of elderly loved ones as they would reflect on the course of their lives, saying (something to the effect of)…“seasons seem long, but life is short.” As a kid, I did not fully grasp what they meant. At that time, all that I could think about was hurrying through the school year, so that I could spend my summers playing baseball and going fishing. However, each summer seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, and before I knew it, I was back in the classroom enduring yet another school...
Membership has its Privileges
Poised on the edge of your bed, you cast a fleeting glance in the direction of your closet’s open door. Unable to dismiss the unrelenting stare from the multiple sets of eyelets of your running shoes, you don’t begrudge their existence. Rather, you miss the satisfaction resulting from quality time spent together. While running solo can be a cathartic and introspective experience, sometimes the motivation to head out the door becomes fleeting. Fear not, runners of Henry County; you are not alone. For more than 15 years, the Atlanta Southside Runners Club has welcomed runners who not only seek more...
SCULPTmed Aesthetics
SCULPTmed Aesthetics offers a variety of services targeting women’s wellness and longevity. Peptide therapy is a rapidly growing treatment option that signals the body to perform specific functions, which can enhance metabolism, sexual desire, reduce fatigue and improve quality of sleep, accelerate healing from surgery, and offer neurocognitive support for anxiety, depression, age-related brain fog, and memory. The effects of peptide therapy may appear within weeks, while full effects are usually noticed within three to six months. SCULPTmed Aesthetics continues to provide services ranging from cosmetic treatments to gynecological health procedures – all offered within the expertise of a physician’s...
A Foundation of Hope: The Rosenwald Schools of Henry County
Prior to the 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, public education for African American children in the South was chronically underfunded. This inequity ultimately led to the establishment of what became known as Rosenwald Schools, constructed through support from the Rosenwald Fund. The Rosenwald Fund was formed through the collaboration of Booker T. Washington, then president of Tuskegee University, and Julius Rosenwald, then part-owner and president of Sears, Roebuck and Company. Their partnership provided rural Southern communities the opportunity to petition local school boards for funding, which the Rosenwald Fund would match to construct one- or...