Every person, every child, is composed of their own unique strengths and abilities. Our World School, a private, nonprofit school for children in grades K–12 who have been diagnosed with special needs, not only recognizes this but strives to create an environment where each child’s individuality enables them to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. By integrating academics with real-life lessons, the school prepares students to enter society after graduation as productive, confident citizens. One way Our World School implements this philosophy is through its OWS Coffee Shop. Open every Friday morning and catering to both parents and the community, the...
A Taste of Home
“Everyone who knows me knows that I love to feed people,” said Ambria Hill, the Food Services Administrator for Henry County Senior Services. She is proud of the number of people she and her staff feed weekly, both in person at Henry County’s multiple senior centers and through the Meals on Wheels meal delivery service. Ensuring local senior citizens receive the nutrition they need is an important task. According to the 2024 Senior Report by the United Health Foundation, Georgia ranks among the bottom 24% of states in terms of overall health for older adults. Around 13% of Georgia adults...
Beyond Meals
As a dad with a busy family, my wife and I face the dreaded question every day: “What’s for dinner?” We would love to make exciting, well-balanced meals for our family every night, but planning and preparing that takes time, energy, and money. And if we are being honest, it would probably just be met with looks of contempt and calls for chicken nuggets or pizza. So, we tend to fall back on a rotation of the same 10 quick, easy meals that the kids will actually eat. These meals provide the sustenance to keep our appetites in check, but...
Feeding the Hungry
Every Thursday morning before the sun rises, vehicles line up to pass through the Georgia Food and Resource Center warehouse. It’s mostly SUVs and minivans, with their trunks and side doors open to receive that week’s bounty. Workers—volunteers and people needing to fulfill community service obligations—stack boxes inside the vehicles as the food co-op members drive at a crawl through the warehouse. They stop at several stations, trying to catch a glimpse of what they’re receiving that day. It may be 20 flats of fresh strawberries, restaurant-sized bags of fresh vegetables, or both. A miscellaneous box of pantry staples is...
Meals and Memories
With roughly 18,000 veterans living in Henry County, the need for connection and community runs deep. For the past sixteen years, the Henry County Veterans Support Group (HCVSG) has served as a safe haven for those who’ve worn the uniform – a place to swap stories, share laughter, and find purpose beyond service. The group was founded in 2011 by Bob Van Dunk, who was struggling to navigate the process of filing for his own veteran benefits. Out of that frustration came a mission: to ensure no other veteran would have to face the same challenges alone. Van Dunk created...
From Students to Teachers
When Gabi Brannon arrives at Community Christian School each morning to teach kindergarten, she sometimes thinks back to her own days as a kindergarten student at the same school. “This is where God always called me — these walls built me,” admits Brannon, who returned to the school to teach kindergarten in the fall of 2025 after attending the school as a student from kindergarten to senior year in 2020. “It really is a home for me — it’s always been a home for me and there’s nothing that I love more. I asked God to use me and he...
Kitchen Fire Prevention
The kitchen in your home can be a source of delight, whether through delicious family meals or festive holiday parties. It can also cause bodily injury and property damage if proper precautions are not taken. In the average home, the kitchen is easily the area most susceptible to catching fire. This is true at any time of year, but it increases during winter, when heating equipment is used more and holiday-related cooking occurs. Henry County Fire Rescue has two fire prevention specialists whose primary responsibility is to educate the public about kitchen safety. One of these officers, Carla Guiterrez, shared...
Preventing Overuse Injuries
As more children and teens participate in organized sports, doctors are seeing an alarming increase in the number of young athletes suffering from overuse injuries. Nearly half of all sports injuries in middle and high school students are caused by overuse. “Children and teens are at increased risk of these types of injuries because their bones are still growing and are more vulnerable to stress,” said Dr. Ashley Brouillette, a pediatric sports medicine primary care physician at Children’s. “They don’t want to be sidelined and so may play through the pain, not realizing the damage they are doing. While some...
100 Years of Faith-Filled Impact
Banker. Pastor. Missionary. Farmer. Those are a few words that represent parts of Eugene (“Gene”) Dailey’s life, but there are countless layers and stories that connect those pieces of his 100 years. He was born at home in 1925, the fourth of six boys in his family. His baby sister was born when Dailey was almost 10. Their father was a tenant farmer near Union City, growing cotton and other cash crops — “a little bit of everything,” Dailey says. “Corn was the hardest thing,” Dailey adds. “The corn went to the barn. The stalk was waste so you cut...
Serving Compassion
Watching students stream through the breakfast line in McDonough High School’s cafeteria is a lesson in how inspired leadership can nurture processes into outstanding models of efficiency. Long lines disappear almost as quickly as they form, and rather than the animated scene one might envision where dozens of teens assemble, there is order and calm. The cafeteria and kitchen are spotless. Pots, sinks, and the well-used industrial-grade stoves and freezers gleam like new. MHS School Nutrition Manager Rhonda Lundsford Wright deserves much credit for the cafeteria’s streamlined operations and immaculate equipment. Wright, a proud graduate of Henry County High School’s...