Thursday, October 25, 2007

Community Involvement

Hey Blog Fam!

Today is a great day! I am so filled with joy and pride to live in a metropolitan area that truly reaches back to the community to help others. It all started yesterday while riding in to work. I was listening to V103.3 of Atlanta and a listener called in to vent about her current situation. A small summary of her background….she had just moved to Atlanta from St. Louis and moved into a section 8 apartment without any lights, gas, or phone. What she found out when you move to Atlanta is the utility companies require that you pay a deposit solely based on your credit score. I can understand why the companies do this to protect themselves and lower the risk associated with providing services. Anyway the single mother had nothing but $20 and her mentally disabled son. She barely got her phone turned on so that she could call the radio station. She didn’t have a car and she had to walk 45 minutes to get to a main street to catch the bus. Her biggest problem was a HUGE rat (I will call Ben) that was in her bedroom and refused to leave. I am talking about Ben was angry with her he basically jumped at her to attack her. She closed the door to prevent Ben from coming out. While she was venting Frank decided to help the woman so he left the studio to drive to her location. He gets an exterminator out to her location and they solve the problem. The amount of compassion that came flooding the radio stations phone lines was overwhelming. Wanda and the radio stations fielded the phone calls while Frank and his intern proceeded to help the woman set up her washer and dryer so she could wash clothes and purchased some groceries for her. This all happened yesterday and today the blessings were still flowing. They had the young woman come into the station. There was a representative for the Black owned McDonald franchises of Atlanta present offering her a management trainee position at one of the 30 locations around the metro area. There was a Honda dealership there to present her with a certified used Honda, a check for the insurance, and gas money. The calls continued to flow in to help this woman. There were calls from everyday people like myself offering what little they had to help her. A business owner called in to offer the woman $25,000 (I don’t know if this was genuine or not but it happened) to help her.

I have never lived in a city that showed so much support for the community before. I don’t know if it is just the southern hospitality or whatever it is they need to put it in a bottle and give it away to other people around this country.

0 comments: