AUGUST 2018
Page 3
PET OF THE MONTH
HI’A OLLIE
REVELATIONS OF A BABY BOOMER
spirit of community involvement
by major companies and their
managers rarely exists now. There
are exceptions. In our community,
there are still owners like Scot
Ward, who gives a portion of his
profits back to the community. He
also encourages his employees
to be involved. In many cases,
he pays their dues, if they are
required.
Hello! My name is Ollie, and I am a 3-year-old
greyhound-lab mix rescue. I believe that cuddles
are more important than anything else in the whole
world... even more important than food. My parents
say that my love language is definitely physical
touch, which makes me kinda (very) clingy!
Because of my breed, I am extremely high energy
and athletic. Once I got so excited chasing a squirrel
that i jumped my family’s eight foot privacy fence!
So if you see me roaming the streets of Olde Town
Conyers... that’s probably why. But don’t worry,
I’m super friendly, and my mom says if I spoke I’d
sound like the narwhal from the movie Elf, “Bye
Buddy, hope you find your dad!”
Bridging...
continued from pg 1
involved. The Millennial Ascent, beginning
at 9 am, will get things started. Young adults,
accompanied by pastors, will climb to the
top of the mountain to renounce racism and
to foster reconciliation and revival.
The rest of the event will begin
simultaneously at the bottom and the top
of the mountain (with a video stream
connecting them) at 10 am. Different
Choose Joy!
continued from pg 1
moved to Conyers, we came from a large
community-based city in South Carolina.
When we lived there, we always knew what
was going on at all times because the city did
a wonderful job with communicating through
newspapers and social media. When we
moved to Conyers, we didn’t know what was
going on around town. One day, we planned
on going to Atlanta and ended up stumbling
upon AWAKE Coffee Co, a non-profit coffee
shop in Olde Town Conyers. AWAKE is
Community.
The Metro Times was given to AWAKE
Communities International (ACI) back
in November. At the time, I was serving
on the Board of Directors for ACI along
with my husband, and although the people
involved with AWAKE had become like
family, I was not exactly sure of my role in
the organization. I was taking care of my
3-month-old daughter, when I got a text from
Noelle (Founder of ACI ) that said, “I have
some ‘Good News,’ call me.” So, I gave
her a call. She told me about the newspaper
that was given to AWAKE. Then, she says,
“God said this is your newspaper.” There I
was, a mother of 2 young kids, wondering
how in the world I would run a newspaper.
I always had an interest in journalism, but it
was not something I was pursuing. I had a
Bachelors degree in Psychology. Thankfully,
Jason Cosby (Co-Founder of AWAKE) had
some experience working for a newspaper.
He stepped in and is doing our design and
we recruited my husband, Tyler Roberts to
be a communicator with our Underwriters.
We pulled on Adam Harper to deliver and
distribute the newspapers. Together, we
began this journey. We created a mission and
a vision, and we went for it.
Before being involved with AWAKE, I had
struggled with depression on and off for years,
but after being healed of depression, I learned
some fundamental truths about choosing joy.
I learned about the importance of renewing
your mind with truth. Every month, when
my inbox is full of article submissions, I read
through them and discern what will bring
life to our community. If it isn’t filled with
hope, I toss it. I use stories to tell everyone
that there are no hopeless circumstances in
life. My passion for psychology has kept me
constantly in awe of our incredible brains. If
we are filled with evidence-based hope, we
thrive. My mission is to provide that hope to
our readers every month. I thoroughly read
every word and approve them for our pages.
I also desire to be a vehicle that promotes
events, businesses and noteworthy news.
The communities in the surrounding Metro
Atlanta area have some incredible offerings.
There are food truck rodeos, farm-fresh
restaurants, free movies under the stars and
farmers markets going on all around us. We
desire to help families find fun things to
do together to build stronger relationships.
We want businesses to thrive because small
businesses can help solve some problems in
this world. We want to see people’s dreams
come alive through businesses that create
revenue.
We have chosen to look at advertising
differently. We chose to use the term
segments will feature worship, healing,
repentance, reconciliation, unity and justice.
The millennials will return to the base after
the first segment. Christian artists including
Montell Jordan, Tasha Cobbs, Travis Greene,
Eddie James, United Pursuit and Shane and
Shane will perform.
OneRace is a movement of nearly 200
churches and ministries. Many of them will
participate in a 40-day fast leading up to the
event on August 25th. For more information,
please visit http://oneracemovement.com/
onerace-stone-mountain/.
underwriters instead of advertisers. WeVeh
ask businesses that wish to be promoted to
look at it as supporting a community effort,
not just holding a space in a publication. When
they give their donation every month, they
are supporting a community initiative and in
turn, we put their business announcement in
our paper. We choose to build partnerships
and relationships with our underwriters and
our community. Your donations are also tax
deductible since we are a non-profit.
Recently, someone in Clarkston was
introduced to one of my team members. She
held up The Metro Times paper and began
talking about how much life was coming out
of that newspaper. She had no idea he was
involved with The Metro Times. My team
member then told her that he was involved
with that newspaper and she proceeded to
talk about how much she loved it. At this
point, we didn’t even deliver newspapers to
Clarkston but somehow, our papers reached
there. By the way, if you are an underwriter
or if you are thinking of supporting us, our
newspapers are also in Clarkston. We have
heard so many stories similar to this since we
began. A lot of eyes are seeing this paper.
We hope that someone will pick up this
newspaper and read something that gives
them joy and life. We want to see Metro
Atlanta thriving in their businesses and in
their personal lives. We want someone to
accidentally see this newspaper somewhere
and open it up to find the answer they’re
looking for. Whether that is an organization
that offers free ultrasounds, a non-profit that
helps families or a homeless shelter when they
need a roof over their head. We want to help
someone find what he or she is looking for.
We want to be a hand-up when all you can see
around you is darkness because as Dr. King
stated, ‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness,
only light can do that.’ Sometimes life has
a way of knocking us down and making us
think our situations are hopeless. Sometimes,
there’s a little flicker of a flame burning
inside us that just needs to be breathed on so
it can burn like wildfire again. We want our
stories to be the breath that causes the fire to
burn like crazy. I am walking proof that when
you hold onto hope, your hope is restored.
Freedom comes, and you can be made whole
again. We live in a world that is begging for
hope. This newspaper is committed to being
a community initiative. We are committed to
being a voice of light in our seemingly dark
world.
By Lauren Roberts
COMICS
Pat Cavanaugh
Chief Advisor
Feed the hungry and help those
in trouble, then your light will
shine out from the darkness, and
the darkness around you will be
bright as noon.
Isaiah 58:10
Throughout the Bible, God
encourages us to help our
neighbor with whatever resources
we have. For Baby Boomers, we
were more than encouraged to be
involved in our communities In
fact, if we weren’t, it was hard
to advance. Personally, I helped
not because I had to, but because
I enjoyed being involved, and
being of service to my neighbors
and communities.
We are blessed with many
volunteer groups who are willing
to help the needy or to support
community projects. From time
to time, you can read about
their good deeds in this paper.
Everyone is welcome to support
their work and participate in
his or her outreaches. For more
information,
please
contact
Awake Coffee Co, 862 N Main
Street NW in Olde Town Conyers,
or call 678-392-2400. Please ask
for Toni or Alexandra. These folks
will help you figure out how you
can get involved in helping our
community. They can also provide
resources if you need assistance.
I have always believed that the
good Lord rewards any effort to
assist a neighbor. In fact, I am a
living testimony of that thought. I
encourage you, if this is of interest
to you, to be a helping hand today,
in whatever way presents itself.
It is deeply satisfying and richly
rewarding. For those that are
At one time, it was nothing to currently volunteering, God bless
see managers of Kmart and Kroger you even more.
working side by side in civic
Till next time
groups like the Jaycees, Rotary,
and Kiwanis. Unfortunately, that