Georgia Magazine - August 2020 - 4

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Comments from our readers * Compiled by Jennifer J. Hewett

Helping foster children

Foster parenting
could be your greatest role

Thanks to Georgia Magazine for including an
article in April 2020 about being a foster parent as well
as a sidebar about being a CASA [Court Appointed
Special Advocate] volunteer as an alternate way to
help foster children! [See "Foster parenting could be
your greatest role," page 20; bit.ly/fost0420.]
-Georgia CASA, via Facebook

GCAC OF GEORGIA

Top left: This child is one of the 2,500 to 3,000 children
who are adopted out of Georgia's foster care system each
year, says Susan Lister, CEO of Giving Children a Chance
of Georgia (GCAC). Top right: Foster parents know that
helping children is the biggest impact one can make on
the world. Above: "A lazy day on the river allows children
to feel a sense of adventure while building relationships
with other children," Lister says.

Reading on the road

RACHEL JOHNSTON

GCAC OF GEORGIA

t's 9 p.m. when the phone rings. If you
are a foster parent and you see it's a
caseworker calling, you know what
that means: You will be asked if you can
open your home and your heart to a child
who needs a safe place to stay.
If you can picture yourself in this
situation, foster parenting might be a good
choice for you. In Georgia, the need for
foster parents is great, with only about
5,000 foster homes serving as safe havens
for the 13,000 to 14,000 children currently
in foster care.
"We are always looking to increase the
number of foster families that we have because when children are entering care we
want to be able to place them in their community so they're not removed from every
connection that they have in their life," says
Garrett Pierce, regional administrator for
the Region 1 Caregiver Recruitment and
Retention Unit for the Georgia Division of
Family and Children Services (DFCS).
"The state has a recruitment plan
to increase the number of foster home
resources to 7,688 by July 2020," he says.
"This number combines DFCS foster
homes and private agency foster homes."
These private agency foster homes, also called child-placing agencies (CPAs), work with foster parents to secure the services and resources
needed for children who are in the system, while providing the parents
with support and training.
"It's a partnership," says Susan Lister, CEO of Giving Children a Chance
of Georgia (GCAC), a child-placing agency in Alpharetta. "DFCS doesn't
have enough foster homes to meet the needs of all the children in the state
of Georgia. And so a private agency recruits and trains foster parents. Then
if DFCS requires assistance in meeting the needs of a child, they would
contact a private agency to help facilitate that."
The partnership between DFCS and child-placing agencies has proven
beneficial.
"We rely very heavily on our private agency partners," Pierce says.
"We organize joint group events with these agencies, and we also organize
joint training so that as a collaborative team we can all serve all of our foster homes, which helps with the overflow and keeping kids in their
communities."

COURTESY VICKI HELLUMS

By Victoria Scharf DeCastro

My husband and I drove from Lincolnton to
Tyrone for an outdoor family gathering on the Fourth
of July. As Greg drove, I read the whole July 2020 Georgia Magazine out loud from front
to back. We enjoyed the issue and had fun looking for
the [trivia contest] answers. Your trivia contest was a
clever encouragement for us to find out more about
MAGAZINE
what is going on around Georgia.
75
Do you still include the contest where you try and
20 Georgia Magazine

April 2020

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3/11/20 1:00 PM

Georgia
Georgia
Georgia
Celebrating the Georgia lifestyle

GEMC

Georgia
Magazine's 75th
page 20

Lockerly Arboretum
branches out
page 28

JULY 2020

GEORGIA MAGAZINE

Celebrating the Georgia lifestyle

GEMC

MAGAZINE

Celebrating the Georgia lifestyle

GEMC

recognize the location? I would love to see an annual
recap of those pictures and places. I thought about
planning either day trips or overnight trips (after
COVID-19) to visit many of those interesting places
around Georgia.
I look forward to next month's issue.
-Janet Dukes, Lincolnton

page 16

MAGAZINE

History
takes flight
page 22

www.georgiamagazine.org

Explore
Georgia's
beaches
page 24

01_Cover_0720.indd 2

6/9/20 11:16 PM

Editor's note: After a brief hiatus for other editorial coverage, the "Picture this?"
contest returns this month. You can find it on page 6.

Notes on June and July issues
I am writing to you to mention a couple of articles
that I read and reread several times because they were
about people I knew and a place that I have visited and
Folk school
enjoyed very much.
teaches
more than
In the June 2020 issue, there was an article about
crafts
the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C.
[See "In search of community," page 20; bit.ly/folk620.]
A
A group of our longtime friends visited this school last
fall. One of them had heard about the school from some
of her friends, and she thought that it would be a nice
trip up to visit. We drove up from Canton, and it was a
wonderful experience to see what was going on there.
We stayed at one of the local motels in Blairsville on the way back and visited the apple
houses. It was a wonderful and relaxing short trip.
I also want to mention the article in July's issue about Mrs. Juanita Hughes from
Woodstock. [See "City historian Juanita Hughes brings past to life," page 34; bit.ly/
hughes720.] I was blessed to meet and talk with her several times, and she is truly a
historian of Cherokee County and Woodstock. I knew the minute that I saw the table of
contents who she was. Thanks for this article.
I really enjoy everything about Georgia Magazine, and I always look forward to
receiving a new issue. Stay safe!
-Naomi P. Alexander, LaGrange

In search of community
Above: A student paints a pastoral scene
on the campus of the John C. Campbell
Folk School. Left: Two students enjoy
a jam session as part of their old-time
fiddle class.

By Pamela A. Keene

Photos courtesy of John C.
Campbell Folk School

The art of words

t the John C. Campbell
Folk School in Brasstown, N.C., Wednesday is
"turning-point day" for students
immersed in weeklong learning.
"For many of our students, Wednesday's
the day that the light-bulb moment occurs, when
they realize that the undertaking they've chosen will
truly happen," says Jerry Jackson, executive director
of the 95-year-old school just across the Georgia
state line near Blairsville. "Perhaps they've chosen
a craft that's brand-new to them and spent the first
two days of class working through techniques. They
may have even, admit it or not, been frustrated. But on
Wednesday, somehow, for almost everyone, it all comes
together."
The school offers more than 860 weekend or
weeklong classes in skills such as blacksmithing, music,
storytelling, calligraphy, jewelry making, furniture
crafting, dyeing with natural sources and constructing a
kaleidoscope.

20 Georgia Magazine

Sharon Coogle has taught
calligraphy at the school for more
than 25 years. She fell in love with
words and writing-actually creating the
shapes of letters-in the 1970s as a sophomore literature major at Eckerd College in
St. Petersburg, Fla.
"While studying medieval manuscripts that were
handwritten with lovely illustrations, I found a way to
combine art and words," she says. "I began to study
various documents and was fascinated by what I was
seeing."
Coogle studied the elaborately decorated lettering and the detailed, hand-drawn pictures that help
bring these ancient manuscripts to life.
"Calligraphy is a whole world that's more than
lovely lettering," she says. "It combines drawing, painting and creativity. There's no one particular style, so
people can come up with their own lettering."
Professionally, she slowly gained exposure for her
talent in the corporate world.

June 2020

20-22_Folk_School_B_0620.indd 20

5/13/20 12:32 PM

Caption

Share your thoughts. Email us at magazine@georgiaemc.com. Please include your name,
address and phone number. Letters may be edited for clarity and space.

Georgia Magazine

August 2020

From THE EDITOR
Warm nighttime temperatures and
celestial events such as the Perseid
meteor shower can make summer a
popular time for stargazing. And while a
telescope can reveal images of the heavens from just about anywhere, for the
best viewing you need to get away from
human-generated light.
Astronomical objects that our
grandparents could have seen with the
naked eye are now often obscured by
artificial light emanating from buildings,
streetscapes and parking lots. But in certain parts of our state, it's still possible to
view objects in the night sky much as our
ancestors did. And during this time of
social distancing, stargazing is a shared
experience you can enjoy without having
to be physically close. To discover how
you can participate, turn to page 24.
Next, we focus on colorful objects
that can be found in the daytime skies.
Named for the sound made by their
rapidly beating wings, hummingbirds
make a beautiful addition to your garden,
and their aerial antics are a joy to watch.
Turn to page 27 to learn how flowers,
perches, insects and water are the key
ingredients to a healthy yard that will
attract and nurture these tiny creatures.
Having a hometown orchestra brings
civic pride as well as cultural benefits to
a host city. But these orchestras also have
an economic impact, employing musicians and staff as well as bringing patrons
to area venues for performances. They
support local and emerging musicians,
and many are involved with schools in
their communities.
Best of all, these orchestras are a
good value. Ticket prices are often quite
reasonable, making performances
accessible to a wider customer base. To
find out more, see "Music to your ears,"
starting on page 20.
Enjoy,

Laurel George
Editor

http://www.bit.ly/fost0420 http://www.georgiamagazine.org http://www.bit.ly/folk620 http://www.bit.ly/hughes720 http://www.bit.ly/hughes720

Georgia Magazine - August 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - August 2020