Ann sends along this announcement…

Cathy writes in…

The 7^th annual SkaterAid 2011 Skate & Music Festival will be held on 9/25/11 (Sunday) 2:00p – 7:00pm at East Decatur Station to raise funds for the Brain Tumor Foundation for Children and honor the life of Ian Wochatz.   This is the first call for volunteers.  I am looking for volunteers to help out in many areas with this great Decatur event.    We have an early shift (2p-4:30p) and a late shift (4:30p-7p), but also some earlier and later times for set-up and break-down., as well as other areas that would involve assisting in the art auction.      Please contact Cathy Keeler at for a volunteer shift.

Please visit our website:  http://www.skateraid.net  and join the SkaterAid fan page on FaceBook!

On behalf of the Decatur Education Foundation I wanted to thank all of you who participated in the fundraising efforts for Tools for Success (which raised over $1,600 as well as your support of the Decatur Adult Prom which raised an additional $1,400 for Tools for Success). This year you helped us give out 8 brand new Dell laptops to graduating seniors headed off to college, removing an obstacle (lack of technology) that could have hindered their progress. It was a thrill to see this new initiative embraced by the community and we plan to continue the tradition in the coming years. If you have ideas for raising funds for this worthy cause or want to learn more about the work that DEF does in the community let me know.

With gratitude,

Gail

I’d also like to thank Joe and Michelle, who thought up and organized much of the prom, and all the DM readers who donated to the Tools for Success program this past year.  Big donations and small were all very much appreciated!  Decatur rocks.

Allison points out this write up on Pop Dust…

Lil Jon: Rapper, producer, vocabulary expander, fashion innovator, reality TV show contestant, and now, state-recognized philanthropist. From his work on Season 11 of The Apprentice (also known as Celebrity Apprentice 4), Jonathan Mortimer Smith raised a cool $80,000 for his charity of choice, the United Methodist Children’s Home (UMCH). For his contributions—his “unyielding commitment to raise money in support of children and families” and his “passion for advocacy and outstanding commitment to empowering [the] community,” as the official document states—the county of DeKalb, Georgia has deemed the date of May 24th, 2011 to be “Lil Jon Day”.

Scott Drake also alerts us to AccessAtlanta’s photo gallery of Lil John’s visit to United Methodist Children’s Home in Decatur.

Joanne writes in…

For the month of May, Lucas Brotherton a Winnona Park second grader has set a goal for himself to raise $500 which he will donate to PKU research. One way he will be raising money is by hosting a lemonade stand which will be located on the corner of South McDonough and Oakview Road on Saturday, May 7th. He will be selling lemonade, fresh baked cookies and other treats. Please stop by and show your support.

Lucas’ Lemonade Stand
Date: Saturday, May 7th
Located: On the corner of South McDonough and Oakview Road (just across from Oakhurst community garden)
“Shop” Hours: 11:30pm -3:30pm

May is PKU awareness month. Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a metabolic disorder. Individuals with PKU cannot process an amino acid called phenylalanine which is present in most foods. Without treatment, phenylalanine builds up in the bloodstream and causes severe neurological complications. Standard treatment consists of a strict low-protein diet and daily consumption of a special formula containing life-sustaining nutrition. Continued research is needed to ease the difficulty of the diet and to help improve the quantity of life for all individuals living with PKU.

All money that is collected will be donated to Georgia PKU Connect which is a 501c3 non-profit.
http://georgiapku.org/AboutUs.html

This just in from Decatur Adult Prom HQ…

Our friends at Universal Joint and Steinbeck’s are our latest sponsors and they will be providing delicious snacks at the prom, as well as The Spike for the punch bowl. Not only that, but Steinbeck’s is the official pre-prom party place, so you can get loosened up and ready to dance, while U-Joint will serve as the post-prom spot to keep the party going after the prom is over.  Everything is nearby, in walking distance to the Solarium. Get there early, and stay late in Oakhurst on Friday, May 20.

But wait, there’s more… WIN GIFT CERTIFICATES!

In addition to all that goodness, thanks to our wonderful new sponsors, if you purchase your prom tickets between now and Saturday May, 14th at 3pm Eastern Time, you will be entered for a chance to win one of two $25 gift certificates to U-joint or Steinbeck’s. To be clear, there will be two winners, one will get a $25 gift certificate to Ujoint, and the other will get a $25 gift certificate to Steinbeck’s. One entry for each ticket, so the more tickets you purchase before the deadline, the better your chances to win. Buy your tickets now!

All tickets are processed through Decatur Metro.  Purchase below!

At the conclusion of Monday’s Decatur City Commission meeting, Mayor Floyd made mention of last week’s deadly night of tornadoes and the effect on dozens of small North Georgia towns, noting that in some places the entire downtown had been obliterated.

He closed by saying something along the lines of “Don’t be surprised if we come back to you soon with a plan to help out these folks.”

A great idea, which got me thinking “What COULD Decatur do to help out these communities?”

Other than just sending money, would we send teams of people to clean and/or rebuild?  Dedicate planning resources to help rebuild downtown areas?  (Is that even possible?)

What would you like to see happen?

UPDATE: Mary reports that Blaze has been there for about a year now, and only just put up signs!  Whoops!

Carl tweets and shows us in the pic above that this long vacant space, tucked into the vertical concrete on North McDonough has a new tenant, BlazeSports!

According to their website, the mission of the organization is…

…to advance the lives of children and adults with physical disabilities through sport, healthy lifestyles and the prevention of chronic health conditions.

Very cool!  Welcome to the neighborhood!

I took these pics a while back, not knowing whether this was old news or not, but this month’s Decatur Focus (not yet online) notes that the Task Force for Global Health will be expanding their location on Swanton Way starting this summer.   So I guess that means it’s pretty topical!  If I had just hunted on the Task Force’s website a bit, I would have found this…

On Monday, April 18, the Board of Directors for The Task Force for Global Health hosted a groundbreaking for the expansion of the organization’s headquarters building in Decatur. Dr. William Foege, Founder of the Task Force and Emeritus Member of the Board addressed the history and evolution of the Task Force. Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd, Georgia State Senator Jason Carter, and DeKalb County Commissioner Jeff Rader also addressed the assembly.

Here’s a close-up of the banner which shows a drawing of the new addition, which will replace the current parking deck along Trinity Place.

As the city works to build up the less-developed Trinity, this is certainly a step in that direction. After the jump, a pic of the existing parking deck, hidden by trees along Swanton Way.  And in case you’re curious, the current parking deck along Trinity looks like this.

Read the rest of this entry »

Heather sends along these two videos detailing the Fugees new effort to expand their school program and build a brand new school dedicated to educating international refugees.  Fugee’s founder Luma Mufleh and the Fugees team are looking to raise $5 million through text donations for the initial build-out of an international refugee school in Clarkston.

Click here for more info! To donate $5, you just need to text “FUGEES” to 20222.