By Angie Thompson, Senior Reporter
TIFTON — Jadonna Johnson has been named the Parenting Excellence Award winner this year and will be honored during tomorrow night’s PLIGHT, Inc., banquet to be held at the Leroy Rogers Center at 7 p.m. Also, the PLIGHT organization will honor Glendora P. Ryce by renaming the organization’s scholarship for her.
Johnson, who works at the Tifton Housing Authority office where she serves as resident initiative manager, was nominated by three people for the award this year. A common thread runs through each of the nomination letters, that she is an excellent parent.
“She goes above and beyond for her three wonderful children. She is a single parent and has raised three of the most respectful children,” one letter reads.
Another letter states Johnson is the right candidate because “she is indeed a great parent. Her love for God and family makes her a perfect recipient. She has a spiritual upbringing that has helped her raise her three wonderful children.” Also in the letter, Johnson is credited with “going to any extreme” to help someone, including a young man she met at a youth leadership conference who had just lost his mother to liver failure and his father, who disappeared shortly after.
“Jadonna being the kindred spirit that she is started networking to help this young man. She raised money to get him school clothes and supplies. She also brought him into her home to spend some time with her kids in an effort to help soothe the loss of his parents as much as possible.”
Johnson said Monday her spiritual life is important.
“It is my only means of survival,” Johnson said. “Without Him, I wouldn’t survive.”
Johnson has three children — Austin McCant, 15, Destini McCant, 12, and Micah McCant, 17 — who are very active in school and other areas. Micah is a senior at Tift County High School and played football for the Blue Devils, as does her son Austin, a freshman.
“This year has been an exciting year for us,” Johnson said.
PLIGHT, Inc. (Proud Loving Individuals Giving a Hand to Teens) was organized in the fall of 1988 by the late Rev. Amos Ryce II during his tenure as pastor of the Everette Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Tifton in response to concern on the part of various members of the community about the rising teenage pregnancy rate, widespread substance abuse among youth and the lack of employment opportunities for black males. Ryce’s widow, Glendora P. Ryce, after whom the organization’s scholarship will be named, served for 35 years as a classroom teacher at Bates Elementary School in St. Louis and Okapilco Elementary School in Moultrie. She is an instructor of adult literacy for Moultrie Technical College, director of the Board of Christian Education for the South Georgia Region-Sixth Episcopal District of the CME Church, lead instructor for the Homework Hour Outreach Tutorial Program and adult Sunday Church School teacher at Williams Tabernacle Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Moultrie, where she is a member. She has held memberships on the board of directors of such organizations as the American Cancer Society and Habitat for Humanity of Colquitt County.
Ryce established a scholarship in memory of her husband, who died in an automobile accident in 1988. The scholarship will be renamed “The Reverend and Mrs. Amos Ryce II Scholarship Fund.” Recipients of the scholarship will also be honored at Thursday’s banquet.
Tickets for the banquet are $20. Call the PLIGHT office at 386-4360 for more information.
