The Tifton Gazette offers a round of applause for individuals and organizations doing good things in our community.

Folklife Festival volunteers

The Folklife Festival brought history to life this past week.

Hosted by the Georgia Museum of Agriculture Historic Village, the annual event gives guests a taste of what 19th and early 20th century life was like.

The event would not be a success without the volunteers who enacted the men and women of the time period and the organizers who put the event together.

We thank them for their efforts.

Alliance for Children organizers

The Alliance for Children hosted its second regional summit Thursday, Apr. 4 at Northside Baptist Church in Tifton.

The summit brought together representatives of various agencies and organizations from across the region that deal with child abuse.

The panels discussed all different aspects of dealing with child abuse, from human trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation of children, prosecution of child abuse cases, child abuse medical exams, how witnessing domestic violence affects children, helping children deal with and heal from trauma and evaluating children medically after an incident of abuse.

“The idea is education, education, education,” said Nancy Bryan, executive director for Ruth’s Cottage and The Patticake House. “That’s what we tried to do.”

We thank organizers for bringing important summit here for the second year.

Wear Blue Day participants

Residents across Tifton and Tift County wore blue on Apr. 5 in recognition of National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Wear Blue Day is sponsored every year by the Tift County Commission on Children and Youth.

The event aims to show a visible commitment to preventing child abuse and supporting strong families and healthy children throughout the state, according to TCCCY director Lillie McEntyre.

Participants were asked to wear blue and share photos to social media with the hashtags #wearbluetift, #tcccycommunity and/or #preventchildabusetift.

ABAC Hall of Fame inductees

The Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College’s Athletics Hall of Fame added on to its members last week with the additions of five individuals and one team.

All inductees were honored at the annual Hall of Fame ceremony, which started with an introduction by ABAC athletic director Alan Kramer.

The 2019 class of inductees were the 1968-69 men’s basketball team, Alfred Barney, Lisa English Doherty, Jennifer McCarthy, Terry Mixon and Sidney White.

The individual athletes were inducted for their skills in basketball, tennis, softball, baseball and football.

Vann Brackin’s 1968-69 ABAC men’s basketball squad won the Southern Conference of the GJCAA with a 12-0 mark and finished 25-5. There was another big achievement for the Stallions that season, but one that came before it started; the team became the first integrated ABAC squad with the additions of Albert Lewis and David Adams to the lineup.

Besides Brackin, Lewis and Adams, the roster consisted of Leslie Moore, Ashley DeLoach, Harold Adkins, Julian Deaton, Mark Hall, Jerry Johnston, Odell Pack, Dennis McSwain, Carlos McSwain, Harley Stewart, and Buddy Whitley.

We congratulate the inductees on their induction.