Letters to the Editor for May 8

Published 4:43 pm Tuesday, May 7, 2013

I also saw the little panhandler at Walmart, but I had and still have a different impression from the one posted in the Rants & Raves in last Thursday’s paper.  Initially I also drove away, but her timid smile and friendly little wave remained with me as I started home.  Her placard in part had read, “Broke Traveling,” and I thought back to a time when I could have been the young woman with a placard.  As a south Georgia transplant, I thought back to the early years of traveling back to Minnesota to see my family.  With little spare money, all it would have taken was a blown tire, minor car trouble or sickness to have put me beside the road with a placard.  My Christian upbringing spoke to my heart, and I just had to turn around although I was already all the way to Rainwater Road.

I drove past a second time just to see if my heart would have the same impression as the first time.  Again, there was the timid smile and the little wave.  Rather than just do a hand-over-the-cash drive-by, I chose to park my car and speak with her personally.  (I knew I was safe doing this.  My husband was in the car keeping close watch over me.)  When I asked her where she was headed, without hesitation she brightened up a bit and replied, “Ohio.” My next question was, “Tell me your story.”  I used the time during her story to do a quick visual check.  Her clothes and shoes were clean, but not fancy.  She did not smell, although people who know me, know I can’t smell very well, but I can smell alcohol or something bad.  Her face was clean, and her eyes were not blood-shot or cloudy.  She looked me in the eye the whole time we spoke.  Her hair was in braids, but the hair was not smooth, the result, I think, of naturally-curly frizzy hair. 

Her story?  It was this: she was on her way home from south Florida, had miscalculated the price of gas and didn’t have enough money to make it back. I knew she might take my money and buy alcohol or drugs with it, but for several months I had been carrying around $22 from a part-time job, and I took a chance.  As I started to leave I felt compelled to give her a little hug, and I told her, “God bless you.  I’ll be praying for you.”  She seemed OK with the mention of God and expressed gratitude for the money and the prayers.

I guess this letter shows that we all take away something different from the table.  Like others in the past, I too sometimes question Tifton, the Friendly City.  Don’t get me wrong!  I have lived in Tift County for 47 years, and I live here because I choose to live here.  Tifton has been good to me, and I would miss so many things if I were to leave, but I also understand comments about the number of churches in Tifton, but yet a lack of caring and genuine concern.  I’m a Christian, born and educated in the Catholic church, but over the years I’ve come to practice my religion in a slightly different manner.  I may not always be at the brick building for services, but I try to live my beliefs every day.  I chose to help this young woman because I thought about the parable of the leper, and I thought about Jesus’ admonishment of seeing Him hungry and feeding Him not.  In the form of a young woman, I saw a leper. I saw the face of Jesus. I saw a daughter I never had. I saw myself.

Lucy Brooks

 Tifton

A big thank you to all the participants in the second annual Fresh Start Help Center Golf Tournament.

The Fresh Start Help Center held its golf tournament April 1 to help raise money for programs assisting veterans, high school dropouts and the homeless.  Congratulations to Tifton Quality Peanut for winning the tournament and Southern Mortgage who got second place.  

We would like to thank all of the following for their contributions: Hole sponsors: Commercial Banking Company, Kunes Real Estate & Appraisals, Tifton Harley Davidson, McDonalds, Hilton Garden Inn, Senator John Crosby, Kelly Fashion Cleaners, Tift Regional Medical Center, South GA Banking Company, Bowen-Donaldson Funeral Homes, Tift County Lanes, Credit Bureau Associates of Tifton, Ameris Bank, Prince Automotive, State Farm Insurance –Fred Horne, Lon P Kemeness, Griffin Ford, Ag Georgia Farm Credit and Tifton Sertoma Club.

Also prizes were donated by Orgill Brothers, Walmart, Bank of America, Chick-fil-A  & Brownlee Insurance Agency.

Thanks to all who played and sponsored the tournament.  

Toney Clarke, Fresh Start Help Center

Nelson Kunes, event coordinator