Community

The ‘Angel Tree’ is waiting for you to help

The Christmas tree is up at the Anderson County Courthouse, and local citizens, civic groups, church groups, and business leaders are invited to stop by and select a child’s name off the tree to provide Christmas for that child this year.

“In coordination with the Anderson County Schools, we’ve been providing an “Angel” tree for the last few years,” said Leean Tupper, administrative assistant to Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank.

“We work with school counselors to place students’ names on the tree, along with their wish lists for Christmas gifts. It seems to be very popular, with both county employees and citizens reaching out to me weeks in advance of the holiday season to ask if we are putting up the Angel Tree each year.”

“Anderson County is such a generous place – and we in the courthouse look forward to partnering with our schools each year to make Christmas a little brighter for these boys and girls,” Mayor Terry Frank said.

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Suffrage exhibit can finally be displayed

by Ken Leinart


Green McAdoo Director Marilyn Hayden looks over the Tennessee Suffrage display that will be featured at the Green McAdoo Museum and Cultural Center - Ken Leinart
It’s been that kind of year for public venues — the pandemic has either shut them down or severely curtailed their activities.

The Green McAdoo Cultural Museum and Cultural Center in Clinton was no exception.

“We were closed, then we were open, then closed again … It hard to keep track of,” Green McAdoo Museum and Cultural Center Director Marilyn Hayden said last week.

Hayden was preparing an exhibit on the Tennessee suffrage movement that will be displayed at the museum until “at least mid-January,” and possibly longer if there is continuing interest.

Hayden said the museum received the display in late June, but at the time Green McAdoo was following city of Clinton guidelines and was not open.

It wasn’t open in July, either, as a ban on public gatherings continued.

“We thought about opening it for election day,” Hayden said. “But we were still uncertain what the guidelines would allow.”

Yes, it’s been that kind of year.

Tennessee was the final state to ratify the amendment that gave women the right to vote. The state’s historical role in the passing of the 15th Amendment was celebrated state-wide in numerous outdoor celebrations, but having an indoor exhibit in 2020 was not possible.

“This year was different,” Hayden laughed. “We couldn’t hold the ‘Jazz on the Hill’ concerts, and those are outside. It was hard to plan events.”

As restrictions have loosened, Hayden said it was time to show off the suffrage exhibit.

“But that may change next week,” Hayden said. “We’re just hoping we get a chance to show this off.”

Food City hands gifts cards to organizations that give to the needy


Representatives of churches and charities operating food programs for the needy in Clin- ton receive gift cards from Food City Store Manager Sam Turner (center) during a reent presentation at the Clinton store. - G. Chambers Williams III
Clinton’s Food City supermarket handed out about $5,000 worth of food gift cards recently to various food charities in the area in its Race Against Hunger campaign.

The annual campaign involves Food City cashiers asking customers to make donations in the Race Against Hunger for as little as $1 each as the customers check out at the registers.

“We’ve been doing this as long as I’ve been at this store,” Clinton Food City Manager Sam Turner said.

“That’s been at least 20 years. But it was going on even before I came here.”

Turner said the campaign, which will continue through the holidays this year, raised $5,000 during the past year.

The proceeds are divided equally and handed out to the participating food charities through Food City gift cards, which the various food pantries and other organizations can use to purchase food for their programs designed to feed the needy.

Organizations that were presented gift cards in a ceremony last week at the Clinton store were Memorial United Methodist Church, First Baptist Church, Second Baptist Church, South Clinton Baptist Church, Community Action of Anderson County, the Child Advocacy Center of Clinton, and the Anderson County Office on Aging and Senior Center.

Representatives of the churches and other organizations that were selected to receive the donations were on hand for the gift card presentations.

The churches and Community Action operate food pantries for the needy, their representatives said.

Copyright © 2018 Clinton Courier News, LLC.

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