Looking Back at the Hands On Atlanta 30th Birthday

From left to right: Mayor Shirley Franklin, Jay Cranman, Danny Shoy.

Way back in the spring of 1989, 12 friends got together to try and figure out a better way to solve some of the challenges facing our city. After a few drinks and a few ideas, this gathering led to the start of Hands On Atlanta. 30 years later, on Saturday, April 13, more than 300 long-time (and new) friends packed into Manuel’s Tavern for an evening of celebration and fundraising at our 30th Birthday.

We celebrated visionaries like Elise Eplan, Kent Alexander and Michelle Nunn who helped make Hands On Atlanta one of the largest community engagement organizations in the world. How big? Since 1989, we’ve engaged 500,000 changemakers to serve more than 4 million hours in communities across metro Atlanta!

We celebrated changemakers like Ms. Genora Crooke, who spent 24 years as a teammate at Hands On Atlanta, and Mayor Shirley Franklin, our 2019 Holly Palmer Rhodes Changemaker of the Year. With the help of guest emcee, WSB-TV’s Fred Blankenship and Mayor Franklin, and the support of our sponsors and attendees, we pulled in $150,000 in donations!

Our history, our community, our impact, and those who continue to support our work… now, that’s worth celebrating!

Mayor Shirley Franklin, accepting the 2019 Holly Palmer Rhodes Changemaker of the Year award!

Capping off the night of fundraising, Fred and Mayor Franklin announce our raffle winner!

All-in-all, it was a throwback party we’ll be talking about for years to come. Thanks to all who came out in support of 30 years of service to the Atlanta community. Thank you to all of our Civic Fellows for volunteering and to our team for producing such a fantastic event! Thank you to all of our host committee members and all of our generous donors and sponsors: The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, Publix, The Coca-Cola Company, UPS, Points of Light, Cognizant, Datum Sofware and BBDO Atlanta. Our work does not exist without your help. THANK YOU.

Looking Back: The 2018 High Five Party

Hands On Atlanta celebrates service at annual High Five Party, raising over $130,000 to help engage and mobilize volunteers, and support education and hunger programs.

The week of April 15, 2018 will go down in the record books for our team here at Hands On Atlanta. We kicked off National Volunteer Week with a weekend of service projects for Good Deeds Day, and highlighted 5 outstanding volunteer leaders (1 per day) on The Citizen. Over the course of the week, we filled 450 volunteer opportunities through our calendar, and on Saturday, April 21, we partnered up with the Coke Scholars for a Global Youth Service Day project - mobilizing over 150 youth in service. To cap off this exciting (and exhausting) week of service, we partied with 300 civic and service leaders at our High Five Party!

Attendees arrived at The Gathering Spot and got things rolling with drinks, appetizers, and on-site service projects (including packing 125 literacy kits)! There was also a chance to bid on some of our awesome silent auction items, spread throughout the venue.

The program kicked off with a little trivia from The Big Game show and really set the takeaway for the evening - FUN. Jay Cranman, Hands On Atlanta President and CEO (left) formally welcomed attendees and David Richardson, Hands On Atlanta Chairman of the Board (right), followed with a heartfelt and personal story about the impact volunteers recently made on his family.

One of the highlighted moments of the night came with the announcement of the 2018 Holly Palmer Rhodes Changemaker of the Year Award. This year's recipient, Arthur Blank, was unable to attend in person, but he requested we send a team of our best and brightest journalists to interview him on the importance of giving back to kids in Atlanta, entrepreneurship best practices, and more! Enjoy this special segment of Between Two Fans:

After dinner the guys from The Big Game Show came back for a hilarious, "Jeopardy style" game show that included a few of our friends - CARE CEO, Michelle Nunn (Hands On Atlanta co-founder/former CEO), Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. Meria Carstarphen, and Executive Director of the Atlanta Speech School, Comer Yates, and a few special guests from our Discovery program.

After the game show, guests settled in for an impact story from one of our Discovery program volunteers, Priscilla "Granny" McDowell. Priscilla spoke to the importance of exposing her grandchildren to different cultures, different people, and different experiences the program provides. It was a great reminder of why we had all gathered for the evening, emphasizing why supporting Hands On Atlanta matters.

Jessica "It's All Good" Williams came out to help with our live auction and a few motivated attendees left with tickets to Hamilton, a dream vacation to Antigua, and a chance to watch a Falcons or United game from Arthur Blank's suite! It was a great start to the giving, but things were just heating up. After a brief announcement from Mr. Blank (with a match of up to $15,000) our audience blew passed our goal and gave over $20,000 in less than 10 minutes!

Attendees poured out of the ballroom and onto the dance floor where Oh No Stereo was keeping the good vibes (and guests) moving at our High Five Late Night party, hosted by our Changemakers Board. Young professionals from across metro Atlanta joined the party and 1 guest won weekend getaway to Charleston, South Carolina!  

We can't thank our sponsors and supporters enough, but we're going to try. Huge thank you's and high fives to the Arthur Blank Family Foundation, Publix Charities, Chick-fil-A Foundation, Congizant, Cox, KMS Technology, UPS, Evelyn and Bernie Wedge and all of our sponsors! Our work isn't possible without you, thank you!

In total we raised over $130,000 on the evening, raised awareness around some big challenges facing our communities, shared a few moving stories and a few great dance moves, recognized and connected changemakers, mobilized volunteers in service, and had an absolute blast doing it!

---

Feeling inspired and want to get in on the High Five Party action? It's not too late, you can make a donation and help our efforts to engage volunteers and/or support our impact programs.

Celebrate Atlanta Changemakers and Support Hurricane Relief

How do you celebrate Atlanta's biggest day of service? With a big ol' party, that's how!

To kick-off Hands On Atlanta Day, we're throwing a bash on Wednesday, October 4 from 6:30pm - 9:00pm at the all-new Monday Night Brewing Garage (West End). We'll highlight the impactful work of ATL lovin' changemakers and honor the commitment to service from long time Hands On Atlanta supporters, Mayor Kasim Reed and Atlanta's First Lady, Sarah-Elizabeth Reed.

You'll connect with fellow volunteers, and rub elbows with Hands On Atlanta Day partners and sponsors over all the hoppy goodness Monday Night Brewery has to offer (first 2 are on us)! There will be service Jenga, live music from Crooked Wits, some tasty High Road Ice Cream, a fun service project from Stars of Hope, BBQ from 4Rivers, and plenty of volunteer vibes!

Not enough to get you moving on a Wednesday night? Cool, because there's more! Over the last couple weeks we've received a ton of requests asking how you can get involved and help those impacted by the recent barrage of hurricanes. So, we've partnered up with our sister Hands On Network affiliates in the most devastated areas and we'll be donating ALL PROCEEDS of this event to them - to help mobilize volunteers to continue (or in some neighborhoods start) the recovery process. While we don't have an affiliate in Puerto Rico, you can donate directly at United for Puerto Rico, or this GoFundMe page, or this Generosity page. 

To recap, for $20 you'll be donating directly to disaster relief efforts in Houston and Broward County (Ft. Lauderdale and Miami), you'll be a part of history as we celebrate the outstanding commitment to service from the Mayor and First Lady, get 2 micro brews, smash some delicious BBQ, dance and sing to your favorite tunes, explore mini acts of service, AND get exclusive access to one of the first events at The Garage. 

We double dog dare you to find a better way to spend a Wednesday evening. 

Can't make it and still want to help? You can donate here.

Not registered to volunteer on Hands On Atlanta Day? Fix that here.

A High Five from Whole Foods

Whole Foods is celebrating their grand opening of their newest location (Chamblee-Brookhaven) with a Block Party in front of the store on Saturday, August 12, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The celebration will feature live music, activities for kids, and more than 20 different artisan and food vendors such as Revelator Coffee, NuGo, Doux South and Wellshire Farms. 

“We’re excited to join Chamblee-Brookhaven’s growing community with the opening of our new Whole Foods Market,” said Scott Sherman, the store’s team leader. “The new store will feature many locally sourced and seasonal products that meet our high quality standards. Whether you come for Revelator Coffee, locally grown produce or Nashville hot chicken, the store will be a new gathering place for the community.”

Tickets are $10 per person and all proceeds will be donated to Hands on Atlanta! RSVP to our Block Party and check-in on the day of the event and you will automatically be entered to win an awesome gift basket valued at $75 from the Chamblee-Brookhaven store! Official rules HERE!

For more information about the new store, check out their Instagram page @WholefoodsATL. We can't wait to see you on August 12th!

---

Mark your calendars, Whole Foods Market will open its ninth Atlanta-area store in Chamblee on Friday, August 18, at 5001 Peachtree Boulevard. Opening day shoppers will be greeted with an array of product demonstrations and samples, and the first 500 customers will receive free gifts cards ranging in amounts from $5 to $50 with one $500 card.