Community Corner

Birrell Hosts Town Meeting Tonight for District 3

Cobb Fire Chief Sam Heaton and Cobb Police Chief John Houser join commissioner for latest town hall. This tops The 5 Things for today.

1. District Three Commissioner JoAnn Birrell will host a town hall meeting for her constituents from 6:30 to 8 p.m. today at Mountain View Community Center, 3400 Sandy Plains Road. Chief Sam Heaton and Chief John Houser will address budget cuts and furlough days, while a representative from the Cobb Department of Transportation will talk about road construction and maintenance. For information, call 770-528-3317 or visit cobbcounty.org/birrell.

2. The Department of Defense recently awarded a $455,000 Air Force Office of Scientific Research grant as part of the 2011 Defense University Research Instrumentation Program competition.

The program supports the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment that improves the capabilities universities have to perform cutting-edge defense research. The Department of Defense received more than 800 proposals for the purchase of research instrumentation and awarded a total of $37.8 million to 83 academic institutions nationwide.  Southern Poly and Georgia Tech were the only two Georgia institutions to receive the funding. 

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The grant was specifically awarded to David Veazie, director of the SPSU Center for Advanced Engineering Materials and Education and a professor of mechanical engineering technology. Veazie’s winning proposal made a case for the acquisition of a high-performance, thermal field emission scanning electron microscope to observe, characterize and analyze advanced engineering materials. 

3. The Cobb County Employees' Friendship Club recently awarded $50,000 to 30 not-for-profit organizations. In spite of current economic woes and taking home less money due to furlough days, employees donated more money than usual this year to date.

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Some of the organizations that received donations include: Boys and Girls of Cobb County, Center for Family Resources, Children's Healthcare, Cure Childhood Cancer, Meals of Wheels and Special Olympics Cobb.

The Friendship Club was established in 1972 to provide monetary support to community service agencies. Since its inception, it has donated almost $1.5 million. In 1991, the club expanded its mission to provide assistance to county employees facing unforeseen emergency situations. To date, more than $300,000 has been provided to help employees in need.

4. The Stevi B's Pizza chain, which includes two local franchises and , are donating a portion of its proceeds through Friday to the Kids in Need Foundation to purchase new school supplies for underpriviledged children throughout metro Atlanta. The purchasing of supplies will go through the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

5. Today is National Handshake Day. In honor of this day, make sure you make a firm but not crushing grip whenever you shake hands. Don't give a fish shake either!


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