Sara Bernhardt
Giving back: Over the past few years, I have focused my volunteer efforts on childhood literacy and the arts. I work for Delta and volunteer with the Delta Air Lines Reading Buddies program in partnership with Atlanta Public Schools, and with the Woodruff Arts Center. Through Reading Buddies, I am paired with an elementary student to read together. I have also assisted with fundraising and special events for the students, teachers and aids. My favorite events included a Halloween parade and a winter coat drive. In working with the Woodruff Arts Center, I have helped fundraise and assisted with women’s networking events. The arts are crucial to early childhood development and The Woodruff Arts Center provides an incredible home to learn and appreciate art.
Pivots: This fall my school plans to go virtual with the program so we can stay connected with our students. In the meantime, I have also joined Vello to do virtual tutoring and reading. While the Woodruff Arts Center was closed due to the pandemic they have now reopened! I am hoping to volunteer as a greeter later this year.
Giving thanks: I am thankful for fall weather! With a new baby and a very energetic puppy at home, we cherish any chance to be outside. The cooler fall temperatures make spending time with friends and family even more enjoyable!
Around my table: Lots of family! Every year we take time to retreat to the Smoky Mountains. We are overjoyed to celebrate our son’s first Thanksgiving in the mountains and go splashing in the creek with our puppy, Peach!
Linda lives in the Springlake neighborhood.
Shirley E. “Bella” Borghi
Giving back: I serve as the Executive Director and Co-Vice Chairman the Hispanic Health Coalition of Georgia. The HHCGA is a 30+ year old 501(c)(3), which has humbly served the underserved and under serviced minority populations within the Hispanic, Latino, and Hispanic/Latino Black populations in the mission of better overall outcomes as relates to all chronic diseases, behavioral sciences, access to a healthy life and access to healthcare, (cultural and linguistic expertise), non-partisan health policy and advocacy organization focused on our constituents regionally, nationally, and beyond.
Pivots: COVID-19 has been a driving force in addressing complex issues such as transportation, food deserts, access to testing, accessing to vetted information, language and culturally competency, education, and overall uplift of our population through difficult and ever changing times. The pandemic as asked each of us to look in the mirror and evaluate what is truly important in life and valuable priorities to support the Community, especially two of our greatest assets- children and elders.
Giving thanks: Family and loved ones are the foundation which allows one to find gratitude, compassion, and the uplifting of others in our community. The foundation serves as a solid anchor to build upon in all other areas of your life. For that I am hugely thankful.
Around my table: I have been very blessed in life to have amazing parents who instilled those characteristics in me before passing to Heaven. It is with this I will share my Thanksgiving table with the warmth of their legacy and my most amazing husband David who resonates all those unbelievable characteristics and continually serves as a great aspiration, role model, and partner on my journey.
Linda Paulk Buchanan, Ph.D, CEDS-S
Giving Back: I am on the board for EDIN, a local non-profit organization dedicated to improving EDucation and INsight about eating disorders. Most people don’t know that a person dies every 62 minutes in the US due to eating disorder related causes. This number is also low in that, due to misconceptions, many people with eating disorders go undiagnosed. This makes having an eating disorder as life-threatening as breast cancer while receiving only 1/25th of the funding by the NIH. As a breast cancer survivor I am grateful for all the money and research that has been dedicated to this illness but as a psychologist who treats people with eating disorders I am dismayed by the lack of such in the eating disorder field.
Pivots: One way that I raise money for EDIN is by dancing in the EDIN Celebrity Dance Challenge. This year, it was virtual! I have danced in the previous two and have won both times making me the only person to date to be able to claim that honor! It is a privilege to be able to raise money in such an incredibly fun way. Additionally, I give talks to schools and other organizations and I field many calls primarily from worried parents to help them find resources.
Giving thanks: Knowing a God who loves me, my husband of 36 years and two college aged adopted sons, extended family who live near by and of course, during these times, my heath.
Around my table: That’s a huge dilemma as I have a son with a lung condition and a husband with asthma, thus, we haven’t been having family gatherings. My father just turned 85 and we had to do a drive-by parade to celebrate. It was both fun and sad at the same time.
Linda recently moved from Alpharetta to Milton, works at Walden Behavorial Care in Alpharetta and her work with EDIN reaches inside and outside the perimeter.
