CL
n NEWS & NOTEWORTHY n
Operation Meal Plan
awards nearly $100,000 in
grants to local nonprofits
STAFF REPORTS
The Cobb Community Foundation recently
awarded $27,000 in grants, wrapping up the
final act of Operation Meal Plan.
The initiative began in March with the
Cobb Chamber of Commerce and Cobb
Community Foundation partnering to provide
food to those in need, help local restaurants
keep their workers employed and provide a
vehicle for citizens to help each other.
“This project was just one great example
of how Cobb’s business and non-profit
communities have pulled together to get help
to those who need it,” said Sharon Mason,
president and CEO of the Cobb Chamber.
“Our goal was to find a way to keep our
restaurants afloat while providing a valuable
resource to our non-profits who are serving
people in need. Operation Meal Plan was a
way to link these entities together.”
In its first couple of months, Operation
Meal Plan received $89,000 in community
contributions, funding 13,850 meals delivered
by 22 different restaurants and caterers to
30 different non-profit organizations around
Cobb, all of which serve meals as part of their
mission.
At the end of May, Operation Meal Plan
went on hiatus when Cobb’s board of
commissioners allocated $1 million from
its CARES Act dollars for the Cobb County
Food Grant, providing an alternative
source for funding of these meals for the
non-profits. Remaining dollars, including a
half of a $50,000 total contribution to CCF
from Lockheed-Martin, would be held for
distribution in the fall.
Left: Pictured from left are Molly Nash,
liveSAFE Resources; Jennifer LaBrecque,
Center for Children and Young Adults:
Michael Owen, The Zone; Sharon Mason,
president & CEO Cobb Chamber; John
Loud, president of LOUD Security Systems
and chair of Cobb Chamber; Renee
McCormick, The Extension; Shari Martin,
president & CEO Cobb Community
Foundation; Tyler Driver, The Extension;
Brenda Vasquez, Devereux; and Tina
Williford, Table on Delk.
The grants, payable to six different
organizations in increments of $3,000 to
$6,000, will be used to purchase prepared
meals from Cobb restaurants or catering
businesses.
“Ten months in to this pandemic, non-profit
staff members and volunteers desperately
need a break,” said Shari Martin, CCF’s
president and CEO. “In many cases, they
have been serving significantly more clients,
and in all cases, they are doing so with far
fewer people. Not only are these grants
going to provide some financial relief, they
are also going to provide some physical and
emotional relief.”
The six organizations selected are - The
Center for Children and Young Adults -
$6,000; LiveSAFE Resources - $4,500; The
Table on Delk - $3,500; Devereux Advanced
Behavioral Health - $3,500; The Zone -
$6,500; and The Extension - $3,000.
For more information, visit
cobbfoundation.org.
Local woman celebrates
100th birthday
BY DAMON POIRIER
Legacy Ridge at Marietta, a senior living
community, celebrated Elaine Johnson’s
100th birthday this month.
Although the pandemic continues to
spread, the community leadership team
and associates safely threw Johnson a big
birthday bash.
Elaine Norman Johnson was born in
Montevideo, Minnesota on Nov. 17, 1920. She
is the oldest of five children — three brothers
and one sister. Her parents were born in the
U.S. and her grandparents on both sides are
of Swedish descent.
Pictured is Elaine
Johnson celebrating
her 100th birthday
on Nov. 17 at Legacy
Ridge at Marietta.
60 COBB LIFE | JANUARY 2021
/cobbfoundation.org