In just a couple of weeks, we’ll be observing another Thanksgiving. While it would be easy for so many in our industries to complain about the sad state of the economy and its impact on realtors and builders, I believe that each of us can find a lot for which we can be grateful.
There’s the obvious of family and friends, as well as the great good fortune live in a free America where we make our own choices and decisions about our lives and have an opportunity to be the very best we can be.
One thing I am thankful for this year is the large number of people in Jacksonville who make great sacrifices to improve the lives and circumstances of others; sometimes their neighbors, but often people who are virtual strangers. These good Samaritans are true givers who usually work in anonymity, without recognition. But of course, recognition is not what motivates them.
Perhaps as we approach Thanksgiving 2009, it might be a good time for each of us to look around, find someone who gives to others and tell them, “thanks.”
One of the things that causes me to think about this are my recent visits to a small yellow house that sits at the end of a cul de sac off Moncrief Road in North Jacksonville.
For years this neighborhood was a destination for trouble for anyone who entered. In fact, most of those who did enter only did so to either make trouble or avoid the police.
The cul de sac was just a dead end.
But, that’s before Gertrude Peele, with the help of Builders Care and others, transformed the yellow house into a safe haven for third, fourth and fifth grade at-risk girls. She turned a dead end into their “way out.”
Ms. Peele began the after school Reed Education Center in 2005 to help them pass the FCAT.
She’s had100 per cent success, and today she’s transforming lives by teaching these girls nutrition, cooking, art, gardening, computers...and even etiquette.
These young girls, who often spent their days in fear and on roads in the wrong headed in the wrong direction, are hungry and eager for the learning and life’s lessons that Ms. Peele and her staff and volunteers give them every day. Often, when they finish the program, girls return to help mentor those who’ve taken their places.
This is not the first time Ms. Peele has stepped up to transform lives. In fact, I’ve learned that she is one of Jacksonville’s transformational figures. Now in her eighties, 13 years ago she adopted a five year old boy and has raised him into a great young man.
She’s a leader as well as a good Samaritan, always moving forward and making things happen, constantly looking for partners like Builders Care while never waiting for others to do it for her.
Ms. Peele’s just one of the many people in Jacksonville who are tireless in their efforts to help others, save lives and show people headed toward a dead end that there is a way out.
This Thanksgiving, find one and say, “thanks.”
— Jim Bailey is president of Bailey Publishing & Communications Inc. and publisher of Realty/Builder Connection.