Amazing Georgians: Meet these Everyday Heroes

Yet, somehow, you teach yourself to paint. You capture beautiful scenes recreated from your memory. Inspired to help others, you form a support group for other visually impaired adults so that they, too, can pursue their true passions – and rediscover their love for life.

Imagine battling depression.

For more than a year, all you want to do is sleep. Then, one day, determined to make a better life for you and your son, you begin to slowly reclaim what was lost. Inspired to help others, you write a book about your experiences and form a nonprofit that works with children on overcoming obstacles.

Imagine you’re a police officer.

As you patrol your city by bike, your heart begins to ache for those less fortunate. Inspired to help others, you begin collecting and repairing old bicycles, surprising deserving children during the holidays. Along the way, you provide a glimpse of behind-the-scenes police work most of us never know.

This is what it looks like to make a difference.

It’s part of a special project we’re calling Everyday Heroes, and beginning today, we’re sharing the remarkable stories of 55 inspiring Georgians.

Some were stirred by tragedy. Others were motivated by lifelong passions, childhood experiences and chance encounters with folks who simply needed a helping hand. They’re men and women; young and old; and come from all walks of life.

Yet, in ways big and small, each is making this region we call home a better place in which to live, and they remind us all that acts of kindness are never random.

Over the next several weeks, we’ll celebrate their accomplishments and offer ways that you can help.

You can meet all these inspiring Georgians by visiting AJC.com. Today, you’ll also find a special ePaper section that celebrates their dedication. And between now and the end of the year, we’ll share some of their stories each day in our printed newspaper.

Along the way, you’ll hear from the kayaker with Down syndrome who will travel to Berlin over the summer. He’s one of only three Georgians chosen to represent Team USA in the Special Olympics. His spirit inspires us all.

You’ll learn more about the elementary school teacher who was astonished at the number of homeless students. Moved by their plight, she decided to do her small part by collecting toiletries, clothing and school supplies.

You’ll see how you can help the daughter of a Marine who worried that our country’s bravest were dying alone. She’s now a hospice employee on a mission to brighten the final days of our veterans.

What better time to share these stories with you than over the holidays?

And what better way to honor these ordinary people who are accomplishing extraordinary feats?

There’s the woman whose love for animals inspired her to resurrect a no-kill shelter. Surviving entirely on donations, she’s trying to save as many animals as she can – including those that are maimed or severely injured.

The two high school seniors who came to this country years ago and wanted to help other immigrants navigate their new home. Today, they’re relying on help from high school and college students who speak multiple languages.

And the general and artistic director of The Atlanta Opera, who transformed a once sleepy company into one of our city’s gems. During the pandemic, when opera companies and other arts organizations across the world fell silent, he found a way to keep us entertained, drawing on lessons from the Great Depression and World War II.

Just as the 55 people we’re profiling can’t do it alone, nor can we.

That’s why we worked closely with our news partners to bring you this collection of uplifting stories.

By now, you’ve heard quite a bit about our network of partnerships.

It began in April 2021, with a simple question: How can we do a better job of covering metro Atlanta and its diverse tapestry of cities and neighborhoods, religions and cultures, ethnicities and races?

The answer, we thought, might be found in working together with other news organizations, even those that we once viewed as competitors.

Today, we have more than 24 news partners.

We’re working together with Southern Community Newspapers, the Marietta Daily Journal and Reporter Newspapers. We’re partnering with other trusted news organizations, such as Atlanta Civic Circle, ArtsATL, Capital B, the Reckoning, the Georgia Asian Times and Inside Climate News. And we’re nurturing the next generation of journalists, such as those with Fresh Take Georgia at Kennesaw State University and the Covering Poverty project at the University of Georgia.

This bold experiment has not only helped us – and our partners – to cover the news, but it has also allowed us to fulfill our mission of celebrating our region’s moments, milestones and people.

That’s exactly what we hope to do with our Everyday Heroes project.

Without the contributions of our partners, a project as ambitious as Everyday Heroes wouldn’t be possible. And that means some of these stories might have otherwise gone untold.

Stories such as the college student who hopes to ease the hardships of homelessness, one backpack at a time. The three sisters who have never forgotten the organization they credit with helping their mom rebound from cancer. The guardian angel who provided more than 40,000 free rapid COVID-19 tests to Black residents in the greater Atlanta area during the pandemic.

And so many more.

We hope you enjoy these uplifting stories, particularly in these tumultuous times.

We hope they brighten your holidays and make you feel more connected to your community and to your neighbors.

And we hope that maybe, just maybe, they will motivate you to come up with your own small way to make a big difference in the lives of others.