By Donna CorneliusSome churches have bake sales. Others have fellowship dinners. But there aren’t many church events that involve making 12,000 stuffed grape leaves. At St. Elias Maronite Catholic Church in downtown Birmingham, volunteers have to cook enough food to feed the thousands who attend its annual Lebanese Food and Culture Festival. This year’s 18th annual … [Read more...]
Let the Sunshine In: Birmingham Start-Up Ready to Bring Solar Power to Homes, Businesses
By Sarah Kuper Brought together by business and then brought closer by friendship, Sam Yates and Rob Ozols have formed a company that may help change the way Alabamians power their lives. With backgrounds in engineering and law, Yates and Ozols are using skills from previous careers to pursue a passion for user-friendly energy sources. Yates and Ozols founded Vulcan Solar … [Read more...]
Sharing the Way: Second Annual Homeschoolers Fair Highlights Growing Community
By Sarah KuperThis past Valentine's Day, a group of educators organized one of the largest Valentine exchanges in the state. The party was thrown by Birmingham Homeschoolers and it was an opportunity for area home school families to get together, have fun and be creative. Kristy Trent is the coordinator for Birmingham Homeschoolers. She home-schools her four children … [Read more...]
Knight School: Former Teacher Turns Chess Club Into a Weekly Chess Party
By Rae Patterson David Brooks is widely known in the Over the Mountain community as “Coach Brooks,” founder and head of the chess academy called The Knight School. The Knight School has won more than 20 state championships, and it is all because of Brooks’ revolutionary fun approach to chess. Brooks has parlayed his method of teaching chess using puzzles and other fun … [Read more...]
Camp Straight Street: Celebrating 20 Years of Moments and Memories
By June Mathews For Jonathan Owen, camp isn’t just a summertime experience; it’s a fall, winter and springtime experience, too. “My life has been camp for the past 20 years,” he said. “I actually grew up at camp.”It all started when Jonathan’s dad, Herb, founded Camp Straight Street in 1996. At the time, Herb served as the children’s minister at Shades Mountain … [Read more...]