An employee takes to-go orders at the Chick-Fil-A in McCalla, Ala. (Ameera Steward, For The Birmingham Times)
MAX bus driver in downtown Birmingham on the job in midst of COVID-19 health crisis. (MARVIN GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Executive Chef Cliff Holt of the Little Savannah Restaurant & Bar in Forest Park works to make sure that nurses, doctors and other front line workers are fed. (MARVIN GENTRY FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES
Executive Chef Cliff Holt of the Little Savannah Restaurant & Bar in Forest Park works to make sure that nurses, doctors and other front line workers are fed. (MARVIN GENTRY FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES
Few have given as much as medical professionals who spend countless hours on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. (MARVIN CROSKEY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Few have given as much as medical professionals who spend countless hours on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. (MARVIN CROSKEY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Kris Possien, employee at the Panera Bread in Greystone. (Ameera Steward, For The Birmingham Times)
Damin Anderson provides nutrition during KikStart Inc.’s visit to Elyton Village near downtown Birmingham. (Marvin Gentry, For The Birmingham Times)
Myesha Hudson provides nutrition during KikStart Inc.’s visit to residents near downtown Birmingham. (Marvin Gentry, For The Birmingham Times)
Myesha Hudson provides nutrition during KikStart Inc.’s visit to residents near downtown Birmingham. (Marvin Gentry, For The Birmingham Times)
Myesha Hudson provides nutrition during KikStart Inc.’s visit to residents near downtown Birmingham. (Marvin Gentry, For The Birmingham Times)
Mail carrier Ramone Sims delivers in downtown Birmingham. (MARVIN GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMIGHAM TIMES)
Mail carrier Ramone Sims delivers in downtown Birmingham. (MARVIN GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMIGHAM TIMES)
Mail carrier Ramone Sims delivers in downtown Birmingham. (MARVIN GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMIGHAM TIMES)
Mail carrier Ramone Sims delivers in downtown Birmingham. (MARVIN GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMIGHAM TIMES)
Chalk drawing located on a wall near UAB hospital. (Marvin Gentry Photo, For The Birmingham Times)
Chalk drawing located on a wall near UAB hospital. (Marvin Gentry Photo, For The Birmingham Times).
Downtown Homewood
Volunteers gathered at the Birmingham
Urban League in downtown to collect groceries, toiletries, pampers and other
items to help families of single parents with three or more children. (MARVIN
GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Volunteers gathered at the Birmingham
Urban League in downtown to collect groceries, toiletries, pampers and other
items to help families of single parents with three or more children. (MARVIN
GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Birmingham Urban League President and CEO William Barnes, left, and Jefferson County District 2 Commissioner Sheila Tyson, right, on hand to help with the deliveries to low-income families. (Marvin Gentry, For The Birmingham Times)
Volunteers gathered at the Birmingham
Urban League in downtown to collect groceries, toiletries, pampers and other
items to help families of single parents with three or more children. (MARVIN
GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Volunteers gathered at the Birmingham
Urban League in downtown to collect groceries, toiletries, pampers and other
items to help families of single parents with three or more children. (MARVIN
GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Volunteers gathered at the Birmingham
Urban League in downtown to collect groceries, toiletries, pampers and other
items to help families of single parents with three or more children. (MARVIN
GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Volunteers gathered at the Birmingham
Urban League in downtown to collect groceries, toiletries, pampers and other
items to help families of single parents with three or more children. (MARVIN
GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Volunteers gathered at the Birmingham
Urban League in downtown to collect groceries, toiletries, pampers and other
items to help families of single parents with three or more children. (MARVIN
GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Volunteers gathered at the Birmingham
Urban League in downtown to collect groceries, toiletries, pampers and other
items to help families of single parents with three or more children. (MARVIN
GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Volunteers gathered at the Birmingham
Urban League in downtown to collect groceries, toiletries, pampers and other
items to help families of single parents with three or more children. (MARVIN
GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Birmingham Police Officer Lane Harper
wears mask supporting law enforcement. The officer was downtown in Linn Park last week giving out free masks to members of the public. (MARVIN GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Birmingham Police Officer Lane Harper
wears mask supporting law enforcement. The officer was downtown in Linn Park last week giving out free masks to members of the public. (MARVIN GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Birmingham Police Officer Lane Harper
wears mask supporting law enforcement. The officer was downtown in Linn Park last week giving out free masks to members of the public. (MARVIN GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Birmingham Police Officer Lane Harper
wears mask supporting law enforcement. The officer was downtown in Linn Park last week giving out free masks to members of the public. (MARVIN GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Darlene Drake helps prepares meals for Birmingham City School students while volunteering at Carver High School. (Marvin Gentry, For The Birmingham Times)
Veronica Moore (left) and Edith Atmore help prepares meals for Birmingham City School students while volunteering at Carver High School. (Marvin Gentry, For The Birmingham Times)
Darlene Drake (left) and Susan Moss help prepares meals for Birmingham City School students while volunteering at Carver High School. (Marvin Gentry, For The Birmingham Times)
Veronica Moore helps prepares meals for Birmingham City School students while volunteering at Carver High School. (Marvin Gentry, For The Birmingham Times)
Vanessa Williams helps prepares meals for Birmingham City School students while volunteering at Carver High School. (Marvin Gentry, For The Birmingham Times)
Volunteers gathered at the Birmingham
Urban League in downtown to collect groceries, toiletries, pampers and other
items to help families of single parents with three or more children. (MARVIN
GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Birmingham City Refuse collectors, Ensley District, Patrick Diggins (left) and Jordan Miles (right). (AMARR CROSKEY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Birmingham City Refuse collector Jordan Miles loads waste onto the truck. (AMARR CROSKEY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Birmingham Public Refuse Collectors Patrick Diggins (left) and Jordan Miles (right) in the Ensley District. (AMARR CROSKEY PHOTO, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
From left, Birmingham Public Refuse Workers from the Ensley District, Jordan Miles, Charles Carroll and Patrick Diggins. (AMARR CROSKEY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Birmingham Public Refuse Works, Ensley District, Patrick Diggins (left) and Jordan Miles. (AMARR CROSKEY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Birmingham City Refuse collectors, Ensley District, Patrick Diggins (left) and Jordan Miles (right). (AMARR CROSKEY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Donna Dukes, founder of The Maranathan Academy, boxes at least a month’s worth of food for students from Maranathan Academy who are at home. (AMARR CROSKEY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Donna Dukes, founder of The Maranathan Academy, disinfects food packages ahead of delivery to students from Maranathan Academy who are at home. (AMARR CROSKEY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Donna Dukes, founder of The Maranathan Academy, boxes at least a month’s worth of food for students from Maranathan Academy who are at home. (AMARR CROSKEY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Susan Simon prepares snacks that will be included in food boxes for students at Maranathan Academy. (AMARR CROSKEY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Susan Simon prepares snacks that will be included in food boxes for students at Maranathan Academy. (AMARR CROSKEY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Business owner and fashion designer Heidi Elnora. (MARVIN GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Business owner and fashion designer Heidi Elnora. (MARVIN GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Business owner Heidi Elnora (seated) with dedicated volunteers, her uncle and aunt, John and Rebecca Recke, Jefferson County school teachers, have provided more than 20,000 masks to people on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. (MARVIN GENTRY, FOR THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES)
Heidi Elnora could have closed her bridal shop in downtown Birmingham when the COVID-19 pandemic hit but decided to open her heart instead.
She used her fashion design skills and joined with a group of area seamstresses and teachers to make more than 15,000 masks for health care professionals, grocery store workers, police and firemen, truck drivers and others.
Saluting her volunteers, Elnora said, ““It’s really beautiful to see how many people are really good people that just want to serve and do good stuff,” she said.
Donna Dukes, founder and executive director of Maranathan Family Learning Center & Academy, a private school for critically at-risk youth in Birmingham’s Southside, mourned after a school counselor lost a family member to COVID-19.
There have been other challenges but that hasn’t stopped Dukes and a team of volunteers from distributing food to students from Pleasant Grove to Center Point to Collegeville and across the entire county.
“We are coping by way of faith, … thanking God that things are not worse than they already are, and believing God for deliverance,” she said. “And in times when we might feel really overwhelmed, we remind ourselves to look forward to better times.”
Because of Elnora and Dukes and countless others in the Birmingham metro area there is reason to be optimistic. Those volunteers in this community along with doctors, nurses, public safety, chefs, mail carriers, cashiers, sanitation workers, delivery drivers, bank tellers, convenient and gas station employees, day care providers and many more have been brave during this pandemic.
“We hear about all these negative things in the world and sometimes believe the world is bad, but there is a lot of good—and this is just a gentle reminder of how much good there really is,” Elnora said.
