MLILY Mattresses in Americus, GA

From Staff Reports

AMERICUS – South Georgia Technical College Accounts Receivable Technician Gloria Bell is retiring. Not only has she worked at South Georgia Tech for over 15-years, she also had the experience of being a student in a number of programs before and while she worked at the college.

Bell expressed her gratitude to the college and her coworkers as well as the students and the parents she worked with during that time. “I have enjoyed it all,” she laughed. “God is so good. I was not really looking for a job when the opportunity opened up. All I can say is this was the Lord’s doing. I appreciate my co-workers and I feel like we are more like family.”

Her SGTC family paid tribute to her and presented her with a plaque for her years of service at a special retirement celebration recently. They shared food and laughter and wished her the best in her next phase.

Bell has been working since she was 16 years old. She started out washing dishes in the Hungry Man Restaurant. She worked her way up to a few other jobs before settling down and spending over 25-years at Davidson-Textron or Collins and Aikman before the plant closed. She was the Stockroom Lead Person/Supervisor.

After her time there ended, she tried a few other things before coming to school at South Georgia Technical College. She was one of the first students in the Culinary Arts program when it began under former instructor and now Academic Dean David Finley. She is also a Business and Office Technology graduate. She was a work study student in Mrs. Edith Ann Greene’s classes when the Lord blessed her a full-time job at South Georgia Tech. She is also a graduate of the SGTC Cosmetology program.

“I was in the mail room, when former SGTC business office employee Gloria Spence approached me and said I think we have a job you need to apply for. I told her I wasn’t really looking for a job and that I was on the way to my work study job. She persisted that I needed to apply. She gave me an application and asked me to turn it in that day,” said Bell.

Gloria Bell said it had been a long time since she had filled out an application or applied for a job so she asked Mrs. Annita Barron to help her with her resume. She also needed three references. Mrs. Barron agreed to be a reference and at that moment, two other instructors, Andrea Ingram and Donna Lawrence walked in and agreed to be the other two references.

“This was the Lord’s doing,” said Gloria Bell. “He wanted me to have this job and now 15 years and six months later, I think he has other plans for me.” In fact, Bell said the Lord sent her a husband. She and her fiancé are scheduled to be married in September this year. They had dated when they were younger and even though she wasn’t looking for a husband, the Lord sent him to her door one Saturday afternoon.

“God is good, if you just believe,” said Gloria Bell. “He has looked after me and provided what I needed when I needed it.” She is taking that faith with her into retirement. And even though she is not sure exactly what the future holds, she knows God has a plan.

“I really enjoyed my time at South Georgia Technical College,” said Bell. “I finally had a peace about six months ago that it was time for me to retire. However, I told my supervisor what I would stay until June 30 to help with year end and train my replacement.”

She is a woman of her word and has done that. Now she is preparing for her wedding and a new future. “I tell everyone that South Georgia Tech is great. I learned a lot being a student here and working here. It is a good environment but it is also what you make it.”

Bell also shared that “a student can come out here and learn and apply themselves and find a great career or job.” In fact, she brought her grandson to college with her and convinced him to sign up for the SGTC Air Conditioning Technology program. He is a student in Johnny Griffin’s program and doing well.

She has encouraged other individuals to attend South Georgia Technical College and has been recognized by parents and students for her helpfulness in the business office. She is one of the first faces students see when they come to pay their tuition each semester.

“I have enjoyed my time here and I am going to miss everyone but I still hope to come back for different things and catch up,” laughed Bell.

Bell has two sons and one daughter, Maurice, Keith, and Tiffany. She has a granddaughter, Mia, and a grandson Keith Bell, Jr. Her three sisters have also been familiar faces at SGTC with Gloria. They are Barbara Jones, Louise Wilkerson, and Jacqueline Stewart.

Even though Gloria Bell is retiring, she would like to encourage others to explore South Georgia Technical College. “I am so glad the Lord put me here and I am truly grateful and thankful for the time he allowed me to spend here. This is a great place to learn and grow.”

AMERICUS, Ga. (WALB) - Businesses have been thriving in Americus as they bounce back after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s because one owner decided he wanted to put back into the community to keep the businesses up and running.

Chuck Smith, the owner of the Maze, decided to do more than just help himself, but others in the Americus community.

“When the pandemic hit, we were down for five weeks and after we came back up, our local restaurants were struggling to get on their feet. They were serving only pickup and delivery,” Smith said.

Smith came up with a way to help other businesses. If people ate at local Americus-based restaurants and keep their receipts, in exchange, they would get 20% off his furniture.

Pat Spann, the owner of Pat’s Place, has seen first-hand how it only takes one person in the community to create change. Pat’s Place is just one business that has benefited from this project.

“Chuck has been sending people our way for years and years, so I’ve always appreciated that. He is a real advocate for this city, and he is quite a spokesperson. I didn’t even know he was doing that until sometime after he started,” Spann said.

Smith told WALB that sales peaked at above 50% during the pandemic, but now they are steady and still collecting more receipts.

“Oh yes, it’s absolutely working. I walk into a lot of the restaurants and the owners tell me thank you. And that’s all I need for gratification, is that I know that they are still thriving and growing and that our community is growing. A lot of people in town have fun with it,” Smith said.

Smith is making sure other business owners get the support they need.

“As a whole, if we don’t support our community and appreciate it, nobody else is. So, I like to point out the good things we have, and local restaurants are one of them,” Smith said.

The idea started during the COVID-19 pandemic when many local businesses were struggling.

The owner’s next goal is to achieve 1,000 receipts to keep Americus growing. So far, they’ve got 843.

Smith said he is not done just yet and wants to find more creative ways to continue growing local businesses.

“I’m just anxious to see what we can do to continue to grow this community. We are very fortunate to have an intact downtown, we have people who love our community, and out-of-towners seem to receive our community well,” Smith said.

Spann described what the support from Snith and the community means to him.

“Flattered to hear that people have been to us and have had a good experience and then come back. And it’s always flattering to me to hear from these people who are out of town or visiting relatives,” Spann said.

Hunting is very popular here in Southwest Georgia, which adds to the foot traffic of people supporting local businesses.

“We have a lot of hunters that come up to this area to hunt, and they have made a regular thing of coming down to see us, and that is because of what Chuck did,” Spann said.

Smith said that he will continue to monitor the receipts and continue eating out so that he can help as many local restaurants as possible.

Copyright 2023 WALB. All rights reserved.

AMERICUS, Ga. (WALB) - Despite today’s rain, the 6th annual Americus Hot Glass Craft Beer Festival once again brought in breweries from all over, and as always, visitors get to enjoy the work of unique artists.

The festival features a technique called glassblowing. The glass is heated to 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit and then set to cool to drink craft beer.

“Coming back to this event where I get to work with a lot of different artists from a lot of different backgrounds. We’ve traveled here from the D.C. area, so coming to Americus to blow glass was really fun,” Philip Valencia, owner of Valencia Glass, said.

A unique aspect that makes this festival stand out from the rest, is the partnership with Mobile Glassblowing Studios right in their backyard.

“This is Georgia’s only, one of the few Georgia-only craft brewery festivals. Everyone here is from Georgia which is very unique and cool because we have a lot of great breweries. It’s really fun because Americus is one of the epicenters for glassblowing in the United States,” Corey Flegel, CEO of Pretoria Fields, said.

Valencia is a glassblowing artist himself and says having quality grades of glass and networking with others is what brought him to the festival.

“Coming back to this hometown for Mobile Glassblowing Studios brings a lot of business to Americus but also what’s coming out of Americus and going all over the country really makes careers possible for people all over,” Valencia said.

The festival brought 32 demo artists, seven furnaces and even some students from Georgia Southwestern State University, who were learning the industry, as well.

“It brings in people from all over the state of Georgia. We have great attendance, I don’t remember what the final number was today, but we are actually still selling tickets at the door. Even the rain isn’t keeping them away,” Jennifer English, Program Coordinator at Americus Main Street, said.

The city hopes to bring new artists to this event and encourage people to support both locally-owned breweries and glassblowers in order to put on the event next year.

Copyright 2023 WALB. All rights reserved.

PLAINS, Ga. — The people of Plains, Jimmy Carter’s hometown, are sharing their favorite stories about him.

There is one famous place down the road that’s even more famous because of him.

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Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen was live in the City of Americus at the Windsor Hotel. Part of the Victorian hotel was named in Carter’s honor.

You know how lots of places are famous because George Washington slept there? Well, just down the road from Plains, Jimmy Carter slept “here.”

Steve Short with the Americus Welcome Center calls it the icon of downtown Americus.

“You can Google Americus, Georgia and the first images you see are the Windsor Hotel,” said Short.

He takes visitors on tours of what looks like a Victorian palace built in 1892 when Americus was the eighth largest city in the state.

The famous and the infamous have stayed here as well.

“They say that Al Capone has stayed there. He had his own private security guard at the foot of the stairs leading up to the suite back in the day,” said Short.

In this day, the Windsor is known for the beloved guests who were here one night in Nov. 2002. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter stayed in what is known as the presidential suite.

It’s so special, Channel 2 was not allowed inside the suite unless we booked it, but images from the hotels website show what it looks like.

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“The story goes that President and Mrs. Carter had never spent the night at the Windsor Hotel. The previous owner, Mr. Patel, wanted them to spend the night so he could officially say the Carters had stayed at the Windsor. After they did, once President and Mrs. Carter stayed there, they named it the Carter Presidential Suite,” said Short.

If you’d like to stay in the Carter Presidential Suite—tonight—you can. You can book the room for $293.

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IN OTHER NEWS:

AMERICUS, Ga., Feb. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Habitat for Humanity International and the One Sumter Economic Development Foundation today closed on a deal that will give way to Americus' largest community park. Slated to break ground in April, the park will include a 35,000 square foot amphitheater – one of the largest in the region, a dog park, a children's playground and lots of open space.

"The park's location in city center helps bring life to the design, which is intended to foster and infuse a sense of vibrancy, cultural awareness, connectivity and engagement in the community," said Alicia Ledbetter, executive director of the One Sumter Economic Development Foundation. "We hope it will become a key music and arts destination across the region that will shape and define Americus for generations to come."

The new park was most recently home to Habitat for Humanity International's Global Village and Discovery Center (GVDC), which permanently closed its doors in 2020 at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The GVDC was an outdoor museum built in 2003 that was created to help educate people about the global need for adequate housing. Visitors could take a self-guided tour around the park and explore varying life-size types of housing structures commonly found in developing nations. During the first year of operation, Habitat welcomed two of the museums most famous visitors, President Jimmy Carter and Stephen Colbert, who was filming on-location for the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

One Sumter decided to name the music and art park after Reverend Pearly Brown, an influential guitarist and singer pegged as one of America's last great street performers of the post-civil rights era. Blind from birth, Brown's family relocated from Abbeville, Georgia to Americus when he was a young child.

Brown's unique sound—holy blues—and mastery of the bottleneck portion of his six-string resonator guitar helped create a sound that would later influence various musical genres spanning gospel, blues, country and traditional African American folksongs. Undeterred by his disability, Brown performed in cities across Georgia. He was one of the first Black musicians to perform at the Grand Ole Opry and Carnegie Hall. For his musical contributions, Brown was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2010.

"Naming the park after was a no brainer," Ledbetter said. "He brought the community together with the gift of music and we believe the park will help carry that legacy forward."

Driven by the vision that everyone needs a decent place to live, Habitat for Humanity found its earliest inspirations as a grassroots movement on an interracial community farm in south . Since its founding in 1976, the Christian housing organization has since grown to become a leading global nonprofit working in local communities across all 50 states in the U.S. and in more than 70 countries. Families and individuals in need of a hand up partner with Habitat for Humanity to build or improve a place they can call home. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. Through financial support, volunteering or adding a voice to support affordable housing, everyone can help families achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build better lives for themselves. Through shelter, we empower. To learn more, visit .

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