Charity Shoe Drive Kicks Off a Saturday of Giving

Most of us have more than we need and should be thankful for our lives’ abundance. Smyrna-based 40 Girls and Some Shoes nonprofit organization is asking you to step outside your box and become aware of their heartfelt cause on Saturday.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 40 Girls and Some Shoes will be holding their “Step Into Fall Shoe Giveaway” at the Smyrna Community Center Gymnasium. The organization’s goal is to help women, men, and children in need take that “all-important first step into a new life by providing them with new and gently worn shoes.”

Smyrna residents in need are invited to come and choose a new pair of shoes to put their best foot forward. Entertainment and refreshments will also be provided. New shoes can provide a self-esteem boost to a needy child at the beginning of the school year or to a parent heading to a job interview.

As their website says, “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”

40 Girls and Some Shoes gladly welcomes donations from retailers, groups and individuals via shoe drives and/or their website. Please check the 40 Girls and Some Shoes website for their next shoe drive or to give monetary donations.

There are numerous other ways to give on Saturday, as well. The Smyrna Public Safety Foundation’s first Standing Together Benevolent Motorcycle Ride and Raffle benefitting injured Smyrna police officer Jed Minyard begins at 10 a.m. with registration at the

The ride revs up at 11 a.m. with a 40-mile motorcycle ride through Cobb and Paulding counties. The ride will be followed by a picnic at Cobb Park.

Participation in the ride costs $20 per motorcycle and $10 for each additional passenger excluding the driver. Lunch following the ride costs $5. Event t-shirts are available for $10. Admission to the event includes entrance into a raffle. Prizes include a 2012 Harley Davidson Street Glide, a one-week vacation at a Panama City Beach condo and a Luminox Black Out watch such as the type worn by Navy SEALs.

Proceeds from the event benefit Jed Minyard, a Smyrna police officer who was injured in an on-duty motorcycle accident in November 2010. Shortly after the accident, Minyard and his wife Ashley learned that they were expecting their first child. Minyard has undergone several surgeries, but still needs a wheelchair to get around. His injuries have kept him from returning to work.

Tickets for the event can be purchased online or at Earl Small’s Harley Davidson, C-COM 911 or Smyrna Fire Station No. 1. Only 1,500 tickets will be sold.

Cruise over to in Smyrna Saturday morning for Cars and Coffee, a Daily Drive to Survive fundraiser benefitting Cars and Coffee for a Worthy Cause, a non-profit dedicated to brain tumor research, brain cancer and brain injury prevention in the United States.

Panera Bread will provide coffee and pastries. Enter your vehicle into a car show or test-drive a Wade Ford. There will be music and entertainment all day.

Event registration begins at 8 a.m. with car show sign-in at 9 a.m. A $35 donation is required to attend. The first 100 guests receive a free t-shirt.

Down the road in Vinings, is hosting a Save the Hooch benefit in conjunction with the Upper Chattahoochee River Keeper and Sweetwater Brewing Company. The party kicks off at 1 p.m. Canoe’s Chef Carvel Grant Gould will serve barbecue made with ingredients from local farms and Canoe’s own garden. Sweetwater will serve its signature brews. Advance tickets are $25 and include barbecue, a live musical performance, Sweetwater beer and a one-year membership and donation to UCR. Admission is $30 at the door. 

Saturday night, enjoy cocktails, cupcakes and hors d’oeuvres at the  benefit at at 6 p.m. There will be performances by Leon Trimbo and other jazz artists. The proceeds from this event benefit the American Cancer Society and AIDS research in Atlanta. A minimum $20 donation is required to attend.

Patch writers Sydney Busby and Jennifer Duncan contributed to this report.