On Tuesday morning The Davis Academy 8th grade joined with their counterparts at The Marist School for the culmination of a series of meetings focused on interfaith dialogue, understanding, and community service. Blissfully unaware of what Tuesday afternoon would bring to the greater Atlanta area, students from the two schools spent the morning volunteering at Books for Africa, The Atlanta Community Food Bank, Medshare, as well as at The Davis Academy. In a few short hours they processed more than 6,000 pounds of food, 16,000 pounds of books, and 2,500 pounds of medical supplies. They prepared more than 700 sandwiches for Project Open Hand, wrote more than 500 get well, holiday, and birthday cards for area nursing homes, and jointly painted a prayer canvas with both schools’ logos that will help line the route of the upcoming Boston Marathon. It was a typically atypical morning at Davis. A day that engaged students in the kind of learning that, to paraphrase Haim Ginott, makes us ‘more human.’ Or as we put it at Davis, a day of menschlichkeit.
- These sandwiches made it to a local shelter by Tuesday night.
- Davis and Marist students join forces.
As Marist students boarded their busses the first flurries of snow were falling. Regarding the subsequent hours, each of us has a story. To the best of our knowledge all members of The Davis Academy community found safe haven by Tuesday evening, even if they weren’t in their own homes. Over the last couple of days, members of The Davis Academy administration have been privileged to hear some of the many stories of our community members. We have heard about students helping to warm stranded motorists with cups of tea. Families opening their homes to strangers who simply needed to make a phone call or use the restroom. Alumni who provided emergency medical services to individuals who were cut off from emergency vehicles. Teachers who spent the evening pushing cars up hills. From every corner of our community we have heard tales of selflessness, compassion, and bravery. We have been sacred witnesses to indescribable acts of menschlichkeit.
- Davis 8th Graders serve coffee to stranded motorists.
A recent survey of Davis Academy alumni confirms something we are very proud of here at Davis—that our graduates thrive at the high school of their choice and that they leave Davis ready for the next step. The stories you’ve shared, and the stories we hope that you will share in response to this note, help us understand what the “Davis Journey” is all about. We are helping children become mensches. It’s not just smart people, not just well-prepared people, not just well-rounded people, all of which might lead us to say ‘dayeinu’ . We are helping our children become more fully human, to become mensches. We are helping them to become leaders and mensches who see in their fellow human beings an ethical obligation—to care, to help, and to honor.
Help us understand the story of The Davis Academy in response to this week’s snowstorm by hitting reply and sharing your story. Please let us know if we have your permission to use your name in subsequent communications.
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Note: Here are a few of the responses we received after this post:
From Tamara Schwartz
Here's our
very, very unimportant story from Wednesday . . . we were very fortunate and
happy to be able to be on the giving side of the equation in this crazy time of
need all over Atlanta - very easily could have been the other say around . . .
anyway . . . happy to share with you and anyone, certainly in the context of
teaching moments.
Abby went
home with a high school friend (former Davis student) and slept there since we
couldn't get her. We had a couple of Marc's office mates sleep over at
our house since they couldn't get home (one's a Davis dad), and actually made a
delicious dinner and had a fun party. The next morning we heard that
folks were still stuck on the interstate from the day before, so since we live
relatively close, Mia and I did what a lot of other people were doing, and
headed over with food and drink (hot tea in thermoses) to hand out.
We came a
cross one lady who broke down crying when we knocked on her car door, telling
us she had been in the car since 1:30 the previous day and just couldn't take
it anymore. She took some hot tea and cereal bars, but we couldn't
convince her to leave her car and come home with us. Another guy we
managed to speak with in Spanish was in a truck with a few guys who had all
been working on nearby cell towers the day before when the storm hit, and they
were stuck in the gridlock. Honestly, I don't know if or how they were
able to understand what was going on, and I'm guessing storms like this don't
happen in their native country. He took some food, and asked for
directions to the nearest store. We saw him head the wrong way, and when
we motioned for him to turn around, he waved and kept going, toward hospitals
on the other side of the roadway. It occurred to Mia that he might not
have even had money on him to spend in a store, and that going to a public
building might have been more appealing.
Several
people seemed very happy to get a hot drink, and even to have someone new to
tell their story to, even for a just a few minutes. Many drivers just
waved and smiled, so we presume others were able to reach them earlier.
We saw a few other people out there handing out water bottles, and
officials arriving helping to move cars, so I know that we were a very, very,
very small part of a big movement across Atlanta to lend a hand.
From Tracey Baylin
Sam, myself and our beloved dog
Benny left Davis Academy at 3:55pm heading for home by route of the "well
traveled roads" rather than our usual way. Unfortunately, we
realized by 9pm that we were not going to make it home as we were now actually
further from home than when we were at the Davis Academy and the roads were
worsening. All the hotels within 50 miles, we learned, were full.
We were able to get basic food provisions for ourselves and the dog for the
night (lunchables for dinner) and the morning from Target, which closed within
15 minutes of our arrival. We then drove our car a short distance to a
hotel parking lot, where we parked and slept for the night in the car with
blankets and towels that happened to be in there. I stayed awake through
the night and ran the car for 15 minutes every hour, budgeting our gasoline
usage to be sure we could safely make it to the morning. In the morning,
I turned on my phone to discover text messages from Julie M., who lived
within 2 miles of our location. We trekked to a gas station (we now only
had 2 miles left of gasoline), filled up and crept to her home. She took
all 3 of us in, made us breakfast, provided a comfy guest room to recover, and
fun for Sam with her oldest daughter. She and her husband were
such a blessing to us. I never would have known they were close to us
without the Davis network, as my sister in law mentioned my predicament
to Shelly K., who notified Julie of our location the night before. They
were our beacon in the storm and we are forever grateful for even the 5 hours
they cared for us.
The best part about the storm was the coming together of the entire Atlanta community as one.
The best part about the storm was the coming together of the entire Atlanta community as one.
From Hilary and Brian Unell
Thanks to Davis mom Julie
Z. for going back to school at 8pm hours after she had picked up her
own children to pick up our son Harris as well as Drew and Max K. who had
been cared for by Drew Frank for several hours. Julie fed them dinner and
managed to get them to sleep as their mom and I (in separate vehicles)
finally made our way to Julie's house after double digit hours in the car from
Buckhead and Sandy Springs. Without hesitation, Julie opened her
home to our families until Thursday and no words can adequately express our
appreciation.
From Matt Barry
While driving home from
school last night in the car, I was selfish. I thought about how much my mouth
hurt due to my infected wisdom tooth and how badly I wanted to get home so I could get to Walgreen's to pick up
my medicine. I didn't slip on Ga. 400 at all, in fact I even had a small snowball
fight with a woman in another car as we chatted about the traffic. I
didn't have any troubles driving at all. It was not until I got to P'tree
Dunwoody where I saw dozens of cars slipping and sliding all over the place,
and none of them were able to get up the hill. I realized then there was no way
I could make it up Windsor Pkway if P'tree Dunwoody was that backed up and iced
over. I called my mom, asked to leave my car there, then decided to walk home
to complete my errand. I should have stayed with my mom,
and I certainly should have considered she was worried about me driving home,
but again I was selfish and I did not "think things through". I put
on my winter coat, hiking boots, winter hat, and threw on my backpack with
school work and I walked the last 1.5 miles home. I was walking up
Windsor Pkway where I noticed a truck skidding. I walked up to the guy,
told him to shift into low gear, and that I would guide him up the hill as I
pushed his truck. I pushed, slipped a few times, fell a few times, but
eventually he made it up the hill. Another car pulled up, and I did the
same thing. Three guys then came out of their house and we persisted to guide
traffic up Windsor Pkway and helped guide those turning on/off High Point for
an hour. We pushed a dozen or so cars with babies in them, women in tears, and
men who had no clue what to do. People honked at us, and one woman tried to
pass a car we were pushing and asked us why we were in the middle of the road.
It was not until one woman on her phone with her Dad completely panicked
pulled up. She was terrified. I told her to relax and that I would help
her get up the hill to get home. She was in tears. I said, look, you have no
control over the elements, plus you have a Florida plate, so I know this is a
shock to you, so let's try to work up this hill together. With her Dad on
speakerphone, window down, and after at least a half hour effort I helped push
and drive her car 100 yards up Windsor Pkway where I wished her luck getting
home. At that point, I realized my sense of time, and I hustled to Walgreen's. They were closed. I was absolutely livid. As I walked
out of the pharmacy, I wanted to be upset, but then felt I couldn't be. I saw
hundreds of more cars parked on Roswell Rd. They were in a standstill. I
left at 4:00 and got home by 8:00. I was tremendously lucky and blessed
to get home and get home safely. I felt horrible. People were on
the highways, driving North from downtown, on side roads that were twisty
and turvy People were going home to their families, worrying
about their kids, they were wondering how their kids would get home from
school, wondering IF they could get to safety. I'm sure some people
needed to go to the bathroom stuck in traffic, and truckers were stuck for over
24 hours; and I even heard of a woman giving birth in her car near 285 with the
aid of a traffic officer. After a frustrating night trying to sleep, I woke up
early the next morning. I woke up, walked to the end of the street to Walgreens. I walked in and saw three people behind the desk, so I decided to
get three $10 Starbucks cards along with my meds. I said to the Pharmacist
"I cannot thank you enough for being here, and please take one of these
cards and give the other two to the other Pharmacists for being open
today"...Seriously, how could they have driven into work on such icy and
horrible road conditions? He then asked me how I got home last night,
where I told him my "Windsor Parkway Winter Olympic Car Pushing"
sport interfering with picking up my meds...A woman behind the counter said
"What??!!!? -Windsor Parkway???- Oh My God! YOU were the one who pushed me
up Windsor Pkway last night! Thank you!" She was the woman in tears. and
she has been my pharmacist for years. --- The world is an interesting place and
I really wished I could understand it...
From Susan Jay
I started up Roberts Rd. and it was iced over so I had to
turn around. I then got on Spaulding where I didn’t move for 5 hours. It was
total gridlock. I started to panic some as I heard other people say that they
couldn’t move. It turns dark and it’s icing over. Jodi H. calls me to see how
I’m doing and I start to cry and tell her where I am because it’s dark. An hour
later I move three mailboxes up the street and I see the sign, Chamblee
Dunwoody to the left. So Jodi calls a nearby Davis family because I was close
to them. As I’m driving my car spins in the middle of the road. Cars are going
on both sides and no one is helping me. I get out of the car crying, “Can
someone please help me?” Meanwhile, the Davis family is wondering where I am
and their father starts walking up the street to find me when he hears me
yelling for help. He comes and rescues me, drives my car to his house, and I
spend the night there. I eat breakfast and lunch there on Wednesday. And then,
on Wednesday the father drove me home to Buckhead, and then walked a mile to
Marta to return home. Jodi and this family were my guardian angels.
From Joan Blumenfeld
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