Bar Rentals & Bartender Staffing inAcworth, GA

Government workers in Cherokee County are working together to help make sure families have access to food and other basic supplies. Twenty-five workers from seven different departments worked together to build a Little Free Food Pantry in an underserved community, just in time for the holiday season.

"We care a lot about this county," EMA Director Daniel Westbrook said.

Cherokee County employees from fire and emergency services, community development, the sheriff's office, human resources, and more all came together as part of a leadership class. Part of the program involved a community service project.

"We had a few different suggestions, and I made the suggestion that we create and place a pantry. It's called a Little Free Food Pantry, and it's an outside pantry that you can put donations in," HR Director Kathy Lambert said.

After the team picked a project, they had to find the best place to put it. They worked with MUST Ministries to identify a location.

"It's a big county, and we have a lot of people inside the county, so we wanted to pick a good location that was going to have a benefit from the pantry." said Kevin Lanier, the deputy chief of operations for the Cherokee County Fire Department. "We loaded up in the car, we went around town, we visited several locations we thought might be a good place."

Ultimately, they landed on the Greater Church on Bells Ferry Road in Acworth. Each person on the team used their skills to make it happen. Like Paul Laney, the director of building and development services for the county.

"I got a pantry donated that we could kind of work on as a group to finish putting it together." he said, "We painted it, roofed it, detailed it, put signs on it and stuff - so just kind of put it all together that way.

After working together to build it, they went to set it up, and one team member learned of an even deeper connection to the project.

"We pull up, and I realize not only is this where this food pantry is, I had actually gone to this church as a child and I had no idea. And it was kind of emotional just to see it from an adult's perspective. Seeing this food pantry and the help it was going to bring to this community, and knowing the area … that was a really big deal." Tiffany Ball from the sheriff's office said.

They want this pantry to be a place where anyone can get help.

"This pantry is available 24/7. And so you have someone who might not be willing to knock on the door, but they don't have to with this pantry. They can walk by and get a meal to feed their family or themselves," Lanier said.

"It's a great time, and we have a lot of people in that area who are in need right now, it's starting to get cold outside and we've got Thanksgiving around the corner and Christmas, and we're hoping people can get food and things for their family so they can have a great holiday meal," Lambert said.

It's a project for this group that shows that even when they're not serving their community at work, they're still working to support everyone's needs.

"We want to just find every way possible to serve our citizens and make sure they have all of their needs met. Sometimes that's difficult, but we want to do it as steadfastly as we can." Westbrook said.

"I hope Cherokee County citizens know they're surrounded by a community that genuinely does care about them," Ball said.

What if you threw a big party and no one showed up? That's what happened to a business owner in Acworth when she held a 10-year anniversary celebration. She's blaming the no-shows on the postal service.

"We were so excited we had been here in Acworth for 10 years. We had food, drinks, decorations, we were doing some big giveaways," said Rhonda Brummett, owner of Celestial Jewelers.

Brummett says the store had a 9th anniversary party last year. She says hundreds of people showed up, the store made tens of thousands of dollars in sales, and she was expecting this year to be even better.

Brummett says for the 10th anniversary celebration she spent about $1,000 on the set-up and 1,000 promotional cards that she says were mailed to her clients.

But she says no one knew about the party because no one received an invitation.

"I was very disheartened. I reached out to a lot of my clients, and they had no idea," said Brummett.

Brummett believes those invitations are somewhere with all the other mail that is missing because of the problems with the Atlanta GA Processing and Distribution Center in Palmetto. That's the facility that was built to streamline the process.

USPS updates Atlanta mail delays

Missing, delayed mail woes continue

Hard questions for the postal officials after complaints of mail being delayed or missing. Georgia's U.S. senators are now demanding answers from the USPS.

FOX 5 reached out to the US Postal Service to ask for an update on the problems.

A spokesperson for the USPS sent a statement that reads in part:

"Operations are improving as we continue to make significant investments in the Atlanta area, including new sorting machines, upgraded facilities and more efficient transportation, that will help ensure our organization can provide reliable delivery services for years to come."

As a small business owner, Brummett does not have a big advertising budget, so she relies on the mail system as the best way to get the word out about special promotions.

"We have over 12,000 people in our database, I can't just pick up the phone and call them," said Brummett.

She says she knows other small businesses are in the same boat.

"I think there's going to be a lot of other businesses struggling because we can't get the word out," said Brummett.

Cleveland, Ohio, Dec. 04, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Compass Self Storage, a member of the Amsdell family of companies, proudly announces the opening of their brand new state-of-the-art, Class A self storage center located at 848 Seven Hills Connector in Acworth, Georgia. This location has over 70,000 net rentable square feet and represents the company’s 18th location in the state of Georgia.

The newest Compass Self Storage location offers smart lock units on every unit. Customers can use an app on their smartphone (or a key fob) to access the smart lock on their unit, and they never have to remember to bring a key. They can also securely provide access to designated family or contacts that may need to visit the unit.

Compass Self Storage in Acworth offers all climate-controlled units and features a covered loading bay area to help customers load and unload during any type of weather. This storage center also has individual unit access control, 24-hour digital surveillance, a full line of boxes and packing supplies and offers truck rental right on site.

“Our newly constructed storage center in Acworth, Georgia leverages the latest access technology to help our customers access their secure units effortlessly. We believe this will, just like offering truck rental and moving and packing supplies on site – will help improve the moving and storing experience for our customers. We are excited to expand our service area in Atlanta to include Acworth, where we see opportunity to help the growing number of residents and commercial businesses,” stated Todd Amsdell, President and CEO.

Compass Self Storage offers a full line of moving and packing supplies, as well as moving service options. Compass Self Storage strives to make the storage experience streamlined and stress free by employing knowledgeable team members who help guide the customer through the entire process. Compass Self Storage has over 100 locations nationwide.

The above-mentioned development was completed by separate affiliates of Amsdell Group, LLC and Compass Self Storage, LLC. The Amsdell family of companies (Amsdell Companies) is headquartered in Cleveland, OH. Amsdell draws its roots from the family owned construction company founded in 1928 and has since been active in several billions of dollars’ worth of real estate ventures with a primary focus on self storage. As industry pioneers, Amsdell has owned and operated over 500 storage centers under various trade names in over 27 states. With over 85 years of doing business, the Amsdell team has extensive experience in property acquisition, construction and property management. Please visit www.amsdellcompanies.com and www.compassselfstorage.com for more information.

###

Attachments

The business is currently on Acworth's historic Main Street, which once served as the community's primary business district.

More Videos

ACWORTH, Ga. — In the heart of Acworth, you'll find a store called Two LiRu Antiques & Decor -- at least for now.

The second you walk in, the walls are filled with trinkets, vintage signs, and posters. The rooms are full of memorabilia, vinyl records, clothing, jewelry, coins, and more. If you walk downstairs, you may find things scarier than what you can find at a Halloween store and yes, even a casket.

It's 9,000 square feet of antiques. Or, as customer George Delalla says, "It's full of nostalgia."

"It gives a reflection of the past, the present, and what you may want to do for the future on collecting or just buying products in here," he said.

But when he walked into the store Thursday morning, Delalla was met with unexpected news.

"I drove by and I made a U-turn and came in here and I said, 'Is that sign for real?'" he recalled.

That sign announced the store's closure.

"It broke my heart thinking it's going to be gone. Acworth is changing. To see this being gone, Acworth is losing a little bit of its past. It's hard to put a nail on the wood on this."

After 8 years, owner Lisa Mack and manager Ryan Blankenberger say Two LiRu Antiques will have to relocate and downsize.

"We were given a 60-day notice to vacate," Mack said. "They are going to be either subdividing or selling the building as we understand it."

They say it has been an emotional time, after all the support they've received from the community.

"We want to let Acworth know we're really, really thankful for all your support," Blankenberger said.

After all, Blankeberger said the store had a good run.

"We made it through COVID. We beat the odds. This has become a community hub," he said. "We're sad to be leaving. It'd be easy to take it personally, but we don't."

That's why they've decided that, although they have to go away from this location, nothing can stop them from moving elsewhere.

They will be moving from their prime location on Main Street, which once served as Acworth's primary business district, to 4510 South Main Street. This new building will be 2,000 square feet -- a much smaller space compared to its multi-level 10,000 square-foot space it currently occupies.

"You can see the mountain-size task it will be to liquidate here, so we're going to continue to discount what we cannot take to the new shop with us and just really praying to be out in time," Mack said.

Their 60-day notice arrived at the end of May. They say that means they'll likely have to be out by the end of July.

Community members, like Will Britton, who has been coming to the store since it first opened, say they are upset they have to move out in the first place.

"It's definitely going to change the foot traffic because there are nice restaurants and things to eat but that was the thing – it was a destination," Britton said. "(We would say) let's go to Two LiRu and take a look around and get a bite to eat. It helps bring people down to the area. When you don’t have places people can corral or walkthrough, it changes the whole community and the way stores operate."

Blankenberger and Mack are hosting an auction the third week in July and will hold a store-closing sale where they will be liquidating all of their inventory within the upcoming weeks.

We are so very, very sad to announce we have LOST OUR LEASE and will be CLOSING within the next few months. It would be...

Posted by Two LiRu Antiques & Estate Sales on Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Do you have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at WhereAtlantaSpeaks@11Alive.com.

Back in June, the owners of the hip, antique store said the landlord evicted them with 60 days notice to make space for a multi-purpose building.

More Videos

ACWORTH, Ga. — A popular Acworth antique shop that was forced to relocate has now found a new spot. Back in June, the owners of what was then called Two LiRu Antiques & Decor said the landlord evicted them with 60 days' notice to make space for a multi-purpose building.

Now, it's got a new name and a new space -- not entirely by choice, according to owners Lisa Mack and Ryan Blankenberger.

"We miss everything that was, and now we're looking forward to everything is is going to be," Mack said.

They were forced to move out of a 10,000-square-foot location in the heart of Main Street, where they had been located for 10 years. They were able to find a spot down the road, consolidating all their special gems into a 1,700-square-foot location that was formerly a salon.

"There was a wall here, we took out the sinks, replaced tile, replaced the ceilings, I did all the paint," Blankenberger recalled.

Their hip antique store is now called Acworth Vintage and Vinyl. They made it through the pandemic, and now, they’re surviving that eviction.

"It was pretty horrible, to be honest," Mack said. "We’re still not really over it. We did a lot of growing there and I really felt like we were bringing something to the community, and we’re hearing all the time people say there’s hardly any traffic down there because we do believe we’re bringing business to the city."

Back in June, they say they were given a sixty days notice to move out in order to build a multi-purpose building instead. Twenty percent of their memorabilia, vinyl records, clothing, jewelry, coins, etc., were able to make it inside the new building, with the rest waiting in storage.

They said they're looking for a potential second spot in Acworth.

“We both worked here before we moved here, so we have embraced it as our home," Mack added. "Honestly, it was sad. The departure was very sad for us. We put our blood, sweat, and tears into that. But we’ll do no less here. Doesn’t matter how big or small it is. We’re excited to be amongst our community and do good stuff”

Their old location sits empty right now and appears to be getting remodeled inside. While they lost the old space, they gained new customers.

Mack and Blankenberger hope these customers will spread the word and take advantage of their Christmas sales and live bands some weekends, including this one.

"It’ll be about five or six local bands," Blankenberger said. "We’re going to be out in the parking lot. I think this is a great new chapter for us and for Acworth."