County Firefighters Summoned to Home on Magness Road Friday Morning

November 19, 2023
By:

Friday morning at approximately 7:15 a.m., the DeKalb County Fire Department was called to 910 Magness Road for a structure fire. The homeowners found smoke coming from one of their bedrooms, called 911, and quickly evacuated.

Sheriff deputies arrived on the scene and found fire located at the water heater disconnect switch in a bedroom closet and turned off the main electrical breaker. Firefighters arrived and determined the fire was extinguished after the power was disconnected. The home was ventilated to clear the smoke. There was only minor damage to the structure and one occupant was evaluated by DeKalb Emergency Medical Services for minor smoke inhalation but was not transported. The cause of the fire was determined to be a faulty electrical disconnect for the water heater.

The Main Station and Belk Station responded along with firefighters from other stations. DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and DeKalb County Emergency Medical Services were also in the scene rendering assistance.

November 17, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

If you want a hot delicious meal delivered to your home on Thanksgiving Day you have until Sunday, November 19 to sign up.

The DeKalb Emergency Services Association (DESA), with the help of volunteers, will again be preparing and delivering Thanksgiving Meals to DeKalb County residents on Thursday, November 23.

This year’s meal will consist of turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, roll, and a homemade dessert.

If you or a family member would like a hot meal on Thanksgiving Day, please call one of the numbers listed below or visit the website listed to be added to our delivery list. They will need your address, phone number, and the number of persons in your household. The meals are scheduled to be delivered between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 Noon.

DESA will accept names of persons requesting a meal through Sunday, November 19.

To get your name on the delivery list, call 615-390-0297 or 615-712-4286 or visit www.dekalbesa.com/meal

Additionally, if you want to support this community project by donating or volunteering your time to prepare meals and/or make deliveries, you can contact the phone number above or visit www.dekalbesa.com/help to donate or sign up to volunteer.

If you want to donate dressing or a dessert you may bring it by the county complex on Wednesday, November 22 from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.

The DeKalb Emergency Services Association also plans to prepare and deliver meals on Christmas Eve. A future announcement will be publicized later for this project.

November 17, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

During a season that is traditionally filled with festive gatherings and holiday meals, many people will not be able to afford food for themselves or their families. For those people, God’s Food Pantry is a source for help.

For 16 years the pantry has provided food and other essentials to help meet the needs of the medically frail and elderly, children, veterans, the homeless, and the working poor and not just during the holidays, but year-round. The pantry receives no local, state, or federal government funding but is able to operate from donations of caring individuals and businesses, among others.

Pat Zornow, God’s Food Pantry volunteer and coordinator, said hundreds of families are served per month including many who receive home deliveries.

Food is distributed on the first Friday after the first Thursday and on the third Friday of every month from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon from the pantry at 430 East Broad, Smithville in a drive through pickup line. A long line of cars forms along East Broad Street near the pantry every time the twice a month event is held. Smithville Police are always on site to assist with traffic control and the sheriff’s department often provides inmate work crews under guarded supervision by correctional officers to help pantry volunteers with the distribution. Aside from the regularly scheduled food pickups, emergency distributions are made 24/7 when requests come in for food. On the first Friday the food boxes consist basically of staples with perishables and the third Friday is the staples, perishables, and meats including right now turkeys, roasting chickens, etc. because of Thanksgiving upcoming.

Volunteers at the pantry are quite busy on delivery and distribution days. Thursday was home delivery day.

“Their food boxes are not skimpy. They get a lot. We’re helping to feed them,” said Zornow. “The boxes are filled with staples including crackers, cereals, canned goods, milk, desserts, breads etc. All their basics are included. We also put meats in there and microwaveable dinners. Of course, we know the people we deliver too. Many of them have been referred to us. We have their names, addresses, phone numbers, and the number of people in their family to be served, and what their special needs are as far as medical issues and what we have to be aware of because some of these people are on soft diets or have hypertension, diabetes, heart issues and things like that so we specialize for them. Some people we serve have cancer, so we include cans of Ensure for them. We look at the whole diet. Why feed them something that is going to hurt them” added Zornow.

Because of inflation and the economy, Zornow said the pantry has seen an increase in the number of people needing help.

“We are getting more and more referrals because of the economy. Many of these people are basically starving in their homes. People are not surviving without us They have no cars. They are elderly. They are medically frail. In some cases, grandparents are raising grandchildren, and they have no place to go. We are basically the only delivery service in the area,” said Zornow.

Support for the pantry comes from a variety of sources. “We operate off 100% donations from individuals, churches, factories, businesses, and civic organizations”.

People come from far and near to be served by the pantry and Zornow said no one is means tested or questioned, but if anyone shows up intoxicated, using profanity or causing trouble they will be turned away.

The pantry is currently staffed by several volunteers who donate their time to help including cancer survivor Chris League.

“I am a cancer survivor. Two years ago, I had esophageal stage 4 cancer. I underwent 28 radiation and 28 chemotherapy treatments and wasn’t able to have surgery but thank God I am cured today and feel good. After my healing I committed to God that I would help others, so I am here for life as a volunteer at God’s Food Pantry,” said League

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