Criminal Defense Attorney in Garden City, GA.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) – A family in Garden City is asking for the community’s help after they lost everything in a Valentine’s Day house fire.

Kelli Solomon spoke with WSAV NOW along with her daughter, Alexis McGill, about the impact of the fire on the life of their family.

“My four-year-old son got hurt real bad- he sustained second and third-degree burns,” Solomon said.

Solomon is having to take her son, Max, to Augusta up to twice a week to receive treatment for his burns. She said he doesn’t understand why he got hurt in a fire that destroyed their home.

“He goes around asking everyone ‘Why you let the fire hurt me?'” Solomon explained. “It breaks my heart when he complains of hurting and it’s not much I can do.”

Meanwhile, McGill said that she lost all of her art supplies and electronics that had the books that she had been writing on them.

“I started drawing around fourth grade and now I’m in eighth and all that progress is just gone now,” she explained. “I had an iPad that had all of my art stuff on it and that also got burned in the fire.”

All of her notebooks with the information for her four different books? Gone.

“Right now we are displaced- we’re sleeping on my in-law’s sofa,” Solomon said. For a family of six, she said that space is tight. “We’re just trying to take it one day at a time.”

“Trying to find a place to stay, that’s our most important thing right now,” she explained.

Struggling to find somewhere that’s decently priced is difficult in the area, but Solomon said it’s even harder because her family had just recently lost their restaurant, Baja Tacos before the fire. Now, without a place to live, Solomon cannot continue working from home like she was prior to the fire.

“It’s hard right now,” she said.

She said that her family needs a range of material items from household goods and toiletries to school supplies and clothing. The family also has a GoFundMe set up for raising money so that she can transport her son to get treatment for his burns.

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For Bennita Jackson, an amputee, traveling to get food is a challenge. So, she's grateful to S2S Fact's Inc. and CEO Donna Williams for bringing her food and sponsoring events such as a recent food giveaway in Garden City.

"It's nothing like having a clear mind when she brings the food in, and you can feed your family for the night," Jackson said. "Maybe even a few days. It's such a need because a lot of people are going hungry and you always need a helping hand."

S2S, which serves youth, senior citizens and women, joined with several community partners, including America’s Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia, to hold the giveaway Monday on Senior Citizens Day.

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“We understand that there’s definitely a need in the community,” said Donna Williams, CEO of S2S. “That’s why we do these quarterly. We understand that gas prices, food prices are steadily increasing but the wages aren’t, so we’re serving not only those in poverty or the homeless, but working individuals as well.”

Before the giveaway opened at 10 a.m., people gathered in the Cricket Wireless/Food Lion Shopping Center to receive produce such as grapes, broccoli, blueberries, bread, granola bars, chips, snacks and more than 1,000 pounds of meat. They ran out of food by 11:30 a.m., and served more than 300 families today from throughout Chatham County. Another pop-up pantry will be held on Nov. 21.

“It went like hotcakes,” Williams said. “We had individuals walking up to get food, and in wheelchairs and walkers. You name it, we saw it. We had a phenomenal turnout.”

Williams said they always make a stop in Garden City because they have the highest poverty rate with the lowest number of residents. According to the U.S. Census, 10,426 people live in Garden City, making it the 110th most populated city in Georgia. About 12.2% of Garden City families live in poverty.

“It’s always great to make sure that we’re able to serve a population in a food desert,” Williams said. “There’s only one grocery store here in Garden City, and there’s no grocery stores in that west Savannah area and that’s why the need is so great.”

Senior citizens who came also received gifts from the nonprofit. Jackson herself received a mug and face cleansers and wipes.

"It's fortunate that she brings me different kinds of cosmetics, and basic needs and food," Jackson said. "It's basically things that I buy and sometimes that doesn't happen."

On Tuesday, June 13, 2023, a District 8 Town Hall was held at Brock Elementary School for the purpose of sharing information on construction of the new K-12 facility in Garden City that will house Gould Elementary, Mercer Middle, and Groves High School on one campus. For those unable to attend the meeting, please find the presentation available in both English and Spanish below.

New K12 Multi School Campus.pdf

Nuevo Campus de Multiples Escuelas K-12.pdf

Questions from the June 13th District 8 Town Hall Meeting

Q1. Is there a separation between the elementary, middle, and high school students during lunch?

Yes, there will be a partition to separate the high school and elementary/middle school sides of the cafeteria. This partition is a permanent separation. There is a large window on the partition (pictured below) that will allow light to come through, however, students will not be able to see the other side of the cafeteria through the window. There are two controlled access doors on the partition as well, however, students will NOT be able to go through these doors.

Like many of our other sites, the multicampus will have perimeter fencing all the way around the building and controlled access exterior doors. Doors in areas that separate the high school from the elementary and middle school will also have controlled access to prevent students from crossing over.

Q3. How will the district handle transportation?

We cannot answer this question at this time. More details will be provided as we approach the completion of the building. Currently all students who live a mile and a half or more from their zoned school are offered school bus transportation.

Q4. When will the school be open?

We cannot answer this question at this time. More details will be provided as we approach the completion of the building.

Q5. Will the school uniform colors change?

School uniform colors are at the discretion of each individual school. At this time, there is not expected to be a change in uniform for Gould, Mercer, or Groves. Each school is expected to maintain their own identity.

Q6. What will the site be named?

At the July 2023 meeting of the Board of Education, Board members approved naming the site Gould/Mercer/Groves Multicampus, or G/M/G for short.

Q7. What spaces will be shared between grades?

Elementary and middle school students will share their side of the building and operate similarly to our K-8 schools. Elementary and middle school students will share a cafetorium, gym, and learning commons. High school students will be completely separated from elementary and middle school students as they will also have their own cafeteria, gym, and learning commons. The only space that will be shared by all three schools is the auditorium.

Q8. Has this K-12 model been tested in other districts?

Yes, our district looked at various schools across the nation that operate a K-12 model. A list of those we looked at includes:

We also currently have many schools with grades K-12 in close proximity to each other. Examples of this concept are Beach-DeRenne-Hodge, and Islands-Coastal-Marshpoint.

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The layers to solving the homeless crisis in our community run deep but one critical piece to the puzzle is emergency housing and shelters where the homeless can have a safe place to rest their heads.

Mercy Ministries recently shut down and Garden City Rescue Mission is now in danger of closing their doors too.

The rescue mission rescues about 400 men from the streets every year. Right now, they house about 60 men.

If they can’t come up with half a million dollars soon, we’ll see all of those they help back on the street.

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Some of the men have stayed with the rescue mission for months and others years.

“I kept coming back and forth down this road right here and I kept hearing the music,” said Chester Hope, who stays at the rescue mission.

“My life is entirely different all because I chose to come here,” said Mitchell Morris, who stays at the rescue mission.

“I don’t have a lot of everything now, but I have something and that’s the Garden City Rescue,” said Curtis Hunter, who stays at the rescue mission.

It’s a place open to many yet on the verge of having its doors shut forever.

MORE | Businesses see impact of more housing, growth in downtown Augusta

“The original owner went to heaven some years ago and now the family has decided to liquidate the property,” said Executive Director Patrick Feistel. “So our long-term lease has been shortened.”

There is a price tag of $500,000 attached to stay.

“If I had all the money in the world, I would pay for it,” said volunteer Jeanette Hernandez.

Any dollar or penny will help the rescue mission.

“We need to try to do our best to save our rescue. I don’t say ‘the rescue’ because it’s our rescue mission,” said Hernandez.

“We’re at the doorstep of eternity for a lot of people in their life,” said Feistel.

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Each life and story is just as different as each face.

“Eight years ago, I was a drug addict,” said Morris. “I was a needle junkie.”

“I was a full blown alcoholic,” said Hunter. “I haven’t had a drink in seven months, thanks to this place.”

“I thought I was just gonna come here and lay down, eat a meal but no, that didn’t happen,” said Hope. “It happened but I got a little more than that.”

It is more than one can imagine.

“There are some men right now that come through here and if they didn’t have this place and was out there on the streets, they wouldn’t be alive,” said Feistel.

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Now the rescue mission is fighting for its own life.

“The city doesn’t need less shelters and less places where people are being introduced off the streets,” said Feistel.

The rescue mission instead wants to bring folks in for a chance at life.

To donate to Garden City Rescue Mission, visit their website.

On Sunday, Victory Baptist Church is hosting a silent auction starting at 1 p.m.

On September 2, Hernandez is hosting a 5k run starting at 8 a.m. at Mill Village Trailhead. To learn more and register, visit here.

On September 14, the rescue mission is hosting a telethon where you can call and help raise money. News 12 will update you on more details as we continue to follow.

Copyright 2023 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

GARDEN CITY, Ga. (WTOC) - The largest project in the Savannah-Chatham County School System history is almost finished.

The new K-12 multi-school project in Garden City will be more than 400,000 square feet and will be the new home for about 2,400 students.

Construction work will wrap up in June and students will be inside for the school year in August and be home to Groves High, Mercer Middle and Gould Elementary students.

Construction started on this project in January of 2021. The project manager says it was not always easy getting supplies in the middle of the pandemic but despite challenges, they are still on time.

Right now, they are just putting on the finishing touches with paving, electrical and cabinetry inside and the project manager says he is proud of the team for tackling this massive project.

“I’ve been in the school business for 35 or so years and this is the largest project I’ve ever worked on, the team has lived this thing for 26 months before that in the planning and design and then even master planning before that so it has been a long initiative for the district,” said Project Executive Dr. Slade Helmly.

The total price tag for the project is just over $135 million fully paid for by ESPLOST funds. It stretches out over 42 acres in the area.

The actual building is just phase one. Phase two to build the stadium and fieldhouse will begin sometime this fall. The good news for drivers in this area is that Priscilla Thomas Way will be back open on April 1.

Not only is this the district’s largest project, it will be the district’s first school where students from kindergarten through 12th grade are all learning in the same building.

“We think big, we think logically for our education to be able to have all of the educators under one roof from K-12 think about how you are transferring that knowledge, you are looking at the end when you come in at the beginning,” said SCCPSS Deputy Superintendent Vanessa Kiagler.

The deputy superintendent says right now they are working internally on a timeline for parents, students and staff and will begin to release those plans for the transition sometime next month.

Copyright 2023 WTOC. All rights reserved.