Southside Gets Thanksgiving Meal

The spirit of Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for what we have, not what we had.

That couldn't have been more abundantly clear than it was Saturday, at the corner of a vacant, sandy lot in the big middle of the Southside neighborhood, where dozens of people gathered for a 2 p.m. dinner and fellowship.

What Ahmad Had

Ahmad Jones was a boy with a 10-year-old's dreams. That was 12 years ago. He was riding his bike when he was struck by a truck on Dec. 20, 1996. He was airlifted to Miami Norland Medical Center, but his C1 vertebrae was crushed, said his mother, Teresa Byrd.

Today, Jones is still a quadriplegic. But that hasn't stopped him. He's finished an associate's degree at the University of Phoenix, written an inspirational book, and he and his mother still give back to their communities.

Byrd and Jones live in Miami, but she's a former Avon Park resident. Her aunt, Dorothy Thomas, and cousins, Leola Hollinger and Viola Williams, still live there.

On Saturday, along with Jones' Follow Our Dreams Inc. foundation, they gathered enough food to serve 200 meals and 100 frozen turkeys to Southside residents, who are among the poorest in Highlands County.

"We've done this in Miami five times, so it's our sixth annual, but it's our first annual in Avon Park," said Byrd. Other sponsors include A.J.'s Place 305, Greenspoon, Marder and Hirschfeld P.A. of Ft. Lauderdale, Pedi Stat of Miami, Calvin Carter, Jimmy Brown, Brenda Gray and W.J. Siegal.

Everyone who needed a turkey got one, everyone who came got a turkey and dressing meal and the kids got to bounce around in an air castle.