A community Christmas

Published 6:04 am Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Kidd Kong has a simple principle when it comes to doing something good for the community.

Anything you get, you give back.

That’s why Kong, raised in Dalton and currently living in Atlanta, started Mi Cre8tive Group in 2011. The company hosted the Mi Bring-A-Dish Community Christmas on Tuesday at the Mack Gaston Community Center.

“Mi Cre8tive is really about coming up with creative initiatives to bring the community back together,” Kong said. “It teaches kids how to find a job and use today’s technology. I own a sneaker business (Miblox) and I help kids get involved there, too. But what the dinner was about is the need to come back together. Everyone is sort of drifting apart locally with the economy being tough here. We need people to come out together and remember that this is — with everything that’s going on — a community.”

Especially during the first Christmas held at new community center, said Tommy Pinson.

“Our one-year anniversary of opening our doors is on Jan. 21,” Pinson, the director for the community center, added. “I talked with (Kong) and we decided it would be good for people to come out on Christmas. A lot of people don’t always have a Christmas dinner, so we had a lot of it donated by people in the community. People don’t always realize how fortunate they are, but we’re glad we had people come out tonight.”

Elijah Blackwell, 14, was one of those people. Visiting the community center regularly has made it “a second home.”

“I come here about three times a week,” Blackwell, a Northwest Whitfield High School student, said. “I came out today just like any other day. I wanted to do what I do, play basketball. This place has kept me out of trouble, kept me doing the right thing, and kept me focused on my dreams. I want to be a professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics or a football player for the Green Bay Packers. I think it can happen.”

Elijah has a chance if he “doesn’t give up,” said 2008 Olympic gold medalist Mary Wineberg. Wineberg spoke to kids like Elijah after the dinner.

“Five years ago I visited this center,” Wineberg said. “It’s amazing to see where it is now. I grew up with my mom and she would take me to programs where I could play and get to know kids. I believe this community center offers that. They (Kong and Pinson) really have given back to the youth in this community. I’m glad they invited me. It gave me a chance to remind some kids here to stay positive.”

Wineberg, who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, won the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in the U.S. Women’s 400-meter team relay and finished fifth in the semifinal 400-meter race.

“If I can make it that far, anyone can,” she added. “Never give up on your dreams.”

Ali Awad says his dream is to see the community come back from high unemployment, which was 11.3 percent in October in Metro Dalton (Murray and Whitfield counties).

“I’ve been blessed in this community,” Awad said. “I want to give back to the community that has given me so much. I want to empower the people around here. I own the Store King Food Mart nearby the community center and I have bought a few blocks across the street where I’ve built duplexes and rent them out. I want to continue to build around the community center because I believe it is a safe haven for the town.”

A safe haven that is “exceeding expectations,” Pinson said.

“We’ll have 100,000 attendants by the end of the year,” he added. “We never knew it would be this big. It has had a great response and the city has taken it in as their own. Old, young, white, black, Hispanic, Muslim — a little bit of everything from everyone has made this a true community center.”

Awad, Kong and Pinson all thank Mayor David Pennington, who attended the event, and several city council members who helped fund the creation of the new community center.