(Left to right) Sgt. James Minutello and Deputy Broderiche Jackson, of the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office; Officer Matthew Arnold, of the Demorest Police Department; and Officer Josh Gibson, of the Clarkesville Police Department enjoy The Easton Foundation’s dinner of appreciation for emergency personnel.
Saturday night, volunteers at Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Demorest were all smiles as they prepared spaghetti dinners – for firefighters, police officers, emergency workers, and other people who could be called “everyday heroes.”
The volunteers were working for The Easton Foundation, a 501-c-3 non-profit organization in Habersham that has far-reaching goals, and far-reaching effects. The spaghetti dinner was to be served at six o’clock, which is shift change time for many people who work in emergency services. Not everyone in emergency work could come at six, though, because they were not leaving, but going into work. There was a plan for them, too. Volunteers for The Easton Foundation delivered their dinners: all seventy of them.
The Easton Foundation has existed for almost four years. It was started by Casey Lizama, whose friend Easton Singleton was killed in a car accident nearly four years ago. In only four years, the foundation has served a range of people as multi-faceted as the friendship Casey had with Easton. Casey said of the close friendship, “we did everything together – went to church together, hunted together…”
On Saturday night, the foundation was serving “community heroes.” Other times, Casey said, “it has given thousands in scholarships – over five thousand in scholarships.” In addition to hosting a spaghetti dinner for emergency personnel, the foundation also has “helped teens get counseling, helped with teenagers’ funeral costs, delivered care packages for teens and the families of teens hurt in car wrecks, and donated school supplies,” he said.
“I pray for this foundation to go further every day,” he added.
Casey’s mother, Teresa Lizama, is a volunteer for the foundation started by her son. The foundation has “given scholarships to students who are striving,” she said, adding that those who receive scholarships are not “the students with the highest grades.” They are students “who need encouragement,” she said.
“We need volunteers,” she said of the foundation, adding that a volunteer should be “someone who wants to make a difference in the community.”
“Casey has a heart of gold,” she said, “and he wants people to love one another.
The foundation has a web site, Casey said, called www.thelovingmemoryproject.org, where people can learn about volunteer opportunities, but also where teens who need help can go and learn how to contact the organization, he said.
“Easton,” Casey’s mother said, “made friends with everybody he met.”
Although he is no longer present, “he is still making a difference,” she added.
