Financial literacy: First Tennessee sponsors SWCC scholarship

Corporate Giving story for The Commercial Appeal

March 27, 2009

The First Horizon Foundation has given $15,000 to Southwest Tennessee Community College to establish the First Tennessee Business and Commerce Endowment Scholarship.

"The scholarship is primarily for students studying finance," said Charles Burkett, president of banking for First Horizon National Corp., parent company of First Tennessee Bank.

First Tennessee, now in its 145th year, has previously supported efforts at Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association and the United Way, as well as education partnerships at University of Memphis, Christian Brothers University and Rhodes College.

Burkett says the new scholarship at Southwest acknowledges that, "Southwest trains a lot of our employees and customers, and it's important that we give back." ... (read more)

Rock 'N' Soul Museum of Memphis gets grant to buy audio guides

Corporate Giving story for The Commercial Appeal

March 20, 2009

The Rock 'N' Soul Museum of Memphis has been awarded a $50,000 grant by the Assisi Foundation of Memphis to purchase audio guides for self-guided tours.

From the museum's inception in 2000, it offered free audio guides to patrons, absorbing the cost of the usage fee -- $1.15 per guide -- it paid to Antenna Audio.

"With over 50,000 visitors per year, the fee was costing $65,000 out of pocket," said John Doyle, executive director of Rock 'N' Soul ... (read more)

Dinner time with kids a primitive experience

"Because I Said So" column for The Commercial Appeal

March 19, 2009

When I was an adolescent, my mother would look at me eating across the table and hope aloud that I would never order spaghetti on a date. At the time, I probably rolled my eyes and dismissed her concern as that of a square, or whatever we called our elders in the early 1980s.

At the time, too, I was fascinated by this impossible notion that I might actually one day have a date. The mere thought probably knocked the buttered bread from my hand to the floor, which I probably then retrieved and ate.

I know now just what horrors my mother saw back then as I sit down for dinner with a table full of my own children. What I witness there is nothing short of primitive ... (read more)

My profession: Old-world produce business fits modern age

My Profession story for The Commercial Appeal

March 18, 2009

Mike Palazola is a peddler.

Despite his 55,000 square feet of mostly refrigerated warehouse space, the 30 trucks that bear his name, the three states he services and the 100 people he employs, Palazola is, at heart, a peddler of onions, apples, bananas and tomatoes.

M. Palazola Produce is a business based in the Old World that has adapted to the new world of corporations, virtual meetings and convenience.

Family is at the core of M. Palazola Produce, where three brothers work with their mother and a son-in-law. Inside the mammoth warehouse with its wood- and-glass offices, when Palazola introduces employees, he mentions where they went to high school ... (read more)

Alphabet Appetite class spells fun ways for kids to learn about healthy diets

Feature story for the Lifestyle section of The Commercial Appeal

March 18, 2009

On the drive from our house in East Memphis to Downtown, we pass about 14 Taco Bells. My 2-year-old daughter, Genevieve, wants to stop at every one of them. Due to gestational cravings, she was born with a taste for the 99-cent menu.

This night, however, she and I are headed to the Hope and Healing Center at 1115 Union for a childhood nutrition class.

The nutrition education classes for children are available to a variety of age ranges and at times convenient to the workout schedule of their parents. The class we are attending is Alphabet Appetite, for children ages 2 to 5. The class is the brainchild of Laurie Holt, 23, who began working with Hope and Healing last April as an intern and was asked to develop the class in July. She has been teaching it ever since as a staff member ... (read more)

Corporate Giving: Soulsville receives scholarships

Corporate Giving story for The Commercial Appeal

March 13, 2009

The giving arm of SunTrust Bank, the SunTrust Foundation, awards scholarship money totaling $200,000 per year to Memphis students for four local schools: the University of Memphis, Christian Brothers University, LeMoyne-Owen College and Rhodes College.

On March 5, the Scholars for Memphis event was held at Soulsville Charter School to award a check for scholarships to Rhodes and to raise community awareness of the partnership among the three organizations.

"We wanted to present at Soulsville because they are such an integral part of the Rhodes service scholarship program," said Jordan Barré, vice president of sales and marketing for SunTrust Bank, Memphis ... (read more)

Up, up and away

Corporate Giving story for The Commercial Appeal

March 6, 2009

Area Fred's Inc. stores have been selling Miracle Balloons for $1 apiece since Sunday to benefit the Children's Miracle Network, the organization that raises funds for children's hospitals across the country.

Money from the balloons sold at the chain's 17 area stores will go to Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center, a CMN member hospital.

This is the fourth year for the balloon program, which has raised $1.2 million so far throughout the chain, including $464,950 last year.

"We want to hit the half-million mark this year," said Ursula Roman, marketing director for Fred's. "The goal is for each store to sell 800 balloons." ... (read more)

Library, still oasis of free fun, helps dad

"Because I Said So" column for The Commercial Appeal

March 5, 2009

My first experience with books that I can recall was at the main branch of the library located, at the time, on the corner of McLean and Peabody in Midtown.

A low brick-and-concrete building, it had zero curb appeal, especially when contrasted against the backdrop of wide, tree-lined streets and a neighborhood of stately Victorians, bungalows and four-square homes. You had to know what magic the utilitarian structure contained to want to step inside.

We lived on Central Avenue, and my mother would walk my sister and me there to pass the time. It must have been where I first fell in love with books ... (read more)