bUneke Magazine Issue 1

FROM ANNA’S
Heart
,
Sponsored by A.D.D. in Poetry
By Mary Brotherton
How many times have you seen a problem and
thought, “Somebody should do something about
that?”
Atlanta native, Anna Okula said she saw a post
on Facebook, a few years ago, about a woman in
Seymour, Indiana who had started tying scarves
to trees with a note that they were free to anyone
who needed one.
She said she told herself, “I totally want to do
this,” and now, she has taken the idea a few steps
beyond scarves.
During the particularly brutal Atlanta winter of
2015, her friend, Rudy Fernandez had seen men
living under a bridge near his office, so he gathered
coats for them. When he told Anna about it, she
wanted to help. A year later, she started tying
scarves on trees and fences in Woodruff Park. In
2016, their mutual concern for their homeless
neighbors evolved further.
Anna is a vice president at Porter Novelli, a global
public relations agency, so she had access to
leftover conference totes, pens and notepads,
which became the basis for her collections. All her
colleagues, family and friends know Anna keeps
a box in her office for donations. Her cousin knits
dozens of hats and gives them to Anna.
“I posted what I was doing, on Facebook and it
took off from there! Some people donated money,”
Anna said. “Family and friends went with me,
downtown, in Atlanta and we just found people
who needed these things.”
Her friend Luke Hamilton frequently travels to
Dubai for business.
“I’ve been overwhelmed by donations,” Anna said.
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“Luke brings me a massive box of travel-sized