By Anthony Pesacreta

On Pirkle Ferry Road in Cumming, there is a green house, the color of hope, called “The Place.” It is a very unassuming name that covers up some very assuming people and activity. It all started as an idea of four nuns, Sisters Jean, Joann, June and Kathryn, from the Adrian Dominican Order in Michigan. They felt a need for missionary work in the Southland which itself has a scarcity of Catholics, let alone priests and nuns to serve them, so they sent out letters to North and South Carolina, Atlanta and Macon, expressing their desire to do God’s work in this manner.

They came to Atlanta in July of 1975 in response to Catholic Social Services’ reply. They then asked to be sent to a rural area and the CSS agreed. They wanted an area where they felt they could best serve the needs of the people, and chose the Cumming area. They originally set up a thrift store on what is now the site of the Church of Good Shepherd. They were then known as the Catholic Rural Social Services, the concept being a first for the CSS of Atlanta. They stayed at this location for three years, until April of 1978, when they acquired their present property on Pirkle Ferry Road.

In 1977 one of their members, Sister Joann, decided to return to Michigan to continue her studies, leaving three Sisters, the present number to continue their missionary work.

There are two houses that compromise The Place, one being the thrift store and carpenter shop, the other being the craft shop and office for the Sisters. There are 12 people who volunteer their services to see to it that the area is well served. Mrs. Smiley Stonell runs the thrift shop and helps with contacting the churches in the area that may need the services of The Place or that can help keep it going. Buck Stonell has the woodwork shop that creates some of the objects that are on sale in the craft shop. The woodwork shop has a hand-made loom that The Place hopes to have in operation as soon as they can find someone to run it. There is another “office” worth mentioning, that of Burma Parks and Leola Akins, chief cooks and bottle washers, that prepare the meals on the days The Place is open. The Place got its name by the patrons of its services who had a hard time referring to it as the Catholic Rural Social Services of the Adrian Domincan Sisters, and simply referred to it as The Place.

On a typical day the Sisters and staff are busy with such things as aiding a family that has just lost all their possessions in a fire; taking orders for hand-crafted goods, anything from canned goods to hat racks, including original paintings on weathered boards; counseling people on matters they are unfamiliar with, whether it applies to their Social Security checks or minor legal matters, or aiding a person with no funds to purchase needed clothing or food for their family by swapping them goods for their time and effort to perform chores at The Place.

As if this weren’t enough, they have a farm on which they live. To misquote a line from a nursery rhyme, “and on this farm they had some goats,” which they raise for the purpose of providing milk, and hopefully, cheese, for the people in the community. Their community stretches into Dawson, Hall and Pickens Counties.

Need something? Go to The Place; it’s open 9 to 5 daily except Thursday and Sunday. But don’t look for any nun walking around in a uniform; instead, look at the lady in blue jeans with the friendly, somewhat haggard, greeting of “Hi, I’m Sister Jean, may I help you?” They came here of their own free will. Let’s hope there is enough concern to keep them here, because there is no other place like The Place.