SunCatch Energy Owner Brad Boston; Dave Wright; EPA Acting Regional Administrator Jeaneanne Gettle; EPA Administrator Micheal S. Reagan; Pastor Kevin W. Earley; City of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens; City of South Fulton Mayor Pro Tem Jaceey Sebastian; Congresswoman Nikema Williams; Robbie Hunter; Groundswell CEO Michelle Moore; and Atlanta Chief Sustainability Officer Chandara Farley pose during the Vicars Resilience Hub Ribbon Cutting.
Resilience Hub
Vicars Community Center, a component of Community Church, will serve the Southwest Atlanta community as a resilience hub, where people can gather securely during emergency situations. Vicars is equipped with solar power and battery storage, enabling the facility to become the first resilience hub in the Southeast, independently owned. As a resilience hub, Community Church will soon assist members of the community during power outages and weather-related emergencies, while reducing greenhouse emissions.
We will provide a safe and trusted place for people to gather, have access to reliable power for their essential devices, refrigerate medications securely, and receive information as emergency situations develop. While not designed for overnight stay, this is a reliable place for neighbors to convene and stay cool or warm during the day, as climate dictates.
Transforming Vicars Community Center into a resilience hub expands our commitment to use the campus to serve area residents. We will continue to share the Gospel, provide meals to 300-400 families weekly, host blood drives, offer health screenings, run job fairs, and host conferences as we endeavor to pastor our community.
Why Resilience
Extreme weather associated with climate change and other natural hazards result in more frequent power outages, which pose the greatest risks to the health and well-being of our most vulnerable neighbors. Resilience hubs are an essential precaution against the effects of climate change that are already being felt across the country and around the world.
Black people, other people of color, immigrants, Indigenous and lower-income populations are often impacted first and worst by rapidly changing environments. The Vicars Community Center Resilience Hub will help mitigate the negative impact of those disproportionately vulnerable to climate change, while providing services and programming to the overall community year-round.
SOCIAL CONNECTION
As temperatures rise, people can experience heat exhaustion, heavy sweating, nausea, and fainting. Overheating can also lead to heat stroke, heart attacks and other cardiovascular issues.
Social isolation compounds the physical dangers of deadly heat waves and is major risk factor for dying during a heat wave. Our desire is to combat social isolation by: (1) Being a location for neighbors to gather, learn, collaborate, and create meaningful connections with each other prior to weather-related emergencies; and (2) Championing the practice of neighbors proactively contacting people in their neighborhood who they know live alone during extreme weather events.
Gratitude
Our endeavor to diminish the impact of climate change is made possible by the work, insight and investment by others. For this we are grateful.
Special thanks to Groundswell, a nonprofit focused on community-centered clean energy projects. Groundswell spearheaded the transformation of Vicars Community Center into a resilience hub.
Stryten Energy, a Georgia-based company, donated the battery that it designed, manufactured, and installed, which allows the resilience hub to provide at least three days of backup power for use during critical power outage periods.
This project was also made possible by contributions from General Motors Foundation, the Wells Fargo Foundation, SunCatch Energy, WDC Solar, and the City of Atlanta.
Community Church, through its Vicars Community Center, is ready to serve its constituents and neighbors at large.