Oakland Society aims to aid others

Oakland resident Anne Fulton grew up listening to stories told by her grandmother, the daughter of a Georgia sharecropper, and how they always helped others, even if it meant giving away what little they had. This made an impact on her as a child, and she wants to honor her ancestors by helping residents in her own community.

Fulton has started a nonprofit, The Oakland Society, which handles small tasks for residents in need. In just a few months, members have set up a meal train for a family having to spend long hours with their daughter in the hospital and have built a ramp for someone in a wheelchair.

In February, Fulton applied for 501(c)3 status with the state of Florida and created a board of officers with family members that includes Fulton as president, husband Shaun Fulton as vice president and daughter Sachi Fulton as secretary. Another daughter, Cara Berkebile, also is involved.

“After we got big into the (town of Oakland) election and everything, I realized that there were needs in the community that weren’t being met and weren’t necessarily the town’s responsibility,” Fulton said. “I thought that it would be a great idea to get our neighbors together and say, ‘OK, we’re banded together, and if anyone needs help, all they have to do is raise their hands, and through our network of neighbors we’ll find someone to help out.’”

She posted a notice on Facebook and was met with immediate response. There are now close to 200 members — all residents ready to lend a helping hand to a neighbor in need.

‘THEY LIVED THOSE STORIES’

Fulton said she grew up with very meager means and understood her grandmother’s stories of not having enough money for food.

“People who needed help, it didn’t matter who you were … you go to the back door, and you knock, and you ask for help,” Fulton said. “If her parents had it, they gave it, even if they shorted themselves.

“My grandparents didn’t just tell me those stories; they lived those stories,” she said. “Anytime they had something extra they were always thinking of someone who can use it. They didn’t throw anything away. … Anytime they visited someone, they brought a shopping bag full of food. It didn’t matter who they were going to see. They never showed up empty handed, and they always did things to help others.”

When Fulton’s grandmother’s health began to decline in 2016, her community built a ramp for her.

“It was the most amazing thing ever that someone was giving back to them after all those years that they gave,” she said. “When I started The Oakland Society and (a resident) reached out to me, she said, ‘I could really use a sturdy ramp for my mom to get in and out of the house.’ I just cried.

“It’s been eight years since they built that for my grandmother, and then six months later she died, and I can finally pay it forward to a community member, and I have an outlet to live what I was taught,” Fulton said.

For the ramp project earlier this month, folks were generous with donations and offers to help with construction. Among the volunteers were members of Boy Scout Troop 145. The job was completed in two days.

AN ONGOING LIST

The Oakland Society is keeping a list of projects, and the Fultons have come up with a few projects of their own.

“One of the projects I want to do is do like a music concert in downtown Oakland to raise money for the Lakeview Middle School band,” Fulton said. “There’s a lot of underprivileged students there, and the school doesn’t get a lot of funding. … Sax reeds are $35 a box, and drumsticks are expensive. They’re piecing things back together.”

Fulton is a band mom and has had three children go through the music program at Lakeview.

“I want to set up Ashley Maingrette,” she said. “She’s doing amazing things at Lakeview. … I want to do what I can to help these kids.”

Fulton also wants to meet with town officials and discuss the possibility of The Oakland Society raising money to add shade cloth over the playground equipment at Speer and Pollard parks.

The next project is to provide a golf cart — maybe with the name Music Machine or Boyd Bus — for West Orange High School band director Kenneth Boyd. A cart was donated, and modifications have been made to turn it into a utility vehicle for parent volunteers and band directors to use with a P.A. system.

Fulton said she was notified of an elderly widow with declining health whose yard is severely overgrown and is close to receiving citations. A yard clean-up day and maintenance plan are being created, and donations are being accepted for a monthly lawn service.

Fulton is pleased with the response so far and is eager to see the society grow in terms of members and projects.

“My five-year plan, my big dream, is to set up a consignment shop in Oakland where people can donate things and then they can buy things at a reasonable price,” she said. “It’s to set up something like that but also with a running farmers market with fresh fruits and vegetables; if someone has eggs, they can sell them.

“That’s my ultimate dream — give a few local people a job and to use any proceeds from that to help other people in the community,” Fulton said.