Arianna Sikes, 1979-2014, !Presente!
(APN) ATLANTA — Arianna Sikes, who served as a Policy Advisor and Senior Council Aide to Atlanta City Councilwoman Cleta Winslow (District 4), was found to have passed away on yesterday, May 24, 2014. She was described as a “breath of fresh air” at Atlanta City Hall.
“She was a wonderful staff person of mine. She will be greatly missed. She’s a person of the people. She was always a breath of fresh air and she didn’t talk about her problems that she had,” Winslow told Atlanta Progressive News, referring to Sikes’s struggles with seizures.
Winslow said that Sikes was always focused on “being a happy person and making other people feel good about themselves.”
Council President Ceasar Mitchell said Sikes was “extremely important to the fabric of our City.”
“Arianna was a kind and friendly person and I truly enjoyed our interactions over the years. I actually learned a great deal from her by way of her example and gentle spirit. She will be truly missed,” Mitchell told APN.
Sikes grew up in Atlanta and graduated from Douglass High School. She attended Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, earning a BA in Political Science; and Clark Atlanta University, earning a Masters in Public Administration. She also earned a Certification in Fundraising and Philanthropy from Texas A&M University, Bush School.
She founded her own grant writing company, the ADS Group, LLC, in 2012, where she served as CEO and Research Director. According to its website, the company “specializes in non-profit grant writing for community development programs and initiatives… [Sikes] has collaborated with The City of East Point, PrimeTime Family Reading Time, and Susan G. Komen.”
Sikes also did a lot of work with civic organizations in East Point, Georgia, including serving as the Chair of the Cultural Enrichment Commission.
She was also very involved with the Grace United Methodist Church.
“She originally lived in the West End, she carried on the tradition her mother and father taught her, which was giving back to the community, she gave back a lot… in her short life. Hopefully, she can be an inspiration to other young people… for all of us…” Winslow said.
“She was a bright personality. She had an extremely intelligent mind and just overall… very warm and bubbly. She will be missed. She’ll definitely be missed,” Councilman Michael Julian Bond (Post 1-at-large) told APN.
“Arianna got it. She understood community. She loved the community. She loved people. So many people want to do community development work, but they don’t have a love for the people who live in the community, but Arianna did. She really got it,” Dwanda Farmer, a former resident of the district and fellow community agent for change, told APN.
“She was genuinely always a happy person, even when people gave her **** in the community,” Farmer said.
“She was a community agent for change,” Farmer said.
“I love you Arianna. My heart is broken,” Kristina Garcia-Bunuel, an aide to Councilman Bond, wrote on Sikes’s Facebook page.
She is survived by her mother, Janice Sikes-Rogers, and a brother, Troy Sikes.
A Celebration of Life for Arianna Sikes will be held on Friday, May 30, 2014, at 11am, at the Grace United Methodist Church, at 458 Ponce de Leon, NE, Atlanta, GA 30308.
Repast will be held at Calvary United Methodist Church, 1471 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd SW, Atlanta, GA 30310.
(END/2014)
Date: February 20, 2015
From: Veornita Sims
veornita@gmail.com
Subject: PHYSICAL AND MENTAL STRESS
I am writing this letter because I hope that no other senior have to go through what I have experience at Grady Hospital Parking Lot. I experience two incidents in the parking lot at Grady. And another at ATow, which I had to go out in the rain to find my car. It has had a bad effects on my mind and performance.
The first was on February 6, 2015. I had a sleep study at 8:00 pm and ended the next morning at 5:00 am, which I was woke up and rushed out of the room. because they had to clean up the room. After getting out of the room, I went to the cafeteria to wait until the sun came up, but it was closed so I went to the first floor lobby until it got light to drive home. I did not realized my car had been hit until around 1:00 pm when I went to let my daughter see my new car which I purchased February 6, 2015, therefore, I filed a “Hit and Run” SR13 form the notified State Farms insurance.
On February 16, 2015, I had a 12:00 pm, appointment at the Cancer Clinic and the Coumadin Clinic. When I finish I went to the parking lot and could not find my car so I looked all over the parking lot before going to the attendant to let her know I could not find my car. I stood there for 20 minutes before she said the security would be coming, which took him 30 minutes to get there, and he said I was parked illegal and blocking someone in. I told him that I did not park illegal because I checked to see if I was inside the yellow line. He argued that I could not get my car in that small space, I told him my car is small and I could. There was no sign that said “No Parking”. When asking the security and his supervisor how was I going to get home? They both told me that was my problem, which was very cold for them to say.
At ATow I had to go to the car to get my papers out of the car, and the attendant told me the car was in row B is what I understood him to say, but after looking all over row B I did not see my car so I went back to the attendant to let him know I could not find my car, and he then told me he said it was on the other side of B in row C. After I still could not find my car I asked a man in a Tow truck to help me find my car, and it was at the end of row C. I was glad that instead of the $150.00 price Grady had charged on the ticket, ATow charged $135.00, which I had to borrow.
Since all of this I am experiencing and showing these effects.
Reducing my enjoyment and making me feel bad
Increasing muscle spasms, headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath
My heartbeat and breath faster
Tightening my muscles or making me feel tense
Interfering with my judgment and causing me to make bad decisions
Making me see difficult situations as threatening
Making me sweat more
Leaving me with cold hands, feet, and skin, being in the rain
Making me feel sick to my stomach giving me ‘butterflies’
Leaving my mouth dry
Making me have to go to the bathroom frequently
Making it difficult for me to concentrate or to deal with distraction
Leaving me anxious, frustrated or mad
Making me feel rejected, unable to laugh, afraid of free time, unable to work, and not willing to do anything
These are some effects that this situation has done to me. it has been a bad effect on my mind and performance and I hope know other senior had to go through this, because this has affected my body and mind. I did not intentionally park wrong because I got out of the car to see if I was parked in the yellow lines, there was not a “Do Not Park” sign like they have in other spots, and I felt I did the right thing.
cc: Grady Hospital
Bcc: