Tales from Toccoa event raises over $2K for Currahee Military Museum

Stephens County High School’s Chick-Fil-A Leadership Academy recently hosted an event at the Currahee Military Museum.

The event, Tales from Toccoa, featured 19 students who portrayed characters from history.

Senior Kathryn Stroud was one of the students to participate in the Tales from Toccoa Event.

Stroud says they were able to raise a lot of funds for the museum.

“I would say it was a really big success, there were a lot of people there, and we raised a lot for the Currahee Military Museum. All of the profits went to the museum. The kids had a lot of fun and learned a lot of things,” Stroud said.

Junior Cohen Anderson says he received a lot of feedback from the audience after his portrayal.

“I was R.G. LeTourneau, he was a big businessman here in the 20s through World War II. I actually had a lot of people come through who worked for him and their parents worked for him, so it was really cool to hear the stories that they came through with. I actually learned a lot that I didn’t find out myself through research. I got a lot of compliments about portraying the character and a lot of critiques too, because they were really serious about working with him or what they knew from their parents. From what I heard; he was a really great guy. I learned a lot,” Anderson said.

Junior Tyler Boatright says he portrayed Andrew Craft.

“Him and Susan were owners of the Craft Orphanage in Toccoa. He was a reverend for 30 years, had two children, and over 1,400 people came through the orphanage,” Boatright said.

Timmi Shawler is the facilitator for the Chick-Fil-A Leadership Academy. She says the event was a success and that they were able to raise $2,600 for the Currahee Military Museum.

Shawler says the winners of the “favorite character” contest were Amelia Housley who played Helen Longstreet and A.J. Russell who played James Brown. The pair raised nearly $300 by themselves.