Kimberly Barnes, 39, creator of Might be Vegan, poses for a portrait at Ponce City Market, in Atlanta on Thursday, March 3, 2022. Barnes is one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year, a recognition of women across the country who have made a significant impact. Barnes considers her work, a national, direct-to-door hunger relief effort providing nutritious, plant-based food at no cost to those in need, to be meaningful because “… it centers on the needs of marginalized people, which tends to be people of color, and considers their experiences, needs and limitations as a result of historical oppression.”
Al Zuckerman, who has worked for the Teton County/Jackson Parks and Recreation Department since the 1970s and became the Aspen Hill Cemetery sexton in 1998, poses for a portrait at the cemetery on Oct. 24, 2020 in Jackson, Wyoming. He is responsible for the management of the cemetery, including but not limited to, recording burials, compiling operations and budget proposals, noxious weed control and digging cremation graves. "There's a lot of tragedy and history here," he said. "But also a lot of well-lived lives."has worked for the Teton County/Jackson Parks and Recreation Department since the 1970s and became the Aspen Hill Cemetery sexton in 1998. He is responsible for the management of the cemetery, including but not limited to, recording burials, compiling operations and budget proposals, noxious weed control and digging cremation graves. "There's a lot of tragedy and history here," he said. "But also a lot of well-lived lives."
Darius Brightwell, left, and Petier Davis, founders of Save the Youth, stand on the old basketball court that was part of the former Nellie B Library on Thursday, June 10, 2021. The library, which served as a community center, closed several years ago, but Brightwell and Davis are advocating for it to be repaired and reopened.
Jhala French, who heads the Teton County Health Department’s vaccine clinic, poses for a portrait during a shift break in front of a medical tent on Jan. 27, 2021 in Jackson, Wyoming. French is quietly running one of the most important parts of the county response to the pandemic, overseeing the inoculation of crucial populations, which right now include emergency responder and long-term care facility residents and workers. That means drawing precious doses of COVID-19 vaccines, counting them religiously and slowly ticking through groups prioritized to receive the shots.
Though she finds herself at the forefront of the pandemic response, French hasn’t worked in public health that long. It was just luck of the draw that a global pandemic struck about a year after she entered the field.
“What are the odds, right?” she said.
Betty Jean, 98, poses for a portrait at Twin Pines Nursing Home. For almost 50 years, Jean has traveled in a van to different states for weeks at a time researching family genealogy. She has compiled three family history books with the information gained from her adventures.
Gloria Moses, 73, a life-long Athens resident, poses for a portrait on her front porch in Athens, Ga. on Nov. 7, 2021. Moses is one of 24 seniors in Athens-Clarke County, Ga. who benefit from the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia’s Senior Brown Bag program, which distributes supplemental food bags at the beginning of each month directly to their homes to help alleviate the daily threat of hunger of food-insecure seniors in the community. Moses, who experiences mobility issues and is without a vehicle, previously had to walk or take the bus to the nearest grocery or convenience store, and was only able to bring back as food as she could carry. Now, Moses has been receiving food for the past five years and would often share her meals with neighbors that weren’t signed up for the program. “The program was not only helping me, but it would help me to help somebody else,” Moses said. Beyond just dropping off food, Moses appreciated how the delivery people would check in on her and give her fliers with information and resources.
Flora Harlow, who has been in and out of permanent housing over the past several years, stands near her tent for a portrait on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021 in Athens. Harlow and others live in a small encampment colloquially called "Cooterville,” a wooded area under CSX’s train tracks off Willow Street that is scheduled to be cleared by Nov. 12.
