ATLANTA – Christy Annis is busy packing, wrapping and shipping black-eyed peas across the country for last minute stocking stuffers. And she is looking to the homeless for help.
“It’s a southern tradition to eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Eve for prosperity, it goes back to General Sherman during the Civil War,” said Christy Annis, the founder of Peas for Prosperity, an online boutique that sells everything peas.
For more than a decade Annis was an attorney but she gave it all up to pack peas.
“Peas for Prosperity was founded on one principle,” she said. “To help people in need one pea at a time, I wasn’t looking to get rich quick or even start a business. I wanted to make a difference in my community and help others receive their second chance.”
She hires homeless men and women on a contract basis- they label, wrap and ship the bags for kitchens across the country. She calls it peas to paychecks.
“The south got their second chance after the Civil War. I’m getting my second chance and that’s why I want to help other people too,” Annis said.
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My old South Carolina friends told me it should be 'red beans and rice' on New Year's Day, which I have done since the late 60s...but who am I to argue with Christy Annis, a successful businesswoman and former lawyer?
