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Politics & Government

Meet the Candidates: Kay Bennett

"I'm a full time volunteer" said Kay Bennett, who is running for Lilburn city council Post 2 in the November elections.

Editor's note: Over the coming weeks, Lilburn Patch will profile candidates of local political offices.

“I’m a full time volunteer” said Kay Bennett, who is running for Lilburn city council Post 2 in the November elections. She has spent years volunteering for various organizations in the Lilburn area to improve community involvement.

Bennett graduated from high school at the age of 16 and enrolled at the University of Georgia. She married Gary Bennett in 1974, and they have a son together named Parker, 18.

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When Bennett graduated from UGA with a bachelors in home economics, she returned to Lilburn to be close to her mother. Since she's been back, she hasn’t stopped volunteering on various boards and organizations.

Volunteer at Heart

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She was on the Lilburn City merit board for some 20 years until she moved out of city limits. But she didn’t let the limits stop her -- she spearheaded a petition for her neighborhood to be annexed into the city limits.

Bennett served on the board for Gwinnett Senior Leadership, an organization that teaches members about Gwinnett in order for them to lead in the various municipalities. She helps with live auctions and getting prizes for fundraisers for the Hudgens Center for the Arts.

Bennett also is part of the Safari Club Georgia, which promotes conservation and is currently helping wounded and disabled veterans coming back from war.

She helps with various church organizations like the Lilburn Co-Op and Eastminster Presbyterian Church. Bennett was a member, deacon, and is currently an elder in the church.

Bennett also volunteers at schools. She once raised $50,000 in one night for a small private school in Gwinnett. She was part of a fundraiser that raised more than $1 million to be divided among eight children’s programs including the Hudgens Center for the Arts.

“I deeply care about the people of Lilburn and I want to make it a better place,” said Bennett.

Grill Time

When she isn’t busy with meetings, fundraisers and volunteering, Bennett likes to relax by cooking her favorite meals for her family.

“I enjoy fundraising, but I also like to pretend I’m a fabulous chef,” she said.  “I’m addicted to the Food Channel.”

She fell in love with the programming 10 years ago after a knee surgery kept her on bed rest. She loves to cook Southern food by using Paula Deen recipes, but also to try different techniques in grilling various meats and fresh vegetables.

But her love for cooking came much earlier. It started with her grandmother, who ran a boarding house for Georgia Tech students. Bennett’s grandmother would cook all three meals for 30 boys. Bennett still tries to recreate the biscuits her grandmother made.

“I can get the taste right, but not the look,” explained Bennett. “She would roll them and mold them with her hands and it was just so smooth.”

Bennett also learned from her mother, who she says made all the sweets for her family. During Christmas they would bake cookies and cakes to send to people as gifts. Her mother made an incredible pot roast, she says. And now Bennett’s family gets excited anytime she cooks her famous baked spaghetti.

Sports

As much as she likes cooking, Bennett is not afraid to get dirty in the garage. Her family works on two Ford Mustang Shelby GTs that they have completed over the years. They are fully restored 1965 and 1967 models.

“We like to go to the car shows in Lilburn, Stone Mountain, and Tucker,” said Bennett.

Their family enjoys hunting, skiing and team sports. She runs three times a week to stay fit.

Her family is pretty focused on the game of baseball. Bennett herself played softball until she was 42. Her son started playing at Lions Club at the age of 3. Her family loves to attend several Gwinnett Braves games a year.

Although Bennett loves baseball and softball she is worried about the success of the Big League Dreams Park in Lilburn. She worries about direct competition with a massive billion dollar being built in Bartow County. “It could be a good thing to attract businesses and restaurants, but I don’t want sleazy motel and hotels popping up all over Lilburn,” said Bennett.

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