“She was a blessing to this community”; SW Gainesville Street named after SWAG visionary Joan Canton

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) – Joan Canton Way is a new name for a street that the visionary of the Southwest Advocacy Group, or SWAG, the legacy of Joan Canton, will live on.

Canton died of cancer in January 2021, but in her 79 years she co-founded SWAG, which brings a pantry, clothing, résumé building, and health clinic to the Southwest Gainesville community.

“It’s not shocking or surprising, that was mom,” said Canton’s daughter Kim Daniels. “How hard it was to get all that stuff into this community. We know because our mom didn’t play. She was strict, but we knew that she loved us. “

She also loved the children in her neighborhood like her own.

“The children knew her from an early age and they have never forgotten her, even though she is no longer there,” said Canton’s sister Eloise Edwards. “She was a blessing to this community.”

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To pay tribute to their hard work, Swag lawyers held a community fair with their loved ones and Alachua County Commissioners that provided COVID-19 vaccines and food for residents.

“To say Joan Canton Way means it really was her way,” added Edwards.

SWAG is still influencing the community more than a decade later. One of the co-founders, Dorothy Benson, said the area where SWAG’s family resource center is located would not have been the same without Joan Canton.

“The visionary knew what her church needed,” said Benson. She kept everything community-based and focused on the residents who lived here. “

Now when these residents walk past Joan Canton Way, they will never forget all of their contributions.

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The post "She was a blessing to this community"; SW Gainesville Street named after SWAG visionary Joan Canton first appeared on Daily Florida Press.

from Daily Florida Press https://dailyfloridapress.com/she-was-a-blessing-to-this-community-sw-gainesville-street-named-after-swag-visionary-joan-canton/