JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In school, they called this now-retired educator Ms. Turner. These days Audrey Edwards-Turner is fondly referred to as “Mama Audrey.”
She works year-round to help the area’s homeless. Mama Audrey collects food, shoes, blankets, sweaters, jackets and all sorts of things for people who don’t have families, let alone a roof over their heads. And then, once a week, she goes to a number of locations around town distributing the items to homeless people in the area.
Many times she has help from her sister and brother-in-law, as well as other family and friends. Someone who talks fondly about her but wishes to remain anonymous fondly refers to her as “a ministry within herself.”
Not that long ago Mama Audrey even set out to feed the homeless. She set up some burners and prepared a fish fry to feed those gathered behind the downtown library. What she was doing was so inspiring that people at the park decided to jump in and help.
Why does she work to make a “Positively Jax” difference? Those who know "Mama" said it is simply because “she’s the kind of person that brings people together and has unselfish love for people and desire to bring comfort to the lives of others.”
For the work she does, News4Jax honors Edwards-Turner with station's Positively Jax award for March.