Category Archives: 3-bottom

Adoptable pets from Humane Society of West Michigan: Esmeralda and Tiny

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Non-Profits, Pets/Animals, , ,

By Brooke Hotchkiss, Humane Society of West Michigan

Each week, WKTV features an adoptable furry friend (or few) from various shelters in the Grand Rapids area. This week, we focus on Humane Society of West Michigan, located at 3077 Wilson Dr. NW in Grand Rapids.

Humane Society of West Michigan’s mission is to rescue hurt, abused and abandoned animals and find them a new forever home. The 501(c)3 non-profit organization helps over 8,000 animals annually and is 100% donor-funded by caring individuals and businesses in the community. Additional programs help reduce pet overpopulation, provide assistance to low-income pet owners, behaviorally assess animals and reunite lost pets with their owners.

Esmeralda

Esmeralda — Female American Pit Bull Terrier Mix

I’m a sweet and playful 1-year-old girl looking for my forever home. I recently had surgery to repair a hip joint issue and am recovering well in a foster home. I love to cuddle and sit on laps! I would do well in a home that is relaxed enough to give the time and TLC to recover from my surgery. If you’re interested in meeting me please call Humane Society of West Michigan!

 

More about Esmeralda:

  • Breed: Terrier, American Pit Bull/Mix
  • Age: 1 years
  • Gender: Female
  • Size: Medium
  • Color: White/Tan
  • Spayed
  • Animal ID: 34828096

To adopt, call 616.453.8900 or email adoptions@hswestmi.org.

 

Tiny

Tiny — Male Domestic Shorthair

I’m a small 5-year-old cat who enjoys having my own space to snuggle up and snooze. I was transferred to HSWM from another animal shelter making much of my history a mystery. Adult cats, ages 5 months and older, have their adoption fees waived right now. Please come meet me and see if we are the purr-fect fit!

 

More about Tiny:

  • Breed: Domestic Shorthair/Mix
  • Age: 5 years
  • Gender: Male
  • Size: Small
  • Color: Brown
  • Neutered
  • Animal ID: 34969206

To adopt, call 616.453.8900 or email adoptions@hswestmi.org.

Adoption fee includes:

  • A physical done by the staff veterinarian
  • A test for heartworm disease (if six months or older)
  • A first series of vaccines including DHLPP (distemper combo), Bordatella (kennel cough) vaccine, and rabies (if older than 14 weeks of age)
  • Spay/Neuter Surgery
  • Treatment for internal parasites
  • One dose of flea preventative
  • One dose of heartworm preventative

The organization automatically microchips all adoptable animals using 24PetWatch microchips, which include FREE registration into the 24PetWatch pet recovery service. For more information visit www.24petwatch.com or call 1-866-597-2424. This pet is also provided with 30 days of FREE ShelterCare Pet Health Insurance with a valid email address. For more information visit www.sheltercare.com or call 1-866-375-7387 (PETS).

Humane Society of West Michigan is open Tues-Fri 12-7, Sat & Sun 11-4.

 

City of Wyoming employee service awards honors 46 workers

3-bottom, City of Wyoming
Part of the group of those honored at the City of Wyoming Employee Service Awards event. (Supplied)

WKTV Staff

 

The City of Wyoming last week celebrated 46 employees — with a combined 945 years of service to the city — during an Employee Service Awards event. The awards are given out once a year and recognize employees for service in 5-year increments, with the longest tenured employee gaining a 40-year service award.

 

The department breakdown of the service awards are as follows:

Finance – 1 individual, 30 years

Housing – 1 individual, 20 years

HR/Risk Management – 1 individual, 15 years

Treasurer – 1 individual, 20 years

Information Technology – 2 individuals, 40 years

Court – 4 individuals, 100 years

Public Works – 7 individuals, 150 years

Clean Water Plant/Drinking Water Plant/Utilities – 8 individuals, 140 years

Community Services – 1 individual, 30 years

Parks & Recreation – 1 individual, 20 years

Inspections – 2 individuals, 30 years

Facilities – 1 individual, 15 years

Public Safety (Fire) – 5 individuals, 95 years

Public Safety (Police) – 11 individuals, 240 years

 

Metro Health Farm Market returns for 14th season

3-bottom, City of Wyoming, , , , , , , ,
At the Metro Health Farm Market, not every booth is farm produce – some are fine crafts, coffees and spices, offering shoppers a variety of local goods to choose from.

By Jennifer Hoff

Metro Health – University of Michigan Health

 

One of the most vibrant farm markets in West Michigan returns to the campus of Metro Health – University of Michigan Health for its 14th season beginning Thursday, May 11.

 

The Metro Health Farm Market expects to welcome about 35 local vendors on opening day, adding another 20 or so as the weather warms. For the 2017 season, the farm market will be open every Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., rain or shine, May 11 through Oct. 12.

 

“A healthy community starts with a healthy diet,” says Mike Faas, chief executive officer of Metro Health – University of Michigan Health. “Metro Health isn’t here just to treat illness. We’re here to be a complete wellness resource. Providing access to affordable, healthy food is part of our responsibility to the community.”

 

The Metro Health Farm Market is located on the grounds of Metro Health Hospital, 5900 Byron Center Ave. SW in Wyoming, adjacent to the Village Green.

 

Though best known for fresh fruits and vegetables, it also offers baked goods, homemade foods, plants and hand-crafted items. Vendors come from throughout West Michigan.

 

“We aim for a mix of about three food vendors to every one crafter,” says Emil Hannesson, farm market manager. “Our priority is to support sustainable local farms selling their own produce.”

 

One such vendor is Austhof’s Farm in Grandville, which returns to the Metro Health Farm Market for its seventh season.

 

“The Metro market is the place to be in the summer,” says Tamryn Austhof of Austhof’s Farm. “We love it because it delivers such a strong sense of community and such a broad variety of vendors.”

 

The fare is so diverse that the market publishes a weekly recipe featuring produce from vendors. The Farm Market Recipe of the Week is distributed at the on-site information booth and available on the Metro Health website.

 

Daily attendance at the Metro Health Farm Market averages well over 1,000. Shoppers come from the surrounding Wyoming community, as well as throughout the greater Grand Rapids area.

 

“Many of our customers are low income, with few options for fresh, affordable produce,” Hannesson says. “The Farm Market supports community health by making it easier for these customers to choose nutritious food.”

 

About one-third of customers pay using government assistance. The Farm Market accepts SNAP Bridge Cards, WIC Project FRESH and Senior Project FRESH.

 

The Farm Market also participates in Double Up Food Bucks, a state assistance program that helps low-income people stretch their food dollars. When SNAP shoppers spend at the Farm Market, they’re eligible for matching funds to buy Michigan-grown fruits and vegetables—up to $20 each market day.

 

Beyond its role as a source of fresh, affordable produce, the Metro Health Farm Market also serves as a place for the community to come together. That’s especially true when market days coincide with the following special events planned for the Metro Health Village Green:

 

  • Kids Day on June 15 offers a variety of fun activities for families.

 

  • Health and Wellness Day on July 27 invites the community to learn about ways to live healthier.

 

  • Sustainability Day on August 17 invites the community to learn about ways to live greener.

 

“If it’s about improving health—of our patients, of our community, of our environment—it’s happening here,” Faas says.

Grand Rapids Symphony 2016-17 season ends with Beethoven’s popular ‘Eroica’ Symphony, May 19-20

3-bottom, Upcoming Events,

By Joan Engel, GR Symphony

 

From “Bonaparte” to “Eroica”, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 faced an identity crisis from the start.

Ludwig van Beethoven intended to nickname his Third Symphony “Bonaparte”, for Napoleon Bonaparte, the French general he admired. After Napoleon declared himself Emperor in 1804, Beethoven revoked his dedication and renamed the brilliant piece, Sinfonia Eroica, to celebrate the memory of a great man.

The solemn, second movement of Symphony No. 3, which was premiered in 1805 in Vienna, seems to foreshadow the funeral march of Napoleon, 17 years before his actual death in 1821.

Larry Rachleff will lead the final concerts of the Grand Rapids Symphony’s 2016-17 Richard and Helen DeVos Classical series at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 19-20, in DeVos Performance Hall.

Concert sponsor is Zhang Financial, and guest artist sponsor is the Edith I. Blodgett Guest Artist Fund.

In prelude to the bitter-sweet symphonic work of Beethoven, Grand Rapids Symphony will begin the concerts with Claude Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. For this French-centered finale, the orchestra welcomes former Music Advisor Larry Rachleff back to Grand Rapids together with his wife, soprano Susan Lorette Dunn, to sing selections from Joseph Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne.

“A take-charge maestro who invests everything he conducts with deep musical understanding”( Chicago Tribune), Larry Rachleff is in his 20th season as Music Director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and served as Grand Rapids Symphony’s Music Advisor for the 2015-16 season. Rachleff is Director of Orchestras and a professor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston. Last season, he conducted three of the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Classical Series concerts in DeVos Performance Hall.

 

Australian soprano, Susan Lorette Dunn studied at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Brisbane, Queensland. Dunn is a Churchill Fellow and worked with the New York Festival of Song in New York City. She and her husband reside in Houston with their son, Sammy.

Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’aprés-midi d’un faune, based on the poem of the same name by Stéphane Mallarmé, often is compared to the lush and dreamy works of Wagner but in half the time. The work is just nine minutes long.

Susan Lorette Dunn

Debussy himself wrote: “The music of this prelude is a very free illustration of Mallarmé’s beautiful poem. By no means does it claim to be a synthesis of it. Rather there is a succession of scenes through which pass the desires and dreams of the faun in the heat of the afternoon. Then, tired of pursuing the timorous flight of nymphs and naiads, he succumbs to intoxicating sleep, in which he can finally realize his dreams of possession in universal Nature.”

Joseph Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne includes six of the sweetest French songs and pastorals you may ever hear.

Malurous qu’o uno fenno is a playful bourée exploring the dilemma whether it is better to be in love or out of love. Lo fiolaire is a sensuous tribute to a beautiful girl, spinning at her wheel, with the onomatopoeia of the sound of wheel forming a lilting refrain.

Closing the set and the first half is Lou coucut, one of the many bird songs in the Auvergne collections, this one is about a noisy cuckoo.

  • Upbeat, a free, pre-concert, multi-media presentation will be held before each performance at 7 p.m. in the DeVos Place Recital Hall. Upbeat is sponsored by BDO USA.
  • The Grand Rapids Symphony this season has introduced a special cocktail for its audiences in DeVos Performance Hall. At every concert in the 2016-17 Richard and Helen DeVos Classical series, try a “Spirit of the Symphony,” also called a French 75.
  • The complete Beethoven’s Eroica program will be rebroadcast on June 4, 2017, at 1 p.m. on Blue Lake Public Radio 88.9 FM or 90.3 FM.

Tickets start at $18 and are available at the GRS ticket office, weekdays 9 am-5 pm, at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across from the Calder Plaza), or by calling 616.454.9451 x 4. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum.)

Tickets are available at the DeVos Place box office, weekdays 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. or on the day of the concert beginning two hours prior to the performance. Tickets also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.

Full-time students of any age are able to purchase tickets for only $5 on the night of the concert by enrolling in the GRS Student Passport program. This is a MySymphony360-eligible concert.

This activity is supported in part by an award from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

#1 NYT Bestselling author David Sedaris to visit Schuler Books on June 5th

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Upcoming Events, ,

By Whitney Spotts, Schuler Books

Schuler Books welcomes David Sedaris back for his first bookstore tour in years, on Monday, June 5, for the release of one of the most anticipated books of the season, Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002).

The humorist tells all in a book that is, literally, a lifetime in the making.

Sedaris has kept a diary for 40 years. In his diaries, he’s recorded everything that has captured his attention — overheard comments, salacious gossip, soap opera plot twists, secrets confided by total strangers. These observations are the source code for his nest work, and with them he has honed his self-deprecation and learned to craft his cunning, surprising sentences.

Now, for the first time, Sedaris shares his private writings with the world in Theft By Finding: Diaries 1977- 2002. This is the first-person account of how a drug-abusing dropout with a weakness for the International House of Pancakes and a chronic inability to hold down a real job became one of the funniest people on the planet.

Written with a sharp eye and ear for the bizarre, the beautiful, and the uncomfortable, and with a generosity of spirit that even a misanthropic sense of humor can’t fully disguise, Theft By Finding proves that Sedaris is one of our great modern observers.

Ticketing Info

This will be a ticketed event, with tickets available via pre-order of Theft by Finding from www.SchulerBooks.com beginning at 10 am on Monday, May 1st. Pre-sales will end on Sunday, May 28. Ticket sales will resume IN-STORE ONLY at the 28th St. location on Tuesday, May 30th at 9am.

Who:   #1 NYT Bestselling Author DAVID SEDARIS

What:  Talk & Signing

Where:  Schuler Books & Music, 2660 28th St. SE, Grand Rapids 49512

When:  Monday, June 5 @ 7pm

Full event details available at www.SchulerBooks.com.

About the Author

David Sedaris is the author of the books: Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Holidays on Ice, Naked, and Barrel Fever. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and BBC Radio 4. He lives in England.

Praise for Theft By Finding

“Sedaris fans will thrill to this opportunity to poke around in the writer’s personal diaries, which he has faithfully kept for four decades and used as raw material for his hilarious nonfiction as well as his performances.”―Paul S. Makishima, Boston Globe

“Scintillating… Sedaris is a latter-day Charlie Chaplin: droll, put-upon but not innocent, and besieged by all sorts of obstreperous or menacing folks… Sedaris’s storytelling, even in diary jottings, is so consistently well-crafted and hilarious that few will care whether it’s embroidered.”―Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

“Raw glimpses of the humorist’s personal life as he clambered from starving artist to household name… though the mood is usually light, the book is also a more serious look into his travails as an artist and per- son… A surprisingly poignant portrait of the artist as a young to middle-aged man.”

―Kirkus (starred review)

Caregivers need time off to take care of themselves

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, Non-Profits, Senior Living,

By Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan

Being a caregiver is one of the most difficult roles to fulfill, yet with the population of people age 60+ continuing to grow, it is a role that 1 in 3 people find themselves taking on. Some of us are thrust into caregiving due to an illness or an accident. Oftentimes though, we discover that the caregiving role has crept in and slowly taken over our lives.

It might start out simple — taking a loved one to the grocery store on occasion. Then occasionally turns into every Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. along with doctors’ appointments several times a month. On these trips you notice difficulties with money or paperwork, so you double-check their bills, discover they are overpaying, and now you’re a shopper, bill payer, and health advocate. Sarah Sobel, LMSW, Caregiver Resource Coordinator at Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan said, “When I talk with caregivers, often times I go through some daily living tasks and I ask them about how much assistance they are providing to their loved one with these activities. Many caregivers don’t realize how much they are providing assistance on a daily basis until it is reflected back to them.”

We discover we’ve become a caregiver and didn’t even know it.

What starts out as lending a hand gradually grows into another job. The National Alliance for Caregiving estimates that caregivers spend at least 20 hours per week caring for a loved one. Yet, many people in this position still don’t consider themselves caregivers, especially if their loved one continues to reside in their own home. We regard these tasks as the duties or responsibilities that a spouse, a child, a parent or even a friend undertakes for a person they love, so we juggle the caregiver role with other parts of our lives, like our career, family and social life.

Fulfilling the duties of caregiver without recognizing that we are a caregiver can result in stress, anger and ultimately burnout, putting our own health and well-being at risk.

Sobel said, “This is why I encourage caregivers to build a village — whether formal or informal — for the times when caregiving becomes hard to handle. Do they have a friend they can call to sit with their loved one, while they take a walk? Maybe their loved one is a good candidate for an adult day program — where they might receive some attention and the caregiver can have some time off to take care of themselves.”

When we recognize ourselves as caregivers, we embrace that we are going above and beyond typical expectations, and we also then come to understand that taking care of ourselves is paramount to our being able to take care of others.

This realization also opens doors to resources that can help support us in our new role.

“An important part of my work at Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan,” Sobel shared, “is to provide the caregivers with education. These classes are a great way for caregivers to come together and learn about some of the issues they are facing.”

Taking advantage of the resources available in our communities helps caregivers build that “village” Sobel said is important, “In these classes, caregivers can come together — to share with each other about their experiences” and begin building a support network. Getting connected to resources early can also help us assess the growing needs of the person we’re caring for and, if necessary, get connected to professional caregiving services.

If you’re interested in understanding more about caregiving and the resources available, contact Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan at 888.456.5664 or email aaainfo@aaawm.org. You can also visit the Caregiver Resource Network website. Caregiver Resource Network and Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan can be found on Facebook.

School News Network: Sound Engineers

3-bottom, City of Wyoming, , ,
Seniors Jailene Rodas-Sandoval junior Thomas Robinson and senior Ramses Larabel play “Happy Birthday” on their electronic instrument, which involves a computer program. (Photos courtesy
of School News Network.

By Erin Albanese

School News Network

 

Though his rendition of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” was a bit ding-y, Lee High School senior Scott Peuler looked pleased with himself as he finished the tune by hitting glass bottles filled with different levels of water with a miniature drumstick.

 

Nursery rhymes were the ditties of the day in teacher Steve Feutz’s engineering class, as students demonstrated the connections between engineering and sound. Senior Israel Hernandez strummed “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” on a tiny harp made with wood and rubber bands. Sophomore Jennifer Pablo, juniors Paul Villarreal, Maura Mendoza and Adriana Sanchez and senior Betty Almanzo played “Hot Cross Buns” on a xylophone-inspired percussion instrument made of Pringles cans and cardboard.

 

Students combined innovation, precision – and a little Mother Goose – to make instruments that created different pitches and notes for the latest project in the class, which started this school year. Feutz, who has taught math for five years, has undergraduate degrees in aerospace engineering and music theory, so fitting a music-themed project into the class was natural.

 

“Music is my biggest passion, then engineering, math and science,” said Feutz, who sings and plays trumpet and piano.

 

Juniors Paul Villereal and Maura Mendoza hold up their Pringle-can percussion instrument.

Physics is involved in how sound is created, he noted. Students experimented by using household objects turned into instruments. “There’s four different instrument groups and they all sound a little different,” he said.



The class touches on many types of engineering, giving students an idea of skills needed in the local workforce. The demand for engineers and designers in manufacturing outstrips supply by at least double, according to the West Michigan Talent Assessment and Outlook report, published in September 2016. This is largely due to a shortage of graduates needed to fill vacancies for industrial and electrical engineers.

“My whole goal is to teach them what engineers do and how they do it,” Feutz said. His students learn to follow an engineering design process: come up with an idea, build, test, and improve if necessary.

 

Every project touches on a different branch of engineering. Students studied aerospace by designing cardboard gliders with egg containers and launching them off the school’s football stadium press box. They studied electrical engineering by creating gadgets that involve circuitry, remote controls, trains and other inventions.

 

They also built wooden cabinets into existing tables, now in classroom use, and spaghetti bridges, with one group of students competing in the Ferris State University Spaghetti Bridge Competition in March.

 

“I’ve liked being introduced to different types of engineering,” said Israel Hernandez, demonstrating how his harp strings make lower sounds depending on how taut the rubber bands are pulled. “We’ve done stuff with electricity and wiring – basic stuff – but it was cool to learn. This class gave me an interest in civil engineering.”

 

Junior Jeffrey Anderson plays his pan flute, made of straws and tape.

Paul Villarreal said he enjoys having the chance to make things by hand. “It helps you learn the basics of what you need to put something together. It takes math to different levels and puts it all together.”

 

“I’ve done things in this class I haven’t done in any other class,” added Scott Peuler.

 

The class started as a trimester course, but because of student interest was expanded to include Engineering A B and C, allowing the option for a full year of engineering.

 

It’s great for students who like to tinker and spend their time making things, Feutz said.

 

“It’s cool to see kids who don’t like the traditional classroom model, who really like being able to do hands-on things and build,” he added. “They essentially make a mess of the classroom, make something out of it, and make it their own.”

 

Check out School News Network for more stories about students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan.

Government Matters: Week in review, May 1-5, 2017

3-bottom, Politics, ,

Senator Stabenow Statement on House Passage of American Health Care Act

By Miranda Margowsky

 

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) released the following statement after the House of Representatives voted to advance the American Health Care Act:

 

“I’m committed to working across the aisle to lower health care costs for Michigan families and small businesses, make prescription drugs more affordable, and improve care for middle-class families. House Republicans instead passed a plan today that would raise costs for Michigan families, eliminate protections if you or a family member has a preexisting condition like cancer or a heart condition, and take us back to the days when insurance companies were in charge of your health care. I will strongly oppose this plan in the Senate.”

 

Peters, Grassley Reintroduce Legislation to Address Needs of At-Risk Youth

Senators Introduce Bill During National Foster Care Month

 

U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced they are reintroducing bipartisan legislation to help states identify and meet the needs of children who come into contact with both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, also known as dual status youth. The Childhood Outcomes Need New Efficient Community Teams (CONNECT) Act would authorize competitive grants to improve data collection on dual status youth and encourage better cooperation between state agencies overseeing juvenile justice and child welfare programs.

 

“Too many children are at risk of falling through the cracks because unnecessary barriers prevent the juvenile justice and child welfare systems from giving children the services they need,” said Senator Peters. “The more we know about dual status youth, the more we can do to ensure programs are available to support our most vulnerable children and give them a better chance at success. This bipartisan bill will help states collect information and tailor programs that will help at-risk youth lead happy, fruitful lives.”

 

The CONNECT Act authorizes grants administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to help state juvenile justice and child welfare agencies collect data on dual status youths to foster a better understanding of their unique circumstances and improve coordination in the delivery of services to at-risk children.

 

Peters, Capito Reintroduce Bipartisan Student Loan Rehabilitation Bill

Legislation Would Allow Private Student Loan Borrowers to Remove Default from Credit History after Series of Payments

 

U.S. Senators Gary Peters (MI) and Shelley Moore Capito (WV) have reintroduced bipartisan legislation to help private student loan borrowers who default on their loans. The Federal Adjustment in Reporting (FAIR) Student Credit Act would allow a borrower who has successfully completed a series of on-time payments to remove the student loan default from their credit report. Unlike federal student loans, there is currently no opportunity to rehabilitate private student loans, and private lenders may only request to delete information from a credit file if it was reported inaccurately.

 

The FAIR Student Credit Act would expand the loan rehabilitation program by giving private lenders the flexibility to make it easier for borrowers to improve their credit standing. Under current law, federal loans may be rehabilitated one time and borrowers can repair their credit, while private lenders do not have the ability to remove negative credit information on borrowers who participate in loan rehabilitation programs. Peters and Capito previously introduced this bill in the 114th Congress.

 

There are approximately $9.9 billion in total private student loans across the country, and according to the most recent statistics from the Consumers Financial Protection Bureau, there are more than 850,000 private student loans in default. A bad credit report can negatively impact a borrower’s attempts to gain employment, rent an apartment or purchase an automobile for years. This debt is harming our economic recovery, negatively impacting retirement savings, household spending and the demand for mortgage credit.

 

Federal Funding Bill Includes Stabenow’s Legislation to Reinstate Year-Round Pell Grants

By Miranda Margowski

 

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) announced that the fiscal year 2017 federal appropriations bill includes her legislation to reinstate Year-Round Pell Grants for college students in Michigan and across the country. Stabenow’s bill includes provisions that will allow low and moderate income students to use Pell Grants for three semesters each academic year, rather than the current law’s limit of two semesters.

 

Before Congress cut Year-Round Pell Grants in 2011, over one million students across the country, including close to 35,000 in Michigan, used Pell Grants to pay for college for three semesters in an academic year. Research shows <http://www.csus.edu/ihelp/PDFs/R_Steps_to_success.pdf> that students who take courses continuously over the summer were three times more likely to complete a degree.

 

Peters, Tillis Lead Colleagues in Letter Calling for Funding for State Veterans Homes

By Allison Green

 

U.S Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) led a bipartisan group of their colleagues in a letter to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies urging them to support robust funding for State
Veterans Homes that help provide long-term care to our nation’s veterans. Federal funds provided by the State Veterans Home Construction Grant Program allow states to make critical facility upgrades or construct new facilities to serve aging veteran populations. For fiscal year 2017, only 10 of the 57 highest priority projects were funded, resulting in a backlog of facilities requiring upgrades or new construction.

 

State Veterans Homes are facilities that are operated by state governments and partner with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide nursing home, domiciliary, and adult day care services to veterans with special medical needs, including thousands of elderly veterans.

 

Michigan has two State Veterans Homes in Grand Rapids and Marquette that serve about 500 Michigan veterans. The State of Michigan recently announced plans to construct new homes in Grand Rapids, the Detroit metro area, the Flint/Saginaw/Bay City region, the Jackson and Battle Creek area, Marquette, Northern Michigan and Southeastern Michigan.

You can download the letter here.

 

Stabenow Statement on Bipartisan Effort to Protect Great Lakes Funding in Fiscal Year 2017 Funding Bill

 

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Co-Chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, released the following statement on her bipartisan efforts to stop President Trump’s proposed $50 million cut in Great Lakes funding in the Fiscal Year 2017 funding bill:

“I am pleased to have successfully led the bipartisan effort to stop President Trump from cutting $50 million in Great Lakes funding this year. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has always received bipartisan support and is absolutely critical to supporting Michigan jobs and protecting our Great Lakes, including fishing, boating, hunting and stopping invasive species. As Co-Chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, I will continue working with my colleagues across the aisle to make sure President Trump’s plan to completely eliminate Great Lakes funding next year is stopped.”

 

 

Harvest Health Foods celebrates 65 years of healthy business

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Food, Health

 

By Silvia Atsma, Harvest Health Foods

 

Local West Michigan business, Harvest Health Foods, is celebrating a milestone anniversary of 65 years of business. The anniversary celebration begins in May with special sampling events on Fridays and Saturdays, health seminars and special savings for customers throughout the month.

 

Henry Diedering, now 90, opened the first Harvest Health Foods in 1952 on Wealthy Street, shortly after he came to the United States from the Netherlands. It was the first grocery store dedicated to natural groceries, herbs and vitamins in West Michigan. For 65 years, it has been Harvest Health Foods’ passion to provide West Michigan with healthy groceries, healthy vitamins, and healthy answers, way before Jazzercise or kale became a rock-star vegetable.

 

 

Still family owned and operated, Harvest Health Foods has grown to three locations and employs 70 people. Henry’s granddaughter Emily and her husband Mitchell represent the third generation to be involved in the business. While specializing in natural and organic foods and supplements, Harvest Health Foods has recently expanded their wide range of local Michigan products with craft beers, organic wines and many varieties of kombucha.

 

Harvest Health Foods will celebrate with sampling events on Fridays and Saturdays the first three weekends in May. In addition, there will special anniversary savings throughout the store, free health seminars, give-a-ways, and prizes all month long.

OK Kentwood residents, now it’s your turn to purge

3-bottom, City of Kentwood, , , , , , ,
Kentwood Public Works Department oversees the city’s recycling center.

As spring ushers in warmer weather, it’s a great time to think about cleaning and decluttering your home. The City of Kentwood will help get rid of some of that unwanted junk with its annual Community Cleanup Day this Saturday, May 6, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

 

Kentwood residents are encouraged to bring hazardous household materials for disposals, gently used items for donation and electronic devices to be recycled. The drop-off location is the Kentwood Recycling Center at 5068 Breton Rd SE., Kentwood.

 

“Kentwood Cleanup Day is a great service and opportunity for our residents to join their neighbors in keeping our community in great condition,” said Kentwood Mayor Stephen Kepley. “It also gives residents the chance to donate to the Salvation Army and responsibly dispose of unwanted items like old computers or hazardous household waste.”

 

The City has partnered with the Salvation Army to collect gently used items for donations (for a list of accepted items, visit the Salvation Army website). Kent County will be collecting household hazardous waste and recycling. (For what is accepted in hazardous waste and recycling, visit the Recycle Kent website.) Comprenew will be onsite to collect electronic devices for recycling. Examples of accepted electronics include mobile phones, computers and fax machines. The large CRT monitors will not be accepted but can be taken directly to any Comprenew location. In Grand Rapids, there is one at 1454 28th St. SE and one at 629 Ionia Ave. SW.

 

Yard waste, mattresses, construction materials and tires will not be accepted. Appliances must have all Freon removed. If you are looking to get rid of a working refrigerator or an air conditioner, you might want to consider contacting DTE Energy or Consumer Powers as both offer incentive programs for removal of such items.

 

Community Cleanup Day is free and open to residents of Kentwood. Residents will be asked to show their photo ID for proof of residency and are asked to enter the drive off Breton Road. Those who own rental or other properties in Kentwood need only show proof of property ownership with a water bill or tax statement.

 

If you have any further questions, or are seeking more information, please call the City switchboard during business hours at 554-0817.

School News Network: A Boost for Bicycle Safety, with Cheers

3-bottom, City of Wyoming, , , , , ,
Second grader Jaylene Carrera receives her new helmet custom fitted by Kim Hernden, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital injury prevention specialist

By Erin Albanese

School News Network

 

West Elementary School second-grader Max Troche plans to wear his brand new helmet when he rides his green and black bike this spring.

 

“I’m excited because the helmet I have hurts my head,” Max said.

 

Thanks to a donation from Hudsonville Rocket Cheer, a program for girls in first through eighth grades, he is one of 520 kindergarten through fourth-grade students at West who have brand-new bicycle helmets.

 

Kim Hernden, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital injury prevention specialist, gets the fit just right for second grader Yulian Merced

Along with the headgear, they received helmet fittings from Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital representatives, who led education sessions on bike safety. Students learned how, when and why to wear bike helmets.

 

In 2016, of nine children admitted to the hospital because of bike accidents, only two were wearing helmets, said Kim Hernden, DeVos Children’s Hospital injury prevention specialist.

 

Britni Schipper, director and owner of Hudsonville Rocket Cheer, said the program hosts a fundraising event every year. “We wanted the girls to learn more than just the sport of cheer,” she said. “By collecting funds, the girls learned to come together as a team to be able to give back to our community.”

 

Schipper and her assistant director are both emergency room nurses at Spectrum Health, so keeping children safe is “near and dear to our hearts,” she added.

 

West Elementary physical education teacher Shani Padding helped share information on bike safety during the fitting session. “It’s been fun for me to see the kids being excited about being safe,” she said.

 

West Elementary School second-grader Max Troche plans to wear his brand new helmet when he rides his green and black bike this spring.

 

“I’m excited because the helmet I have hurts my head,” Max said.

 

Thanks to a donation from Hudsonville Rocket Cheer, a program for girls in first through eighth grades, he is one of 520 kindergarten through fourth-grade students at West who have brand-new bicycle helmets.

 

Along with the headgear, they received helmet fittings from Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital representatives, who led education sessions on bike safety. Students learned how, when and why to wear bike helmets.

 

In 2016, of nine children admitted to the hospital because of bike accidents, only two were wearing helmets, said Kim Hernden, DeVos Children’s Hospital injury prevention specialist.

 

Britni Schipper, director and owner of Hudsonville Rocket Cheer, said the program hosts a fundraising event every year. “We wanted the girls to learn more than just the sport of cheer,” she said. “By collecting funds, the girls learned to come together as a team to be able to give back to our community.”

 

Schipper and her assistant director are both emergency room nurses at Spectrum Health, so keeping children safe is “near and dear to our hearts,” she added.

 

West Elementary physical education teacher Shani Padding helped share information on bike safety during the fitting session. “It’s been fun for me to see the kids being excited about being safe,” she said.

 

Check out School News Network for more stories about students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan.

 

Catherine’s Health Center: Quality care — with compassion

3-bottom, Community Health, Health, Non-Profits,
Marilyn discusses her health with registered nurse Linda Lanning at a recent appointment

By Ron Rozema, Catherine’s Health Center

 

Life handed Marilyn a set of hard blows when her husband died unexpectedly; her cleaning and phone-answering businesses were foreclosed by the IRS in the aftermath of his death, and she had spinal surgery — all within a year. She had no insurance and needed Catherine’s for her medical care, including medications.

 

Insurance premiums and the cost of medications still are out of reach, although she now is exploring Medicare coverage.

 

Ten years ago, a friend who also is a patient encouraged her to try Catherine’s. A long history of high blood pressure unresponsive to treatment, other health complications and a lack of insurance meant she needed care she couldn’t get elsewhere.

 

“Dr. Jack (Walen) immediately sent me to the emergency room because my blood pressure was so high. He’s the only one who has helped me keep it down,” she said.

 

Although she is thrilled with the medical care and improvement she has seen, it is the way she is treated that really touches her heart.

 

“Candy at the desk is my friend now, the nurses make your heart happy, and the fellowship is just wonderful!” Marilyn said. “If you didn’t know it, you would have no clue that you didn’t have insurance.

 

“I’m getting the best health care of my life,” Marilyn said, smiling.

 

Aging In Place: How older adults can maintain independence

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Non-Profits, Senior Living, , ,

Your Community in Action!

By ACSET Community Action Agency (CAA)

 

According to US Census data, persons 65 years or older represented 14.5% of the U.S. population in 2014; they are expected to represent 21.7% by 2040. Nearly all seniors want to stay in their homes or “age in place.” Unfortunately, there are many factors that can make living independently a challenge.

When our loved ones can no longer get dressed, fix a meal or remember to take their medications, small home modifications, transportation or in-home services may be all that is needed to help them stay in their homes. Here are some resources that can help older adults live where they choose for as long as possible.

ACSET Community Action Agency (CAA) offers services tailored just for seniors. These include nutritious meals and door-to-door transportation. To learn more about CAA’s senior services, visit their website here.

The Michigan Aging & Adult Services Agency offers an online database of aging resources. To find supports and services near you click here and search by location or service type.

MI Choice Waiver Program is an option for older adults and disabled persons who need additional help caring for themselves. The program provides in-home services covered by Medicaid to income-eligible adults. Click here to learn more about services and eligibility.

If you or a family member are starting to have trouble doing everyday tasks, check out the National Institute on Aging’s tip sheet, There’s No Place Like Home — For Growing Old. This sheet can help you develop a plan today to maintain independence in the future.

Your Community in Action! is provided by ASCET Community Action Agency. To learn more about how they help meet emergency needs and assist with areas of self-sufficiency, visit www.communityactionkent.org

On tap: Beer Explorers gets cheesy; Black Goat soon on the loose

3-bottom, Beer, Entertainment, Local Entertainment, Recreation
The Public Museum’s Beer Explorers program will team with Brewery Vivant to offer a class on the tasty relationship between beer and cheese.

By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org

 

The latest Beer Explorers program at the Grand Rapids Public Museum is a partnership with Brewery Vivant as participants in the class will learn about pairing beers with a variety of cheeses on Thursday, May 11.

 

The class will be led by Brewery Vivant’s “Wandering Monk and Certified Cicerone” Ryan Engemann.

 

Although wine is typically assumed the ideal pairing with cheese, beer is actually the traditional beverage to pair with cheese, according to supplied material. Both traditional farmhouse products, beers pair well with a variety of cheese and can enhance the flavors on your palate.

 

The class begins at 6:30 p.m. Admission to class, limited to 40 persons, includes three beer samples and cheese samples, as well as access to the Museum’s first two floors. A cash bar will be available.

 

Tickets are $18, $8 for museum members, and all participants must be age 21 or older. For tickets and more information visit grpm.org

 

Perrin Brewing set to release Black Goat

 

On Friday, May 12, Comstock Park’s Perrin Brewing will unleashing its Black Goat double black lager from its bourbon barrels and offering it on tap at the Perrin Pub. (Bottles will be available on May 15.)

 

The beer is described as “a bold, sweet vanilla bean aroma rises from the nose which is followed closely by flavors of complex dark chocolate and ripened stone fruit,” according to supplied material. “This lively lager finishes with a unique charred oak character and a smooth, warm caramel bourbon flavor that will exceed all taste bud expectations.”

 

A whole lot of taste buds can’t wait.

 

Local author and Newbery Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt visits Schuler Books & Music

3-bottom, City of Kentwood, , , ,
Gary D. Schmidt

Calvin College Professor and two-time Newbery Honor recipient Gary D. Schmidt will be coming to Schuler Books & Music, 2660 28th St. SE, to discuss his latest book, the young adult story “Orbiting Jupiter.”

 

Schmidt will be at the store at 7 p.m. The event will mark the paperback release of the book which earned starred reviews from “School Library Journal,” “Publishers Weekly,” “Booklist” and “Kirkus Reviews” and was named an ALA Notable Book for Children in 2016 as well as cited in the YALSA 2017 Best Fiction for Young Adults list.

 

In “Orbiting Jupiter,” Schmidt, who is also a National Book Award finalist, delivers the shattering story of Joseph, a father at 13, who has never seen his daughter, Jupiter. After spending time in a juvenile facility, he’s placed with a foster family on a farm in rural Maine. Here Joseph, damaged and withdrawn, mets 12-year-old Jack, who narrates the account of the troubled, passionate teen who wants to find his baby at any cost.

 

“There is quite a few books out that deal with this sort of relationship with the lost of a child,” Schmidt said in a recent interview. “There is not that many, I think, that deal seriously with a father’s yearning for a young child.

 

“If there is a message or a theme, I would suppose it would be the power of love and its ability to reach across.”

 

Schmidt received the Newbery Honor and a Printz Honor for “Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy” and a Newbery Honor for “The Wednesday Wars.” He lives with his family on a 150-year-old farm in Alto.

 

For more information about this event or other activities, visit Schuler Books & Music’s website, schulerbooks.com.

Wyoming City Clerk receives state designation

3-bottom, City of Wyoming

 

WKTV Staff

 

Wyoming City Clerk Kelli VandenBerg has received her Certified Michigan Municipal Clerk designation.

 

Kelli VandenBerg, City of Wyoming City Clerk

The Certified Michigan Municipal Clerk program encourages Michigan clerks to continue learning about the various legal processes involved in their duties. By focusing on personal and professional growth, the program hopes to cultivate clerks that are effective leaders in Michigan communities.

 

The designation is given by the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks. VandenBerg’s certification comes after three week-long classes taken annually over the course of three years.

 

“We are very proud of Kelli’s accomplishment in achieving this certification,” City Manager Curtis Holt said in supplied material. “Since stepping into the role of clerk, Kelli has demonstrated a commitment to continuous learning and to enhancing the professionalism of the office that will greatly contribute to the City’s development.”

 

VandenBerg has worked at the City of Wyoming for 19 years. She began her career in 1998 and has had the opportunity to serve many departments during her career. She became senior deputy City clerk in 2014.

 

VandenBerg earned her bachelors and master degrees in public administration at Grand Valley State University.

 

Eclectic mix: Meijer Gardens free Tuesday concert line-up ranges from jazz to indie rock

3-bottom, Entertainment, Local Entertainment, Recreation, Upcoming Events,
Slim Gypsy Baggage will be one of the “must hear” regional bands at the Meijer Gardens free Tuesday concert series this summer. (Supplied Meijer Gardens/John Rothwell)

By K.D. Noris

ken@wktv.org

 

While many big-name musical acts come through town as part of the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park Summer Concert Series, one of the true pleasures of a West Michigan summer is an evening at the Garden’s amphitheater exploring local and regional acts as part of the Tuesday Evening Music Club concert series.

 

Red Sea Pedestrians (Supplied Meijer Gardens/Brian Powers)

Starting Tuesday, July 4, with one band known for jazzy explorations and another for musical journeys just about everywhere else — Green On Blue and The Red Sea Pedestrians — the diverse two-month program features live bands with music ranging from jazz to indie rock to folk, all in the 1,900-(mostly grass)seat venue and all starting at 7 p.m.

 

Oh, and did I mention the concerts are free with Gardens’ admission?

 

Two of the more interesting musical explorations will be the mid August visits of Kalamazoo’s Michigander on Aug. 8 and Slim Gypsy Baggage on Aug. 15.

 

Michigander (Supplied Meijer Gardens/Adam Podboy)

Playing that night with singer-songwriter Benjaman James, Michigander is described as “emotive indie-rock, delivered through powerful vocals and cerebral lyrics.” The hook for me is the description of the band from its Facebook page: “Michigander has been the toil and passion of Jason Singer since 2013. It’s being built in basements and churches and vans without mufflers. It’s living on stages, floors, and in studios — sounding big and packing light.”

 

The next week, playing that night with the “downhome, psychedelic jam band” Bigfoot Buffalo, Slim Gypsy Baggage is led by lead singer Morgan Ingle who, accord to the bank’s website, “grew up in a musical family learning guitar from her father and honed her skills as a gifted singer/songwriter.  … Morgan signatures the Slim Gypsy Baggage vibe with her unique voice and thoughtful lyrics, as she covers the eclectic rock, funk and soulful sounds of the band.”

 

The hook, though, is checking out lead guitarist Cam Mammina. As the website states: “Cam shreds! … Mixing crunchy indie triphop licks, blues, funk, and surf rock sustains.  Needless to say, Cam brings a energized life and a driving shreddiness to SGBs sound.”

 

Two possible new words in the same sentence: “triphop” and “shreddiness”.  Oh ya.

 

The rest of the concert series includes:

 

Miss Atomic and The Zannies, on July 11. Miss Atomic is described as “a melodic blend of modern soul and pop-rock, fresh to the local scene,” while The Zannies is “an antic mishmash of alt-rock, punk, and blues.”

 

Rollie Tussing & The Midwest Territory Band and The Muteflutes, on July 18. The first is “an old-timey, unique balance of country, early swing, and blues, backed by vaudevillian percussion,” while second is “lilting, thought-provoking, lyric-driven indie folk rock.”

 

The Moxie Strings and The Dave Sharp World’s Trio, on July 25. Well known to local audiences,

 

Moxie Strings (Supplied)

The Moxie Strings is “a foot-stomping, rock-influenced, progressive spin on traditional Celtic and Americana classics and originals. While Dave Sharp World’s Trio is “a collaboration between renowned bassist Dave Sharp, Igor Houwat on the ‘oud’ (a short-neck lute-type, pear-shaped stringer instrument), and percussionist Carolyn Koebel, featuring Arabic-based, impromptu adventures into jazz and folk.”

 

The Moonrays and 6-Pak, on Aug. 1. Two bands also well known locally, The Moonrays offer “vintage, instrumental surf-rock,” while 6-Pak is “an all-girl band, originally formed in 1967, performing the grooviest hits from that era.”

 

Amy Andrews (Supplied)

Amy Andrews and Taylor Taylor, on Aug. 22. Amy is “a  modern day torch singer and award-winning vocalist, once referred to as a female Elvis” — not my words. Taylor offers “a fresh, young blend of pop and R&B, performing acoustic guitar-driven originals.”

 

Finishing up the series, as usual, is local music icon Ralston Bowles, as Ralston & Friends will his the stage Aug. 29. Describing Ralston’s music, let alone that of his always changing cast of “friends” is impossible. Start at “folk” and just enjoy the ride from there.

 

For more information visit meijergardens.org .

 

City of Wyoming’s 2017 Community Clean Up Day a resounding success

3-bottom, City of Wyoming, Our Cities, Recycling, , ,

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By Victoria Mullen

 

Well, the stats are in from the big Earth Day event at the 2017 Community Clean Up Day in the City of Wyoming and they are nothing short of amazing. Wyoming residents showed up in droves — the stats speak for themselves:

  • Approximately 400 vehicles went through the site
  • 15,000 pounds of electronics recycling — including 140 Tube TVs — were collected
  • 5,096 pounds of household hazardous waste was dropped off
  • 4,400 pounds of metal were recycled
  • 43 dumpsters were filled and
  • 60 tons of refuse hauled away by Plummer’s Disposal

Five Godwin and Lee High School students pitched in, and so did nine family and friends of City of Wyoming employees. And 44 City of Wyoming employees were on hand to make sure the big Earth Day event was a success.

 

Local Vietnamese-Americans share their stories in documentary

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, City of Kentwood, City of Wyoming, , , , , , , ,

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma

joanne@wktv.org

 

After the fall of Saigon in 1975, hundreds of thousands of refugees poured out of their native Vietnam, fleeing persecution, imprisonment, torture, execution, poverty, and alienation. Those who settled in the United States number 1.8 million, almost half of the 4 million members of the Vietnamese diaspora.

 

Greater Grand Rapids is home to the fourth largest Vietnamese community in the Midwest. With such numbers of ethnic Vietnamese in the area, the West Michigan Asian American Association undertook a special documentary project.

 

“Newcomer Legacy: A Vietnamese-American Story” focuses on nine individuals from the West Michigan area, ranging from ages 30 to 70, said Alan Headbloom, who was the project manager.

 

From a recent screening at Grand Valley State University

“What united the communist party was to get the foreigners (in the 1950s, it was the French Colonists and then later, the Americans) out of the country,” Headbloom said. “They talk about moving their families from the north to the south because they couldn’t live with the communists and then fleeing the country all together when Saigon fell in 1975.”

 

The nine interviewees share their personal stories of how they came to the United States, restarting in a new country, and what now makes West Michigan home.

 

The last two public screens of the documentary are Thursday, May 4, at 5:30 p.m. at Grand Rapids Community Center’s Calkins Science Center Auditorium 348, 226 Bostwick Ave. NE., and Thursday, May 11, for the City of Grand Rapids Community Relations Commission at 5:30 p.m. at LINC UP Gallery, 341 Hall Street. Each screening includes a panel with an opportunity for a Q&A session.

 

Headbloom noted that the first four presentations – which have been at Davenport University, Herrick Library, Grand Valley State University’s and the Vietnamese community’s Black April event in remembrance of those who fought and died when Saigon fell on April 30, 1975 – have been very positive. From the documentary’s website, Karen Nelson wrote “I am very glad I had the chance to hear these stories. I was touched by the accounts of hard work and strong family ties. I only wish it were longer!” and Project Administrator Elizabeth MacLaughlan wrote “Today’s film and panel presentation was excellent. Such powerful stories from our West Michigan Vietnamese community that everyone should hear. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of such an important project.”

 

“What we didn’t anticipate were the comments from students – we have screed this at Davenport University and Grand Valley State University just last week – who said they really had no idea and found the movie incredibly local as these are people who they may have worked with or driven past everyday,” Headbloom said.

 

Under sponsorship of the Michigan Heritage Council, the project will be made free of charge to area teachers who wish to include it in their history lessons. For more information, on this, contact Headbloom at alan@headbloom.com.

 

The documentary also will be shown on WKTV and made available to other local stations.

 

The project sponsor is the Michigan Humanities Council 2016-2017 Heritage Grant Program and the underwriter is the Kellogg Foundation. Local liaison is the West Michigan Asian American Association with project advisers being Connie Dang, Kim McKee, Phillip Nguyen, and Anh Tran.

 

For more about “Newcomer Legacy: A Vietnamese-American Story,” visit the Facebook page Facebook.com/newcomerlegacy.

Annual Metro Cruise Dust-Off event helps everyone to cruise into summer

3-bottom, City of Wyoming, , , , , , , ,
The deadline for entries for the annual Metro Cruise annual Pin Up Girl Contest is June 23.

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma

joanne@wktv.org

 

The signs of woodies and rag-tops, steel wagons and coupes. Roadsters running the length of 28th street and big-block V8s growling as they pass by. And of course we can’t forget the chrome, lots and lots of it sparkling in the sun.

 

Believe it or not, but the annual kick off to one of the area’s biggest car cruising events is this weekend. The annual Metro Cruise Dust-Off takes places from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 6, at the Wyoming Moose Lodge #763 located at 2630 Burlingame Ave. SW.

 

The event has become an annual tradition and a kick off to the summer car shows with car owners finally being able to show off what has been stored under those tarps.

 

“We hope to have 100 – 150 cars at the Dust Off on Saturday,” said Bob O’Callaghan, president/CEO of the Wyoming-Kentwood Area Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the annual event. O’Callaghan added that the first 50 collector car owners get a free Dust-Off shirt, which have become a collector’s item.

 

And while the Metro Cruise itself — which is Aug. 25 and 26 — is still about four months away, planning and preparation for the annual event, which marks its 13th year this year, have been well under way with several deadlines fast approaching.

 

The popular Art Cruise hosted by the Wyoming Business Leaders has already put a call out for artists for this year’s show. Similar to Grand Rapids’ ArtPrize, several Wyoming businesses feature the work of various local artists during the month of August, the same month as the Metro Cruise.

 

Interested artists have until June 1 to sign up to participate. The cost is $10, which is used to help cover marketing materials. For more information or to sign up, contact Donna Kuba, who runs Instant Cash Advance, at 616-261-4500 or email her at artcruisewyoming@gmail.com.

 

Entries for the annual Pin Up Girl contest are also being accepted. The Pin Up Girl contest will take place July 8 at the American Legion Post 154, 2327 Byron Center Ave. SW. The final competition will take place during Metro Cruise on Aug. 26, rain or shine according to O’Callaghan who said this year space has been reserved in Rogers Plaza for the contest if the weather is not cooperating.

 

Application deadline is June 23. All contestants must provide a head shot and full body shot with costume and makeup. Those interested should email the JA PR Group at staff@japrgroup.com.

 

For details and up-to-date information, make sure to visit 28thstreetmetrocruise.com or visit the Metro Cruise Facebook page at Facebook.com/metrocruise.

New hope for opioid addiction

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, ,

By Metro Health-University of Michigan Health

 

In the past 20 years, opioid overdose has mushroomed from an anomaly into an epidemic.

 

During that span, opioid-related deaths in Kent County soared fourfold—from fewer than 20 a year to more than 80.

 

The strongest predictor of opioid overdose is clear: a previous history of overdose. That being the case, the ER will soon begin giving Narcan kits to overdose patients at no cost before discharge, becoming the first hospital in the region to do so. Narcan is the only FDA-approved nasal form of naloxone, which counteracts the life-threatening effects of opioid overdose.

 

Called O-180—O is the street name for opiates and 180 signifies reversal—the program is funded by a $40,000 grant from the Metro Health Hospital Foundation.

 

With Narcan nasal spray on hand, discharged patients who experience a subsequent overdose at home can be treated immediately before placing a call to 911. The Narcan kits will contain two doses of naloxone, along with information about community resources available to overdose patients and their families.

 

“Our goal is to reduce deaths in the community related to opioid overdoses, while also removing some of the stigma of opioid addiction,” says Crystal Gaylord, a quality and safety nurse specialist in the ER.

GVSU reports regional impact of $816 million

3-bottom, Area Education, Citizen Journalism, Our Cities, ,

 

By Mary Eilleen Lyon, Grand Valley State University

The annual economic impact that Grand Valley State University (GVSU) has on the region is estimated at $816 million. Grand Valley issued its yearly tri-county economic impact report during its April 28 Board of Trustees meeting held at the L. William Seidman Center on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus.

The economic impact report covers Kent, Ottawa and Muskegon counties and used 2015-2016 data. Grand Valley employs more than 3,600 people and enrolls more than 25,400 students who spend money and pay taxes in the region.

Some additional highlights of this year’s report include:

  • New construction and renovations pumped more than $83 million into the local economy in 2016, creating more than 1,760 trade and construction jobs.
  • Construction of the $37.5 million Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall will be finished in May 2018 and will expand Grand Valley’s health campus in Grand Rapids.
  • On the Allendale Campus, an addition to the Performing Arts Center will add 44,000-square-feet of additional space to the existing building. The $20-million project will be finished in August.
  • Grand Valley alumni now number more than 106,000 and nearly half are living or working in West Michigan’s tri-county area.

The entire Economic Impact brochure can be found at http://www.gvsu.edu/economicimpact.

For more information on Grand Valley’s impact visit www.gvsu.edu/accountability.

In other board action/discussion, the board approved a resolution for:

  • Reauthorization of three charter schools (Global Heights Academy in Dearborn Heights, Legacy Charter Academy in Detroit, Statewide Cyber);
  • The authorization of a new school (Flint Cultural Center STEAM Academy);
  • The approval of a site addition for another school (Michigan Mathematics and Science Academy in Center Line);
  • The merger of Detroit Achievement Academy and Detroit Prep;
  • The approval of new Charter Contract Terms and Conditions for 6a, 6e, and 6c schools;
  • The appointment or reappointment of charter school board members to GVSU-authorized public school academy boards.

 

Kelloggsville students get a real ‘tree-t” on Arbor Day

3-bottom, City of Kentwood, City of Wyoming, , , , , , ,

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Fifty-four upper elementary students from Kelloggsville Public Schools traveled to Ideal Park on Arbor Day, April 28, to enjoy the outdoors and learn about the importance of planting more trees in our communities. The students have been working on a tree unit as part of their studies. Their Arbor Day experience brought their learning home – literally, as each went home with a blue spruce sapling to plant in their own yard.

 

To lend a celebratory tone, the Kelloggsville High School pep band played a collection of upbeat tunes, wrapping up with the Kelloggsville fight song.

 

The Arbor Day event was hosted by the City of Wyoming Tree Commission, “The Tree Amigos.” A former educator and Kelloggsville district resident, Wyoming Tree Commissioner Jim Ward, planned the event. Volunteer Gordy Rayburn donated the 60 saplings and gave the kids instructions on how to plant and care for them.

 

Founded as an official city commission in July 2016, The Tree Amigos are off to a good start. Through their efforts, the City of Wyoming was designated a Tree City USA on April 11. And, an April 20 proclamation and tree planting brought a new juneberry tree to City Hall, donated by DeHamer Brothers Landscaping and Garden Center. That makes 61 new trees for our communities.

 

The City of Wyoming Tree Commission meets at 12:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month at City Hall. They are hoping many more volunteers will join them to improve Wyoming’s tree canopy – and its residents’ quality of life. For information, email TreeAmigosWyoming@gmail.com or like “The Tree Amigos” on Facebook.

Wyoming voters approve library millage flexibility for park needs

3-bottom, City of Wyoming, Election, Recreation,
Four of City of Wyoming’s parks will now have funding for improvements and renovations after voter action Tuesday.

By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org 

 

City of Wyoming voters on Tuesday, May 2, approved a ballot proposal to allow the city to utilize .16 of its .39 library maintenance millage to put toward some of the $23 million in park needs. The unofficial vote results were 2,982 to 2,214, or about 57 percent in support of the proposal.

 

Gezon Park is one of four parks in line for improvements and renovations.

According to the city, the nearly $800,000 per year raised can now be used to pay a 15-year bond of $4.4 million. The bond money would be dedicated for park improvements at Ideal, Jackson, Ferrand, and Gezon. The current Parks and Recreation millage of 1.5 mills annually captures $2.9 million, which is used to fund recreation programs, maintenance services and basic facility upkeep.

 

“We are very pleased that the citizens of Wyoming have given us the flexibility to invest in our park system,” Rynbrandt said. “By allowing us to change the way we spend our dedicated library maintenance millage, we can make significant capital improvements in four parks: Ferrand, Gezon, Ideal and Jackson.

 

“This will be a multi-year process with an eye to have all projects completed within the next four years. Residents will start to see physical improvements to one or more of the parks as early as next spring.”

 

Current library maintenance

 

The request was not an increase in the amount of library millage collected and will not reduce the City’s ability to maintain the Kent District Library branch at 3350 Michael Ave. SW.

 

The library maintenance millage is only to maintain the actually facility, which is owned by the City of Wyoming. Kent District Library operates the library services and owns the collection. Operations of the library and the collection are funded through a Kent District Library millage, which is a 1.28 mill levy, which covers all 18 branches within the KDL system.

 

The city recently completed more than $650,000 in renovations to the library facility that includes a new roof and the revamping of the former cafe to a public space. Upon review, city staff determined that there would be no major renovation projects needed for the library facility within the next 10 years, Rynbrandt said prior to the vote.

 

Park needs and plans

With funding for park work now approved, plans for work can now begin.

“We are eager to begin, as there is much to do,” Rynbrandt said. “Our next steps will include formulating individual project timelines which will range from a public engagement process to update the Gezon Park development plan, to engaging engineers, landscape architects and other consultants in the creation of construction documents and processing of necessary permits for each unique park development.

“We’ll be regularly updating the community through the Parks and Recreation Commission, City Council, the Parks and Recreation brochure and social media.”

Every five years, the City of Wyoming meets with residents and city staff to review needs at its parks. Through that process, the city has recognized more than $23 million in park improvements. In 1994, Wyoming residents did grant a park millage which for the past 20 years the city has been able to invest and maintain the parks without an increase, Rynbrandt said.

 

However, within four years the city has had several natural disasters — a 2013 flood, and 2014 and 2016 tornados — which has created a greater need, Rynbrandt said. Ideal Park was severally impacted from the 2014 tornado with its playground equipment destroyed. The city was able to remove much of the debris and get the park reopened only to have the 2016 tornado cause more damage.

 

Jackson Park also was impacted by the tornados but also has a need for better stormwater control along with improved security and safety. Ferrand Park is a small pocket park that has not have any major improvements in a number of years and Gezon Park is surrounded by intense residential growth with the central area of the park needing to be developed.

 

 

Employment Expertise: Earn a salary while learning skills to be a medical assistant

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By West Michigan Works!

West Michigan Works! is now accepting applications of interest for its Medical Assistant Registered Apprenticeship program. The one-year program will begin in January 2018.

Hospitals, doctor offices, nursing homes and urgent care clinics across West Michigan are in critical need of medical assistants. A medical assistant is essential to the care of patients and is a great way to begin a healthcare career.

Typical duties

Clinical activities may include:

  • taking and recording vital signs and medical histories,
  • preparing patients for exams,
  • drawing blood and
  • administering medications.

Administrative activities may include:

  • medical records,
  • billing and
  • coding information for insurance purposes.

As a student in a US Department of Labor-registered apprenticeship program:

  • You’ll graduate with a national, industry-recognized credential.
  • You’ll immediately apply what you learn in a clinical setting.
  • You’ll earn a salary while learning the skills to be successful in a high-demand career.

Many students graduate with a full-time job, with little or no debt.

If you are interested in joining the next Medical Assistant Registered Apprenticeship program, please complete an Application of Interest by July 15, 2017.

Employment Expertise is provided by West Michigan Works! Learn more about how they can help: visit westmiworks.org or your local Service Center.

Adoptable Pet of the Week: Gerdy

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Each week WKTV features adoptable pets from area shelters. This week, we focus on Gerdy, a bunny available for adoption at West Michigan Critter Haven.

 

 

By West Michigan Critter Haven

When you think of a rabbit, typically a small, cuddly animal comes to mind. In reality, not all rabbits are small! In fact, giant breeds of rabbits like the Flemish Giant and Checkered giant can weigh in at more than 15lbs! At West Michigan Critter Haven, we have a soft spot for larger breeds of rabbits.

One of our current larger rabbits up for adoption is Gerdy. She’s a spayed Checkered Giant mix weighing in at 14lbs. This big, beautiful rabbit is such a pleasure to be around. She has a larger-than-life personality and is very social and silly. She’s the type of rabbit who thoroughly enjoys being part of the family. When she’s not relaxing in front of the TV, she can be found begging for treats. She does well with well-mannered, cats, dogs, and even enjoys gentle, respectful children.

Gerdy came to us after she was found hiding in a log in the woods. Our best guess is she either escaped or was abandoned. Many people abandon domestic rabbits outdoors thinking they can survive, when in reality, it’s a death sentence. She was covered in fleas but still as friendly as ever.

For being a rabbit found outside, Gerdy has taken to her new life indoors exceptionally well. She has excellent litter box habits and keeps a relatively tidy space. Gerdy adores the attention of her foster family and will even jump up on the couch to beg for food and head scratches — just like a dog! She loves her fresh veggies and fruit. However, like most rabbits, she doesn’t enjoy being held and prefers to spend time sitting next to you, not in your lap.

If you’re thinking about adding a rabbit to your family, Gerdy would be a fantastic addition. Rabbits are extremely intelligent and trainable. They require attention, love and a life indoors with lots of space to run and play.

West Michigan Critter Haven is a chapter of the House Rabbit Society. To learn more about caring for rabbits, please visit http://rabbit.org/.

More About Gerdy:

  • Litter trained
  • Spayed
  • Gets along well with respectful children
  • Does well with other gentle animals

Want to adopt Gerdy? Her adoption fee is $75. You can learn more about Gerdy and other West Michigan Critter Haven adoptables at http://wmicritterhaven.org. All adopters must be at least 18 years old.

Grant from Steelcase Foundation allows Kent District Library to bring back the Bookmobile

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Kent District Library is pleased to announce that it has received a $208,000 grant from the Steelcase Foundation to design and offer a bookmobile to the KDL community.

 

This mobile library will enable KDL to bring its services and programming to Kent County residents who can’t travel to one of its 18 branches on a regular basis. When it hits the streets in winter 2018, it will be equipped with a vast assortment of collection materials for both children and adults.

 

The bookmobile, which will take 6-9 months to craft, will be outfitted with Wi-Fi, a video screen, a computer, printer, and modular shelves. The vehicle will also be handicapped accessible and will offer security features

 

“The Steelcase Foundation chose to support the new KDL bookmobile because of its alignment with the Foundation’s mission of empowering people to reach their full potential by encouraging early learning experiences, family literacy and improving access to books, programs and computer learning throughout Kent County,” said Steelcase Foundation President Julie Ridenour. “While not a new concept, the bookmobile will take these opportunities to the communities where they are most needed. The Steelcase Foundation hopes there will be a future time when today’s young and new readers will share their bookmobile experiences with their own families.”

 

The bookmobile will allow Kent District Library to share its programs and collection with patrons, particularly students, beyond the walls of the branch library. KDL will partner with Kent School Services Network, or KSSN, to bring the bookmobile to seven elementary schools each week. The bookmobile will also bring the library to senior centers, rural centers, summer day care programs and a variety of other locations.

 

“KDL is thrilled to offer library services and programs that can help improve our students’ reading ability through this partnership with KSSN,” said Linda Krombeen, development manager for Kent District Library. “We are extremely grateful to the Steelcase Foundation for its generosity in making this effort a reality.”

 

One of KDL’s goals in offering the bookmobile is to increase reading proficiency in third grade students. In 2016, 50 percent of Kent County third graders were not proficient in English language arts.

 

“The Kent School Services Network is very excited to partner with the KDL on the Bookmobile grant,” said Carol Paine-McGovern, executive director of KSSN. “Bringing access to library programs and collections to schools is a community school strategy that will have a positive impact on early literacy and parent engagement.”

 

Kent District Library will seek donations to fill the bookmobile with books and other materials.

WKTV Newscast: Golden Gloves and The Vibe

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The Kentwood’s 50th Anniversary continues with the upcoming Kentwood Parks and Recreation gala, The Vibe. Also, check out the local talent that advanced in the Golden Gloves competition.

Saxophonist Richard Elliot to headline 6th annual GRandJazzFest

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Local Entertainment, Upcoming Events,
Headliner Richard Elliot (photo by Lori Stoll)

By Molly Klimas

GRandJazzFest presented by DTE Energy Foundation has announced the performance lineup for the sixth annual festival being held Saturday, Aug. 19, and Sunday, Aug. 20, at Rosa Parks Circle in Grand Rapids. Festival organizers announced the lineup at a Lineup Reveal Party held April 26 at H.O.M.E. at The B.O.B. in downtown Grand Rapids as part of International Jazz Day.

Eleven diverse acts are on tap for West Michigan’s only free, weekend-long jazz festival coming up the third weekend in August. Saxophonist Richard Elliot headlines the festival. The complete performance lineup for the August event in order of appearance:

SATURDAY, AUG. 19  

  • Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra with Edye Evans Hyde, 12:30 p.m.
  • Terry Lower / Jazz Expedition Sextet, 2 p.m.
  • Ed Stone and the Flowmasters, 3:30 p.m.
  • Tumbao Bravo, 5 p.m.
  • Bryan Lubeck, 6:30 p.m.
  • HEADLINER – Richard Elliot, 8 p.m.

SUNDAY, AUG. 20

  • Jazz Student Band – Blushing Monk, 1 p.m.
  • The Isaac Norris Project, 2:30 p.m.
  • organissimo, 4 p.m.
  • Four80East, 5:30 p.m.
  • Nate Harasim & NILS featuring Brandon Willis, 7 p.m.
Edye Evans Hyde (photo supplied)

“We’re thrilled to have Richard Elliot headline the sixth annual GRandJazzFest presented by DTE Energy Foundation!” GRandJazzFest Founder Audrey Sundstrom said. “He’s a huge name in the jazz and R&B world. We can’t wait for the energy that he’ll bring to the stage!”

Scotland-born, L.A.-based Elliot is one of 11 performers and bands who will play throughout the two-day weekend. The eclectic array of jazz performances includes genres from big band to straight-ahead, contemporary to Latin-Cuban and more.

“We have music for everyone,” Sundstrom said. “The great thing about jazz is there are so many types. Our goal is to spread the love of jazz in all it forms.”

In addition to kicking off the festival as always with the acclaimed Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra and Edye Evans Hyde performing vocals, several acts make return appearances at GRandJazzFest: Tumbao Bravo, organissimo, Nate Harasim and Bryan Lubeck. A student jazz band also will perform.

Tumbao Bravo (photo supplied)

GRandJazzFest announced this year’s lineup on April 26 as part of International Jazz Day celebrations taking place worldwide honoring the great American art form. The Steve Hilger Jazz Quartet — which has performed at past GRandJazzFests — played April 26 at H.O.M.E. Learn more about International Jazz Day at http://jazzday.com.

The two-day GRandJazzFest festival will again be free thanks to presenting sponsor DTE Energy Foundation, the City of Grand Rapids, Gilmore Collection, GR and Jazz, IntentPR, Corporate Live, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Amway Hotel Corporation, Experience Grand Rapids, Icon Sign, Matt Huizenga Videography, Meijer, MoxieMen, Steelcase, Configura, Fancy Faces, Grand Rapids Community College, Hilger Hammond, Kitchen 67, Levens Strand & Glover, Rick and Mary Stevens, Rockford Construction, Swift Printing, WGVU, and other sponsoring organizations and individuals. Sponsors are still needed. Go here for more info.

GVSU Hauenstein Center Conservative/Progressive Summit set for May 4-6

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By Nate Hoekstra, Grand Valley State University

Politics and discourse in America today are more contentious than ever, and engaging with people of opposing political views in a civil manner is often difficult for many.

Yet in the face of intense polarization, the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) will bring together more than two dozen nationally renowned scholars and writers to discuss the most difficult issues of modern American life and politics.

From May 4-6, the Hauenstein Center will host its annual Conservative/Progressive Summit, which will feature lectures and panel discussions specifically designed to bring serious, thoughtful discussion about the shifting political and intellectual terrain of American life to the forefront.

Speakers will include professors, authors, and journalists and contributors from media outlets including The Atlantic, The American Conservative, U.S. News and World Report, Vox, National Review, The New Republic, The Nation and more. Together, they will discuss political coverage in the media, religion and American civic life, the Trump administration, higher education, the history of conservative thought, the Constitution, and more.

A full event schedule along with speaker biographies and information can be found here.

What: Hauenstein Center Conservative/Progressive Summit

When: May 4-6, 2017

Where: Charles W. Loosemore Auditorium, Richard M. DeVos Center, 401 Fulton St. W., Grand Rapids, MI

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested here.
“The three-day conference will not pretend to find the answers to political division,” said Hauenstein Center director Gleaves Whitney. “Instead it will attempt to promote understanding of opposing viewpoints that are often absent from critical analysis among like-minded people.”

The summit is presented in partnership with the Kate and Richard Wolters Foundation, the Progressive Women’s Alliance of West Michigan and the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal.

The annual summit is a one-of-a-kind event in political discourse, said Common Ground program manager Scott St. Louis.

“The Hauenstein Center’s Conservative/Progressive Summit is a unique event that showcases a broad range of American political thought on the same stage,” St. Louis said.

For more information, visit HauensteinCenter.org/RSVP.

Kentwood, Wyoming residents head to the polls tomorrow for millage proposals

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Tomorrow both residents of Kentwood and Wyoming will be heading to the polls to vote on millage proposals.

 

Residents from the two cities – along with all of Kent County – will be voting on a proposed Kent Intermediate School District Regional Enhancement Millage. The property tax increase of .9 mills would be distributed to all 20 school districts in Kent County for the next 10 years. The amount is about .90 cent of taxable evaluation. For a $200,000 home, the taxable evaluation would be $100,000 with the increase being about $90 per year.

 

 

If passed, each district would receive an additional $211 per student each year, which can be used to supplement the funding that comes from the state of Michigan. School officials have stated the funding would be used to help maintain programs, improve services and meet other needs. Each school district will be able to determine how to spend the money. For more information on the district’s plans for the money, clicking on the school’s name which will direct you to the School News Network stories. For more on the millage, click here.

 

Godfrey Lee Public Schools will receive about $450,000.

 

Godwin Heights Public Schools will receive about $500,000.

 

Kelloggsville Public Schools will receive about $470,000.

 

Wyoming Public Schools will receive about $900,000.

 

Also, the residents of Wyoming are being asked to vote for flexible funding by opening up its library maintenance millage to help with park improvements. The city is seeking about .16 of the .39 of the mill levy to help with park improvements at four parks, Ferrand, Ideal, Gezon, and Jackson. The nearly $800,000 per year raised would be use to pay a 15-year bond of $4.4 million. The cost for the average Wyoming homeowner would be about $12 a year, according to city officials. For more about the millage, visit WYParks.com.

Reciprocal Membership Benefits for GRPM Members with Mt. Pleasant Discovery Museum

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At the Grand Rapids Public Museum ‘Creatures of Light’ exhibit

By Kate Moore, Grand Rapids Public Museum

The Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) is partnering with the Mt. Pleasant Discovery Museum to offer extended reciprocal membership benefits for the month of May.

Through this partnership, GRPM members can visit the Mt. Pleasant Discovery Museum and receive free general admission. Mt. Pleasant Discovery Museum members in return can visit the GRPM and receive free general admission, free planetarium shows and free carousel rides. Mt. Pleasant Discovery Museum members will also be able to visit the traveling exhibit Creatures of Light free of charge for the entire month of May, as well as visit Mindbender Mansion as a GRPM member for free between May 27 and May 31.

“It’s great to be able to offer additional opportunities for our members,” said Jerica Starr, Education Coordinator at the Mt. Pleasant Discovery Museum. “The Grand Rapids Public Museum will offer a great new experience for our members and we hope that the Grand Rapids Public Museum members enjoy their trip to the Mt. Pleasant Discovery Museum!”

For more information on the reciprocal membership benefits or to become a member of the GRPM, please go here.

Grand Rapids Public Museum

The Grand Rapids Public Museum is a publicly owned institution that is home to more than 250,000 unique artifacts that tell the history of Kent County and beyond, houses the only planetarium in the region, and is responsible for protecting the Norton Indian Mounds, a national historic landmark. The Grand Rapids Public Museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, with its main location in downtown Grand Rapids, MI at 272 Pearl Street, NW. For additional information including hours of operation, admission fees and exhibit/event listings, please visit www.grpm.org.

At the Mount Pleasant Discovery Museum

Mt. Pleasant Discovery Center

The Mt. Pleasant Discovery Museum is a non-profit organization dedicated to sparking creativity, nourishing learning, and inspiring curiosity of children through self-directed discovery in an engaging hands-on environment. The museum provides fun, hands-on exhibits to promote learning for children ages 0-12 in Mid-Michigan and surrounding areas. The discovery museum is a place that sparks curiosity and promotes learning. Each exhibit also aligns with Michigan’s Common Core Standards.

The discovery museum is located on at 5093 E Remus Rd, Mount Pleasant MI 48858 next to Morey Courts and the Isabella County Events (ICE) Arena.

For additional information please go here or call 989.317.3221.

 

Local Friesian horse farm hosts open house featuring unique breed

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This slideshow requires JavaScript.

By Bill Rinderknecht

WKTV Community Writer

 

The Friesian Connection will host its Annual Open House and Ice Cream Social Saturday, May 6 from 1 – 4 p.m. on its beautiful acreage just minutes from downtown Grand Rapids at 2685 144th Ave., Dorr.

 

Come for an afternoon of fun and fellowship and visit the Friesian Connection Stallion Station. Here, the public will see these majestic creatures up close and personal. The afternoon will include the presentation of stallions under saddle and driving, horses at liberty, a petting barn, and all the ice cream you can eat.

 

This year the Open House will feature Hessel 480, a majestic stallion direct from the Netherlands, with special guest Petra Zeelen who is a renowned trainer and clinician from the Netherlands. Also, Spring is foaling season for local Friesians, so visitors will be able to witness these beautiful colts, llies, and mares up close.

 

The Friesian is a horse breed originating in Friesland in the Netherlands. The conformation of the breed resembles that of a light draught house with the animal being graceful and noble for its size. IT is believed that during the Middle Ages, ancestors of Friesian horses were in great demand as war horse through continental Europe because their size enabled them to carry a fully dressed knight.

 

In 1984, Robert and Arlene DeBoer imported three Friesian Star mares from the Netherlands. From there, the Friesian Connection expanded into a well-established breeding program, training, selling and importing horses from the Netherlands. Today, the Friesian Connection has more than 50 Friesian horses on its 400-arce farm with the entire family involved in the business.

 

 

The Friesian Connection has a history of hosting Friesians owners to market Friesian horses and services. This tradition began back in the 1980s when the DeBoers and other early Friesian import partners began to market their stock for sale and stud services. It has since grown to be a huge event that attracts enthusiasts from across the Midwest. Remember to bring your horse loving friends and family to this special, free event.

KCAD grad from Kentwood among 16 to be honored for rare level of mastery

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Eric Schroeder (photo by Kierstynn Holman)

By Elena Tislerics, KCAD

 

Each year, those Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University (KCAD) students who exhibit a rare level of mastery and accomplishment in their chosen field are honored with the Excellence Award, the epitome of KCAD student achievement.

 

“Throughout their time at KCAD, these individuals have exhibited an exemplary work ethic, dedication, curiosity, and thirst for knowledge and experience that has empowered them to get the most out of their education,” said KCAD President Leslie Bellavance. “We congratulate them on this accomplishment, and look forward to celebrating their continuing excellence as KCAD alumni.”

 

Kentwood resident, Eric Schroeder is among those being honored. Outside of his success in the classroom, Schroeder was named a finalist in the 2017 Bienenstock Furniture Library Design Competition, a prestigious competition that invites students from around the country to submit their best original furniture designs for a chance to win scholarship funding.

 

He also completed internships with Grand Rapids, Mich. furniture design and manufacturing company Guild Nines and New York City-based furniture/theatre designer Doug Fitch. While still a student, he landed a job as a product designer with Muskegon, Mich.-based Bold Furniture, where he is currently employed.

 

Upon graduating, Schroeder will continue to design products and furniture for Bold Furniture, and plans to eventually pursue a graduate degree in product design.

 

Kingfisher End Table (image courtesy of Eric Schroeder)

“Eric doesn’t wait for opportunities to find him — he seeks them out and explores them fearlessly,” said Associate Professor and Furniture Design Program Chair Gayle DeBruyn. “He also enjoys collecting and restoring mid-century modern furniture and nicely ties his passion for this style of design to his own.

 

“Clean, functional, elegant furniture is difficult to design; it requires a clear understanding of manufacturing and materials capabilities. For this, Eric engages his network to assist him. His employer, Bold Furniture, agreed to prototype a line of furniture specifically for Eric’s senior capstone project, and we can’t wait to see his work during the KCAD Annual Student Exhibition.”

 

The other honorees are:

  • Kelsey Ballast Pasma (Grand Rapids, Mich.) – Interior Design
  • Ashely Bryant (Grand Haven, Mich.) – Illustration
  • Lauren Gravelyn (Chelsea, Mich.) – Allesee Metals and Jewelry Design
  • Chelsea Harris (Louisville, Ky.) – Painting
  • Brian Howland (Grand Rapids, Mich.) – Drawing
  • Courtney Jackson (Muskegon, Mich.) – Art History
  • Matthew Johnson (South Haven, Mich.) – Industrial Design
  • Sarah Laverty (Houghton Lake, Mich.) – Photography
  • Maggie Livengood (Appleton, Wis.) – Art Education
  • Alyssa Minatel (Linden, Mich.) – Medical Illustration
  •  Alyssa Natoci (Ann Arbor, Mich.) – Pamella Roland DeVos School of Fashion, Fashion Studies
  • Erin Schaenzer (Saginaw, Mich.) – Printmaking
  • Chloe Stewart (Grand Blanc, Mich.) – Digital Media
  • Sakino Tomiura (Kawanishi, Japan) – Graphic Design
  • Matt VanSweden (Grand Rapids, Mich.) – Collaborative Design

The 2017 Excellence Award winners will be recognized at an official ceremony on May 5, and their best work will be on display during KCAD’s annual Excellence Awards Exhibition (May 2-18), hosted in The Fed Galleries @ KCAD inside the college’s Woodbridge N. Ferris Building (17 Pearl St. NW).

The Fed Galleries will also be hosting the Masters Thesis Exhibition (May 2-18), spotlighting the fully developed work of the students who have completed their graduate studies.

KCAD’s Annual Student Exhibition (May 2-6), featuring work from each of the college’s programs, will encompass all floors of the college’s 17 Fountain St. NW and Woodbridge N. Ferris Buildings. A campus-wide opening reception will be held on May 2 from 4-7pm. All exhibitions and the reception are free and open to the public. For more information, go here.

Eat Local: Why choosing in-season, locally grown produce is good for you and the community

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Food, Non-Profits, , , ,

Your Community in Action!

By ACSET Community Action Agency

 

Summer is right around the corner. That means plenty of locally-grown produce options will be available. But why is choosing local produce good for you?

  • It’s fresh. Most wholesale produce is picked up to a week before it reaches a supermarket and travels an average of 1500 miles! Veggies and fruits grown by local farmers don’t spend days in transport. This means they can be harvested at peak maturity when they are the most nutritious and tasty.
  • It supports local farmers. The money you spend on local products stays in the community and boosts the local economy. It’s a win-win for you and the farmers.
  • It can cost less. When you purchase produce that is grown locally and in-season, you aren’t paying for the transportation costs of getting food from across the country.

What about families who have a limited grocery budget? Many local farmers markets participate in food assistance programs. Programs like Double Up Food Bucks, Senior Project FRESH and WIC Project FRESH can make buying local an affordable option for those that qualify.

For a list of local farmers markets and their food assistance program participation, visit www.westmichiganfarmmarkets.org/by-county/ and select Kent County.

ACSET Community Action Agency (CAA) also provides food assistance for qualifying families. When in-season, locally grown produce is combined with the pantry staples offered by CAA, low-income families in Kent County can put healthy meals on the table.

Visit CAA’s website to learn more about their nutrition programs and see if you qualify: http://communityactionkent.org/programs/nutrition-services/

Your Community in Action! is provided by ASCET Community Action Agency. To learn more about how they help meet emergency needs and assist with areas of self-sufficiency, visit www.communityactionkent.org