White Whiskers moves one step closer to offering forever home for aging petsPolla Milligan, founder of White Whiskers Senior Dog Sanctuary and her team of approximately 250 to 300 volunteers have moved one step closer toward offering a safe, loving and peaceful environment for aging dogs to live out their days. White Whiskers Senior Dog Sanctuary is not an official 501 (c) (3) nonprofit. The organization is currently working toward raising the necessary funds to purchase a permanent location to house the animals. “I cannot believe the progress; it’s been so rapid and so well appreciated. There’s not a soul I’ve encountered that has given me anything other than support, reinforcement and love for the project.” -Polla Milligan Milligan hopes that once White Whiskers is up and fully operational it can be not only a safe place for senior dogs but also a beacon of hope and healing for any humans in need of dog therapy. She plans to open the house to visitors and groups to interact with the dogs such as by reading to them or snuggling with them. I made an interactive graphic which allows users to not only navigate the White Whiskers site based on what they're trying to do but also tells them more about what led Polla to begin this initiative as well as about the overall mission of White Whiskers.
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Roycroft Inn marks silver anniversary with year-long celebrationThe Roycroft Inn and Roycroft Campus are some of the prominent aspects of East Aurora. In 1995 the Roycroft Inn completed their nine-year renovation project. Now, in 2020 the Roycroft Inn is celebrating this silver anniversary by hosting monthly events all year long.
The events will vary in scale, kicking off with the Silver Ball on Saturday, Jan. 25. The year will also include a gallery exhibit that displays articles, photos, videos relevant to the 1995 renovation and grand reopening. “Elbert Hubbard’s [founder of the Roycroft] idea of community was an underlying, active current of his tenure here. His desire to make sure everyone was included was a big deal. And we do the same thing,” Garvey said. “The one thing that we demand is that this place become useful for everybody as it was when Hubbard was here.” Deacon Don Weigel shares knowledge, experience from Mexican border visitDeacon Don Weigel, the Diocesan director for Catholic Relief Services and Mike Hayes, the director of campus ministry at Canisius College spent five days the week before Christmas at the Mexican border helping asylum-seekers and deportees. During their time there, they worked with the Kino Border Initiative, serving approximately 300 people at two different meals. Weigel and Hayes commented that the demographics they have seen at the border have changed drastically in the last three years shifting from mostly males to the majority being families. During their time at the border they spoke with as many deportees and asylum-seekers as they could to learn more about the challenges they face, their reasons for leaving and how current immigration laws are affecting them and their families. Here are some of their main takeaways: Town Board celebrates councilman’s service as his term endsWhile the Town of Tonawanda Board addressed matters such as approving the opening of bids, correspondence and open floor comments. They also took the time to celebrate Councilman Dan Crangle's 17-years of service to the town and board by the awarding of a plaque and sharing of kind words.
Crangle plans to continue to be a strong civilian activist in town government, but will be stepping down as Councilman due to term limits which he helped establish in 2006. True to his nature, Crangle ended his farewell speech by advocating for a project he feels strongly about: “Before I leave, I just want to make a statement, a short one, on the recreation project which I have been a strong advocate for. Our future is right here, in the next generation … This project is a 50-year investment,” Crangle said. “Our young families came here because of the facilities, the churches, the schools. The recreation facilities … we have to keep up with them.” St. Timothy’s crèche tradition for Misiura family, entire communityNo matter what challenges the Misiura family faces during the year, they always come together near Christmas to honor their family tradition and assemble the family créche that Bernard Sr. hand-crafted. The créche is housed at St. Timothy's, 565 E Park Dr, Tonawanda, which has been its home since Bernard Sr. started the tradition back in 1962. This was the first year in a long time that Bernard Jr's entire family was able to come together to help assemble the créche. You can find my complete article above as well as a link to Bernard Jr's blog which he updates each year to tell the story of his family's créche and tradition in his own words. “This is a parishioner thing, not a Misiura family. Things like this are not any good unless they’re shared.” -Bernard Jr. Mitten Memory Tree offers opportunity to heal, help those in need this winterJanine Szymczak and her husband, Heath, have placed the Christmas tree of Janine’s late father at the Clarence Hollow Farmers Market to collect mittens and honor the memory of loved ones who have passed away. Szymczak and her husband love the Clarence community, after only being residents of Clarence for a few years, they noted how welcoming and accepting the people are. Janine and Heath wanted to honor Janine's father but giving back to the community they appreciate so much. Janine hopes that the Mitten Memory Tree will help other community members to heal from losing loved ones by honoring their memory through helping others. Neighbors create ‘Ethan and God,’ share comfort, quilts with hospitalized childrenLinda Swanekamp has been creating quilts and donating them to those in need for years. She started "Quilts for Comfort" as a way to use her talents and passions to help others who are sick, lonely and in need of a little comfort. In each package she donates, Swanekamp includes a book that provides written, support and comfort without false security and promises that can be made such as saying 'everything will be OK.' For her adult referrals, Swanekamp uses "50 Days of Hope" by Lynn Eib. For children, however, she was having difficulty finding a book that provided comfort without making empty promises or relying on silly cartoon characters that the child couldn't relate to. To resolve this, Swanekamp partnered with her neighbor, Sandra Brese Rice to write, "Ethan and God," a story of comfort that reassures the child and family they are not alone and it's OK to not be happy all the time. Currently Swanekamp and Rice are purchasing their own books to include in these donation packages, if you would like to help fund their work to provide comfort to those in need you can email Sandra at [email protected]. Zonta Club raises awareness to end child marriagesZonta International was established in 1919 in Buffalo, New York and has grown since to include over 1,000 different chapters in 67 countries. The Cheektowaga-Lancaster chapter has planned a variety of different events during their 16 Days of Activism to take a stand against child marriages and the cycle of poverty and decrease in education that follows them. “Child marriage impacts their education and their ability to be economically independent,” Salvo said. “It impacts everything.” According to the 2017 UNICEF report, the countries with the highest rate of child marriages are: Niger: 76% Central African Republic: 68% Chad: 67% Bangladesh: 59% Mali: 52% Village of Sloan makes donation to aid veteran post renovationsThere was a press conference at the Frank L. Gierlach American Legion Post, Wednesday, Nov. 20, where Mayor Thomas Ferrucci presented a check valued at $1,056 to The Veterans Post Restoration Committee of Erie County on behalf of the Village of Sloan community. The Veterans Post Restoration Committee raises money to renovate the various Veteran Posts, which span across the county ensuring they are safe and accessible for our veterans to continue to use. The post homes are a place of community, strength and comfort for our veterans but can become hazardous without the proper maintenance as most were built in the 1950s and have fallen prey to the test of time. To learn more about the donation, post homes and the progress that is being made by The Veterans Post Restoration Committee, read my article and view my interactive graphic using the links at the top of the page. Co-stars of ‘Cold Brook’ visit Aurora Theatre for film premiere "Cold Brook" is an independent film about two ordinary guys who go on an extraordinary adventure. The independent film shares the message of what it's like to "come home." Fichtner attended Maryvale High School in Cheektowaga, it was fitting that the actor/director decided to come home to film a portion of a film with that message. Fichtner and Coates answered audience questions and shared their stories and experiences about what led to the creation of the movie. They said it was only fitting that they visit Aurora to watch the premiere when this was were they came to film bits of the film including featuring Aurora's Main Street including the Aurora Theatre marquee, The Globe restaurant on Main Street, portions of the Buffalo State University Campus as well as the Buffalo History Museum where 20% of the movie was filmed. Read the full article and listen to the 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10 showings Q&A by following the links above. “On behalf of all of us, I don’t know what to say, I mean I love my town and I’m so proud that we got to play this movie here,” Fichtner said. “I promise you one thing it won’t be the last.” |
Samantha FlavellI am a journalist and graphic designer. I began working for The Bee Group Newspapers in August of 2019. Archives
January 2020
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