AW Summer Rec Program Registration Starts May 1
BY KAREN BERGER — MIRROR REPORTER
Swimming, games, crafts and field trips have been a part of the Waterville summer recreation program for years. After a one-year absence, Whitehouse has contracted with Anthony Wayne Community YMCA to run a four-week program as well.
Registration for both programs, geared for ages 6 to 12, begins on Thursday, May 1.
“The program is geared for fun. The books are put away for the summer,” said Melanie Grohowski, executive director of the AW YMCA. “There will be lots of physical activity, group games and field trips.”
Waterville has a limit of 60 kids, while Whitehouse can accept 85. Activities director Esther Robbins suggests calling early, as the YMCA has already received over 100 e-mails and phone calls inquiring about the program.
The Whitehouse program runs from July 14 through August 8 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. at Whitehouse Park. Village residents pay $5.00 per week and nonresidents pay $20.00 per week.
Waterville’s summer recreation program will meet in Conrad Park from 9:00 a.m. to noon and from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. for a cost of $15.00 per child. For an additional $10.00 per week, children can stay for lunch. The 10-week program is from June 9 through August 15.
All counselors are 18 or older and most have an education background.
“Each counselor will have lesson plans and games for each week. Some kids go all summer, so we don’t want them to get bored,” Robbins said. “We’ll have a different theme each week.”
The YMCA core values of respect, responsibility, caring and honesty will be woven into the lesson plans.
“We want to get the kids off the couch,” Grohowski said, adding that health problems related to inactivity – such as childhood obesity and diabetes – are preventable. “We want to get them away from the TV and the computer and get them interacting with other kids.”
For more information, call the Anthony Wayne Community YMCA at (419) 441-0013 or visit www.ymcatoledo.org.
Waterville Postal Carrier Says Goodbye To Dog Friends
BY KAREN BERGER — MIRROR REPORTER
“Charlie!” called Jerry Quick as he approached the Farnsworth Road house.
The roly-poly mutt with white fur and mottled spots saw his favorite mail carrier coming and bounded, tail wagging and fur flying, to greet Quick and prepare for a belly rub.
This is a daily ritual for Charlie and Quick, a Waterville postal carrier who will retire on May 2 after 35 years of service.
“I’m going to miss Charlie and all my dogs,” said Quick, who has trained substitute carriers on what to do when they come across Charlie.
The past 15 years, Quick has walked about 4.5 miles a day and driven several more on a motor route.
“I appreciate the ones who shoveled their walks and kept their curb line open,” he said of his customers.
This year has been especially tough, because the wet winter has made keeping the mail dry more difficult. But it doesn’t compare to the Blizzard of ’78, when mail was stopped for three days.
He helped firefighters bring families to the fire station to keep warm during the blizzard, which caused widespread power outages.
Quick’s family moved to Waterville in 1967. After graduating in 1971 from Anthony Wayne High School, he was working at the Sohio gas station when the postmaster stopped in and suggested that he take the test to work at the post office.
In 1973 a spot opened up at the Waterville Post Office. For the first 10 years, Quick was a part-time, flexible sub clerk – sorting letters and flats of mail and filling in for carriers on their days off.
When Charlie Smith retired from city route 2 in August 1983, Quick took his place, and streets such as Maple, Cherry, Wilkshire and Michigan Avenue became his regular route.
When Quick hangs up his postal carrier’s hat, he’ll continue wearing a baseball cap, as he marks his 18th year of coaching 13- and 14-year-old boys in baseball through AWABSA.
During his retirement, he also hopes to golf and fish, and maybe catch his favorite team, the Cincinnati Reds.
“I need to get to the new stadium,” he said, adding that he hasn’t seen the Reds since they played at Crosley Field. He watched Pete Rose start his career in the mid-60s, and recalls seeing Willie Mays hit two home runs in one night.
Quick figures it will take several months just to get used to being retired, so he hasn’t made any plans. But he does have an invitation to come back and visit Charlie any time he wants.
Fallen Timbers Students’ Stories Among 26 Selected For Publication
BY KAREN BERGER — MIRROR REPORTER
Jacob Bores’ grandma didn’t like living on a farm in the 1930s. Her days were filled with chores, and she had to quit school in the 10th grade in order to work to help support the family.
Matthew Dick’s grandpa raced pigeons, which he and his friends sent aboard trains to be released up to 250 miles away. The first pigeon to return home was the winner.
Stories the two Fallen Timbers Middle School fifth-graders wrote about their grandparents were among the 26 nationwide selected for publication in The Grannie Annie Family Story Celebration, Vol. 3.
“I was thrilled,” said Laura Amburgey, Fallen Timbers gifted program teacher.
Student Sarah Reddy’s story about sod farming in Ireland, Turf, was chosen as an honorable mention.
The contest fit right in with their study of family heritage and how families are similar and different. Students interviewed their grandparents in person or on the phone, and wrote a narrative story. Each created a scrapbook page and quilt block as well.
“Kids get such a sense of pride when they share the stories,” Amburgey said.
Sponsored by two publishers of children’s books, Connie McIntyre of Thumbprint Press and Fran Hamilton of Portico Books, The Grannie Annie encourages students to share family stories.
“It’s exciting to see The Grannie Annie touch so many people in so many ways,” Hamilton said. “Family members strengthen bonds as they explore their family’s connection with history. Readers develop an understanding of people in another time and another place – and likely find they have something in common with them.”
Jacob learned he and his grandmother had a shared love of adventure. Although his chores include setting the table and doing dishes, he said he couldn’t imagine shoveling manure or fetching water.
In Stuck on the Farm, Jacob describes how his grandmother was one of 10 children in the 1930s in Norwalk, Ohio.
“She always tells me about when she was a kid. Probably because she thinks she had a lot of adventures. She had to do a lot of chores, and she didn’t get a ton of presents for Christmas,” Jacob said.
He also said she didn’t have many appliances, and made dolls to play with because she didn’t own a TV.
Matthew hears many stories from his grandfather, but hadn’t heard the one that inspired his story Pigeon Racing.
His grandpa described how he and his friends kept pigeons as pets. They would tag the pigeons in case they got lost, then send them aboard freight trains with a conductor or engineer and ask for them to be released somewhere far away. Then they would wait to see whose pigeon would return home first.
While there wasn’t a prize, the boy with the winning pigeon would have a sense of pride.
“He has a lot of stories but this one ranks up near the top,” Matthew said.
Stuck on the Farm and Pigeon Racing can be read at www.thegrannieannie.org.
These are just a couple of articles that ran in The Mirror Newspaper.
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