Community Service

With the help of Bay Village Recreation Director Dan Enovitch and his crew, the Village Bicycle Cooperative was were able to donate 42 refurbished bicycles to the West Park Corps of the Salvation Army.

Major Ernesto, head of the Corps, said that these bicycles will be donated to needy folks throughout the Cleveland area, not just those served by the West Park Corps.

VBC donated seven more bikes to Blessed Trinity Parish that have been earmarked for a needy family on Cleveland's west side. There are an additional four bikes that are tagged for distribution to another Cleveland charity.

For parents who need help with car seat installation or have questions about the safest way to transport their children in motor vehicles, getting expert advice and assistance just got a little easier. University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s along with UH St. John and Parma medical centers, will open car seat checking stations at the following fire departments: Bay Village, North Olmsted, North Ridgeville, North Royalton and Olmsted Falls.

Choosing and installing a car seat can be one of the most important parts of getting ready for a new baby, and an important part of baby’s transition from infant to toddler, and from toddler to preschooler. That’s because motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death and injury for children over the age of 1. The proper use of child car seats is the simplest and most effective method available for protecting the lives of young children in the event of a motor vehicle crash.

The Bay Village Historical Society has partnered with the Sabrina Noelle Foundation to offer their hand-made items at the Rose Hill Museum gift shop.

The Sabrina Noelle Foundation’s mission is to promote and provide activities which aim to address mental well-being for young adults and teens. They will be selling hand-made jewelry and crafts made by friends of Sabrina. Proceeds go to the Sabrina Noelle Scholarship Fund and to the designers.

Volunteers from the Bay Men's Club, the city's second-oldest civic organization, took time recently to clean the yards of some 22 needy and worthy Bay Village residents. The club has done this "leaf rake out" for more than 25 years.

"It's a great way to help those who might need a hand," President Matt Williams said, "and we are more than happy to lend a hand. This is what Bay Village is all about."

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Bay Village has a longstanding partnership supporting the missions of the community surrounding St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Cleveland. Since 2004, St. Luke's has operated a gently used clothing drive each week so that community members may come choose what they need. The program has been expanded to distribute toiletries not covered under SNAP, such as toothpaste and toilet paper.

St. Barnabas keeps in close contact with St. Luke's to determine the most immediate needs for the community. Currently there is an urgent need for new underwear for both men and women. They are also accepting checks made out to St. Luke's Episcopal Church with "Your Neighbor's Cloak" noted in the memo.

Please support these Bay Village churches and organizations. They have kicked off their holiday campaigns to assist children, families and pets in Bay Village and Northeast Ohio. Some collect all year long.

• Bethesda on the Bay Lutheran Church, 28807 Wolf Road, is collecting for Fill This House, a non-profit that helps young adults aging out of the foster care system. The organization provides the young adults with the household needs to live in an apartment on their own for the first time. Visit fillthishouse.org/donatingitems or call 440-871-2276 with inquiries.
• Bay United Methodist Church, 29937 Lake Road, is collecting NEW children’s boots for Child & Family Advocates of Cuyahoga County. They currently have 65 fosters that have a need. They need a variety of sizes from toddler to older teen, both boys and girls. Collections are Nov. 21-Dec. 12. Drop off at the office Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to noon. Bay UMC also works year-round with The Haven House which is an emergency overflow shelter for women and their children. They collect toiletries, laundry detergent and whatever their greatest need is. Visit thehavenhouse.org or call 440-871-2082 with questions.
• St Raphael Catholic Church, 525 Dover Center Road, is collecting non-perishable pantry items and also has a gift tree with specific requests for local families and the multiple organizations they interface with. Call 440-871-1100 with questions.
• Bay Presbyterian Church, 25415 Lake Road, serves as the designated Bay Village community food bank year-round. They have a weekly shopping list posted of current pantry needs and a donation bin for non-perishable items located at the main entrance off Columbia Road.
• Bay Village Community Services located at the Dwyer Center, 300 Bryson Lane, is always in need of gift cards to grocery stores, drugstores, gas stations and cash donations to help with utility bills for Bay Village residents. Contact Leslie Selig at 440-871-2200.

It was a great day in early October at the Village Bicycle Cooperative (VBC). An anonymous donation of a completely unique and U.S.-made two-seat adult tricycle came through our doors. An even better day followed when the Sandusky Ohio Veterans Home accepted our "in turn" donation of the Worksman Team Dual Trike.

This bright red, nearly brand new tricycle, will be redeployed to service and used for recreation and exercise by those veterans receiving nursing care in the facility. Because the trike is a two seater, a "team" approach is used while riding, providing great exercise benefits. A skilled nursing practitioner will pilot the machine while the patient will participate in pedaling, maneuvering, and stopping the trike.

We thank Tracy, OVH Activity Supervisor, for accepting our donation. We thank Erica, an OVH nursing care professional, and Denis, OVH transportation professional, for coming to the VBC shop in the Community House to pick up the trike and take it to those that served us at the Ohio Veterans Home.

Most people want to stay at home as they age, but don’t know all that can be done to make their home safe and livable as they grow older. Or they don't plan ahead when making home improvements, which can mean the difference between staying in the home or moving as they age. There are also many small changes to make around the house to make it safe, as well as countless gadgets and adaptive devises that can make life easier and the home safer.

As part of its Aging in Place initiative, Bay Village Community Services is holding an online Aging in Place workshop, presented by Maximum Accessible Housing of Ohio, to help residents plan for living in their homes as they age.

On Wednesday, Nov. 10, 7:00 p.m., a workshop on kitchen and bathroom modifications will be presented. Register by calling 440-899-3409, or emailing lselig@cityofbayvillage.com. Also watch for details of our Aging in Place Expo on Jan. 22!

The Bay Village Community Council honored this year’s Citizen of the Year, Nancy Trainer, and Project of the Year, the Bradley Park Playground renovation, in an outdoor ceremony Sept. 19 at the playground. Mayor Paul Koomar presented proclamations to Nancy Trainer for her decades of community service – specifically with the Women’s Club, Garden Club and League of Women Voters – and to the Drumm family for their efforts to raise funds to renovate the Bradley Park playground.

Pictured, from left: Mayor Koomar; Nancy Trainer; Peggy, Elizabeth and Andrew Drumm; and BVCC officers Tara Wendell, Mary Kay Wilson and Peggy Ludwig.

The Westlake Police Department, along with the city of Westlake, have set up a donation center to help victims of Hurricane Ida and several tropical storms in the southern states. The police have collected over 1,000 pounds of supplies such as water, food, blankets, toiletries, paper products, charcoal and tents. We are currently working on filling our third semi truck to send down.

The Westlake Police have teamed up with Nehemiah Network, a disaster relief center here in Cleveland. And they transport the supplies down.

You can still donate by dropping off donations at the police station, 27300 Hilliard Blvd, or contact Rick Grane at rickgrane@aol.com or 440-829-0974 with any questions.

This report contains member observations and selected highlights of the Sept. 27 meeting of the Bay Village Board of Education. It is not an official statement by the League of Women Voters, nor does it represent the official minutes of the meeting.

Bay Village Board of Education President Lisa Priemer called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. in the Bay Middle School cafeteria. This larger space allows for more seating and better acoustics than the Middle School Library. Other Board members in attendance were Vice-President Dave Vegh and Mr. Paul Vincent. Mrs. Beth Lally and Dr. Scott Schultz were not in attendance.

Certified and Classified Personnel: Several staff contracts were approved, including the following for certified staff: extended day contracts at Normandy for a Lego Club (students will pay $4 per class session); a long-term sub for the Middle School; a home instructor; family medical leave contracts; special project contracts; summer special project contract; supplemental/pupil activity contracts for lacrosse and basketball; and extended leave with use of sick time.

Throughout the pandemic, the iconic Huntington House on BAYarts' campus, located in the Huntington Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks, has remained a hub for community activities, drawing people to its open classrooms and galleries, beautifully manicured gardens and spacious porches and patios. Slated for a fresh coat of paint this year, BAYarts was working with Textbook Painting to estimate painting the exterior of the building.

The Huntington House is one of the only remaining structures of the hobby farm of industrialist John Huntington. Built in the 1880s, it originally served as the caretakers residence for the estate. After the Huntington property was purchased by the Metroparks in 1925, the building became a creative center for the arts in 1948, formerly Baycrafters and now BAYarts.

This report contains member observations and selected highlights of the Aug. 9 meeting of the Bay Village Board of Education. It is not an official statement by the League of Women Voters, nor does it represent the official minutes of the meeting.

Board Vice President Dave Vegh called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. in the Bay Middle School Library. Other Board members included Mrs. Beth Lally; Dr. Scott Schultz; and Mr. Paul Vincent. Lisa Priemer, President, was not in attendance.

Public Comments: At this meeting, tickets were distributed to those who wanted to speak and were randomly selected. Those people were given five minutes to share their ideas. A sampling of what was said is included in the following:

• Some people were supportive of mandatory masking for the upcoming school year; some were against it.
• A suggestion was made to require masks only in grades for which the vaccination is not available. Another suggestion was that masking should be consistent; if masks are required in the classroom, they should also be required in extra-curricular activities.
• Several health care professionals reiterated that wearing masks can slow the spread of the Delta variant as vaccinated people can get sick from it and transmit it to others. It was appreciated that the Board is staying abreast of the data and is willing to revisit the masking guidelines when additional information is available in two weeks.

Change Order: The Board approved a resolution authorizing the Treasurer and Superintendent to act on behalf of the School District Board of Education related to the Bay Stadium Field House.

The staff and students at Bethesda Childcare Center in Bay Village held their fifth annual Charity Car Wash and Bake Sale on July 22 to raise funds for Golden Treasures Golden Retriever Rescue. This year's event raised more than $600 for the nonprofit organization.

"Thank you to everyone who stopped by and had their cars washed. It was a great success," said Jenna Portik, the Center's director. "All proceeds will go to Golden Treasures Animal Rescue. We even had a special visit from the Bay Village Police Department and the kids were more than happy to help wash their car!"

The Bay Men’s Club recently awarded $1,000 scholarships to three very deserving Bay High students: Kaylee Buehler, Morgan Fischer and Levi Wunder.

Wunder, however, was out of town when the scholarships were awarded.

That changed recently when he was able to meet with past presidents of the civic organization to receive his award.

The scholarships are awarded based on need, character, scholastic achievement and leadership qualities.

Jeffrey Dell of Westlake was presented with an ESPY by ESPN Cleveland's Emmit Golden on July 8 for his work as player/coach with the Cleveland Scrappers Beep Baseball Team for those who are blind and visually impaired.

ESPN asked for nominations of coaches who people felt went above and beyond to keep their athletes engaged and active during the pandemic shutdown in 2020 and early 2021.

Being an adapted sport with sight-challenged athletes spread throughout Northeast Ohio, Jeff devised a plan to run Zoom practices and instructional workouts with the help of the Scrappers sighted volunteers and thanks to some special equipment he was able to secure through grants from the Challenged Athletes Fund (CAF) and the Cleveland Foundation.

Not content to research the problem of pollution from tire wear (see the Observer issue of Feb. 3, 2021, article: “How dangerous are vehicle tire microplastics?”), Team Tyres applied for and received a $5,000 grant to act upon our newly gained knowledge. Having learned that 1.8 million tons of microplastics are shed by tires in the U.S. each year, 15-20% of which end up in our lakes and streams, the team resolved to tackle the problem.

Our research project for the Army Educational Outreach Program, eCyberMission, placed Team Tyres State Champions, Regional Finalists, and winners of the STEM-in-Action grant. We learned that proper tire maintenance reduced wear and increased safety, and so with our funding, we purchased 500 each of the Victor tire pressure gauges and Morton tire depth gauges. Consumer Reports rated the Victor gauge as No. 1 in stick gauges, and we purchased the Morton gauge because of its ease of use.

The Westlake Kiwanis will serve a pancake breakfast in conjunction with the Westlake-Bay Village Rotary Art Festival from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, July 31, at Westlake Elementary School. Donations will be welcome.

Come on out and eat pancakes while enjoying this non-profit Art Festival and supporting countless local groups such as Connecting for Kids, RePlay for Kids, Lakeshore Day Camp, Meals on Wheels, Hospice for the Western Reserve, Safety Town and many more.

Mark the date Saturday, July 31, 2021 and support your local Rotary and Kiwanis clubs while enjoying yourself.

Bay Village teen creates green solution for Village Project

Jennie Koomar, of Bay Village, has become the first female in Scouts BSA Troop 40 to complete the rank of Eagle Scout. To receive this honor, Jennie worked closely with the Village Project to design, construct and implement a food waste compost system.

The Village Project is a local non-profit organization that provides nutrient-dense meals to those who are fighting cancer in the surrounding communities. The compost system allows the Village Project to keep the compost on site and use it in their gardens to grow fresh and nutritious herbs and vegetables.

Jennie enjoyed activities as a member of the Girls Scouts from the time she was in kindergarten. Her troop eventually dissolved, and she joined Sea Scouts and then Scouts BSA to continue her Scouting adventures.  She was inspired to pursue this rank based on the experiences of her dad, Paul, who is also an Eagle Scout.

The Bay Men’s Club has awarded $1,000 scholarships to three very deserving Bay High students: Kaylee Buehler, Morgan Fischer and Levi Wunder.

The scholarships are awarded based on need, character, scholastic achievement and leadership qualities.

Buehler will be attending Kent State University studying nursing (her father passed away from lymphoma when she was 10 which motivated her to become a nurse). She was editor in chief of The Bay Tribune, class officer, member of the National Honor Society, YPF, swim and volleyball teams. She works at Arrabiata's and as a lifeguard at Bay Family Aquatic Center.

Nationally, 2020 was a record year for new boat and paddle craft sales. So this year, the significance of National Safe Boating Week, May 22 through May 28, increased with all these new boaters on the water. According to the National Safe Boating Council, the observance of this week is the annual kick-off of the Safe Boating Campaign, a global awareness effort that encourages boaters to make the most of their boating adventure by being responsible.

In Bay Village, the Bay Boat Club celebrated the start of the boating season on May 22. The proceedings started with Mayor Paul Koomar reading a proclamation declaring support for the goals of the Safe Boating Campaign. Koomar urged us all to practice safe boating habits and to wear a life jacket at all times while boating. He also encouraged all boaters to have their boats inspected to federal safety standards. To back up Mayor Koomar's suggestion, Bay Boat Club had vessel inspectors from the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary – Bill Ferry, Jack Benton and Greg Little, Division Commander – examine members' boats.

Bay Village Community Council representatives met via Zoom on May 18 to share news and notes about their civic organizations. Many groups also announced plans for summer activities.

The Bay Village American Legion and the VFW awarded this year's Military Scholarship Award to Hayden Coffman. Hayden has an impressive scholastic record, with a 4.123 GPA over his high school career. He was a member of the Marching Band, the Symphonic Band and still found time to do some acting. Hayden served as the captain of the Bay High boys soccer team and was selected to the All-Conference and All-District Teams. As a junior he was chosen to be our Buckeye Boys State Representative. Hayden has accepted an appointment to The United States Military Academy at West Point.  He plans to use his Military Scholarship monies to defray fees and expenses not covered by West Point.

The Bay Village Kiwanis Club continues to hold its meetings virtually. Bay Days will return June 30 to July 3. Kiwanis is sponsoring two boys baseball teams and two girls softball teams this summer. The club continues to work on BAYarts' deck, stage and other projects. The BHS Key Club's Walk for Water on May 1 raised $12,000 to dig a fresh water well in South Africa.

The Bay Village Foundation welcomed new trustees: Jeffry Elliott, Luke Elsass, Sean O'Reilly and Matt Peters. Three scholarships were given to BHS students and the foundation allocated nine grants to local nonprofits, totalling just under $24,000.

Lakewood Elks Lodge #1350 generously donated the use of its facility at 24350 Center Ridge Road in Westlake to Connecting for Kids for a recent Bowling Fundraiser which raised $27,000 for the Westlake-based nonprofit. In all, 80 bowlers participated in the two-week event, which was held from Friday, April 30, through Saturday, May 8.

“For over a hundred years Lakewood Elks Lodge 1350 has been helping the West shore communities and local nonprofits like Connecting for Kids. We were happy to donate the use of our bowling alley for the event and look forward to supporting the organization in the future,” said Brian Gartland, Exalted Ruler, Lakewood Elks Lodge #1350.

Many neighbors in the area of Forest Park and Berkeley Estates in Westlake – Michael DiLauro, Judy Fabec, Katy Boscia, Mary Step and the Strawbridges – did their part in picking up litter.

This was our first event to commemorate Earth Day 2021. As you can see, we gathered quite a pile of trash in and around our neighborhood.

A Clevelander by birth and a Westlake resident since 2001, Ron Zenkewicz has a gift for turning obstacles into opportunity. Born in 1942, Ron grew up in Cleveland’s Slavic Village, near Fleet and Broadway. He graduated from Cathedral Latin High School near University Circle.

After graduation, Ron sold shoes and managed stores for Thom McAn with thoughts of joining his father, a lifelong US Steel worker, in the mill. The arrival of a draft notice derailed those plans. Ron opted for a four-year stint in the Air Force, hoping to become an air-traffic controller. Incoming tests landed him, instead, as a non-Morse intercept operator, capturing Russian and Chinese military communications. Stationed initially outside London, Ron was eventually sent to Pakistan until his discharge in 1967.

With quarantine mandating time away from the classroom and usual activities, many children have struggled over the past year. Connecting for Kids aims to help local families find resources for a child who may have regressed socially, emotionally, academically or physically during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The free Cuyahoga County Resource Box is packed with information about local adapted summer camps, social skills programs, tutors, therapists and other services in Cuyahoga and surrounding counties for families of children ages birth to 12 years who are concerned about their child.

Please meet Gloria Flint. Age: 89. Life status: Newly retired.

It took a global pandemic. It took the whole world slowing down last spring for Gloria Flint to retire, at age 88, after working 20+ years for the city of Westlake and decades earlier in education and government. Anyone who has visited Westlake Community Services has likely met Gloria working at the busy reception desk. Known for her quick wit, distinctive accent and impeccable style – manicured nails, elegant white hair, an iPhone and a vanity plate on her car – Gloria exudes the vitality of a woman half her age.

As her beloved accent suggests, Gloria was born in New York City – the Bronx to be exact. After marrying and moving to Long Island, Gloria completed her bachelor’s in education from Queens College. From there, she taught elementary school in New York and Houston, while raising her four children. While in Texas, she earned her master’s degree in administration & supervision at the University of Houston. She later accepted a position with Houston’s Chapter 2 program, which oversaw public funding for private schools, eventually becoming its director.

Springtime! A time of melting snow and ... emergence of tons of trash that had been hidden by that snow. Easy to fix on your lawn but have a look along the highways and byways. Horrible and disgusting! It's especially bad after this year of sequestration due to Covid-19. But we can help fix it. That's right, you and I can help!

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has an army of volunteers to help keep the highways clean through the Adopt-A-Highway program. I'd seen the adoption signs along the highways; I didn't think there were enough adoptions to make a difference until I read that, of the 396,000 bags of trash collected by ODOT in 2018, 16,455 were attributed to Adopt-A-Highway volunteers.

The Adopt-A-Highway program allows volunteers to adopt a two-mile section or interchange along a state, federal or interstate route. ODOT provides safety training, trash bags, disposable safety vests and two signs (stating who adopted the highway) to be used at the beginning of each side of adopted stretch. The only cost to the group is their time.

Many non-profit organizations depend upon the time and service of volunteers. Westlake Meals on Wheels is no exception. The organization has benefited from the help of North Olmsted High School SITES students for several years. The SITES (Social Involvement Through Education and Service) program allows high school seniors to participate in service organizations in their community for five hours per week as part of their academic program.  

This semester, Westlake Meals on Wheels has had three SITES students assisting in the daily operations four days per week. Noah Cuevas, Nathan Wenger and Aiden Scruggs have been able to volunteer, even through the pandemic. They assist with meal preparation, packaging items for the recipients, and loading coolers for Meals on Wheels drivers as part of the curbside process implemented as a result of Covid-19.

Lakewood Elks Lodge #1350, located at 24350 Center Ridge Road in Westlake, recently awarded its $6,000 Beacon and Gratitude grants obtained through the Elks National Foundation Inc. to Connecting for Kids to fund the local nonprofit’s Ask Us program. This program serves Northeast Ohio families who have questions or concerns about their child aged 12 or younger. Ask Us is staffed by three family resource specialists who work one-on-one with families, answering questions, finding resources and providing information.

“The Lakewood Elks Lodge #1350 is proud to help Connecting for Kids by awarding the organization both our Beacon and Gratitude grants. Using these funds, Connecting for Kids will continue its work of helping Northeast Ohio children and families in need during this challenging time. We look forward to continuing our relationship and assisting Connecting for Kids in the future,” said Exalted Ruler Robert F. Geiger PER.

The inaugural “Bounty Day” food distribution event was a resounding success for the Westlake Community Services Department. Volunteers from Grace Baptist Church in Westlake pitched in to load up more than two dozen cars curbside during the Feb. 11 event.

Staff and volunteers received a helping hand from Erin Dickens of St. Joseph Academy who spent some time shadowing them during the Bounty Day event, keeping track of which of the registered participants had and had not received their food. She also stopped by City Hall for a photo with Mayor Dennis Clough.

As always, the Community Services Department was ever-grateful for the generous donations from the community which make these types of events possible!

Bay Village resident Janet Kelley is a Canada Goose wrangler for Ohio Geese Control, a company that has been humanely managing goose populations in public parks, beaches and marinas since 2004. Janet works with her partner, Cowboy, a 10-year-old border collie. They have been working together for several years.  

Janet started with Ohio Geese Control after retiring from a career directing a chronic condition management program that staffed and managed on-site clinics for large corporate clients. Janet has a Master of Science in Nursing degree.

Janet and Cowboy police a route that takes about five hours to complete. Cowboy’s job is to worry the geese, and bother them until they give up and go someplace else. Cowboy never hurts the geese – it is humane goose management. Janet’s job is to take Cowboy where he needs to go. Cowboy used to work five days a week – the key to controlling geese is consistent harassment. Cowboy is semi-retired now, and he and Janet only work every other weekend. Other dogs cover the route during the work-week and on the alternate weekend.

Westlake's Youth Advisory Board and Community Services staff worked together to create homemade valentines and assemble gift bags for 100 unsuspecting senior residents.

The bags were filled with chocolates, cookies, hot cocoa and an old-fashioned blank valentine and pen to encourage the lucky recipients to "pay it forward." The bags also contained masks and personalized notes written by Community Services staff describing "3 things we love about you."

Multiple recipients sent "Thank You" notes to the staff and Youth Board members, expressing their gratitude for what was a much-needed spirit lift for many.

While the world was scrambling for cleaning supplies, three local Sea Scout ninth-grade girls decided to take the initiative and develop a solution. These scouts decided to use science to solve the problem of store shelves empty of disinfectants. Each girl searched for two recipes that contained materials that most people have easy access to or grown in their backyard.

“We wanted to use ingredients that everyone would be able to use so they could successfully replicate our results,” said Heidi Moody. The girls then experimented to see the most effective solution. They swabbed their refrigerator door handles without a cleaner as a control, and then each handle with a different recipe that they developed. After placing the swabbings on agar in Petri dishes, the girls took the sealed plates to a laboratory to see if bacteria would grow. The results were exciting. While some recipes didn’t work very well, some show promising results.

Now that our beloved elderly are being vaccinated, according to my dear friend, Dr. Charleen Jaeb, resident of Generations Senior Living of Strongsville, they would love a visit!

Charleen and I met in college as “non-traditional” students many moons ago. Charleen continued her education, completing both an MBA and law degree to pursue her career as a college professor at various colleges in Cleveland. Charleen received multiple awards throughout her career. Most recently she won the Women’s Club “Woman of the Year” in Middleburg Heights.

Upon retirement from teaching, she accepted the position of Bus Tour Guide for Lake Front Bus Lines, where she wrote articles for the Bus Tours Magazine. Her favorite articles were “20 Tips for Bus Tour Planners.”

The Bay Village Community Council is proud to announce the 2021 Citizen of the Year, Nancy Trainer, and Project of the Year, the Bradley Park Playground upgrade.

The BVCC received a number of outstanding nominations this cycle and the selection committee considered each one carefully before arriving at a unanimous decision. A celebration will be held in the near future. Details will be provided when the arrangements have been made.

CITIZEN OF THE YEAR: NANCY TRAINER

Nancy moved with her family to Bay at age 3 and attended Bay Schools through graduation. She went to Bowling Green State University and worked at the U.S. Treasury Office. She learned the benefits of volunteerism at an early age, and has spent her life, particularly after retirement, in service to the community.

“My earliest memories of volunteering were trimming bushes with my siblings while my father cut the grass at Baycrafters’ Station house, a task the Metroparks later took over,” Nancy recalled. “My mother was on Baycrafters’ board, then later became heavily involved in veterans organizations – both parents served in WWII. I assisted with her organizations until retiring from my job, then volunteered within our community and quickly learned every group needs assistance.”

Hannah, Layla, Paul, and Joe are members of the Explorer Club sponsored by Bay Sea Scouts. They are entering their project in the U.S. Army-funded eCyberMission Challenge competition.

For our Explorer Club STEM project this year, our team decided to study pollution from tire microplastics. We were amazed to learn that car and truck tires in the U.S. generate about 1.8 million tons of microplastics a year, this is according to a study in October 2017 by Pieter J. Kole, Open University of the Netherlands.

While many of these microplastics, absorbed by the surrounding soil and stream sediments, don't reach Lake Erie, approximately 20 percent do in Bay Village, where many storm drains flow directly into the lake. SUVs and the coming electric vehicles, which are heavier because of their batteries, create even more microplastics. To make matters worse, on the West Coast, a study by the scientists at the University of Washington discovered that a chemical, 6PPD-Quinone, added to tires to lengthen their life, kill off over half the Coho salmon in urban streams in the Puget Sound.

The Westlake Teachers Association (WTA) donated a box full of toothbrushes and toothpaste to the City of Westlake food pantry. The materials were paid for with a community involvement grant from the Northeast Ohio Education Association (NEOEA).

Westlake teachers Karen Kane and Krissy Ingham delivered the generous donation to the Westlake Community Services Center on Friday, Jan. 29.

To help residents experiencing food insecurity due to the continuing pandemic, the City of Westlake Food Pantry is hosting "Bounty Day," a one-day food distribution event on Thursday, Feb. 11, from 9-11 a.m.

We will be providing cereal, macaroni & cheese, pasta noodles, pasta sauce, peanut butter, rice, and dinner sides to those in need of help, according to family size.

This will be a drive-through event similar to the Curbside Food Pickup program the Westlake Community Services Department ran during the spring and summer months. Participants must be Westlake residents and are required to pre-register on the City's website, www.cityofwestlake.org, no later than Friday, Feb. 5. The registration form offers a privacy option where no personal information is required.

If you or someone you know is in need of additional help, contact our Outreach Coordinator at 440 899-3544 to see if you qualify for the city’s monthly food program and holiday food distributions.

Many Westlake families had a happy holiday season thanks to several members of the Westlake Fire Department who helped deliver bags of presents and food baskets to their doorsteps in December.

More than 80 families received gift bags as part of our Adopt A Family/Adult Program, helping to put smiles on nearly 300 faces. Dozens of prepacked food baskets were distributed as well – a welcome sight to many in need of some help to get through the holidays.