Door County Community Notes

• A series of three panel presentations on health, gardening, and financial planning are scheduled for all community “Active Agers” (mature adults!) to be held at St. Peters Social Room, 108 W. Maple Street, Sturgeon Bay (please use Larch St. entrance).

On Tuesday, March 24, 7 pm, the topic will be health/community services with panel members Mary Lindhorst, Carol Newman, Barb Kolterjahn and Lynn Christenson. Please join us for discussion, snacks and socialization.

Also, mark your calendars…the gardening panel will be held on Tuesday, April 21, 7 pm. Then on Tuesday, May 19, we will gather at 5:30 pm for a light supper before the financial planning presentation.

The public is invited to share in the fellowship and sharing of ideas. There is no cost for any of these activities.

• The Volunteer Center of Door County is pleased to announce that Golden Heart nomination forms are now available for you to recognize volunteers whose giving spirit exemplifies, “Be the Change!” Nominations are being accepted in these six categories: Youth, Adult, Group, Lifetime of Service, Arts & Culture, and Volunteer Leadership. Nominees chosen as Golden Heart recipients will receive an art piece created by Chad Luberger of Plum Bottom Pottery and $500 to donate to a Door County charity of their choice.

The 7th annual Golden Heart Volunteer Celebration will be held on Thursday, April 30, 2009 at the Stone Harbor Resort. This year’s keynote speaker is Harry Sydney, founder of My Brother’s Keeper, Inc. and winner of three Super Bowl rings. Harry has a powerful personal story and is using his life experience to mentor boys and men – teaching about respect, integrity, responsibility and goal setting.

Nomination forms are available at the Volunteer Center or by download at http://www.volunteerdoorcounty.com. Nominations must be postmarked by March 27. For more information on how you can participate in this celebration, please contact the Volunteer Center at 920.746.7704 or send an email to [email protected].

• Carol Davis has announced the opening of her new Sturgeon Bay counseling practice, ALOHA Professional Christian Counseling Services, LLC. Christian Counseling means that we recognize God and the Bible as the source of truth and comfort.

Davis’ practice will be open for women, and her specialty is in Grief and Trauma. She invites women who have had personal losses such as loss of a loved one, loss of health, major life changes, accidents, post abortion issues, marriage, or difficulty in coping with life to contact her.

Davis received her Master’s Degree in Christian Counseling from the American Christian College and Seminary in Oklahoma City, OK. She is Board Certified by the International Board of Christian Counselors and is currently the president of the newly formed Door County Critical Incident Stress Management Program, Inc. She has been a Registered Nurse since 1976, working most recently at Unity Hospice and Good Samaritan – Scandia Village.

Davis and her husband, Dr. Steven Davis, and family came to Door County about five years ago, when Steven became one of the Orthopedic Surgeons for Door County Memorial Hospital.

To contact ALOHA Professional Christian Services call 920.495.5342.

• On Tuesday, March 17 at the Door County Justice Center, 38 Door County and Northeast Wisconsin professionals participated in training on how to make a compassionate death notification. Greg Young, Chaplain, Debriefer, and Trainer for the Germantown Police Department, and part-time Medical Examiner for Washington County, conducted the training for members of the Door County Sheriff Department, Sturgeon Bay Police Department, Sturgeon Bay Fire Department, Door County Medical Examiners, Hospital Chaplains, School Counselors, and others in the helping profession. The training was sponsored by the Door County Critical Incident Stress Management Program.

• “Women & Heart Disease,” will be presented by Debbie Metzler of Prevea Health Care on Wednesday, April 8 from 10 – 11 am in the Peninsula Room of the Door County Government Center on Nebraska Street. This program was rescheduled from February 27 due to inclement weather.

This program is free and open to the public, but registration is required by calling the UW-Extension Office at 920.746.2260 no later than April 3. Please leave a voice message after office hours.

This program is sponsored by UW-Extension and Door Association for Home and Community Education.

• Door-Tran, Inc., and the Door County Transportation Consortium (DCTC) invites everyone to attend the transportation voucher program launch event on March 26 from 4 – 6 pm with a brief ceremony at 5 pm at Cherry Point Mall in Sturgeon Bay. The program will address how Door-Tran and DCTC are working to make transportation more affordable to Door County residents. For more information call Pam Busch at 877.330.6333 or 920.743.9999.

• On March 21, the Sturgeon Bay Moravian Church is hosting a traditional Door County Fish Boil in an effort to raise support for Habitat for Humanity’s Apostle’s Build. The money raised from this event will help to fund the Apostle’s Build: an ecumenical partnership to build a Habitat for Humanity Home in Door County.

Two dinners will be served at 5 and 6:30 pm. The cost is $10 for adults and donations for children under 12. In addition, there will be an alternative meal available for children.

To purchase your tickets, please contact the Sturgeon Bay Moravian Church office at 920.743.6218 or call Deb McIntyre at 920.495.9789.

• The chili cook-offs at both Door County YMCA Program Centers on Monday, March 9 helped raise money for the 2009 Door County YMCA Strong Kids Campaign. Visitors to the YMCA enjoyed sampling all the chili at the YMCA or taking a container of chili to enjoy at home. A select group of judges for each location sampled all the entries and chose the winning batchs.

John Kolodziej took the honors in Sturgeon Bay, with Sharon Peterson second and Casey’s BBQ and Smokehouse third.

Northern Door chose a community winner, Audrey Grasse and a restaurant winner, Mojo Rosa’s.

Special thanks to the dozens of chili chefs and servers who helped make the chili cook-offs possible.

• The community is invited to help the Women’s Employment Project, Inc. (WEP) celebrate their 30th Anniversary. The Diamond Anniversary Celebration on Saturday, March 21 at Stone Harbor Resort will pay tribute to this non-profit, community-based service organization, which has served the Door community and its residents with quality programming throughout its 30-year history. While an RSVP dinner takes place at 6 pm, everyone is invited to celebrate and show their continued support of WEP from 7:30 – 11 pm. The event will include a silent auction, bucket raffle, cash raffle and the Jana Nyberg Group will perform. For more information call 920.743.7273 for more information.

• Registration has begun for the 2009 Door County Soccer Association summer league in which games are organized for individuals age 5 – 18. The games are primarily played at the Sturgeon Bay soccer fields (John Miles County Park), but games are also played in Baileys Harbor, Sister Bay and Washington Island.

The 2009 season starts with a Soccer Kick Off day on May 16 with the UWGB men’s soccer team putting on a clinic and the opportunity to meet coaches and teams, as well as jersey pick up. Games are played in June and July with a championship tournament to follow the regular season. A special 5-year-old program is held on Wednesday nights, and U18 pick-up games are held on Thursdays.

Door County Soccer Association has distributed registration forms to all Sturgeon Bay area schools and Dunham’s Sporting Goods, and the information is also available on their Web site http://www.doorsoccer.com. The registration deadline is April 1.

• The School District of Sevastopol will be conducting kindergarten registration on Wednesday, April 8, 2009. The registration is for all children who will be five years old by Sept. 1, 2009 and who plan on attending kindergarten for the 2009-2010 school year.

The purpose of this registration is to identify the students who will be attending kindergarten and prepare for staff and transportation needs. Extensive information on how to prepare your child for a positive schooling experience will be emphasized so the school board strongly requests that parents attend.

The screening will take approximately one hour during which parents and children will have an opportunity to meet the kindergarten staff, tour the building including the cafeteria and learn about bus safety. The registration includes health developmental interviews with the parent. Registration will take place at Sevastopol in the kindergarten room on second floor.

Please call the Sevastopol Elementary office at 920.743.6282 ext. 107 to schedule your appointment as soon as possible.

• United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development Acting Wisconsin State Director, Lori Wells, recently announced that interest rates for the Single Family Housing Direct Loan program have been lowered and financing is available. On March 2, 2009, the interest rate decreased from 4.375 percent to 4 percent.

USDA Rural Development’s Rural Housing Direct loans offers 100 percent financing with no down payment required for low and lower income individuals or families. These loans are made directly through USDA Rural Development and are offered for a period of 30 – 38 years.

In addition, USDA Rural Development offers a 30-year fixed rate Guaranteed Rural Housing (GRH) Program Loan. Under the GRH Program the Federal Government is guaranteeing the loan and borrowers are never required to pay a down payment or private mortgage insurance. Through the GRH Program, an approved mortgage lender makes a home loan and USDA Rural Development guarantees the note on behalf of the Federal Government. The program is designed to assist middle to low-income families who want to buy a home in rural communities throughout Wisconsin.

For more information call the local USDA Rural Development Office at 715.524.8522 ext 4 or visit http://www.rurdev.usda.gov.

• A special thank you goes out to everyone involved in the Saturday, March 14 St. Patrick’s Day parade in Sturgeon Bay. It was a great day for a parade, and Irish eyes were smilin’ all around town.

Parade entries included everything from an Irish snake to Harley the Camel, and of course, St. Patrick himself! This year’s awards went to: Best Business Entry – Door County Coffee & Tea Company with an Honorable Mention to Door County Child Care; Best Non-Profit Entry – Sneakers and Boots with Honorable Mention to the Miss Door County Princesses; and Best Irish Theme – Clan O’Hern and Honorable Mention to Wilkins & Olander.