Column: Positive Approaches to Difficult Conversations
Senior Living
For many people, there comes a time when we need to become more involved in finding ways to address major obstacles confronted by the older members of our families.
Special-Needs Children Given Wings to Fly
Therapy and recreational center opens in Chantilly.
When Donna Shank’s son Ryan was diagnosed with autism eight yeas ago, she traveled throughout the Washington Metropolitan area to get treatment for him. “Most children with autism, and other children with special needs, require several different types of therapies, such as speech and occupational therapy and additional tutoring,” she said. “But it’s difficult to find all these services in one location. So my dream was to provide an all-in-one, integrated, therapy center.”
Face-to-Face with Arrests, Prison, Death
Parents, students learn substance-abuse dangers.
It’s one thing for people to warn others about the dangers of substance abuse. But it’s more powerful when they share personal stories of how drugs and alcohol affected their own families. And that’s what happened during the recent forum at Madison High. Called “Protecting Against the Realities of Substance Abuse,” it was put on by Parents Reaching Out To Educate Communities Together (PROTECT), a task force of the Unified Prevention Coalition of Fairfax County (UPC).
Miracle League Opens Its Season
Grant to help build Alexandria’s first inclusive playground.
On April 26, CVS Caremark celebrated the start of a new baseball season at the Miracle League of Alexandria’s Opening Day festivities, with representatives from the Miracle League, the Kelley Cares Foundation and Miracle League Athletes.
Center Plants Pinwheel Garden To Symbolize Hope
The Center for Alexandria’s Children joined in a nationwide public awareness campaign that puts a new spin on child abuse prevention when it planted a Pinwheel Garden today at its office on North Beauregard Street. The pinwheel, the national symbol of Child Abuse Prevention and a symbol of childhood, represents the efforts of Prevent Child Abuse Virginia to demonstrate the importance of ensuring healthy, happy and full lives for all children in the community.
Senior Living: ‘The 5 Senses and Aging’
We all know that as we age, so do our five senses. Knowing what to expect can help us take steps to continue to live independent and productive lives. That was the message from the April Speaker Series event co-sponsored by Senior Services of Alexandria, Inova Alexandria Hospital and Alexandria’s Successful Aging Committee. More than 100 seniors flocked to the Nannie J. Lee Center last Wednesday for a lively morning filled with valuable information and a Health and Fitness Fair. Participants tried their hand at belly dancing and tai chi, sampled delicious healthy recipes, had free blood pressure and hearing tests, and even enjoyed shoulder massages.
These Shelter Pets Face Challenges
Beauty is more than skin-deep.
As the old maxim goes, you can’t judge a book by its cover. The Animal Welfare League of Alexandria encourages potential adopters to apply that same advice to pets seeking new homes. “An animal can be a 10- to 20-year commitment, and it is important to select an animal that matches your lifestyle and energy level and to pick your companion based on personality rather than appearance,” said Megan Webb, executive director of the League.
ARHA Adopts Non-Smoking Policy
The Board of Commissioners of the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority unanimously approved a resolution calling for a Non-Smoking Policy for all ARHA residents at its meeting last month. When fully implemented in late Spring 2015, the new policy will cover approximately 3,000 residents.
Food Fight: Work Group Snubbed on Food Trucks
City officials move forward with recommendations without report from work group.
Last May, City Manager Rashad Young issued a series of recommendations that would have opened the door to food trucks in Old Town, Del Ray and Carlyle.
Fairfax County School Board Examining Later Start Times
High schools could start as late as 9:15.
Two years after the Fairfax County School Board adopted a resolution in favor of later start times, exhausted teenagers are one step closer to getting a full night’s sleep. The Children’s National Medical Center recently presented the school board with options for later start times, of which the school board selected four for public discussion. The new start times could be implemented as early as the 2015-2016 school year.
Father and Son "Twogether"
As a born, bread and buttered Bostonian (Newton Centre, a suburb, to be specific), one of my enduring and genetic passions has been to live and die (figuratively speaking; this is not a cancer column) for The Boston Red Sox. My father sold concessions at Fenway Park (the stadium home of the Bosox since 1912), during the Depression when he was a little boy (not yet an adolescent even). He was nicknamed "Beezo," (his given name was Benet, although he was always called Barry) so he could gain full acceptance to a local knothole gang. Named after the wooden planks which surrounded the old Braves Field in Boston (a National League team called Boston its home as well back in the day), the kids ("gangs") would stand and peer through the knotholes in the wooden planks which otherwise blocked their view. It was a privilege and an honor for my father to be so connected to the game this way. He grew up loving baseball, and as a parent, he passed his love of the game on to me – and my brother.
Even Roads Need Spring Cleaning
Since 2004, along Democracy Boulevard between Newbridge Drive and Seven Locks Road, Hopkins & Porter Construction team members have completed their routine clean-up for Adopt-A-Road several times a year.
Emphasizing the Importance of Recycling
April 22 marked the 44th anniversary of Earth Day, a day specifically devised to prompt people to ask, “What can I do to make a difference for the earth?” Solving global environmental issues like climate change may be so daunting for some people that they automatically assume there is nothing they can do to help. But in reality, there are things we can each do every day that can have a big impact on our community and the environment. The simplest of these is to recycle.
Recycling in Central Arlington
Sunny weather brought community members out to Thomas Jefferson Middle School to kick off the recycling portion of their spring cleaning. The parking lot off Glebe Road had been turned into an efficient slalom course of stations for dropping off of everything from televisions and vacuum cleaners to batteries and motor oil at the semi-annual E-CARE recycling event on Saturday, April 19.
Recycling and Earth Day
April 22 marks the 44th anniversary of Earth Day, a day specifically devised to prompt people to ask, “What can I do to make a difference for the earth?” Solving global environmental issues like climate change may be so daunting for some people that they automatically assume there is nothing they can do to help. But in reality, there are things we can each do every day that can have a big impact on our community and the environment. The simplest of these is to recycle.