12/3/25 C & G Special Edition — Oakland by C & G Newspapers

NEWSPAPERS Special Edition

Groups work to ensure there is ‘No Child Without a Christmas’

BY TAYLOR CHRISTENSEN tchristensen@candgnews.com

The holiday season is upon us, and families all over are preparing for the next few months of fun, food and gifts. But some families are wondering how they are going to pull it off for their children.

To help, local charities and nonprofit organizations come together each year to supply families in need with gifts and food for the holiday season.

For the 31st year, the Troy Police Department is hosting “Operation Blue Sleigh,” a program aimed at helping families in need in the Troy area have the best holiday ever.

Officer Greg Pokley, with the Troy Police Department, said that the team is helping 41 families this year.

Pokley said that 95% of the families selected are identified through the school system and can include kids who are on the free lunch program, or those that teachers know need help the most. The other 15% are chosen by road patrol officers who notice families in need.

“Operation Blue Sleigh encompasses our gift card drive, Shop with a Cop, and then adopt a family,” Pokley said. “This year I have 41 families and that number keeps going up every year.”

During the Shop with a Cop portion of the program, officers take the kids through Walmart and buy the kids a gift with a $100 gift card provided by Walmart.

“We have 41 families and 41 sponsors, generous, generous sponsors, throughout

See CHRISTMAS on page 7A

Rosie the Riveter statue unveiled on Veterans Day

BY TAYLOR CHRISTENSEN tchristensen@candgnews.com

ROYAL OAK — The World War II Legacy Veterans Memorial hosted a special Veterans Day celebration on Nov. 11 that included the unveiling of the Rosie the Riveter statue.

“We come together to honor the courage, service and sacrifice by veterans both past and present,” said John Maten, president of the Michigan WWII Legacy Memorial. “We also recognize the family and friends who stood behind them and offered strength and love while their loved ones served. Their sacrifices too are woven into the story of our freedom. It never feels like enough to simply say thank you.”

The program on Veterans Day included the posting of the colors, an invocation by the Rev. Richard Dalton, “The Star-Spangled Banner,”

See STATUE on page 8A

ABOVE: Operation Blue Sleigh organizers pose together for a photo with Santa. LEFT: Gifts are piled up at the Troy Police Department for Operation Blue Sleigh. Photos providedby Greg Pokley

Frances Mauro Masters, a Rosie the Riveter at the Ford Willow Run Bomber Plant, right, attends the Michigan World War II Legacy Memorial Veterans Day ceremony Nov. 11 in Royal Oak.

Mauro Masters and her fellow Rosie, Delphine Kaput, unveil the Rosie the Riveter statue, which is based on Mauro Masters.

Photo by Patricia O’Blenes

Eagle Scout project helps animal shelter

SPORTS

GIRLS FLAG FOOTBALL TEAM COMES TOGETHER TO WIN LEAGUE TITLE

BY SCOTT BENTLEY sbentley@candgnews.com

BLOOMFIELD HILLS — A group of girls from around metro Detroit came together to win this season’s Girls Take The Field flag football league in Bloomfield Hills.

The team, which wore Los Angeles Rams shirts for the championship game, was a diverse group that came together through flag football.

“I truly believe our success was because of our diversity,” team coach Zafar Shamoon said. “They respected each other’s backgrounds and talents. They listened to each other and they were respectful to our coaches. … They came together and bonded.”

A lot of other teams in the league have players who have played together for years, or who have a lot of experience in flag football. This group was mostly girls who not only hadn’t played together before, but who didn’t even know each other before the first practice.

“Five of these girls were new to the team and didn’t go to the same school,” Shamoon said. “Of the nine girls, only three went to the same school, and one didn’t even know that the other two went to her school… It made me really proud of how we came together.”

The league is run by Genevieve Caffelli who started SNAPtivities flag football program in 1999 and the Girls Take The Field league in 2020. The programs aim to give boys and girls opportunities to play sports in a fun but competitive environment.

“It’s fun, recreational. There’s lots of touches on the ball,” Caffelli explained. “And it’s only one day a week for a couple of hours. So they’re not making this huge commitment after school.”

The Girls Take The Field league, which has now played 10 seasons, has seen exponential growth over the last few years, with the hope that it will continue trending upwards in the future.

“Girls Take The Field, because at that point we

BY SARAH WRIGHT swright@candgnews.com

TROY — Shawn Rankin, a senior at Troy High School, has brought in donations and built doghouses for the Oakland County Animal Control and Pet Adoption Center — part of his efforts to achieve the status of Eagle Scout, the highest rank for Scouting America groups.

Rankin has been involved with Scouting America for more than 10 years, as a member of the Cub Scouts and the Boy Scouts. He has also always supported the work of animal rescues, which contributed to his decision to make it his Eagle Scout project.

“I have two rescue dogs of my own, named Ernie and Barry, and I believe in (the shelter’s) mission to rescue animals and provide shelter and care for needy animals waiting to be adopted,” Rankin said.

He communicated with the shelter over the last six months to find out what they needed, while also getting the doghouses ready and securing donations, which totaled more than $1,300 and included other items from the shelter’s wish list for dogs and cats.

Rankin was able to get a discount from chewy.com, as well as donations from can and bottle donations. He was also assisted by other residents of Troy.

Troy High School senior Shawn Rankin helped build doghouses and bring in donations of money and supplies for the Oakland County Animal Control and Pet Adoption Center, part of his Eagle Scout project.

Photos provided by Todd Rankin

See RANKIN on page 10A

The girls on the flag football team pose with their league championship rings after winning the title.

Photo provided by Zafar Shamoon

Seaholm boys tennis team gets over the hump and wins state title

BY SCOTT BENTLEY sbentley@candgnews.com

MIDLAND/BIRMINGHAM — After back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2023 and 2024, Birmingham Seaholm won the Division 2 boys tennis state title for the 2025 season Oct. 23 at Midland Tennis Center.

Seaholm’s boys tennis team has been on the cusp of a title for years now, and this fall the program was able to finish the job with a comfortable five-point cushion over Byron Center and the rest of the field.

“Our goal every year is to build on the previous year,” Seaholm head coach Nick Shaheen said. “We’ve had a lot of fun enjoying this.”

Not only is this state title three seasons in the making, but it’s also Seaholm High School’s first-ever boys tennis state championship.

“For these boys, their motivation was to be the first team” to win a boys state tennis title, Shaheen said. “We really just wanted this to be a good representation of what can happen if you put in hard work in the Seaholm program.”

Seaholm won three of the eight events during the state finals. Freshman Charlie Griffith won the third singles flight, senior

Flory won the fourth singles flight, and the duo of seniors Britton Leo and Alex Ting brought Seaholm a victory in the top doubles flight.

The team received amazing production across the board, with a Seaholm player making the semifinals in all eight events.

“Anybody that has known our program in previous years knows that we’ve been more balanced in our doubles than our singles,” Shaheen explained. “It’s led to teams that haven’t quite had the type of depth that you need to make a deep run and win a championship. But this year we had that perfect balance.”

Another key factor in the championship run was focus. Due to weather, some players started their flights outdoors and had to finish indoors. Changing courts and environment in the middle of a bracket certainly isn’t ideal, but is something that the players pushed through.

“It came down to the boys’ focus. They were really adaptable both days,” Shaheen said. “I give a lot of credit that day one started outdoors and then went indoors. … We handled the conditions well.”

While ultimately it was the boys who played and performed in less-than-ideal con-

Joaquim

Photo provided by Carolyn Leo

The 2025 Seaholm boys tennis team poses with the Division 2 MHSAA state championship trophy. It’s the team’s first state title.

Seaholm

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ditions, the players credit the coaches for having them prepared.

“It was a little bit challenging. … I think the coaches did a really good job of preparing everyone,” Seaholm senior Britton Leo said. “I think the team as a whole really came together and realized what we needed to do to come out victorious.”

This title has an impact on people outside of the team itself. Seeing the years of hard work and implementing a winning culture has finally resulted in a state championship.

“I think that the previous teams really set the tone. … We had great mentors and great captains that gave us the message that this is really going to be a whole team effort,” Leo explained. “What me and my other captains tried to instill in our team is how much we needed everyone to be bought in.”

Everyone needed to be bought in, and everyone was bought in.

“It starts with all of the offseason training. This year, we had basically everyone play around the year,” Leo said. “Seeing so many great players on our team … I think being surrounded by talent really pushed everyone.”

Seaholm’s girls tennis team has eight state titles and won a championship in two of the last three seasons. While the boys team has been consistently competitive for years, the girls team has always been a powerhouse. Now, the hope is that the school can be a premiere tennis program for both boys and girls going forward.

“We’re very friendly with the girls program and we support them 100%,” Shaheen said. “The boys are starting to get a little more recognition (this year). To see us elevate ourselves to (the girls) level … and to see the hard work pay off with results is really great to see.”

This is a team, and a class, that has left a permanent legacy on Seaholm High School and Seaholm’s boys tennis program.

Low vision doesn’t mean the end of independence—and it certainly doesn’t mean the end of hope. At Beyond Low Vision in Novi, Dr. John Jacobi is transforming lives by helping patients with vision loss regain the ability to do the things they love.

ones’ faces, and even drive in some cases.”

As a Fellow of the International Academy of Low Vision Specialists, Dr. Jacobi provides detailed functional vision assessments to understand how each patient’s unique condition affects their daily life. Then, he designs personalized low vision systems— specialized devices and glasses tailored to help them meet real-world goals.

Low vision is a condition that glasses, surgery, or standard medical treatments can’t fully correct. It can make reading, driving, watching television, or recognizing faces nearly impossible. For adults with macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, or other serious eye diseases, it can feel like the world is slowly slipping away.

Dr. Jacobi’s mission is to stop that slide— and restore more than just sight. With more than 35 years of optometric experience and advanced training in low vision rehabilitation, Dr. Jacobi is one of the only low vision specialists in Michigan who offers customized visual solutions using advanced optics like high-powered magnifiers and miniature telescopes built into glasses.

One of his most powerful tools is the miniature telescope lens system, which can be added to glasses to magnify and enhance central vision. For patients with macular degeneration or advanced glaucoma, it can make the difference between watching a grandchild perform in a school play—or just hearing about it later.

Beyond his work with older adults, Dr. Jacobi also helps younger patients living with congenital or acquired visual impairment. His practice is fully devoted to low vision, and he works closely with other eye doctors across the state to bring his services to more people in need.

“Every case is different,” says Dr. Jacobi. “I’ve helped a 12-year-old read her favorite books again, and I’ve helped a 99-yearold get back to doing crossword puzzles. That’s the power of low vision care.”

“Most people with low vision have been told ‘nothing more can be done.’ That’s simply not true,” says Dr. Jacobi. “With the right tools and strategies, we can help patients read again, watch TV, see loved

Appointments with Dr. Jacobi are available in Novi, and an east side location may open soon based on demand. He also offers phone consultations and is happy to speak with referring optometrists or ophthalmologists.

If you or someone you love is struggling with vision loss, don’t give up. Beyond Low Vision may be the answer.

“Low vision care is not about what you’ve lost,” Dr. Jacobi says. “It’s about what we can help you get back.”

NEWS & NOTES

OAKLAND COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE ORGANIZES COAT DRIVE TO BENEFIT THOSE IN NEED

OAKLAND COUNTY — The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office hopes to collect thousands of coats this November to provide them for free to individuals in need.

The Sheriff’s 38th annual “Coats for the Cold” coat drive is underway, and the public is asked to support this effort by going into their hearts and closets to provide new or gently used clean coats before the end of the month. Agencies like the Oakland Schools Student Homeless Population are looking for approximately 750 coats to provide students in need of a coat.

The annual coat drive was created by Sheriff Mike Bouchard 38 years ago, when he served as village president in Beverly Hills. Since then, the coat drive has collected over 210,000 coats that have been distributed to agencies that provide them at no cost to their clients and people in need. Some of the agencies that will receive coats include Grace Centers of Hope, Oakland Schools Student Homeless Population, Baldwin Center, Ladies of Charity of St. Hugos, Oakland Family Services Children’s Learning Centers, Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency and more.

Local dropoff sites include: OCSO Oakland Township Substation, 4391 Collins Road in Oakland Township; Colony Cleaners, 1020 N. Main St. in Rochester; Real Estate One, 1002 N. Main St. in Rochester; the city of Rochester Hills, 1000 Rochester Hills Drive in Rochester Hills; OCSO Rochester Hills Division, 750 Barclay Circle in Rochester Hills; Bordine’s, 1835 S. Rochester Road in Rochester Hills; Ducharme Chiropractic Center 111 Rochdale, Suite B, in Rochester Hills; Orangetheory Fitness, 1470 N. Rochester Road in Rochester Hills; Genisys Credit Union, 2811 Crooks Road in Rochester Hills; Genisys Credit Union, 1611 S. Rochester Road in Rochester Hills; and 52/3 District Court, 700 Barclay Circle in Rochester Hills.

Kris Kringle Market slated for Dec. 5-6

ROCHESTER — Visitors can enjoy the food, shopping, entertainment, and ambiance during the 18th Kris Kringle Market 4-10 p.m. Dec. 5 and noon-10 p.m. Dec. 6. The Kris Kringle Market, presented by Chief Financial Credit Union, is an open-air market where visitors of all ages can enjoy over 60-plus hand-picked vendors offering an array of holiday decorations, unique gifts, and seasonal foods.

“We’re proud to see how the Kris Kringle Market has evolved into a true Rochester tradition,” Taylor Knuth, marketing coordinator of the Rochester DDA, said in a press release. “This year’s expanded layout and entertainment make it our most exciting yet, while still keeping that cozy, nostalgic charm people look forward to every December.”

This year’s Santa’s Village is sponsored by Straight Smiles Orthodontics. Children can enjoy a visit and photo opportunity with Santa Claus as well as a magical story time. Santa will be available 4-9 p.m. on Friday (with a story time at 6 p.m.) and noon-9 p.m. Saturday (with story times at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.). There will also be a chance to play in the child-sized gingerbread houses and warm up by the s’more station.

Enjoy live entertainment at the music stage presented by The Roxy, Rochester. There will be live musical acts all weekend. Each evening at 7 p.m. there will be main act entertainment consisting of the Ben Sharkey Band on Friday and Paul & Oates on Saturday. Visitors can purchase a commemorative mug filled with hot-spiced wine or enjoy handcrafted beer inside a warming tent sponsored by the Rochester Mills Beer Co. Proceeds from the warming tent will benefit the Rochester Area Youth Assistance on Friday evening and the Rochester Avon Recreation Authority on Saturday. For more information, visit downtownrochestermi.com or contact the Rochester DDA at (248) 656-0060.

Soulful Santa Workshop & Holiday Market Dec. 13

SOUTHFIELD — Southfield Parks & Recreation will bring the Soulful Santa Workhop & Holiday Market to the Southfield Pavilion Dec. 13.

The Soulful Santa Workshop will be open from noon to 3 p.m., while the Holiday Market will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The event’s attractions include professional photo opportunities with Black Santa and opportunities to meet costumed characters, according to a press release. Elf Workshop Stations will include one for making ornaments, one for Christmas cards, one for do-it-yourself gifts and one for letters to Santa. There will also be a hot cocoa bar and a vendor selling baked goods.

Tickets to the event cost $10 for Southfield residents and $13 for nonresidents. All attendees ages 2 and older must have a ticket, and one adult must accompany each family. Buy tickets in person at the Southfield Parks & Recreation information desk at 26000 Evergreen Road or online at cityofsouthfield.com/departments/parksrecreation. Tickets will be available at the door, as space allows. For more information, call (248) 796-4620.

File photo by Patricia O’Blenes

Christmas

the city of Troy,” he said. “That can include businesses or just residents in Troy that want to donate to families in need.”

Sponsors of the program essentially adopt a family in need. The families send Pokley a wish list which he then sends over to the sponsors.

“I recommend (to the sponsors) sending roughly $100 per person that is in the family. I divide the families into small, medium, and large so that way the sponsors can pick what size they want, because it will give them an idea of what their budget will be,” he said.

Once all of the gifts are collected from the sponsors, the Troy Police Department hand delivers the gifts to the families at home on Dec. 22.

“We get a bunch of police cars, and we have some large vehicles that are blue, and we load up the vehicles and deliver them to each house that morning,” he said. “The officers get a kick out of that. They love doing that.”

During this time the Troy Police Department is also accepting donations, in-

cluding money and gift cards. He said they recommend grocery store gift cards.

“We know that the kids, sometimes their best meal is when they are at school, and over the holidays, when they are on break, they don’t get that same food,” he said. “So we ask for grocery store gift cards, and we provide those families with gift cards as well as the sponsors providing the gifts.”

‘No Child Without a Christmas’

In St. Clair Shores, the Goodfellows have been providing holiday help for 99 long years, according to president of the St. Clair Shores Goodfellows organization, Mike Cook. The Goodfellows motto is “No Child Without a Christmas.”

Each year, the Goodfellows gather volunteers to sell newspapers on city street corners and collect food donations from the surrounding schools.

The newspaper sale is always on the first Saturday in December, which this year is Dec. 6. Volunteers fill the streets from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. selling newspapers for donations.

With the money collected from the newspaper sale, Goodfellows volunteers purchase food and gift cards.

Schools around St. Clair Shores also

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collect nonperishable items to donate, according to Cook. That food is then put into food baskets that are delivered by volunteers to needy families in the St. Clair Shores area.

“We collect nonperishable food through the holidays and then we have a help line that needy families can call and request help, and we interview those families and for every child under the age of 16 we give out a gift card so that parents can go buy Christmas presents for the kids,” he said. “Along with that on Christmas Eve morning, we take the food that was collected by all of the schools and deliver that to the needy families on Christmas Eve morning.”

Cook said that the food baskets even include turkeys to ensure the families have a full Christmas meal.

“We want them to have everything they need for a Christmas dinner so we go out and purchase turkeys so they have turkeys and stuffing and cranberries and all of the good stuff to go along with it, so they can have a nice Christmas dinner,” he said.

Cook said that prospective families that need Christmas help can call the Goodfellows hotline at (586) 980-0400. They start taking calls the day after Thanksgiving.

Being such a big part of these families’

lives is a heartwarming experience according to Cook, who has been with the Goodfellows for around 38 years now.

“Everybody deserves to have a nice Christmas. All children deserve to have a nice Christmas. It’s heartwarming when we can show up at someone’s house on Christmas Eve morning and bring them food and bring them the things they need, you know, maybe for some reason, they are less fortunate that year,” Cook said. “It doesn’t mean they are bad people, or they have had issues. Something has happened in their life that they need help. They may have lost their job, had an injury, they may have been hospitalized for something. So they have had an event in their life that they need assistance. And if we can help them just to brighten their day a little bit, it makes it all worthwhile.”

For more information about the Troy Police Department, go to troymi.gov. For more information about Goodfellows organizations in metro Detroit, go to detroit goodfellows.org.

For Christmas help from the St. Clair Shores Goodfellows, call (586) 980-0400. Donations can be made at any time at the St. Clair Shores Goodfellows, located at 26700 Harper in St. Clair Shores.

Statue

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the Pledge of Allegiance, and keynote speakers U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell and Lanette Mattison, of Ford Global Data Insights and Analytics.

The main event of the day was the unveiling of the Rosie the Riveter statue, a lifesize bronze statue depicting a Rosie working on the line, riveting a panel for a B-24 bomber. The statue was sculpted by Oleg Kedria.

“Rosie represents the significant contribution of homefront women to the Arsenal of Democracy, who kept production lines rolling,” Maten said. “We are especially honored that 103-year-old Frances Mauro Masters, a riveter from the Ford Willow Run World War II bomber plant in Ypsilanti, is the inspiration for the face of the statue.”

Mauro Masters attended the Veterans Day celebration on Nov. 11 and expressed her gratitude for the statue.

“I am thrilled to have this statue made of little old me,” Mauro Masters said. “Did everyone know that Marilyn Monroe was a Rosie, and they chose me as the inspiration instead of her!”

In a press release sent out by the Michigan WWII Legacy Memorial, Mauro Masters expressed her excitement for the piece.

“Oh, it’s beautiful! I am proud to be a part of something like this. My husband was in the Marines during WWII. I never told him what I did, I didn’t think it would make such a difference,” she said as she paused. “But it did.”

Bette Kenward, a board member of The Michigan WWII Legacy Memorial and Michigan director and corresponding secre-

Rosie the Riveter Association, attend the

tary of the American Rosie the Riveter Association, spoke during the event.

Kenward read a poem written by Donnalee Lanktree, the former president of the American Rosie the Riveter Association.

“They were teenagers, young adults, senior citizens, and they came together with one purpose, to help win the war,” she read.

“They built 80,000 landing craft, 100,000

tanks, 300,000 aircrafts, 15 million guns, and 41 billion rounds of ammunition. They were Rosies.”

The Rosie the Riveter statue joined the existing life-size statue of a soldier reading a letter from home. The two statues are surrounded by the newly expanded Walk of Honor, which now includes over 1,600 inscribed pavers honoring those who played a

role in the state’s World War II history. The Michigan World War II Legacy Memorial has big plans to continue to expand the memorial. In order to do so, organizers need around $2 million.

They plan to add seven more statues, the Entrance Wall/Wall of Stars and many other elements. To donate, visit michiganww2memorial.org.

Photo by Patricia O’Blenes Mauro Masters, left, and Bette Kenward, a board member of The Michigan WWII Legacy Memorial and Michigan director and corresponding secretary of the American

event on Veterans Day.

Birmingham Village Players adapt a holiday classic

BY MARY GENSON mgenson@candgnews.com

BIRMINGHAM — Every holiday season, it is a family tradition for Birmingham Village Players member Joe Vercellone to watch Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” This year, Vercellone and his son Phillip adapted the show into a one-man play to be performed as a fundraiser for the Birmingham Village Players.

The world premiere of the adaptation —“An Evening with Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol” — will run Dec. 4-7 at Birmingham Village Players. All of the proceeds will go to the fundraising efforts for future building improvements at Birmingham Village Players.

“There are other theaters that do ‘Christmas Carol’ but with a full cast,” Vercellone said. “We wanted to approach it in a way that would be interesting to the community and that would be something unique and exciting for them to come and see.”

Actor Edmond Guay will be taking on the challenge for performing in the one-man show — his first time taking on such a role.

Guay has been involved with the Bir-

mingham Village Players since around 2006. He is a retired teacher of theater and English. After 42 years of teaching, he said, “I finally get to put my money where my mouth is and, hopefully, show what I taught myself as well as I taught my students. So, this is such an incredibly awesome, challenging opportunity.”

Being in this role, Guay has had the opportunity to receive input from the objective eye of a director. “I’m enjoying getting notes from a director, as opposed to being a director and a teacher giving notes.”

The redemption of Scrooge in the story is one of Vercellone’s favorite parts. He said, “I think it’s such an uplifting story, and it’s great to see Ed show that change in character throughout this production.”

Adapting a one-man show

The concept of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” being performed as a oneman show is historically accurate and references the way in which Dickens would tour his books by reading and acting them out.

“Charles Dickens actually did come to the United States in the 1860s to read ‘A Christmas Carol.’ So that’s where we are

placing our one-man show at that time period,” Vercellone said.

Fans of the book will be pleased to know that the Birmingham Village Players show’s entire script is directly from the book. Though nothing has been added, some things had to be removed for length.

“Stories are written to be read, and it’s very different to write a story for reading than to write a story for performing. … You really have to go through and say, ‘what are the core elements of this story from page to page, and what can be removed without losing the beauty and the import of what he wanted to say?’” Vercellone said.

See the show

“An Evening with Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol” will be performed at the Birmingham Village Players 7:30 p.m. Dec. 4-6 and at 2 p.m. Dec. 7.

Individual reserved tickets cost $30, which includes a ticketing fee. To purchase tickets, call the box office at (248) 644-2075 or place an order at birminghamvillageplayers.com.

Call Staff Writer Mary Genson at (586) 498-1095.

Photo provided by the Birmingham Village Players Edmond Guay will perform in the Birmingham Village Players’ production of “An Evening with Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol.”

Football

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were sick and tired of waiting for it to be given to us,” Caffelli said. “(Now) we have over 350 girls per season, which is about 700 girls a year that come out.”

Shamoon, or “Coach Z” as most people call him, had players from all over the area for his team, and Caffelli is hoping that she can continue to reach more girls going forward.

“There’s no other leagues around. So I’m really going to do a big push this year

Rankin

from page 3A

He built two of the three doghouses in his garage with the help of a few fellow scouts.

“The beneficiary asked me to build doghouses for large breeds,” Rankin said. “For needy families, they needed to be insulated and off the ground to keep the dogs warm during the winter.”

The donations were all dropped off at the shelter late last month.

“I felt like I was giving back to the com-

to try to get more players from outside the district,” Caffelli said. “It’s open to anybody from any city and anywhere. You come out here and we’ll get you on the team and give you an opportunity to play.

Girls flag football is growing at a rapid pace. There are schools all over the country that are adding the sport to the list of programs offered, and it will even be in the 2028 Summer Olympics.

There are winter and spring programs available to sign up for. To learn more about Girls Take The Field and SNAPtivities, visit www.girlstakethefield.com and www.snap tivities.com.

munity, and it also felt rewarding that my efforts will help a lot of dogs and cats who don’t have a home yet,” Rankin said.

Staff at the shelter appreciated Rankin’s efforts.

“We are very proud of Shawn and his project of building doghouses,” said Joanie Tool, chief with the Oakland County Animal Control and Pet Adoption Center, via email. “These houses will help families in need within our community provide shelter for their beloved family pet.”

For more information, visit oakgov. com/community/pet-adoption.