ThisWeek Pickerington 6/9

Page 1

June 9, 2011

Pickerington-Reynoldsburg

Relay For Life slated for June 18-19 By NATE ELLIS ThisWeek Community Newspapers The Relay For Life PickeringtonReynoldsburg will be held at Pickerington High School North from 10 a.m. June 18 to 10 a.m. 19. “We have 17 teams this year and we hope to raise over $27,000,” event chair Colleen Pospishil said. Individuals and teams can register on-

line at www.relayforlife/pickerington, or by contacting Andrea Perlman, an American Cancer Society staff member for the Relay For Life PickeringtonReynoldsburg event, at (888) 227-6446, extension 3213. Money is raised through donations from local individuals and companies. Donations can be made online at www.relayforlife/pickerington, or at the event.

Relay For Life is the American Cancer Society’s signature event to honor survivors, patients, caregivers and those lost to cancer, as well help raise funds to fight the disease. Local organizers are seeking teams from both cities and beyond to walk continuous laps June 18 and 19 and raise money to recognize those who’ve faced cancer and help to fight the disease. “We do a 24-hour event because can-

cer never sleeps,” Perlman said. “There will be events all day. We have bands coming and we have themes for the laps.” As of June 3, American Cancer Society officials said approximately 120 people had registered to participate in the Pickerington-Reynoldsburg event. The organization will continue to accept registrations for teams and individuals up to the day of the Relay. “We encourage everybody to come

out,” Perlman said. “You can participate as an individual and we encourage people to form teams of five to 15.” She said organizers also encourage creative fundraising efforts. In past years, those activities have included on-site sales of baked goods, glow sticks, beads and other items. Each Relay For Life event starts with See RELAY FOR LIFE, page A4

OPVBA seeks strong finish to ‘Operation Feed’ drive

GRADUATION DAY

By NATE ELLIS ThisWeek Community Newspapers This month, the city and several Olde Pickerington Village businesses will wrap up an inaugural campaign to help out central Ohio’s largest annual food drive. Those who live and work in Pickerington may have noticed food collection boxes in front of or inside several businesses and city offices. It’s all part of a partnership initiated this year between the Olde Pickerington Village Business Association and the Mid-Ohio Foodbank, an organization that attempts to feed hungry and financially strained people in a 21-county region in central and eastern Ohio. For more than 30 years, it has spearheaded “Operation Feed,” a program which seeks donations of non-perishable food items through partnerships with area businesses. Last year, the effort generated enough food for 4.55 million meals, and it’s seeking to raise 5 million meals this year. The donated items will be distributed to food pantries throughout the food bank’s service area. In April, the OPVBA member businesses, the city of Pickerington, the Pickerington Police Department and the Pickerington Public Library placed collection boxes at their offices and facilities. Roughly 70 to 80 percent of the food collected through the drive will go to the PCMA Food Pantry of Pickerington. See OPVBA, page A8

Alabama tornado Photos by Tim Revell/ThisWeek

(Left) Stephen Turley, a graduating senior from Pickerington High School North, leads his 3-year-old cousin, Faith Yoakam, back to her seat. (Right) Lena Obert, grandmother of PHS Central graduating senior April Wycuff, takes an opportunity to see her granddaughter eye to eye. Obert is 5-feet tall, while April is a full foot taller. Both Pickerington high schools held commencement ceremonies at World Harvest Church in Canal Winchester on June 4. For more photos from the ceremonies, see page A11 or visit ThisWeekNews.com to view a slideshow.

Frozen yogurt store offers ‘healthier’ desserts By NATE ELLIS ThisWeek Community Newspapers A central Ohio couple recently opened a new frozen yogurt business in Pickerington to fill what they see as a void in “healthier” dessert options for the local community. After recently retiring from the world of international stocks trading, Margaret Hanson and her husband John, an educator by day, sought an entrepreneurial venture to help fill their time. They decided to open an Orange Leaf Self Serve Frozen Yogurt franchise, which they did

on May 18 at 10503 Blacklick-Eastern Road, Suite 700, in the Hunters Run Shopping Center. “We started researching businesses on the Net and came across the concept of frozen yogurt,” Margaret Hanson said. “It’s a new, fresh concept and it’s a healthy alternative to desserts. “Then we tried Orange Leaf samples and decided they were the best.” The Hansons said they chose Pickerington for multiple reasons. For one, it is a central point between the couple’s Buckeye Lake home, and John’s home in

Columbus, where he cares for his parents. Although Grandview and Upper Arlington have Orange Leaf stores, the franchise wasn’t represented in Pickerington, they said. Additionally, the Hansons felt there was a general lack of frozen yogurt offerings in the city. “It was just something that sounded like something we’d have fun doing,” Margaret Hanson said. “Pickerington just seemed to be an ideal location between our two homes, and there was just nothing like this here.”

Church mission marked by help and heartbreak By DAVID S. OWEN ThisWeek Community Newspapers Members of the Reynoldsburg United Methodist Church who returned May 29 from a three-day relief mission to tornado-ravaged Alabama said the experience was both an eye-opener and a success. Nearly 80 people, most members of the church’s youth group, drove south in nine vans and trucks on May 26 to help victims in Harvest, Ala., one of the communities hit hardest by tornadoes in early April. See CHURCH MISSION, page A3

See ORANGE LEAF, page A2

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