INSIDE THIS ISSUE Classifieds............................................................ A2 Community Calendar ......................... B13, 14, 15 Discover Roanoke.......................................... B2, 3 Find It In Fort Wayne........A10, 11, 12, 13, 14 Healthy Times .................................................A8, 9 Holiday Page ......................................................A17
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December 6, 2013
Shrine vans follow familiar route Hundreds of young patients get free rides to ‘temples of mercy’
Santa Train to welcome kids for rides or charters By Garth Snow gsnow@kpcmedia.com
By Garth Snow gsnow@kpcmedia.com
His half-day round trip from fields to freeways marked Gary Soblotne’s 187th visit to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Chicago. Soblotne picked up the hospital van at Lakeland Glass, near his home in LaGrange. There, he met Mike Hardiek, who drove from his home in southwest Fort Wayne. Hardiek is the 2013 potentate of the 22-county Mizpah Shrine. Soblotne is the assistant rabban — in line to lead Mizpah in 2015. Both said it was one of the few hospital trips that begin after daybreak. The van pulled onto a dirt driveway. An Amish woman and her young son stepped into the van and buckled up for the 162-mile journey to Chicago’s far west side. The Shriners respect the patients’ privacy and do not ask about their
PHOTO BY GARTH SNOW
Mizpah Shriners Mike Hardiek, left, and Gary Soblotne prepare for a return trip from Shriners Hospital for Children in Chicago. Drivers from Mizpah’s 22 counties make about 700 trips each year to hospitals in Chicago and Cincinnati.
circumstances. Instead, the volunteer drivers work to ensure that doctors can ask those important questions. Those doctors, Hardiek said, are among the best in their fields. “It’s the world’s greatest health care money can’t buy,” Hardiek would say later. Shriners Hospitals
specialists correct cleft palates, treat orthopaedic deformities and injuries, spinal cord injuries, and a dozen other congenital or acquired conditions. Mizpah Shrine vans sometimes carry burn patients to Cincinnati. Usually, though, their route winds past pastures, onto
Kindergartners celebrate Thanksgiving fun and lore By Garth Snow gsnow@kpcmedia.com
PHOTO BY GARTH SNOW
Jaelyn Haynes creates Thanksgiving sandpaper art.
our Thanksgiving celebration has been that we are working and sharing together,” said Julie Graham, who has taught Southwest Allen County Schools kindergartners for 30 years. “And that principle has remained the same.” “But the way that we’ve
done it looks a little bit different,” Graham said. “With five kindergarten classes we’re able to take a multidisciplinary approach and coordinate between teachers, so it’s a gathering of ideas. It’s not only sharing on the kids’ See FUN, Page A4
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Jaelyn Haynes’ Thanksgiving activities checklist had been checked at least three times before she reached the sandpaper art table. Jaelyn had a multicolored bead bracelet to show for one of the 18 activities. She also had finished feather writing. And after the Squanto math adventure, she knew something of early American history. “He helped the Pilgrims plant corn,” she said. Thanksgiving, Jaelyn said, is “a day we celebrate with people — our family.” By playing pick-a-turkey to study probability, by playing the feather game by using direction cards, or by decorating a totem pole, the children were mixing math, art and history. “I think the root of
the Indiana Toll Road, high onto the Chicago Skyway and past Windy City skyscrapers. When they arrived that morning at 2211 N. Oak Park Ave., Hardiek pulled the LaGrange County van near two other vans with the Mizpah emblem, from See VANS, Page A2
Santa Claus will welcome children aboard the Santa Train on three Saturdays in December. The 30-minute rides begin and end at the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society home at 15808 Edgerton Road, New Haven. Rides continue from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Dec. 7, 14 and 21. Each ride costs $4. For details, visit fortwaynerailroad.org. Kelly Lynch, FWRHS communications manager, said the Santa Train tradition began here in about 1994, based on an earlier tradition in Fort Wayne. “And last year was our record — 2,300 people — which is pretty decent,” he said. “It’s gotten so busy in that last two years that
we’ve added another caboose to expand the capacity per trip,” Lynch said. “We like to say it’s a good variation on visiting Santa at the mall, and it’s very affordable,” Lynch said. Larger families have another option available. “For the last three years we’ve been operating Santa charters, which allow families of 15 to 20 people to charter a caboose ride in the evening,” Lynch said. Santa will help to hand out some of the gifts from the family. The wood- and coalburning stove, the Christmas lights, and the Bing Crosby-era music lend to the atmosphere. “We make a 45-minute or hourlong trip with Santa, cookies and refreshments,” Lynch said.
Busy holidays More Christmas activities inside.
See TRAIN, Page A4