Plainfield Magazine November 2024

A LIFE WELLLIVED

LOCAL RESIDENT AND VETERAN JIM COLLINS CELEBRATES 100 YEARS

All for Hope Cliff Sweazey Talks Executive Director Role at Hope Healthcare Services

Fostering Literacy Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Program Launches Locally

NOVEMBER 2024

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ALL FOR HOPE

Cliff Sweazey Talks Executive Director Role at Hope Healthcare Services

11 NOVEMBER 2024

FOSTERING LITERACY

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Program Launches Locally

16

NOVEMBER CALENDAR

18

A LIFE WELL-LIVED Local Resident and Veteran Jim Collins Celebrates 100 Years

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ALL FOR HOPE CLIFF SWEAZEY TALKS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ROLE AT HOPE HEALTHCARE SERVICES Writer / Melissa Gibson

Hope Healthcare staff & volunteers

Insurance can be tricky.

You might be paying through your employer, you might qualify for government assistance, or you might not have insurance at all.

Back in 2005, a local church launched a ministry for those in the third category - those working as 1099 contractors, working for a day care or nonprofit organization, or just started a new job and waiting for the benefits to kick in.

6 | November 2024 | TownePost.com

Whatever the reason, private insurance isn’t an option and these folks don’t qualify for assistance.

This can put you in a tough spot when it comes to making choices within your budget. Individuals often put off seeking medical help, or they have to decide if that dental cleaning is more important than keeping the lights on.

What is now known as Hope Healthcare Services in Avon began offering medical

and dental services to these individuals, by welcoming licensed physicians and volunteers from IU Health West Hospital and Hendricks Regional Health, among other professional offices in the area.

These professionals donate an afternoon each week, or one day per month, to give back to their community with the skills they have.

It’s no longer supported by just one church, and over the years the nonprofit

has been supported by numerous churches, businesses and individuals.

Thanks to that support, they’ve grown exponentially.

The most recent change is the addition of a new executive director, Cliff Sweazey.

He was once in business development and consulting technology, but in 2015 Sweazey felt he needed to make a change.

“I sold my technology company to my business partner and started doing ministry work,” he said. “I didn’t really have any specific plans. I just knew I wanted to serve others. I started getting involved in the prison ministry and the divorce ministry, and I eventually went to graduate school for pastoral ministry and Christian counseling.”

Sweazey worked at his local church for several years before a series of circumstances led him to apply at Hope Healthcare.

“I didn’t know I was looking for a job when I found Hope,” he said. “My wife saw their job posting and told me about it. I sort of shrugged it off because I wasn’t looking. In a matter of six days, three more unrelated people sent me the same job posting. Then I felt like it was calling for me, and I want to go where I’m needed.”

Former Director, John Mollaun with new Director, Cliff Sweazey

TASTE THE DIFFERENCE

Some would say he has big shoes to fill.

John Mollaun has served as executive director for nearly two decades, but Sweazey said that’s not his goal.

“John has been amazing,” he said. “He waited until I was in place before he retired so we could transition smoothly.

It’s a valuable opportunity to get his input and he did personal introductions to many in the community. I’ll never fill John’s shoes, but it’s an honor to walk in his footsteps.”

The entire staff has shown Sweazey their big hearts and willingness to jump in where needed.

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organization is operated by more than 80 active volunteers.

“I’ve seen firsthand the commitment of our volunteers,” Sweazey said. “These physicians and dentists and counselors are just called to serve, and they believe in this ministry. It’s beautiful to watch like an orchestra and collaborative effort.”

In addition to medical and dental care, the newest service brought in by the organization is mental health care.

Across the country, we are seeing more and more youths and adults with anxiety and depression symptoms - and at an earlier age than ever before.

“It’s such an important component,” Sweazey said. “When you look at the Hendricks County needs assessment survey, one of our top concerns is mental health. We partner with counselors who will discount their rates, and then we subsidize those rates even further to make it affordable for the patient.”

Whether in need of an annual physical, a dental cleaning or a counselor, patients simply call the Hope Healthcare staff and schedule an appointment for the next available volunteer.

They are open five days per week.

8 | November 2024 | TownePost.com

However, certain services are offered on certain days, and availability is based on the volunteers they have on hand.

Most services have a small fee, but they offer “extremely discounted rates” according to Sweazey. When it comes to blood work or other routine procedures, they have partnerships in the area to make those needs affordable too.

In his new role, Sweazey hopes to watch Hope Healthcare continue to grow.

“I posted something about Hope Healthcare on social media, and it broke my heart the number of people that said, ‘What’s Hope?’” he said. “We have to change that. Part of my initiative is to increase awareness and to reach not only the people we can bless by serving them, but also those in the community that can use their gifts to serve others.”

His ultimate goal is to offer a full-time staff of volunteers, five days per week, with all services available like a typical clinic. It will take a lot of community collaboration.

“We’re already working on some of these things,” Sweazey said. “We’re partnering with other churches and nonprofits in the community. We want to let them know about our services and promote each

other.”

Additional licensed volunteers are needed, as well as those willing to help schedule or answer phones. Sweazey asks for prayers, and donations are always welcome.

“We can’t do what we do without the financial support from our community,” he said. “We have so many community partners, businesses and individuals who support us. You can have the best concept in the world, but without the people, it doesn’t do us any good.”

As Sweazey continues to raise awareness, make connections and welcome additional volunteers, he admits there’s still a lot to learn. However, he can’t help but think that Hope Healthcare is where he has belonged all along.

“I believe God has been building me for this position my entire life,” he said.

“It’s like if you train for a marathon and you weren’t sure how it was going to go, but now that I’m here, I know he has equipped me for the call. Sometimes God opens a door and then has to kick us through it. I couldn’t be more excited to work for this amazing organization.”

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FOSTERING LITERACY DOLLY PARTON’S IMAGINATION LIBRARY PROGRAM LAUNCHES LOCALLY Writer / Ashley Watters

A love of reading provides a strong foundation for many aspects of life creativity, empathy and academic success, among others. Fostering that passion is easier for some than others.

Almost 30 years ago, legendary musician Dolly Parton launched a program, known as the Imagination Library, to put free books in the hands of children aged 0 to 5. Due to its proven success, that program has now launched for Hendricks County

libraries, in conjunction with the state of Indiana.

“We’re incredibly excited to partner with the state as well as our fiscal partner, the Hendricks County Community

TownePost.com | November 2024 | 11

Foundation, to bring the Imagination Library here,” says Denise Robinson, Brownsburg Public Library director.

“With the help of our partners, we’ll be able to reach over 9,000 children throughout the county and encourage them to read together with their families.”

as part of an initiative to boost lagging reading scores. Governor Eric Holcomb announced legislation last year to utilize the partnership as part of his Next Level Agenda.

Amie Scott, assistant director with the Brownsburg Public Library, hopes Hendricks Country can be part of that Concerns over long-declining literacy positive change. “We hope that this rates in Indiana prompted the ai172780486911_TownPost- 3.5 x 4.75-NOV-OUTPUT-100124.pdf 1 10/1/2024 1:47:49 PM partnership with the Imagination Library program will reach children throughout

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the county and ultimately will instill early literacy skills that will give them a head start into their school-age years,” she says. “Of course, we also hope that they’ll develop a sheer love for reading and the places it can take you.”

An initiative that began in Servier County, Tennessee, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is her passion project intended to help foster a love of

learning in preschool children. It is now part of a statewide expansion program intended to serve every county in Indiana.

The program provides a monthly book to Hendricks County children that is delivered directly to their mailboxes.

“Parents love the program and little ones love to get something in the mail, and when that something is a book, it brings families together,” says Scott.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library program ensures all children receive age-appropriate reading material without having to leave their homes.

Books are chosen by the Blue Ribbon Book Selection Committee, a panel that includes early childhood literacy experts. The selections are specifically intended to foster early language and math development, and are published solely through Penguin Random House.

“It just seemed a natural fit for public libraries to pick up and carry the mantle of supporting and promoting a program that encourages early literacy,” says Scott.

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This program is completely free for Hendricks County residents, but parents need to apply on the sign-up page to opt in. Alternatively, you can sign up at your local library branch. Scott stresses that children do not need to have a home library to participate.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has gifted more than 250 million books to children throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Republic of Ireland. This is all made possible by funds provided by the Dollywood Foundation and community and state partners.

“It’s a great program and we’re so thrilled to offer it here,” says Scott. “It’s not a free program on the back end. All six of the different Hendricks County libraries are promoting this and working together to fundraise, as the cost of each child per year is $26.20. We need to keep pounding the pavement to reach all of our families.”

Hendricks County libraries have received supporting funds from the Thomas A. Kays Fund, the Hendricks County Community Foundation and the American Rescue Plan Act. To learn more about the program, visit imaginationlibrary.com/usa/affiliate/ inhendricks.

14 | November 2024 | TownePost.com

TownePost.com | November 2024 | 15

AROUND THE COMMUNITY, 2024

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

1

NOVEMBER

OPULENCE AT THE SPEEDWAY

Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 4790 W 16th St. www.eventbrite.com

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INDIANAPOLIS OPERA PRESENTS: SING ME A STORY

10 - 10:45 AM Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library, 1120 Stafford Rd. Join us for a free performance from the Indianapolis Opera! plainfieldlibrary.libnet.info

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STEAM STATION

10 - 10:30 AM Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library, 1120 Stafford Rd. Learn, read, and explore together! This interactive story time introduces STEAM concepts and early literacy skills to young children and their caregivers. plainfieldlibrary.libnet.info

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VETERANS DAY LUNCHEON

9:30 AM – 1 PM Hendricks County Fairgrounds, 1900 E Main St. Mental Health America of Hendricks County will be hosting an exciting event to honor our heroes on Veterans Day. www.brownsburg.com

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COFFEE & CONVERSATION

7:30 – 9 AM Cabin Coffee Company, 5530 E. US Hwy 36, Suite 100. business.avonchamber.org

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MOVIES IN THE PARK - DRIVE IN CLASSICS NIGHT

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NEW YEAR - NEW YOU! SHARE YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS WITH US! As 2024 draws to a close, we want to hear about your goals for 2025! Follow the Avon, Brownsburg, and Plainfield Magazines Facebook page and share your New Year’s Resolutions the week of November 18th.

Submit your answers online by November 25 and you may see them featured in our January print edition.

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A LIFE WELLLIVED

LOCAL RESIDENT AND VETERAN JIM COLLINS CELEBRATES 100 YEARS Writer / Melissa Gibson Photographer / Amy Payne

18 | November 2024 | TownePost.com

H

e was born on December 10, 1924, in Nebraska, but calls Plainfield home today.

Veteran Jim Collins will celebrate his 100th birthday in just a few weeks, and looking back, he’s got a story of close calls, serving his country, and trying to change the world.

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“I came along in the middle of a storm in Nebraska,” Collins said. “I was born in a farmhouse and the local doctor said, ‘This young man is stubborn; I can’t deliver him.’ So they called for another doctor and he used forceps on me and crushed my right ear - or so that’s the story my mother would tell me.”

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He’s the oldest of three boys, and once the Great Depression hit, as well as dust bowls in Nebraska in the early 1930s, the family made the decision to move back to Indiana.

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His dad, Elsworth, was a mechanic, and his mom, Mable, ran a three-story boarding house at the corner of Walnut and Illinois in downtown Indianapolis.

Collins remembers his sixth-grade teacher walking the class to the central library, signing up for a library card and checking out a book each week.

“We had to read a book and talk about it in front of the class,” he said. “I loved ’20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ and really it made me a reader all of my life.

Everything I know is because I’ve read about it.”

The Collins family eventually settled in a home just off of Washington Street on the west side, and he began attending Ben Davis High School. His parents purchased the home for $1,100 and used the empty lot next door to create the largest garden Avon in the neighborhood. It was there that Collins had another close call. (317) 271-7760

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there wouldn’t be a ceremony until May. He went down to the draft board and chose to join the Navy.

“On March 8, 1943, I was sworn in with a bunch of yahoos and we went to the Great Lakes north of Chicago for boot camp,” Collins said. “When I returned from boot camp, the following Sunday was my class’s graduation ceremony, so I got to walk in my uniform. Some of the girls wanted to know all about it.”

Back in the service, Collins studied an intensive medical program to become a nurse and eventually passed exams to become a pharmacist third class. couple of hours, he’ll die.’ We borrowed a 1939 Buick sedan and went down to Methodist where doctors put me in surgery right away. For three weeks there was no penicillin, no sulfur drugs, just aspirin, and my mother never left my side. The doctor said the only reason I survived was because I was young, heathy and ornery.”

Shortly after, Collins made a decision that would change his life.

He had completed requirements for graduation by the spring of 1943, but

It brought him to a boot camp in Idaho, when an outbreak of scarlet fever needed to be managed, and later he was sent to a remote island in a makeshift hospital off the coast of Japan.

“I got assigned to a base hospital,” he said. “It was a series of tents, connected with wooden walkways and tent tops - a typical ‘M.A.S.H.’ outfit. There was a tent for headquarters, a tent for surgery, a tent for bone fractures, another for infectious diseases and one for venereal diseases. I got assigned to venereal disease.”

One might think that being in charge of a tent full of patients suffering from gonorrhea isn’t where you’d want to be, but for Collins, it put him on a future path he would have never imagined.

At the time, the only treatment they had to give patients was sulfur drugs, attempting to dry up the infection. It didn’t work.

Collins said the only time someone was released from the tent was when mother nature healed them.

Then came a unique opportunity from the six main pharmaceutical companies in the United States, including Eli Lilly.

“Fleming discovered penicillin in 1918 and it did wonders in small batches, but he couldn’t figure out how to mass produce it,” Collins said. “Our pharmaceutical companies figured

20 | November 2024 | TownePost.com

it out and they shipped it to us overnight.”

The shipment came with instructions for administrators to document dosage, reactions and effectiveness, and to send documentation to Washington immediately.

“I was designated to give all the shots - the first corpsman to administer penicillin, and we had gonorrhea cured in less than a week,” Collins said.

He officially served in the U.S. Navy for three years and one day, before receiving his honorable discharge. For many of the men returning home, that was just the beginning.

“I received $100 every month for three months from the government, and I saw a 1931 Ford Roaster with a rumble seat parked up on blocks across the street,” Collins said.

“The tires were bad because you couldn’t get tires during World War II. I bought it for $100 and my dad helped me convert the rims to fit tires we had. Another neighbor offered to paint it a shiny black, and you know the ladies were wanting to go for a ride.”

Eventually he married Lillian Parker and had two sons with her. He earned his degree in biological science and went to work at the state board of health laboratory, which

soon led to a position in the food and drug inspection division.

“The first training I had for that job was the Central State Hospital on West Washington Street,” Collins said. “We were there for 30 days and inspected every part of that building. It was a study in everything that could ever go wrong.”

In 1959, he was the man who inspected the largest food poisoning outbreak in the history of Indiana, with more than 1,000 people in Elkhart getting poisoned due to mishandled meat.

Outside of work, Collins was active in his Hendricks County community, having settled down with his family.

In 1989 he and four other men started the Avon Rotary Club, a group he still enjoys visiting today.

more times, but today he’s single and making beautiful charcoal drawings at his Plainfield home.

“My mother was a painter,” he said. “My wife at the time bought me eight prepaid lessons so I took them at Sketchpad in 2013. The charcoal drawing of the eagle is the best one I’ve ever done.”

It might be genetics that got Collins this far. His father died at 101 years old, and his mother was in her 90s before passing away of cancer. However, it might also be Collins’ interest in always learning something new, and sharing it with others.

He’s passionate about the treatment of others, the rights of minorities, and encouraging others to make a difference.

“I think that’s what does it,” he said. “I’m just trying to change the world.”

He and Lillian divorced and he married two

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