Gaston County’s
The Banner News / banner-news.com
Page 1
Thursday, May 26, 2016
3 r ANNIVERSARY yea rd
Thanks Belmont & Gaston County for all your support!
WIN
$3050 see inside
Volume 82 • Issue 21
See our ad on page 3
News From a Neighbor
Thursday, May 26, 2016
• Belmont • Cramerton • Lowell • McAdenville • Mount Holly • Stanley
Stuart Cramer High students help the hungry By Alan Hodge alan.bannernews@gmail.com
Last Wednesday over 400 students at Stuart Cramer High pitched in and worked hard to help feed hungry folks both in Nicaragua and right here in our local area. The event involved packing plastic bags with dry food ingredients that, when cooked, form a tasty meal not unlike the “dirty rice” found at a well-known fast food chain. Specifically and nutritionally-speaking the foodstuffs in the bags consists of high-quality, long-grain white rice; vitaminfortified, crushed soy; a dehydrated blend of six vegetables; chicken-flavored, vegetarian vitamin and mineral powder. A one-cup serving of the mix supplies the optimum amount of nutrition for a malnourished child, and not only satiates, but promotes better health for hungry families. The work was for Servants With a Heart, a Charlotte-based nonprofit whose mission is to feed hungry families in Charlotte and around the world by equipping organizations to host meal packing events. Since it was founded in 2011 by Jeff and Suzanne Yoh, Servants With a Heart has had help from over 56,000 volunteers who have packed a staggering 9,089,209 meals. For their part, what the Stuart Cramer students did was take the different ingredients from plastic storage tubs and place them in individual meal-sized bags. The goal was to fill 50,000 bags, but the Cramer kids soared past that and prepared a whopping 56,592 bags in one day! See HUNGRY page 2
This group of Stuart Cramer High students represents just a small portion of the 400 or so kids at the school who packed over 59,000 bags of food for the hungry last Wednesday. Photo by Alan Hodge
Mt. Holly Sole Patrol “Golden Boys” rake in medals Belmont to get one million dollars in street repairs
By Alan Hodge
County Senior Games won. That in addition to 10 silver and three bronze for a total of 57 medallions. A pretty hefty haul any way you Mt. Holly Parks and Recreation Sole Paslice it. trol program director Cheri Loves calls them The Gaston County Senior Games are one of 53 local games sanctioned by the NC Senior Games. The Senior Games are an exciting program for adults 50 years of age or better. There are a wide variety of activities designed for individuals at various fitness levels including softball, golf, corn hole, track, pickleball, tennis, bowling, and swimming. There are also special programs such as SilverStriders, the national award winning walking program, and SilverArts, the statewide arts program for senior artists. The local games are where folks compete to take part in the State Finals in September. The Gaston County games took place over a span of several weeks and in a variety of locations including North Gaston High, AMF Bowling Lanes, Phillips Center, Lincolnton Golf Course, Poston Park, and the GasThese Mt. Holly Parks and Recreation Sole Patrol members took part in the recent Gaston County Se- ton County Senior Center in Dallas. Sole Patrol participants this year nior Games and brought home a boat-load of medals. From left: Ronnie Huffstetler, Don Huffstetler, alan.bannernews@gmail.com
the “Golden Boys”. Now, that moniker doesn't describe their hair color or financial empire status, but the hue of the 44 medals the six Sole Patrol members who took part in the recent Gaston
Bobby Brooks, Ken Hodges, John Chesser, Dave Hostetler.
Photo by Alan Hodge
LANIER MATERIAL SALES
See GOLDEN BOYS page 4
The Belmont city council recently approved a $1 million street resurfacing program that will resurface the 65 worst blocks of streets in Belmont. The city council awarded the paving contract to Blythe Construction, Inc. during its May 3, 2016 meeting. Work on the street resurfacing program began last week and will be completed by August 2016. The City of Belmont will finance the cost of this street paving program using a five-year loan from Regions Bank. Regions Bank was the successful bidder on financing the program, offering the City a 1.604% interest rate. The debt service for this program will be paid by a combination of the City’s vehicle license fee and a portion of the state gas tax that is returned to cities and towns. “We are excited to begin this much-needed resurfacing program that will bring the streets in Belmont with the worst conditions up to standard,” said Belmont Mayor Charlie Martin. “This is a big project for us and is achieves one of the city council’s long-standing goals of improving our infrastructure.” See STREET REPAIRS page 2
150 Hillandale Lane Mt Holly, NC 28120 704-827-7055 Mon-Fri 8-5pm Sat 8-12 www.laniermaterialsales.com
Spread Some Natural Beauty.