January Arboretum Happenings‏

The Pottstown Challenge!

We’ve received a challenge grant from the Greater Pottstown Foundation. If we can raise $5,000 for the Althouse Arboretum, the Greater Pottstown Foundation will match it with another $5,000 for special summer programs for at-risk and low income children at the Arboretum. The money will pay for transportation, program costs, and provide scholarships for local student interns to run the programs.

Ways to donate:

• Bring your donation to Christmas Tree Recycling Day or Friends of the Arboretum meeting
• You can donate directly through paypal.
• Send a check to “The SAVE Alliance Foundation”  35 King Rd. Green Lane PA  18054 and write “challenge” in the memo.
• At the SAVE Alliance Foundation website.
• Drop off donations at Nancy’s, 2019 Mimosa Lane, Pottstown
  (right off Snyder, less than a mile from the Arboretum)All donations are tax deductible. Our deadline is the first day of Spring, March 20th, 2015.  All amounts appreciated!

Recycle your Christmas Tree

Saturday, January 10th, 2015
 9am to 3pm, at Althouse Arboretum

Give your tree a second purpose and drop it off. Local students and Alliance volunteers will be there to assist you. Trees will be chipped by Upper Pottsgrove Township and donated back to the Arboretum to be used on our trails.

Friends of the Arboretum

Monday, January 19th, 2015
6:30pm to 8:30pm
2019 Mimosa Lane, Pottstown (right off Snyder, less than a mile from the Arboretum)

Friends of the Arboretum is a new group and just getting started. This is where you actually make the Arboretum yours by brainstorming, planning and putting into action what happens in the Arboretum. Students are already busy planning and creating Zen gardens, a children’s forest and a low ropes course. What programs would you like to see at the Arboretum? What events could be held? What’s possible? Come share your ideas.

We are looking for community members to become part of the Althouse Arboretum. You can volunteer your time and talent, or if you would like, become part of a community to discuss, plan and work together to make our Arboretum a first-class outdoor destination for the community.

We’ll be meeting to discuss prospects, potentials and ideas.  Come join us! (RSVP to Ken or  Nancyappreciated but not necessary)

If you can’t attend the meeting, you can still email us your ideas! Your input is valuable!

Sincerely,

Ken Hamilton, Executive Director, The SAVE Alliance Foundation
Nancy Baker, Friends of the Arboretum Coordinator

The Althouse Arboretum website is https://althousearboretum.wordpress.com/

Audio-Description Training For The Performing Arts

February 20 & 21, 2015 10:00 am – 4:00 pm Lehigh Valley Arts Council Butz Corporate Center 2nd Floor Conference Room 840 Hamilton Street Allentown, PA 18101

As the Lehigh Valley Arts Council prepares for the 25th anniversary and yearlong celebration of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we are offering a two-day audio-description training workshop to the performing arts community. By becoming more disability-friendly, a cultural venue can also increase its capacity to attract a larger audience. Theatre practitioners from all walks of life—actors, students, volunteers—are invited to enroll in the upcoming audio-description training session and acquire new performance skills. The training also prepares performing arts groups to participate in the Arts & Access Celebration and to receive recognition and promotion in the Lehigh Valley for creating a more inclusive region. Audio description assists patrons who are blind or low-vision to access the visual elements of stage productions through live narration provided by trained describers. Patrons use headsets to hear the audio description. The Arts Council has contracted Mimi Smith, Executive Director of VSA Pennsylvania, and Steve Smith to provide the training over the course of two days, February 20 & 21, 2015. The Smiths have been describers for more than two decades, and are the founders of Amaryllis Theatre Co., a professional Philadelphia theatre that regularly includes artists with disabilities. They will introduce the class to the foundational skills—Observe, Analyze and Communicate— necessary to audio describe a play. Typically, this workshop would cost $590. Thanks to the underwriting support of an anonymous donor, the Arts Council is able to offer it at a very reasonable price: $50 per person. The workshop also includes admission to an audio-described performance of Dancing at Lughnasa at the Labuda Performing Arts Center on Thursday, February 19, 2015, at 8:00 p.m. Reservations required, for more information and to reserve your spot: Call: 610-437-5915 Email: operations@LVArtsCouncil.org Web:http://www.lvartscouncil.org/Access/default.html#events Tickets:http://www.etix.com/ticket/online/performanceSearch.jsp?performance_id=7941980&cobrand=lvartsboxoffice

Patients Sought For MCCC Dental Hygiene Clinic

Blue Bell, Pa.—The Dental Hygiene Clinic at Montgomery County Community College’s Central Campus in Blue Bell is actively recruiting patients with periodontal (gum) disease for the spring semester.

Patients will be screened for eligibility on Monday, Jan. 26 by appointment, and those who qualify will begin treatment the following week. Additional screening appointments can be scheduled throughout the semester.

The treatment includes complete assessment of the patient’s oral and periodontal health, dental x-rays (if necessary), education in self-care, scaling, tooth polishing and fluoride treatment. Multiple, three-hour appointments are necessary.

Interested persons should contact the Dental Hygiene Clinic at 215-641-6483 and leave a message with their name and telephone number. The Clinic is located in room 211 of the Science Center, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell, near the 1313 Morris Road entrance to the campus.