Brown County Community Foundation annual report
The Brown County Community Foundation (BCCF) will give its Annual Report to the Community at the Seasons Lodge and Conference Center, 560 State Road 46 East, Thursday, June 20 at 6 p.m.
Grant dollars will be presented to local nonprofits, and various Brown County residents will be rewarded for their service to the community. Refreshments are provided.
RSVP by calling 812-988-4882 or emailing Maddison Miller at [email protected]. Everyone is welcome.
REMC awards grants, seeks more applicants
The South Central Indiana REMC (SCI REMC) Operation RoundUp Board of Trustees recently awarded $50,832 to 18 area nonprofit organizations.
The Brown County Humane Society was awarded $3,900 for the foundation design of its new facility and the Society of St. Vincent De Paul of Brown County was awarded $3,000 for its back-to-school program.
Operation RoundUp — a grant program sponsored by the members of SCI REMC — has, to date, awarded 1,176 grants to nonprofit organizations in Brown, Morgan, Monroe and Owen counties. Electric co-op members round up their electric bills to the next even dollar. This spare change accumulates in a community fund, resulting in thousands of dollars being given in grants each year. Members who participate contribute an average of only $6 per year, demonstrating that little things do make a difference.
Grants have been awarded to schools, arts organizations, emergency services including fire and police departments, food banks, youth and women’s shelters, conservation clubs, animal rescues, and more. Nonprofit organizations in SCI REMC’s seven counties are invited to apply for the grants, which are reviewed by a group of trustees and awarded each quarter.
The next application due date is Wednesday, July 31. Applications can be found at sciremc.com/roundup.
Program gives more than 4,000 bags of food
Brown County Weekend Backpacks — a community-led program with a goal to keep children fed all weekend long — packed 4,342 bags of food through the 2018-19 school year, ensuring that students would not go hungry.
Many volunteers gathered every Wednesday to pack food bags that were given to the schools on Fridays. Jason Kirchhofer delivered tubs to the schools each week and brought them back for refilling. Sandy Higgins contacted schools each week to verify how many bags were needed.
The program bought any items that were not donated, with board members Mark Lindenlaub, Teresa Brown and Debbie Kelley picking up the remaining needs. Kathleen Stevens also aided in buying food and delivering it to the pantry. Gloria Berryman, Linda Todd, Teresa Brown and Jan Swigert met Wednesdays for lunch, then went to the pantry to set up for the bag-packing.
According to a newsletter from Swigert, the average weight of each bag was 7.25 pounds, totaling to 31,479.5 pounds — 15.74 tons — of food being packed and distributed to children in Brown County during the 2018-2019 school year.
The program serves only 17.5 percent of students who are on the free lunch program, reaching 30 percent of students at two schools, 23.3 percent at another, and the entirety of students in the Head Start program. Volunteers are hoping to increase their numbers of students fed as the program continues next year.
Food bags will continue to be distributed to Head Start and Forest Hills Apartments students through July.
Various organizations are responsible for gathering donations for the program. The program also benefits from the annual Touch-a-Truck fundraiser. This year’s Touch-a-Truck is Saturday, June 29 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Brown County High School parking lot and will feature more than 30 trucks. Admission is free, but donations are welcome.
A goal of $10,000 in sponsorships has been set, with $7,500 already raised. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, contact Debbie Kelley at 215-287-9331 or [email protected], or Teresa Brown at 812-988-9708 or [email protected]. For more information on the event, visit browncountytouchatruck.com.
For more information on getting involved with Brown County Weekend Backpacks, visit bcweekendbackpacks.org.
Human Society needs items for barn sale
The Brown County Humane Society is seeking new and gently used items for its August Barn Sale.
Acceptable items include furniture, collectibles, books, toys, jewelry, tools, kitchen items, garden items, appliances, holiday decorations, antiques, crafts, etc. The humane society is unable to accept clothes, shoes, mattresses, “tube” TVs, old computers, broken items or non-working items.
Donations can be dropped off at the barn near the humane society, 128 State Road 135 South, on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 2 and 3 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Donations will also be accepted Sunday through Tuesday, Aug. 4 to 6 from noon to 4 p.m.
If you are unable to hold items until August or need help moving them, call Sue Ann Werling at 317-727-4134 to make arrangements.
Veteran hall of fame requesting nominations
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Military Veterans Hall of Fame is accepting nominations for its sixth class of veteran honorees.
Up to 15 veterans will be honored for military service achievements and/or community contributions. To be eligible, a nominee must meet any one of these criteria:
- born in Indiana
- entered military service in Indiana
- lived in Indiana for a minimum of eight years.
Additionally, each nominee must have been honorably discharged and must be free of felony convictions. All branches of the United States Armed Forces, all ages, living or deceased, men and women will be considered equally.
To date, the hall of fame has recognized 83 military men and women.
A complete nomination packet and criteria can be found at imvhof.com/nominate.
Nominations will be accepted through Thursday, Aug. 1.
Ministry provides cancer support program
GNAW BONE — Nondenominational group Heart of Christ Ministries, 5181 State Road 46 East, offers a program called Thriving Hope Cancer Care Ministry.
Sponsored by Our Journey of Hope from the cancer treatment centers of America, the ministry provides people touched by cancer with help and spiritual counsel specific to the needs of cancer patients, caregivers or loved ones. Leaders completed a Bible-based cancer care training program.
With questions, to get involved or to receive help, call 812-371-0247. For more information, visit Heart of Christ Ministries on Facebook.
Health department providing free sharps containers
The Brown County Health Department is giving out sharps collection containers that residents can use to safely dispose of needles, syringes and lancets.
Containers may be picked up or dropped off at the Brown County Health Department, 201 Locust Lane, weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. with the exception of holidays.
Once the container is full, it can be returned to the Brown County Health Department for free disposal. Anyone can get another free sharps container upon return of a sealed full one.
The health department will only collect and dispose of FDA-cleared sharps containers. Alternative sharps containers, such as laundry detergent bottles or coffee cans, will not be accepted. Sharps containers are for sharps only. No other waste is to be placed in the container.
This is not a syringe exchange program. It is “an effort to keep sharps out of our daily trash and helping to maintain Brown County as a beautiful place to work and live,” the health department reported in a press release.
For more information, call the Brown County Health Department at 812-988-2255 and ask for the nursing division.
USO seeks volunteers for Camp Atterbury
EDINBURGH — Volunteers are needed at the Camp Atterbury USO center. Volunteers help welcome military service members and support the USO goal of being a “home away from home” for all those who will be training at Atterbury away from family and comforts of home.
Especially at this time of year, when Atterbury is active with military training, the USO center becomes the primary place for service members to socialize, decompress and grab a snack.
Help is needed to help keep the Atterbury USO open for 15 hours per day, seven days a week. The center serves more than 71,500 military service members per year.
For more information, contact Jaclyn at [email protected]; call her at 317-991-1073; or visit usoindiana.org to sign up as a volunteer with the Atterbury USO.
Foster homes for kittens, adult pets needed
The Brown County Humane Society is in need of foster homes for kittens.
Fostering does not take a lot of room or supplies. Humane society staff can teach whatever knowledge is needed. Regular support is provided. Foster homes for adult dogs and cats are also needed on occasion.
If interested, fill out an application at bchumane.org/volunteer/foster-application.
To learn more about fostering kittens, visit bchumane.org/kittens.
Health department has free overdose rescue kits
Brown County Health Department has received a supply of overdose rescue kits from the Indiana State Department of Health to distribute in an effort to help prevent fatal opioid overdoses.
Kits contain naloxone hydrochloride, a non-narcotic medication that reverses the life-threatening respiratory failure that is usually the cause of overdose deaths. The medication is also known by trade name Narcan.
Distribution locations in the county for naloxone can be found on optin.in.gov or by calling the health department. Anyone wanting to get kits must get training on how to administer naloxone.
The health department is a registered naloxone dispenser. People in need of naloxone can request it from a registered entity. A prescription is not needed so long as people are requesting the medication from a registered entity.
Naloxone is approved by the Food and Drug Administration and has been used for more than 40 years by emergency medical services to reverse opioid overdose and revive people who might have died without treatment. It is not addictive, and although it is only effective at reversing overdoses of opioid drugs like heroin or prescription painkillers, it is not harmful if administered to someone who has not taken opioids, the health department reports.
For information on treatment for substance use disorder, visit the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration’s Division of Mental Health and Addiction website at in.gov/fssa/dmha.
Alcoholics Anonymous meetings scheduled
Alcoholics Anonymous has meetings most weekdays at several Brown County locations:
6:30 p.m. Tuesdays — Closed men’s discussion meetings, Brown County Presbyterian Fellowship, 602 North State Road 135
8 p.m. Tuesdays — Closed literature study, The Fieldhouse, 98 W. Washington St.
8 p.m. Wednesdays — Open discussion meetings, Sycamore Valley Community Center at the fairgrounds
9:30 a.m. Fridays — Open literature discussions, lower-level meeting room, Brown County Public Library, 205 N. Locust Lane
8 p.m. Mondays — Open discussion meetings, Sycamore Valley Community Center, 746 Memorial Drive at the fairgrounds
Open meetings are available to anyone interested in this program of recovery from alcoholism. Non-alcoholics can attend open meetings as observers.
Closed meetings are for AA members only, or for those who have a drinking problem and want to stop.
Addiction recovery support offered at church
From 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays, New Life Community Church, 1450 State Road 135 North, hosts weekly recovery support meetings, known as Battlefield For Freedom, for people struggling with addiction. For more information, call Melissa Tatman at 812-320-9838.
Women’s support group meets Mondays
A women’s recovery group meets at 6:30 p.m. Mondays for about 90 minutes.
Child care is available. For more information, including the location, call Carrie at 812-320-1201.
Free vaccines given at health department
The Brown County Health Department, on the second floor of the County Office Building, 201 Locust Lane, is offering immunizations free of charge for uninsured adults. Adults and children who are insured also can be immunized at the health department without paying a doctor’s office visit fee; bring your insurance card with you.
Vaccines include tetanus, Hepatitis A and B, dTap, MMR, PVC13, PPSV23, varicella and others.
For more information or to make an appointment, call the health department at 812-988-2255 weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Support for family, community meets Sundays
Parents of Addicted Loved ones (PAL), a support group for parents and the community, meets at 4 p.m. Sundays in the fellowship hall at Parkview Church of the Nazarene, 1750 State Road 46 East. Enter by the side door.
Family members 18 years or older are welcome. The group will discuss the needs of parents and family supporting addicts, how best to support loved ones, how to educate the community and break the stigma.
For more information, contact Pamela McCoy at 812-606-4176 or [email protected].
BETA program offering paid work for senior citizens
BETA (Brown County Enrichment for Teens Association) is now qualified to receive employment placements through the National Able Network, a service program for seniors age 55 and older.
The program is funded by the federal government. Seniors of low income can qualify to work with BETA from 18 to 40 hours per week for pay. For details, contact Jacque Denny at 812-657-2138 or [email protected].
To inquire about volunteering for BETA, contact Clara Stanley at 312-310-3617 or [email protected].
