The Edwardsville Parks Department has set a new date for the movie Brave, which was cancelled on June 1st due to storm damage. The new date is Saturday, July 27th at 8:25pm. An updated list of the Movies in the Park schedule is list below. All movies will be shown at Edwardsville City Park Bandstand located next to the public library at sunset.

Movies in the Park series 2013:

For a complete listing of Arts in the Park events and our summer programs, please visit the Parks and Recreation's page at www.cityofedwardsville.com.  For more information please contact the Parks Department at 692-7538.

Kids bring your fishing pole and bait to Leclaire Lake Park on Saturday, June 29th from 9:30am-12:00pm for the Leclaire Lake Fishing Derby.  The City of Edwardsville Parks & Recreation Department and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources are coming together to offer a morning of outdoor fun around the lake in one of our community’s favorite parks. 

The Leclaire Lake Fishing Derby is designed for youth up to 15 years old, accompanied by an adult. 

The Crawl for a Cause Committee presented Main Street Community Center with a $5000 check.  The Crawl Committee hosts an annual Pub Crawl in Downtown Edwardsville and gives all the proceeds to local organizations  This year they supported two organizations, Edwardsville Rotary Club’s new playground and the Community Center. 

Standing from Left to Right:  Crawl for a Cause Committee Members: Elizabeth Grant, David Leggitt, Angela Pifer and Michelle Boyer. (Not pictured – Tom Fayollat.)  Main Street Community Center:  Bev Meyer, Sara Berkbigler, Sandy Cooper and Deb Ellis.

by Dana Klassen, Director of Marketing, St. John's Community Care            

Helen Keller is credited with noting that blindness cuts us off from things, but deafness cuts us off from people.   This was especially apparent to me as I watched my 89-year-old mother struggle to hear the conversations at a recent family dinner. Restaurants with bad acoustics are the worst venues for anyone with hearing loss.  It doesn’t help that my family, a rather talkative bunch, has a penchant for holding multiple conversations all at once at various angles around the table.

Hearing loss late in life is an especially tough disability given the coping skills needed to compensate, such as lip reading and sign language, are not easy to learn.  They also require the cooperation and support of your family and friends to make them work. 

by Christine Juehne, Hospice of Southern IL

Hospice of Southern Illinois is a partner in the We Honor Veterans program, a collaboration between the NHPCO, VA, and community hospices, like ourselves. Our involvement in the We Honor Veterans partnership ensures Veterans are getting the care they are entitled to and deserve. In addition to the healthcare benefits we offer to all patients, our interdisciplinary hospice team of physician, nurses, social workers, bereavement counselors, CNAs, and volunteers has special training to address the unique and specific physical, social, emotional needs of Veteran patients and families, which can include PTSD.

PTSD stands for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and can occur immediately following a traumatic event, or even rise up years later

 by Donna Nahlik, Chestnut Health Systems

Now that large numbers of parents have joined social media…and particularly Facebook…many teenagers are searching for other ways to communicate with their friends.  In short, they do not want to be on Facebook anymore because that is where we all are.   I am sure you have heard of Twitter, but are you familiar with Snapchat, Instagram, Vine, and Tumblr?  You should be, because I guarantee that your teens know about them, and they may be using those social media outlets to communicate with their friends through tweets, pictures, and videos.

by Erin Johnson, Communications Director, Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois

In April, Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois was fortunate to receive the support of Once Upon a Town, a campaign recently started by Ed-Glen business owners to assist area nonprofits while encouraging residents to shop locally.   We appreciate all of our donors and sponsors – Girl Scouts would not be sustainable without them!  We were also inspired by the collaboration and community the Once Upon a Town participants embraced.   

When Juliette Gordon Low founded Girl Scouts in 1912, her vision was that organization would be both demographically diverse and appealing to girls with a wide variety of interests and skills.  Through the years, Girl Scouts has united girls of different social classes, heritages and faiths, and is continually reaching out to underserved groups, such as girls with disabilities, girls in at-risk neighborhoods, girls in remote rural areas – even girls in detention centers.  Juliette didn’t push inclusion just because it was “nice” – she adamantly believed in the power of many people working together towards a common goal. Here are three lessons from Girl Scouts’ legacy that help explain how to empower a community.

By Jesse Allen M.S.Ed., Social School Director 

Change is both inevitable and uncomfortable. New situations often create a great deal of anxiety for most people. Even positive changes have been proven to be stressful. By acknowledging this fact, we can at least attempt to deal with change gracefully. A new set of strategies has been brought to my attention by one of my four year-old daughter's favorite cartoons.

On Monday, May 6th, Hospice of Southern Illinois was selected as a finalist in the Monsanto, Grow, St. Louis program, which offers not-for-profit organizations grant money up to $20,000. With your help we can serve more patients and families in the communities we provide hospice care, if you VOTE DAILY through Sunday, May 19th! Voting takes place on the Grow St. Louis Facebook page, www.facebook.com/growstlouis. Please help us spread the word! We cannot say thank you enough to the patients and families who have entrusted us with their care. With opportunities like this, we can say thank you by helping more people and educating more individuals on why hospice care is an important and a beautiful step in the end-of-life journey.

To vote, visit www.facebook.com/growstlouis. At the top right of the Facebook page there is button that says, “VOTE HERE”. Click that and accept the terms. After accepting terms search, “Hospice of Southern Illinois,” click vote, and then share with your friends on Facebook.

Edwardsville Senior Citizens - A Perfect Experience, hosted by the Edwardsville Parks and Recreation Department, invites all seniors (55 and older) to join us on a trip to the Endangered Wolf Center where we will take a guided tour. The Endangered Wolf Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving endangered wolves and other species from extinction by educating people about their importance in the ecosystem and supporting their reintroduction into their native habitat through a combination of managed breeding and research. Our group will enjoy a private 45 minute walking tour which is followed by 45 minutes of inside education.