Out and About – Week of May 13th

We are all mortal, which means that we are all terminal and our days on earth are limited. I will, on occasion, mention the passing of friends in this column. I don’t do this to be morbid, but I do it because these individuals meant a lot to me, and I’m sure they meant a lot to many readers.

Dan White was killed in an accident a week or so ago. Dan owned Main Street Cafe in historic downtown Three Rivers, and you could usually see him working the grill, or even doing the dishes. His favorite thing was to mingle and talk with the patrons that frequented his establishment. He didn’t have much time to do this, because the restaurant was a popular place to go for good food, good service, or just meet with friends for that early morning cup of coffee. If he’d notice our arrival, he’d always call out “NORM!!” Dan, Darlene, Crystal, and the rest of the staff always made us feel welcome.

Dan was community minded. Whenever I’d stop in to see if he wanted to take out an ad in our Lions Christmas paper, or make a donation to Lions, he’d always oblige us. During HarmonyFest or the Water Festival Car Show, you could count on Dan to have his table out there, so he could make hot dogs available to the attendees.

If you read his obituary, you’d know that he was a teacher and wrestling coach in White Pigeon. He also worked with Santa Claus in Santa’s restaurant.

If there’s a heaven, and if I’m lucky enough to someday pass through those pearly gates, I’m pretty sure Dan will be there. I’ll know for sure, if I hear a voice call out, “NORM!!”. Thank you, Dan, for all that you did for me and the community of Three Rivers.

This past May 3 and 4, the Three Rivers Lions held their White Cane Days. This is an annual project that takes place in late April or early May, and it’s one of my favorite projects. The Lions station themselves outside of Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and Harding’s. My wife and I usually pick Harding’s to seek donations, because it’s close to home, and it’s busy enough to keep us alert and awake. We enjoy doing this, because we enjoy people watching, and White Cane gives us the opportunity to do just that. I’ve had my attitude adjusted a bit as a result of dealing with the public. An example would be the young gentleman who pulled into the parking lot with his radio blasting, accompanied by the constant whoomp, whoomp from his speakers. My judgment of him changed when he dropped about five dollars in change into my White Cane bucket. First impressions can be wrong, and it seems that those individuals who least can afford it donate the most, and those who can afford to donate never make eye contact. On behalf of the Three Rivers Lions Club, I’d like to thank everyone who donated to White Cane. Because of you, others less fortunate will receive proper eye care.

I apologize for not mentioning this earlier, but when Mike the mailman mentioned it, it was too late for me to add it to the appropriate column. This last Saturday was the day when your mail carrier would accept non-perishable food items for the food bank. No need to worry, because you may take your donation to the Emergency Care Network location on Railroad Drive, south of Lowry’s Books. I’m pretty sure that every mail carrier left cards notifying everyone about this annual event. Kudos to the mail carriers for doing another good deed. Good thing we have Saturday mail delivery.

We shop for groceries once a week. My wife has a clipboard with items listed that we usually buy. We grocery shop at Hardings and Meijer, and she has the items listed by aisle, which works great for us. Food shoppers spend about 50% more than they planned because of impulse buys, according to researchers. Restricting yourself to one weekly trip instead of three could save you hundreds of dollars a year. She also has at least two of every item in our cupboard. When we use one, she adds it to her grocery list. That way, we never run out. We also try to eat before we go shopping. This also cuts down on impulse shopping. Someday I’d like to figure out where those hundreds of dollars we save by shopping this way have gone.

See you Out and About!

Submitted by Norm Stutesman