Out and About – Week of May 9th

Scidmore Park, located at the intersection of West Michigan Avenue and Spring Street in Three Rivers, is a great place to take the family, especially the children. There’s a playground for the kids and benches to sit on in case you’d like to just sit and enjoy the scenery. There are plenty of picnic tables where you can enjoy a nice picnic lunch.

The Petting Zoo, in the park, will open Tuesday, May 17 and be open through Saturday, September 3. The hours of operation are Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, from 11 AM until 3 PM. Scidmore Park is just one of many venues here in Three Rivers where families can spend quality time with each other.

Volunteers from the Animal Rescue Fund (ARF) would like to invite everyone to their annual “Pizza for Paws” fundraiser this Saturday, May 14. This annual fundraiser hasn’t been held for the past two years due to that ugly COVID pandemic, so they are going all out to make this year’s event one of the best. The venue is the Country Table Restaurant, on US-12, just east of US-131. The hours of service will be from 4 PM until 7 PM.

This is an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet, with soft drinks included. Take the entire family out, because it’s about as economical as you can get. The cost is $10 for adults and $8 for kids 12 and under. Tickets will be available at the door.

ARF volunteers provide care for those unwanted and mistreated dogs and cats here in St. Joe County. All proceeds go toward the care of our furry friends.

I’ve had the privilege of visiting the Leader Dog facility in Rochester Hills, Michigan and Paws for a Cause in Saline, Michigan. Leader Dogs are trained to assist individuals who are sight challenged and Paws for a Cause trains dogs for those with other disabilities, such as hearing loss. Service dogs are becoming quite the thing, thanks to the volunteers who train them and the donors who support the training. More about that at a later time.

I’d like to share some basic tips for people who encounter a “working” service dog. In all cases, a real service dog will have a special harness that might say something like “I’m working. Please do not disturb me.” It’s difficult for a child, who approaches a service dog, not to want to pet the dog. A parent should share these tips with their children:

Do not play with, pet, talk to or feed any dog without first requesting permission from its handler.
Do not ask what the service dog’s purpose is or why the handler has the animal.
It is recommended for people encountering a service dog to ignore the animal because the animal is trained to be as invisible as possible.

The Three Rivers Food Pantry on Railroad Drive, directly behind Lowry’s Books and More, is a busy place every Tuesday and Thursday from 9 AM until noon. It’s at this time that volunteers tend to the needs of those needing food items. Thanks to the many donors, the shelves of the Food Site always seem to have plenty for everyone. However, there’s always a few empty spaces on those shelves, so the local postal employees are doing their part to help stamp out hunger.

This Saturday, May 14, they are asking everyone to place bags of non-perishable food items outside their door near the mailbox. A postal carrier will gather these items and make sure they make the donation to the local food site. Together, we can all make sure no one goes hungry here in St. Joe County.

“Cooties love bewhiskered places. Cuties love the smoothest faces shaved by BURMA SHAVE”

See you Out and About!

Submitted by Norm Stutesman

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