NOV | DEC 2022 Plano Magazine

THE GUIDE TO THE GOOD STUFF

A 10-minute lung scan could bring years of peace.

If you are a former smoker and the risk of lung cancer concerns you, a non-invasive lung screening may bring you peace of mind. Ask your doctor if a lung screening is right for you.

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The Best for YOUR BUDGET

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by Joshua Baethge photopgraphy by Jessica Turner

Cutline

Sometime in the not-so-distant future, Gwen Welk Workman will move on from her longtime business The Wooden Spoon. She recently put the historic building on Avenue K that houses it up for sale. Though she would love for someone to come take her place after 36 years in business, she’s open to all offers. The 82-year-old says it’s simply time for her to do something else.

“I’m very lucky because I’ve had some serious health issues and overcame them,” she says. “I’m very very grateful for everything. It’s just time for me to move on.”

The Wooden Spoon is more than just a business— it’s morphed into a community gathering spot. People stop by to shoot the breeze over a cup of coffee. Transplants come to connect with their heritage and the things they miss from their homeland. It’s also a place for locals to learn about new cultures. Workman has taught kids about Norwegian heritage and connected others with Scandinavian language teachers.

While many assume she’s European, Workman hails from northern Minnesota. She grew up in the small town of Brevik. Just about everyone there was Scandinavian except for her father, who was German. He was a personable man who never met a stranger. Workman recalls how he was always meeting new people and enjoyed learning about their heritage.

She inherited his gift of gab and still enjoys getting to know the people who come into the store. Many become regulars, stopping in to enjoy her company, as well as the cookies, coffee and treats she regularly makes.

Workman has run her own business since she turned 18. She married young and helped her now former husband and mother-in-law run a hotel. Later they sold the hotel and bought a restaurant, a job she did not enjoy.

Then, in the mid-1980s, her then-husband moved the family to Texas so that he could work in the construction business. It was a difficult transition, Workman says.

“Coming here was like moving to a new country,” she says. “I’d never moved before in my life and everything was so totally different.”

Finding a job proved difficult since she had no local connections. She eventually found work as an apartment locator, which allowed her to become more familiar with the area.

A trip to the State Fair of Texas changed everything. She found the Norwegian Society of Texas, whose event featured Norwegian people, food and culture.

“I came home and said, ‘I can’t be the only half-Norwegian that’s moved to Texas,’” she says. “I decided to go into business. I had no money but a lot of guts and a dream.”

In 1986, she started the Wooden Spoon in downtown McKinney and later moved to Fairview Farms on Central Expressway, near what is today a hotel and a Spec’s. A friend told her the historic Foreman house on Avenue K would be the perfect place for a bed and breakfast. Workman shot down that idea, but she was intrigued by the home.

The building was in terrible shape. It was filthy. There was sheetrock missing from the walls and mustard-colored carpet on the stairs.

“But I wanted it,” she says. “I went around back, said a little prayer, and thought if it’s meant to be it will be. And the rest is history.”

While digging through all the mess in the building, she stumbled upon a walrus figurine. It had a small tag that said, “made in Norway.” That’s when she knew it was meant to be.

Workman plans to write about her life and experiences after she retires. She’s already authored three children’s books centered around a troll named Magnus. Each book was written for one of her three grandchildren.

Last year, she also published a cookie journal that contains some of her most popular recipes and the stories behind them.

She plans to spend time with her grandkids as well as her son and daughter. She may spend summers in Minnesota with family members, though she has no desire to endure the harsh winters there.

Workman says she will miss all the connections that she has made through the years. Having grown up spending hours in small Minnesota dance halls and taverns, she’s thankful for coming of age in a place where a close-knit community was a fact of life. She wished it was something that more people could experience.

“In that environment, you learned how to treat people. You gathered and celebrated. It was a community,” she says. “As I look back, I’m sorry that more people aren’t experiencing that today.” P

Hire HIPsters with the right talent and training

THERE’S A NEW DAY COMING TO MY POSSIBILITIES, and along with it comes more opportunities for adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) to surpass traditional employment expectations.

Dubbed HIPsters (Hugely Important People) at My Possibilities, these adults look forward to the fall of 2023, when doors will open to the campus’ new 30,000-squarefoot Career Services Building, powered by Bread Financial.

This vocational training center expects to serve an additional 330 HIPsters daily by “bringing untapped talent to market.” The HIPsters will benefit from six educational lab areas representing specific business sectors: technology, hospitality, retail, facilities and landscaping,

culinary arts and administrative industries.

Each lab area includes education, programming and general vocational instruction, as well as soft skills learning, such as how to talk with bosses, craft resumes, properly respond to tipping, and other interpersonal topics.

From a corporate perspective, My Possibilities hopes community partners will engage now to help craft these vocational programs to meet specific needs at their individual companies and invest in the future of their future employees.

My Possibilities’ Executive Director Michael Thomas says JPMorgan Chase is close to hiring its 20th HIPster during the past two years.

“JPMorgan Chase is changing the paradigm on how the IDD population is viewed; it is changing the dynamic of workplace inclusion,” Thomas says.

“HIPsters make a splash and a huge difference in our community,” Thomas says. “Look at corporations today that don’t have enough personnel. We train HIPsters how to perform those sometimes repetitive tasks that genuinely provide more efficiency for an organization.

“HIPsters offer a new wave of market talent and transcend community perception of those with IDD.”

“My Possibilities is more than just a local nonprofit to support; it’s a valuable corporate partner.”

“The vocational training we’ll offer is no different than what is offered at mainstream colleges; companies recruit employment talent on those campuses, and we want them to recruit from My Possibilities, too,” Thomas says.

Once coursework is completed, Thomas says graduates receive certificates of excellence and completion for all vocational pathways.

Thomas adds that in 2020, 37% of Americans changed jobs; last year, 53% quit their jobs for a career change.

“HIPsters are loyal, productive and don’t want to leave their jobs. My Possibilities’ population, given the opportunity, will stay with an employer as long as the corporate culture can support them.

“Historically, this has been an invisible community, and we have to break that silence,” Thomas says.

How do they expect to change corporate thinking? By partnering with businesses, not just philanthropically, but by bringing more talent to the community.

“Across multiple industries, adults with IDD bring honesty, joy, great attitudes, and timeliness to their jobs. They crack the ceiling placed on their capabilities and bring a different way of doing things.”

Between now and the first semester in October 2023, Mandy Noerper, director of support services, says My Possibilities will be assessing personnel needs, testing curriculum, and inviting partners to collaborate. She says the Career Services programs will feature in-class education and internship components.

“What skillset do you need in your industry? Wherever you work, we have a HIPster for you.”

Invest in the future of your company and our community. Partner with My Possibilities today. 3601 Mapleshade Lane. 469-241-9100. MyPossibilities.org.

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OF ADULTS WITH

DON’T HAVE A FUTURE PLAN.

HIRED BY JPMORGAN CHASE

THE PAST

WITH MY

Relaxation in a glass

THIS ISN’T THE FRONT PORCH of world master chef Sharon Van Meter’s house on the Big Island in Hawaii, but it’s the closest thing you’ll find around here.

The acclaimed chef turns 65 this year, but she’s only about one-third retired, she says.

Her corporate event and catering company, 3015 Trinity Groves, stayed open until recently, but lost virtually all its business at the outset of the pandemic. The 10,000-square-foot space didn’t make sense to her in a post-pandemic business climate.

Van Meter, who lives part time in Plano, began menu development for Beckley 1115, her cute, neighborhood wine bar in Dallas’ Oak Cliff neighborhood, when restaurants in Hawaii were still shut down.

The table on her porch seats 10, so she divided her friends into three sections. Each group tasted two appetizers, three entrees, two desserts and two salads.

“I had people calling, like ‘Do you have any openings tonight?’” she says. “I’m like, ‘It’s my house!’”

Spanish meatballs, squash toast and many Beckley 1115 dishes were perfected with tasting notes from

those dinners, but the menu is constantly changing based on season, pricing and creative urges.

The Hilo fried chicken thighs come three to an order with amazing gochujang rice and are based on a dish that Van Meter liked at Hilo Bay Café. She showed chef Luke Rogers a photo and said, “Let’s do them like this.”

This isn’t farm-to-table, but it is seasonal and based on what Van Meter and Rogers are inspired to buy. Everything on the menu is under $30, which can be challenging with fluctuating prices.

Rogers wanted to put scallops on the menu, even though they cost $23.99 a pound.

“I said, ‘OK, we’ll put that on as a loss leader, and I’ll just raise the price of chicken 50 cents or something,’” she says.

The next time they ordered, the price of scallops had gone up to $37.99 a pound.

In her 50-year culinary career, she’s never seen anything like that, she says.

Staffing is also a constant struggle for everyone in the restaurant industry right now.

“But we’re having fun,” Van Meter says. “I wait tables when I’m here.”

Restaurant profit margins rarely exceed 3%, but

Chill and affordable Beckley 1115 operates on creativity

story by Rachel Stone | photography by Kathy Tran

Left: Silky toffee pudding with caramel glaze, mascarpone crème and toffee bits.

Van Meter says she doesn’t mark up the wine as much as she could.

Three-ounce pours start at $6, and the most expensive 6-ounce glasses cost $14. Beckley 1115 serves two labels from Checkered Past Winery in Dallas, a tempranillo and a malbec, for $34 a bottle.

Order the monthly “burger for better,” and a portion of the proceeds goes to a nonprofit. The special has benefitted Wesley Rankin Community Center, Mammogram Poster Girls, 24 Hour Dallas and Mercy Chefs.

The kitchen was gutted and rebuilt for Beckley 1115, but the space is so small that there’s no room for a walk-in freezer. The wine fridge behind the bar also serves as food storage.

“You really have to be creative with purchasing,” she says. “These guys from big restaurants can come in and really learn the art of management.”

Van Meter, the only woman in her class at Le Cordon Bleu Paris, wound up in Dallas for her husband’s job and was previously executive chef of Ritz Carlton International and Neiman Marcus. A side career in TV, film and radio production means she knows your favorite TV chef.

She retired from her position at Food Network in March, but she’s not slowing down.

Her company recently financed the culinary dream of former Dallas chef Graham Dodd.

“He’s one of the best farm-to-table chefs in the country,” Van Meter says.

Their restaurant and mini resort, Nosa, opened recently in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico.

Amid staffing shortages, wild price fluxes and general anxiety in the restaurant industry, Van Meter says she’s finding that highly experienced professionals are more valuable than ever.

“I thought I was going to retire, but I guess I won’t,” she says. P

Beckley 1115

1115 N. Beckley Ave., Beckley1115.com

Above: Sharon Van Meter of Beckley 1115.

Left: Hilo fried chicken thighs with gochujang rice, sesame bok choy, honey Korean sauce and pickled purple cabbage.

Holiday Events All Season Long! Now through

NOV 3 HAPPY HOUR HIKE THUR. , 6 P.M., LEGACY WEST, 7800 WINDROSE AVENUE SIP-AND-SHOP EVENT NOV 3-6 INTO THE WOODS THURS., 7 P.M., NORTH TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS, 6121 W PARK BLVD B216, $12 LIVE THEATRE PERFORMANCE OF INTO THE WOODS

NOV 5 LAUGH FOR A CAUSE SAT., 6 P.M., SIGNATURE KABAB & GRILL, 820 SPRING CREEK PKWY, $108 STAND-UP WITH SAAD HAROON IN SUPPORT OF DFW REFUGEE OUTREACH SERVICES

NOV 5 2022 COLLIN COUNTY HEART FEST SAT., 5 P.M., LEGACY HALL, 7800 WINDROSE AVENUE, $75 CELEBRATE THE 60S WITH THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION

NOV 6 GRANDSCAPE

GILMORE GIRLS TAKEOVER SUN., 6 P.M., 5752 GRANDSCAPE BLVD.. THE COLONY, TX 75056, FREE ENJOY LUKE’S DINER POP-UP AND ACTIVITIES WITH FELLOW STARS HALLOW WANNABES

NOVEMBER

NOV 9 KENDRA SCOTT SIP & SHOP WED., 6 P.M., KENDRA SCOTT, 5800 LEGACY DRIVE SIP-AND-SHOP EVENT FOR SHOPPERS BENEFITING PLANO MAGAZINE NOV NOV 12 TURKEY BOWL SAT., 10 A.M., 5752 GRANDSCAPE BLVD.. THE COLONY, TX 75056, FREE COLONY POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENT FLAG FOOTBALL AND TOY DRIVE

NOV 20

season

LIGHTS AT LEGACY SAT., 4-7 P.M., THE SHOPS AT LEGACY, 5741 LEGACY DR. ENJOY MAGIC & PUPPET SHOWS, COMPLIMENTARY FOOD & DRINK SAMPLES, PLUS PHOTOS WITH SANTA ($30 BENEFITING CHARITY), TREE LIGHTING AT 6:30 P.M.

NOV 24 PLANO TURKEY TROT 5K THUR., 5:30 –9 A.M. OAK POINT PARK, 2801 E SPRING CREEK PKWY. ANNUAL 5K BENEFITING BEST BUDDIES IN TEXAS NOVDEC25-23 LIGHTS ON THE FARM 2022 FRI.SUN., 6 P.M., HERITAGE FARMSTEAD MUSEUM, 1900 W 15TH ST., $12 WINTER LIGHT EXPERIENCE THROUGH THE HISTORIC FARMSTEAD

NOV 26

QUEEN TRIBUTE: QUEEN LEGACY SAT., 8 P.M., LEGACY HALL, 7800 WINDROSE AVENUE, $10 FEEL LIKE YOU’RE BACK IN TIME WATCHING FREDDIE MERCURY WORK HIS MAGIC

DEC 1-30 DEERFIELD HOLIDAY LIGHTS 2022 7 P.M.10 P.M., ENTRANCES OFF LEGACY AND QUINCY DRIVE THROUGH THE RENOWNED NEIGHBORHOOD’S HOLIDAY LIGHT DISPLAYS

DEC 1 HAPPY HOUR HIKE THURS LEGACY WEST, 7800 WINDROSE AVENUE SIP-AND-SHOP EVENT DEC 3 DICKENS IN DOWNTOWN PLANO SAT HAGGARD PARK, MCCALL PLAZA, 901 E 15TH ST., FREE ANNUAL EVENT WITH A REAL SNOW SLIDE, FOOD, SHOPPING, SANTA & A TREE LIGHTING DEC 7-11/14-18 SCROOGE! WEEKENDS COURTYARD THEATER/WILLOW BEND CENTER OF THE ARTS TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS TALE COMES TO THE STAGE THANKS TO TPA DEC 5 PET PHOTOS WITH SANTA MON., 4 P.M., MACY’S COURT, SHOPS AT WILLOW BEND, 6121 W PARK BLVD., $39.99+ TAKE YOUR PETS FOR PICTURES AND VIDEOS WITH SANTA DEC 9-12 ELF THE MUSICAL JR. FRI., 7 P.M., GENESIS CHILDREN’S THEATRE, 3100 INDEPENDENCE PKWY, #324B, $12 CHILDREN’S PERFORMANCE OF ELF THE MUSICAL DEC 10 NUTCRACKER MARKET SAT., 10 A.M., PLANO CONVENTION CENTER, 2000 E SPRING CREEK PKWY CHRISTMAS MARKET WITH VENDORS OF ALL SORTS

5

DEC 12 JOURNEY TRIBUTE: DEPARTURE ATX SUN., 7 P.M., 5752 GRANDSCAPE BLVD.. THE COLONY, TX 75056, FREE DON’T STOP BELIEVING AND HONOR AMERICA’S VETERANS DEC 18 THE DREIDEL RACE SUN., 6 P.M., OAK POINT RECREATION CENTER, 2801 E SPRING CREEK PKWY, $36+ CELEBRATE THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS WITH A 5K AND FUN RUN

DEC 31 JAZZBERRY JAMMIN’ NEW YEAR’S EVE SAT., 8 P.M., CRAYOLA EXPERIENCE PLANO, 6121 WEST PARK BOULEVARD, FREE WITH ENTRY COLORFUL CELEBRATION WITH CONFETTI AND DANCE PARTIES FOR TINY TOTS

THERE’S SO

MORE... SIGN UP TO RECEIVE EVENTS AT PLANOMAGAZINE.COM/NEWSLETTER PROMOTE YOUR EVENT AT PLANOMAGAZINE.COM/EVENT-SUBMISSION FOR DETAILS OF ALL EVENTS, CLICK EVENTS AT PLANOMAGAZINE.COM BE SURE TO CONFIRM TIME AND DATES BEFORE ATTENDING ANY EVENT

Christmas spirit runs year-round in Deerfield

story by Joshua Baethge photography by Jessica Turner

he annual Christmas lights display in Pla no’s Deerfield neigh borhood has become a destination for holiday lovers across North Texas. The event dates back to the late 1980s when the neigh borhood was still being built. At the time, there was not much out there. Developers looking for ways to attract people to the area started a contest awarding a $5,000 prize for the best light dis play. The runner-up received $2,500, and third place won a grand.

There are no cash prizes today, but the friendly competitive spirit endures as residents work to outdo each other each holiday season.

Melissa and David Black moved to Deerfield 15 years ago and served on the neighborhood lights committee for years. They typically begin working on their display in late spring or early summer.

“Even before we moved, we were over the top with holiday decorations, but we’ve taken it to a new level here,” Melissa says.

The Blacks prefer DIY displays. On a recent September morning, they were out on their driveway in an alley working on some new Christmas deer. David cut out the forms while Melissa painted and detailed them.

David noticed a few years ago that the displays contained few “deer,” despite the neighborhood’s name. So he took it upon himself to craft some.

These are replacement deer.

“They’re good for a couple for years and then need to be redone,” he says.

Neighborhood committees co ordinate carriage rides, sponsor ships and the annual tree-light ing ceremony, but the actual decorating is up to homeown ers. Some neighbors team up to coordinate decor. Others prefer to keep their plans un der wraps until the big reveal. Nobody is required to participate, but it has become a point of pride for many residents.

where people can come together and enjoy.”

For those who live there, the competitive spirit is also accompanied by an equal spirit of cooperation. David recalls a time when a big storm hit, knocking down much of his display. But when he returned, everything looked untouched. Turns out, a group of neighbors took it upon themselves to set everything back up.

Some have also begun to decorate the homes of older neighbors.

The unofficial start to the Christmas-lights sea son is Thanksgiving night, though it sometimes takes a few days to get everybody up and run ning. For David and Melissa, this is what makes it all worthwhile. Though the streets may be crowd ed, they say it’s a minor inconvenience they are more than happy to put up with. They enjoy going out side, reconnecting with neighbors and meet ing new people.

“Even before we moved, we were over the top with holiday decorations, but we’ve taken it to a new level here.”

“Even before we moved, we were over the top with holiday decorations, but we’ve taken it to a new level here.”

The Blacks used to walk the neigh borhood to count how many of their neighbors were participating, when they were members of the lights committee. On a good year, nearly 80% of Deerfield homes have at least one lighted element in December.

Those participants are not limited to families who celebrate Christmas. People from around the world now call the neighborhood home.

Several neighbors put out Hanukkahthemed displays, including one featuring spinning dreidels. Some Hindu households that celebrate Diwali have started keeping their lights up into the Christmas season.

“The great thing about our neighborhood is the diversity,” David says. “It’s just a place

“We see people from every walk of life and every faith. It’s so cool,” Melissa says. P

LuxurySTOCKING STUFFERS

FROM YOUR LOCAL FAVORITES

story by Alyssa High | photography by Jessica Turner

Haywire is a Plano staple of Texan sophistication with locally sourced beef and a variety of rare whiskeys. Now, they’re launching a collection of items that bring that sophistication home, with rocks glasses, whiskey-stone gift sets and camping-core classics like throw blankets, campfire mugs and custom playing cards. This whiskey-stone set keeps drinks cool without watering them down, and the trademark Haywire logo lets everyone know you’re living local.

Pictured: Haywire Whiskey Stones Cost: $25

HAYWIRE PLANO 5901 Winthrop St. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday

Plano is home to more than 10,000 businesses, many of them local establishments run by our neighbors. As we prepare for the holiday season and pick out gifts to go under the tree and in our stockings, we’ve selected five stocking stuffers from local favorites that are too good to be re-gifted.

TOGETHER, WE CAN BRING THE MAGIC TO KIDS.

The magic of the holidays is all around. It’s a smile across a child’s face. It’s the joy families share. At Children’s HealthSM, magic is the hope we spread to children. It’s team members searching for cures. Volunteers lending a helping hand. And donors, like you, supporting us.

This holiday season, help us continue bringing joy to children.

Scan the QR code or visit bringmagictochildrens.com

…ish Chicks is a brand-new Plano establishment located in Lakeside Market. The store aims to sell unique and decor-worthy items such as coffee purses, cocktail glasses and party supplies. This hot chocolate kit comes with four cute shakers to make hot chocolate a craft experience.

Pictured: Hot Chocolate Shaker Set

Wine glass

Preston Road, ishchicks.business.site

Paper

Paper

Sweet

Pictured:

SWEET

Pictured: Miniature Nativity

PAPER AFFAIR

Road

Communication,

Meet Plano ISD’s new superintendent, Theresa Williams

story by Joshua Baethge photography by Kathy Tran

transparency, safety

Theresa Williams knew her career could be on course for the top job at Plano ISD, but she didn’t expect it to happen in the middle of a school year, after Sara Bosner announced her retirement in January.

“I wasn’t thinking about it, and I was not anticipating Sara’s retirement coming as soon as it did,” Williams says. “I was honored that the board provided me with this opportunity. I love Plano and had invested four years here.”

The school board hired Williams as superinten dent in March. She started on June 1, and she’s coming up with creative ways to connect with the community.

Williams began her career as a teacher in Garland ISD and worked there for 20 years until 2014, when Lubbock ISD hired her as deputy superintendent.

A Texas Tech University alumna who spent 13 years of her childhood in Lubbock, she jumped on the chance to return to West Texas.

The timing was great for her family, as she moved to Lubbock the same year her oldest son started as a freshman at her alma mater.

Williams says she knew she wouldn’t stay in Lubbock forever, but she enjoyed returning to the wide-open Texas plains.

Four years later, she moved to Plano to become the chief operating officer and deputy superintendent for PISD.

“Both of those roles really prepare you for this one because a big part of that job is making sure your superintendent’s parachute is always packed,” she says.

Addressing a community survey was her first order of business when she assumed the superintendent’s role this summer.

The survey results included everything from serious safety concerns to students asking for better chicken in school lunches.

Williams met with as many people as possible,

starting with meet-and-greets at Plano middle schools, she says.

“I just wanted it to be casual,” she says. “Nobody wants to go after school and listen to a PowerPoint presentation, so it was just an opportunity to get to know me, have a causal conversation, and really have some face time.”

Pressing the flesh was important at a time when schools are finding the post-pandemic new normal, Williams says. She met with the mayors of all the cities PISD encompasses, former school board members and business owners.

Williams has found new ways for administrators to interact with teachers staff and families.

Her “Mission Mondays” brings PISD administration’s regular leadership meeting to a different campus every week. While they’re there, they also help with tasks such as student pick-up or drop-off and morning announcements.

“It’s been really fun to engage with the students, the teachers and parents in a different way,” she says.

Math is the area where students fell behind most during the pandemic, Williams says. But test results show that learning loss has not hit the district as hard as others. She credits the district’s Measure of Academic Progress, known as M.A.P., for identifying academic achievement shortfalls early and addressing them effectively.

Since the school shooting in Uvalde, parents are worried about security, Williams says. The district’s bond task force recommended funding for increased safety and security measures.

PISD hired an architecture firm to assess each school’s unique layout from a security and safety standpoint. That report is expected to be presented to the school board soon.

“We have a great level of confidence in our security but still we wanted to go back and double-check,” Williams said. “We want to make sure that no stone is left unturned.” P

be thewave be thechange

When four local teenagers learned about people experi encing homelessness at school, they began noticing how many people in their community were unhoused. The group put sup plies into backpacks, filled their cars and handed out the sup plies to people experiencing homelessness whenever they could.

Their inspiration began seven years ago, when Frankford Mid dle School student Will Dobrient aimed to help a small part of these thousands of people by filling bags with water bottles, protein bars, beef jerky and Sub

way meal gift cards. He filled them and gave them out as he saw people in need until he graduated high school.

Continuing his legacy are four former Frankford students. Now seniors at various area high schools, they call themselves the LifePak Initiative and have taken on Dobrient’s goal of helping as many people expe riencing homelessness as they can through backpacks filled with food, water and other ne cessities.

“For me, personally, it was a faith-based obligation,” Julian Coleman says. “It is very import

story by Alyssa High | photography by Jessica Turner

NEIGHBORHOOD STUDENTS BAND TOGETHER TO GIVE SUPPLIES TO HOMELESS AROUND DFW

ant that we serve the people of our communities. It does take a lot of time, and it does take a lot of effort. But you’re doing it for a worthy cause.”

Though COVID-19 made conducting safe do nation drives difficult, the LifePak Initiative has completed 16 donation drives in neighborhood schools and distributed 450 LifePaks, 160 winter coats, 420 knitted hats, 140 winter gloves, 120 woven scarves, 160 baseball caps and 240 pairs of socks. As the students distribute more LifePaks, they’ve adjusted the contents according to needs that arise. The meals started out as sandwiches and chips, but the group felt driven to do more.

After partnering with the local nonprofit Cook ing for the Crowd, the LifePak Initiative has cooked and delivered more than 720 hot meals. Other groups have shifted goals to partner with the LifePak Initiative as well, including Passing Hats, which shifted from delivering knitted hats to cancer patients to donating to the homeless population, and the Jesuit Ranger Trap & Skeet Team, which contributed winter clothing that was handed out with LifePaks.

Plano West Senior High school seniors Julian and Jaimi Coleman already have a lot on their plates. Julian is on Student Council and National Honor Society and participates in speech, debate and theater. Jaimi is heavily involved in technical theater. Their two other partners, Jesuit senior Nicholas Archer and Naaman Forest senior Victor Acosta, have schedules that aren’t any lighter.

Yet, the four spend their free time filling back packs with resources for people experiencing homelessness in their communities and around Plano and Dallas, as well as finding others to join their cause before they themselves graduate.

“Our goal is mainly to spread the word and in fluence our generation to go out and help others and reach more people to help others that are experiencing homelessness,” Acosta says.

Throughout the past few years, the LifePak Ini tiative has developed relationships with schools to develop donation drives at Frankford Mid dle School, Shepton High School, Plano West High School, Jesuit College Preparatory School, Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy and Naaman Forest High School.

“The big thing about what we do is relationships,” Julian Coleman says. “Without these relationships with these different schools

and districts, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.”

“I’m not from the United States; I’m from Vene zuela,” Acosta says. “I have family members and a lot of people I care about that have ended up on the streets due to an unfair situation, so I sympathize with these people out there. I feel like it’s part of my obligation as a person who was able to get out of that situation to help others.”

In recent months, LifePak focused on gaining sponsorship with Preston Hollow United Method ist Church to work as a subsidiary under their nonprofit status so that they can accept dona tions. The donation portal and website aren’t published yet, but the group has high hopes for the future. In addition to setting up the nonprofit and donations, all four members are working to find others to join the cause and take over The LifePak Initiative when they graduate this spring.

“We’d also love to partner with other organi zations that help people experiencing home lessness so that we can form better relationships and have a better understanding of their needs and how to support them,” Archer says. P

PULMONOLOGIST TURNED MYSTERY NOVELIST

KEN TOPPELL WRITES MYSTERIES ‘PERFECT FOR A NIGHT IN’

story by Alyssa High|photography by Hunter Lacey

Nolan Herbert is a murderous, crossword-loving, power-hungry businessman. Henry Atkinson is a lonely lawyer in search of an estranged relative. Murders pile up in the Pentecostal church. Atkinson’s family keeps finding themselves at the center of the town’s scandal and murder investigations. Herbert, Atkinson, murder and more are all part of a world created by Ken Toppell, our neighborhood murder mystery novelist.

Toppell didn’t start his career writing books. A history buff, he graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 1963, followed by medical school at Emory University and a residency at Baylor College of Medicine.

Due to the Vietnam War, Toppell began his fellowship year after he was drafted into the Army at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. There, he established the first Army Intensive Care Unit and treated a princess, a famous singer, a basketball player and other prominent figures while studying pulmonology.

“I was the senior resident of medicine there [at Baylor College of Medicine], and I just thought it was magic. It was incredible,” Toppell says. “Then when I got in the Army, we built the first ICU at Brooke Army Medical Center … we had such a great staff that it really had me going.”

Though he continued working in pulmonary medicine for over 40 years after leaving the Army, he never quit his passions in history and writing.

While working as a doctor, Toppell used to take time off to give lectures in American

history through unique and uncommonly known angles. He took this passion for history and wrote a memoir of his first year as a doctor in reference to historical events that happened in 1969.

Though Toppell loved writing and storytelling, he initially didn’t intend to be published. He wrote his first story while waiting for his son to finish his first college interviews.

“It was completely silly. It was republished in an anthology of medical humor with my made-up disease, and they paid me $300 for it,” Toppell says. “That was what really got to me, and after that I did a lot of writing.”

After retiring and moving to Plano nearly five years ago, Toppell wrote his first novel, Second Cousin Once Removed , while attempting to stay out of his wife’s hair as she was decorating their new house.

“It was fun because murder mysteries are like puzzles,” Toppell says. “They have red flags that tell you something about the characters. They might not help you solve the mystery, but they tell you more about a character’s development.”

The book turned into a series following the Atkinson family as they encounter murder and mystery in Second Cousin Once Removed; The Perfect Trifecta; The Darkness of Daylight; Good Friends, Family, and Murder; There Weren’t Any Spider Webs; and 9 Down Is Dead.

“I miss them when I’m not writing. Even when I’m writing about them I miss them. After six books, you’re going to get that kind of relationship,” he says. P

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