14 minute read
Starting Line 10 • This ‘n Data
from October 2021
Former astronaut and Navy SEAL Chris Cassidy named new president and CEO of the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation
The National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation (NMOHMF) recently announced that Chris Cassidy, retired U.S. Navy SEAL and former Chief Astronaut for NASA, will be its new President and CEO. Cassidy is a decorated combat veteran who graduated from the United States Naval Academy and earned a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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During his military career, Cassidy served two tours in Afghanistan, receiving the Bronze Star with combat ‘V’ and a second Bronze Star for combat leadership service in Afghanistan. In 2004, his platoon was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for a nine-day operation at the Zharwar Kili Cave on the Afghanistan/ Pakistan border. As an astronaut, he completed three missions to space and ten spacewalks, accumulating 377 days in space, the ffth most in American history.
Cassidy will now lead the NMOHMF’s project to build the National Medal of Honor Museum and Medal of Honor Leadership Institute in Arlington and the National Medal of Honor Monument in Washington, D.C. The project will preserve and commemorate the stories of the fewer than 4,000 courageous individuals who have earned the Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest award for valor in combat.
“I have dedicated my life to the service of others and country, and I am humbled by the opportunity to continue to serve by helping to lead this historic project,” Cassidy says. “It is a privilege to do my part to honor the service and sacrifce represented by the Medal, its recipients, and all those who have served. As President and CEO, I can think of no greater opportunity than to give back to the country I love by preserving and sharing the stories of these heroes with all Americans and encouraging all to live by the values intrinsic to the Medal."
CITY'S COMMUNICATION OFFICE EARNS SEVEN SPECIAL CITATIONS IN NATIONAL CONTEST
The City of Arlington’s Offce of Communication received seven awards from the national organization, City-County Communications: Marketing Association, or 3CMA, for its video programming, marketing, photography and other community outreach efforts.
The City of Arlington brought home: • Best Digital Interactive - Electronic Newsletters (Home Plate Update): Savvy Award • Best Digital Interactive Overall Website (City of Arlington's New Website):
Silver Award
• Best Digital Interactive Electronic Reports (Unity Council Report): Award of
Excellence
• Video – Regularly Scheduled Programming (Arlington American Dream Chapters):
Silver Award
• Video – Public Service Announcement (Arlington Family COVID-19 PSA): Award
of Excellence
• Video – Education and Training (FY2020 Operating Budget Video): Silver Award • Most Innovative Communication (FY2020 Budget in Action campaign):
Award of Excellence
Arlington Public Library is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month through Oct. 15, and you can visit the seven branches to view displays dedicated to various Latin and South American countries and Puerto Rico. At each location you can get your "passport" stamped to be entered into a prize drawing. To get a passport, visit tinyurl.com/27w8y3va and enjoy tributes to Mexico, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia and Peru.
RAISE YOUR HAND if you told a friend or family member, while making a deposit at Worthington National
Bank at 200 W. Main St., that you also used to post letters in that building. Indeed, the current site of the bank was frst the City of Arlington Post Offce. It was built in 1939 and served as a primary postal resource for city residents until 1964. The building was restored in 2001 as the bank.
Thanks to The Arlington Historical Society for this nugget
3
SCOOPS
1. The Arlington Public Library recently purchased 200 Chromebooks for the East Library and Recreation Center to help close the digital divide in the City of Arlington. These laptops are available for check out for adult library cardholders. Users can check out and take home a device for 30 days with an adult library card in good standing.
2. The Grand Prairie community last month dedicated the newly named ML King Jr. Boulevard during a ceremony in the parking lot at David Daniels Elementary Academy of Math and Science, 801 S.W. 19th St. The renaming was approved by Grand Prairie City Council in August.
3. The Mansfield City Council last month approved the city's operating budget and property tax rate for fiscal year 2021-22. The approval ensures the city’s property tax rate will remain at $0.69 and cements the addition of more than a dozen new city positions, two new city departments, nearly $2 million in capital equipment and more. The fiscal year 2021-22 budget, which is balanced, will take effect on Oct. 1 and remain in effect through Sept. 30, 2022.
NORTH TEXAS GIVING DAY NETS DONATION RECORD
Arlington residents once again showed strong support for the city’s many hard-working nonprofts through a record-setting amount of donations made as part of last month's North Texas Giving Day.
At least 7,600 gifts totaling more than $2.2 million were donated to 158 Arlington-based charities on Sept. 23, exceeding last year’s total contributions by nearly $100,000. In all, nearly $67 million was raised for nonprofts across North Texas during the 18-hour online giving event, which is coordinated by the Communities Foundation of Texas.
In support of the fundraising event, the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation sponsored a free community concert Downtown and awarded $60,000 in grants throughout the day to Arlington-based nonprofts. The charitable endowment has organized its Arlington Gives! event since 2014 as a way to recognize and highlight Arlington-based nonproft organizations and to help North Texas Giving Day contributors' dollars go even further.
Arlington Tomorrow Foundation Grant Award Recipients included The Arlington Life Shelter and the Arlington Master Chorale, which received the frst two $5,000 bonus grants for the highest number of donations received between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m; Grace Preparatory Academy, which received a $5,000 bonus grant for the highest number of donations received by a school between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.; New Day Arlington and Friends of the Levitt, which received $5,000 bonus grants for the highest number of donations received between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and Hager’s Heart and Theatre Arlington, which won $5,000 bonus grants for the highest number of donations received between 7 p.m. and midnight.
During the concert, the Dental Health Arlington, St. Joseph Catholic School, and Arlington MLK Celebration Committee were each randomly selected to receive a $5,000 bonus grant. Grace Preparatory Academy was the winner of the People's Choice Award, which is a $10,000 grant.
HERE ARE SOME VALUABLE RESOURCES FOR OWNERS OF LOCAL BUSINESSES
Small business owners and entrepreneurs in Arlington don’t have to go it alone. Numerous free and affordable resources, from counseling and workshops, to grants and bid opportunities, to coworking spaces – are available throughout The American Dream City to help residents achieve their business potential.
One place to start is the City of Arlington’s Economic Development website, tinyurl.com/38xxp4yr, which includes information about financing, property development opportunities, business resources and even a downloadable Small Business Resource Guide. The City’s Small Business Assistance page, tinyurl.com/yja9nbes, aims to quickly connect residents with information such as required permits, available grants, the Urban Design Center’s free services, Arlington Public Library networking events, workshops and digital resources, and professional mentorship connections.
The Office of Business Diversity (101 S. Mesquite Street #800) oversees the City of Arlington’s Minority & Woman Business Enterprise Program, which seeks to reduce barriers and foster participation for minority and woman-owned companies on all City contracting and procurement opportunities. Program initiatives include community outreach, compliance of MWBE policies, educational workshops/ webinars and promotion of networking opportunities with the minority & woman business community. For more information about the MWBE department and to receive notification for upcoming solicitations, visit arlingtontx.gov/city_hall/departments/finance/purchasing and become a registered supplier on IONWAVE.
The Tarrant Small Business Development Center also offers a host of free resources, including start-up feasibility analysis, business plan development and loan package development. Visit tarrantsbdc.org for training opportunities, financial assistance, or to set up an appointment to take advantage of business advising solutions services. The Tarrant Small Business Development Center recently partnered with the City of Arlington to help small businesses learn how to successfully bid on city contracts.
– Susan Schrock
Meet Olivia ... “Livi” was a surprise Christmas gift from our daughters. We had recently lost our 14-year-old Golden Retriever, Riley. Livi is a Labsky – part Labrador/Husky. She is a rescue pup from a litter of eight. She sings and is a sheer delight. – Ron and Marti Smith
MANSFIELD'S VETERANS DAY PARADE IS SET FOR NOV. 6; SALUTE PARTICIPANTS NEEDED
The City of Mansfeld's Veterans Day Parade and Salute will be held at 9 a.m. on Nov. 6. It will start at St. Jude Catholic Church (500 E. Dallas St.) and travel north on South Waxahachie Street before turning west on East Broad Street and winding through Historic Downtown Mansfeld. Organizers are looking for groups, businesses and organizations to participate in the parade. Participants may pull a foat with a vehicle, use a vehicle without a foat, or simply walk or march in the parade. Visit tinyurl.com/ypkuk434 to register for the parade.
Arlington By the numbers
10
The number of miles of mountain bike trails at Arlington's River Legacy Park
1895
The year Arlington College (now known as the University of Texas at Arlington) was founded
621,180+
The number of materials available to view/checkout at the branches of the Arlington Public Library
Finding purpose in a sport and in life
John McPhail of Pantego drives for John McPhail of Pantego drives for a basket in the recent Paralympic a basket in the recent Paralympic Games in Tokyo. Games in Tokyo.
Photo courtesy of John McPhail Photo courtesy of John McPhail
Growing up in suburban Sydney, Australia, John McPhail would arrive to school eager to learn hard – and play hard. Resting on his lap most days was a football or a tennis ball or something, fguring his like-minded school chums would eagerly partake, which they did. Mostly he was game for any sport that would break out on school grounds during lunch.
“I never wanted to get to the point where I was sitting on the playground by myself,” McPhail says by phone the other day from the Pantego home he shares with his wife, Jillian. “It gave me an identity to say that, oh, I’m not just a kid in the wheelchair. I can do exactly what everyone else is doing.”
Oh, yeah, the wheelchair.
He was just shy of 11 months old when his spine was severed in a car accident. Surgeries followed, as did a life he nor his family ever expected him to have. But that’s what it was, and that’s all he knew, so sports, or anything else for that matter, wasn’t a matter of wondering could he or would he or what if.
Early on he was nudged toward sports like track and feld but the thought of rolling around a circle wasn’t all that enticing.
In high school he participated in a program called the New South Wales Wheelchair Sports Road Show.
There he latched on to his athletic lifeline.
“I pretty much fell in love with basketball,” says McPhail, who knew he was fast but learned that he possessed the innate aptitude of a game-managing point guard. “It was the intensity of the game. You have people hitting chairs, falling of, not needing help to get back up.”
It resonated with the tough kid who grew up playing mainly able-bodied athletes who gave him no slack.
“I would just go out and play,” McPhail says. “Seeing people have the same aggressiveness and drive to win, to push hard. The frst time I saw wheelchair basketball played at a competition level, yeah, it was like a fre that would never be
extinguished. Right then I wanted to go as high as I could, do whatever I could, go wherever I could through basketball.” He’s certainly done that. In 2010, he helped the Australia men’s national team win a world championship. He came to the U.S. to play for Doug Garner’s Moving Mavs at UTA, where he captained the squad, earned All-American honors, a Bachelor’s degree – and, more importantly, met Jillian. He played professionally in Germany and won a national title with the Dallas Wheelchair Mavericks. Just last month McPhail was in Tokyo competing in the Paralympics where Australia netted big wins against Iran, Algeria, and Germany before being knocked out of the medal round by Japan. At times in Tokyo, McPhail had to pinch himself. This real? “Being a Paralympian is an experience of a lifetime,” he says. “It’s not something you can ever forget. I’m so thankful.” Kenneth Perkins Thankful for a sport that has taught him a plethora of lessons and aforded him some pretty cool life JOHN MCPHAIL, a paraplegic experiences. He knows that a lot of since he was 11 months old, kids in wheelchairs or disabled kids in general lack the opportunity to play was a star basketball player in because they are not around a sport the recent Paralympics in Tokyo. that caters to them. “Without basketball I don’t know where I would be as a person with a disability,” says McPhail, who is eying the 2024 Paralympics in Paris. “It gave me a kind of bigger identity, a bigger purpose, a lot more confdence, a lot more freedom.” He stops just short of saying the sport saved his life. “But it’s pretty close, though,” he says, with a chuckle. “It’s not just playing basketball or being seen as equal. It’s a combination of all that.”
Te Law Ofces of Stephanie A. Foster, P.C.
Deciding to divorce is one of the most important decisions a person can face so it makes sense to know your options. One option is traditional courtroom litigation. Another option is collaborative divorce. Although attorney Stephanie A. Foster is prepared to be the warrior in your courtroom battle as she has been in thousands of Tarrant County divorce cases over the past 28 years, her preference is to be the peacemaker in your interest-based negotiations through the dignifed, private, child-protecting process known as collaborative divorce which involves no court. Stephanie A. Foster is confdent that the collaborative process is a powerful way to generate creative solutions in family law disputes while minimizing fnancial and emotional damage to the couple and their children all the while promoting post-divorce psychological and fnancial health of the restructured family. As a family law mediator and one of the frst Tarrant County attorneys trained in collaborative law, attorney Stephanie A. Foster will help you navigate through your divorce options and zealously represent you through the process of your choice. Contact attorney Stephanie A. Foster today to discuss your options.
Law Offces of Stephanie A. Foster, P.C. 4214 Little Road, Arlington, TX 76016 817-277-2805 • StephanieFosterLawyer.com Litigator; Collaborator; Mediator
Winner
2018-2020
Readers’ Choice All Star
ARLINGTON Todayyour community • your magazine All Star Divorce Attorney
Scene Snapshots of note from The Annual Show, Starring the Greater Arlington Chamber of Commerce
Photos: City of Arlington
2021 Chamber Honorees
Business Hall of Fame
Chris Carroll, Spring Creek Companies Lenny Genna, CAE Star Awards
Robert Kembel Robert Mahoney
