Raising man’s best friend for a cause
Union County
Yearick’s Year page 20
page 3
Serving Indian Trail, Marvin, Stallings, Waxhaw, Weddington and Wesley Chapel Photo courtesy of Kelley Zorn
Volume 9, Number 38 • Sept. 18 to 24, 2014
hometown heroes
Locally Owned & Operated www.unioncountyweekly.com
Union County resident receives new Habitat for Humanity home by Ryan Pitkin ryan@unioncountyweekly.com
The Housing Opportunity Foundation (HOF) presented 10 local nonprofits and nine area Habitat for Humanity stores with a total of $33,500 in donations last week to help fight unmet housing needs in the Charlotte area. For six years, the HOF, which is the charitable arm of the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association (CRRA), has been donating money annually to nonprofits, addressing housing needs in Mecklenburg and Iredell counties through a community grants program. For eight years, the HOF also has donated to local Habitat for Humanity stores. This year, the foundation (see Housing on page 10)
Sardis Elementary School salutes heroes Sept. 11 parade pays tribute to police officers, firefighters by Josh Whitener josh@unioncountyweekly.com
INDIAN TRAIL – If you ask students at Sardis Elementary School, they’ll tell you “hometown heroes” are pretty cool. Sardis Elementary recently hosted a school-wide salute to local police officers and firefighters as school staff worked to put a positive spin on
commemorating 9/11. “9/11 is such a sad day, and our students were not even born when (the terrorist attacks) happened, so I wanted to put a positive spin on it and have the children focus on our own hometown heroes right here in our community,” Sardis Elementary Principal Theresa Benson said. “So, we didn’t focus on the tragedy – we focused on the heroes.” Benson sent out a word to parents encouraging them to dress their
children in red, white and blue on Thursday, Sept. 11, and planned a parade to salute the “hometown heroes” – local police officers and firefighters. In addition to encouraging parents to attend the event, Benson reached out to the Porter Ridge cluster’s school resource officers and the Hemby Bridge Fire Department, inviting the officers and firefighters to the afternoon parade. Students in art classes created a patriotic banner bearing stars, stripes
and red, white and blue handprints. Teachers developed age-appropriate lessons in which they discussed how police officers and firefighters protect the community and, for some of the older kids, touched on the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and the personnel who risked or gave their lives to help others that day. “Students made cards and flags and talked about bravery, heroism, courage and community,” Benson said. “We (see Hometown heroes on page 15)
INDEX: Crime Blotter, 5; News Briefs, 6; Restaurant Scores, 8; Education, 11; Faith, 17; Rev. Tony, 18; Calendar, 19; Sports, 20; Classifieds, 27