Spring 2014
From the Desk of Jon Hoadley
State Representative Candidate JON B. HOADLEY 60th District 2720 Parkview Ave. Kalamazoo, MI 49008 Phone: (269)447-1175 E-Mail: HoadleyforRep@gmail.com
Community Newsletter
Spring Cleaning: Make it Fun! What’s Inside? 1. Enlist the help of friends and family. Cleaning can seem like a daunting task, but with the help of your loved ones it can be manageable and fun. Offer to cook everyone a meal and have a fun day of bonding. 2. Schedule your spring cleaning. Blocking off an appropriate amount of time for you and your loved ones to clean is key to a successful cleaning effort. Make the conscious effort to schedule your cleaning to ensure that you have enough helpers and that the task does not get forgotten. 3. Make a list before you start. Take the time to think about what you want cleaned before the cleaning process starts to help everyone stay focused and efficient. 4. De-clutter your house first. Removing the clutter in your house often gets relegated to secondary status, however getting rid of clutter should be the first step of your cleaning plan. Once the clutter is removed, it becomes much easier to clean and organize your home. 5. Don’t go crazy throwing away old items. Be sensitive to items that hold value for your loved ones and come up with proper storage for those they wish to keep.
6. Look for potential safety improvements. Use the opportunity of spring cleaning to look at needed safety improvements such as new hand rails or bathroom repairs, then implement them while you still have plenty of helpers around.
7. Find tasks that involve everyone. Physical limitations should not limit you or your loved ones’ involvement in the cleaning process. Find tasks such as silver polishing or sorting through old papers and medicine bottles for those in your group who prefer to work while seated. 8. Watch out for safety hazards. In the hubbub of cleaning, furniture and other items often get moved and create safety hazards. Make sure your entire party is aware of temporary movements and stay alert while walking. 9. Play music and get some exercise. Never miss an opportunity to make cleaning fun and get a workout in too. Playing upbeat music gives you a chance to do some light cardio while enjoying your spring cleaning experience.
• Spring Cleaning Tips • Need Help with Home Repairs? • Good Food at the People’s Co-Op • Sarkozy Bakery is Open Again! • What’s in Season this Spring? • Don’t Feel Like Cooking for Yourself? • Physical Fitness Opportunities • Staying Sharp at the Academy of Lifelong Learning • Know Your Advocates! • Fix MI Potholes • Spring in Kzoo • Resources for Seniors
Need Help with Home Repairs? Keeping up around the house can be a lot of work, but local businesses are happy to help you and your home survive the thaw. Check out the Buy Local Greater Kalamazoo Guide to find reputable, local contractors to help with all your home repairs and improvements. www.buylocalkalamazoo.org If you are struggling to afford home repairs and maintenance, a local nonprofit
group may be able to help. Community Homeworks offers emergency home repair services for low-income homeowners in Kalamazoo County. The group also conducts free workshops on home maintenance and repairs. Workshops are open to Kalamazoo County residents with incomes at or below 80 percent of HUD area medium income (about $48,800 per year for a family of four).
Home repairs may be available for Kalamazoo County homeowners with a qualifying income. Repair expenses must be less than $10,000 and recipients must pay 10 percent of cost. Contact: Community Homeworks 808 S. Westnedge Ave., Kalamazoo 269-998-3275 info@communityhomeworks.org
Health & Wellness Good Food at the People’s Food Co-op Spring is in the air, and that means one very exciting thing for our bodies: we can start abandoning our diet of starchy winter staples and fill our plates with all the delicious and healthy foods of the new season! A favorite local spot to find local, fresh food is The People’s Food Co-Op. As a collaborative, community-owned and managed grocer, the Co-Op responds to the needs and interests of our community by serving fresh and healthy food and other local and natural products for health and home. Access to quality foods directly relates to quality of life, and we must make feeding our bodies the best food possible a priority throughout our lives. The People’s Food Co-Op is a great place to find exciting and delicious ways to nourish our
bodies, stay connected to the community and support local business. They frequently offer cooking classes and are always looking for volunteers and new members of the collective. So stop by sometime this spring and see what fabulous foods catch your attention and make you feel great! Find the Co-Op at their convenient Downtown Location: People’s Food Co-Op 507 Harrison St. Kalamazoo, MI 49007 www.peoplesfoodco-op.org
What’s in Season this Spring? Look for root vegetables like parsnips and potatoes, rhubarb, asparagus, greens, and radishes starting in late April with other delicious treats like strawberries, onions, and peas joining the harvest in May!
Don’t Feel like Cooking for Yourself? Find great locally-owned restaurants serving Michigan favorites and the community in the Buy Local Greater Kalamazoo Guide at www.buylocalgreaterkalamazoo.com
Sarkozy Bakery is Open Again! The beloved bakery, which has been a fixture in Kalamazoo for over 25 years, burned down on Feb. 25, 2012. Their loyal customers refused to let the tragedy be the end of the bakery though, and the Kalamazoo community rallied in support of the bakery’s recovery. Since 2012, the community raised more than $80,000 to help it reopen. With the help of a generous loan package from the city of Kalamazoo, the Small Business Association, and Keystone Bank totaling $270,000, the bakery has successfully returned to provide Kalamazoo with the delicious, high-quality bread we’ve treasured for so long.
Now is the time to visit the bakery at its new location in the Columbia Building on East Michigan Avenue.The shop is open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. So head on over, fill your basket with delicious baked goods and show your support for this local favorite! Find them at 350 East Michigan Avenue in Kalamazoo, online at sarkozybakery.com or give them a call at (269)342-1952.
physical fitness a reality for our community members. The Coover Senior Center and the YMCA offer weekly classes aimed at keeping older adults fit and mobile in a safe and supportive environment, and they’re a lot of fun. Try something new like the relaxing, meditative movements of tai chi at
YMCA of Greater Kalamazoo www.kzooymca.org/adult-active-olderadults-classes (269) 324-9622 (Portage Branch) (269) 345-9622 (Maple Brach) (269) 321-8385 (Y Arts Center) Coover Center (Senior Services SW Michigan) www.seniorservices1.org/cooverencenterp-
age.htm (look for the calendar of events to see all the classes and activities!) (269) 382-0515 Red Arrow Golf Course 1041 King Hwy, Kalamazoo, MI 49001 (269) 492-7800
Staying Sharp at the Academy of Lifelong Learning “What can we do to keep relatively mentally and physically able, if not sharp? Use it or lose it is ordinary advice. Practicing mental agility by reading free books and/or magazines from public libraries and doing number and/or word puzzles are obvious. Participating with others in small discussion groups has several benefits: listening to others and mentally building a list of responses; tracking others’ responses and crossing off those items you might have made to focus on your distinctively different contributions; taking pleasure in going home with new topics/rationales/events to think about. No group near you? Start one.” – Suggestions from one Kalamazoo Senior committed to staying mentally sharp and connected to the community. Looking for another great way to flex those mental muscles? Head to Kalamazoo’s own Academy of Lifelong Learning! The A.L.L. offered through Western Michigan University, hosts fun, exciting, and
engaging classes for older adults. The focus is on learning: “there are no educational requirements for membership, tests, grades, or academic credits—just learning for the joy of it,” and there are several ways to get involved. This spring, A.L.L. is offering 29 courses ranging from discussions of English literature to seafaring and sociology. Classes are also taught by members of the community, so it’s a great way to meet people with common interests and exciting areas of expertise. To register for a class, become a member, or just to learn more, find The Academy of Lifelong Learning online at wmich.edu/offcampus/lifelong or call (269) 387-4200. One Learner’s Testimony: “‘Learning never exhausts the mind.’ (Leonardo da Vinci) As I used to say to all of my students 30 plus years ago – ‘I always ask myself before I go to bed, what have I learned new today?’ This is a question we all should ask as we grow older.
“A relatively new organization in Kalamazoo, The Academy for Lifelong Learning, helps answer this question for our 500 plus members. The Academy offers over 25 short classes for “mature” adults in both the winter/spring sessions and 12 or so in the summer. We were initiated by members of the WMU Emeriti Council to provide intellectual and cultural learning experiences for adults, both informal and stimulating. We now have over 500 members and several hundred others who take our classes. And we are run by volunteers. “Lifelong learning classes are short – two to six hours generally – and there is no homework and no tests. Just interesting, enlightening and valuable information. ‘Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.’ Albert Einstein” –Ron Crowell, Co-chair of Curriculum Committee
Community Jon Hoadley with Sarkozy Bakery owner Judy Sarkozy at their re-opening event on March 22, 2014.
Physical Fitness Opportunites Bodies in motion stay in motion, and spring is the perfect time to get those bodies moving! Staying active is one of the best things we can do for our health at any age, but for some people, getting active can be a bit intimidating. However, lots of local organizations are committed to making
Kalamazoo’s Red Arrow Golf Course, where you can walk nine holes on mostly flat or gentle slopes or get in the game with a friend or a volunteer mentor. Also, don’t forget to take advantage of Kalamazoo’s great public parks, natural areas and vibrant downtown—one of the easiest ways to keep moving is just to walk! Let the new season inspire you to liven up your routine, get outside, into the community, and move!
the Coover Senior Center, or spice things up with an exciting Zumba dance class at The Y. If you are concerned with general mobility, Kalamazoo Senior Services offers classes in balance and fall prevention at little to no cost. As it warms up outside, you can also head to a public facility like
Know Your Advocates!
Updates from the Kalamazoo County Advocates for Senior Issues The Kalamazoo County Advocates for Senior Issues (KCASI) is a nonprofit organization sponsored by the Area Agency on Aging whose purpose is to advocate as a non-partisan group for the improvement of conditions affecting the lives of older adults and future generations. This season, they are addressing some very important topics for local seniors including the need to restore state funding for the Michigan Office of Service to the Aging Programs, support for
the creation of state or national elder abuse legislation, changes to business and personal property tax laws, and the proper distribution of state surplus funds. Recently, they have also begun advocating for the creation of a county-wide senior millage to fund senior events and services in the area. If you’re looking to learn more about these and similar topics, KCASI meetings take place the third Monday of each month
(except January, July and December) at Senior Services’ Coover Center, 918 Jasper Street, Kalamazoo. Meetings begin at 1:15 p.m. for refreshments and networking; announcements and program begin at 1:30 p.m. All are welcome.
For more information and detailed meeting schedules, visit www.kalcounty.com/aaa/ kcasimeetings.html or call (269) 3735147.
Spring in Kzoo Why I stay involved We recently launched a website called Fix MI Potholes in response to our crumbling roads and the lack of funding to maintain and repair them. FixMIPotholes.com allows folks to sign a petition urging legislators to prioritize road funding to make sure our roads and bridges are safe. Residents can submit their own pothole pictures, which will be posted to the website. They can also learn facts about just how bad road funding is in Michigan. Here are a few road funding facts: • Michigan has the lowest per capita investment in infrastructure in the country. This means we’re spending the least amount per person on our roads in the entire country, and it shows.
• The average Michigan resident pays $357 annually in unnecessary repairs to their vehicles due to road conditions. • Although the legislature is talking about a one-time investment in roads, it will not make up for the more than $11 billion in deferred maintenance our roads need. Over 300 people have signed the petition to reinvest in Michigan’s infrastructure. To sign the petition or submit your own picture, please visit www.FixMIPotholes. com.
“I stay active in the Kalamazoo community because I believe in and love this city and its people. Since we moved here 48 years ago, I have seen changes that have made our city improve, and I still believe we can work together to elect progressive candidates that will help make Kalamazoo a city that will be a good place to live for all its citizens! As long as I am able, I will work for economic and social justice in Kalamazoo and Michigan.” -Nancy Crowell
State Representative Candidate JON B. HOADLEY 60th District 2720 Parkview Ave. Kalamazoo, MI 49008 Phone: (269)447-1175 E-Mail: HoadleyforRep@gmail.com
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Community Newsletter From the Desk of Jon Hoadley Mr. John Doe 12345 Nowhere Street Lansing, MI 48823
Spring 2014
Paid for by Friends of Jon Hoadley 2720 Parkview Ave. Kalamazoo, MI 49008