The Friday Letter | June 8, 2018

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Accounting Tip for the week: When making a procurement card purchase online, please make sure that the company is located and/ or ships merchandise from within the United States.

Nature Preserve & Natural Resources The Broad-Headed Skink: A New Lizard for the List!

There has been a new addition to the Mecklenburg County reptile list. The Broad-headed Skink (Plestiodon laticeps) has been documented in surrounding counties and was expected to occur within the County, but has never been officially documented here, until now. Almost identical in appearance to the Fivelined Skink (Plestiodon fasciatus) and Southeastern Five-lined Skink (Plestiodon inexpectatus), the Broad-headed Skink can sometimes be separated from the other two species by size, but there is much overlap between all three species.

In early May, Natural Resources staff took a photo of an unusually large fivelined skink at Reedy Creek Nature Preserve that was thought to be a Broadheaded Skink. In the photo, the scalation (arrangement of scales) on the mouth of the skink also appeared correct for Broad-headed Skink. Unfortunately, the scalation on the underside of the tail would need to be seen to officially separate it from the other two species. This would require catching a skink and looking at these features while it was in the hand, a challenging task considering the speed and stealth of the skinks.

As luck would have it, a somewhat large skink was caught two weeks later by Laura Domingo, an Environmental Educator at Reedy Creek Nature Center.

After review of the scalation on both the mouth and underside of the tail, it was confirmed to be a Broad-headed Skink. With this species joining the two species of five-lined skinks, as well as the small Ground Skink (Scincella lateralis) on our County list, we can now be proud to call ourselves a four skink County!

Nature Preserve & Natural Resources

Community & Recreation Centers Shamrock Senior Center: Indian Sand Painting Arts and crafts are a fun and popular activity around Shamrock. Our seniors enjoy showing off their craft skills through more than just drawing and coloring.

Last week some of our Latino seniors had the opportunity to create Indian sand paintings. Sand painting is the art of pouring colored sand and powered pigments from minerals or crystals onto a surface to make a fixed, or unfixed sand painting. Sand paintings have a long cultural history around the globe, usually prepared for religious or healing ceremonies. Our seniors were provided with a simple landscape design, but were encouraged to use as much creativity as they wanted. Their artwork turned out magnificent and gave our participants an awesome art project for the week.

For more information about upcoming programs and events, contact us at 704531-9101, or at ShamrcokSeniorCenter@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov.

Community & Recreation Centers Berewick Recreation Center: Afterschool Garden Club Over the past 2 months, 28 participants from grades 2nd to 5th at the Berewick Elementary School have been attending a Garden Club. As a joint program, with CMS Media Specialist Meagan Humphrey and Recreation Specialist Cara Helfer, they have put together an afterschool program that is a hobby of theirs they both enjoy. The children have been busy not just learning about gardening, but also how to care for the plants, making sure they grow properly by taking home seeds of green beans and snow peas to grow. They made Mother’s day flower pots with Marigold seeds to flower & grow. Painted vegetable markers for the garden and placed them where certain veggies are growing. They even were able to harvest & try the fresh purple peppers, fennel, and radishes that are growing in the garden. A special Thank You goes to Ken and Willie from the Horticulture Department for discussing bees, pollination and beekeeping to the Garden Club participants.

For more information about our youth programs at Berewick, call us at 980-314-1102 or email BerewickRecreationCenter@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov.

Community & Recreation Centers Elon Recreation Center: Indoor Fun Soccer Awards With our 8u Indoor Fun Soccer team going into the playoffs, the team wanted to celebrate their success of the season early. Coach Shiva had many nice things to say about the athletes. He was especially proud of how much the players improved their soccer skills during the course of the season. After receiving their trophies, the players presented coach with a trophy. However, the most heartwarming part of this ceremony, was when Coach Shiva recognized his father as the true coach. “If it weren’t for this man, I would not be where I am today,” Shiva stated. After the ceremony athletes and parents got a chance to bond over games and treats.

For more information on our Indoor Fun Soccer program or other programs at Elon Recreation Center, please contact us by calling (980) 314-1103 or email us at ElonRecreationCenter@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov.

Community & Recreation Centers Bette Rae Thomas Recreation Center: The Breckle’s The staff at Bette Rae Thomas Rec. Center congratulates Seniors Mr. & Mrs. Ralph & Estela Breckle, who were participants in this year’s Senior Games events. Both participants medaled in events such as Corn Hole, Bocce, Softball Throw and in the Silver Arts program. The Breckles are long time participants at the Bette Rae Thomas Recreation Center in many of its Senior based programs.

For more information about our programs and activities contact us at BetteRaeThomasRecreationCenter@MecklenburgCOuntyNC.gov or 980.314.111.

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Community & Recreation Centers Bette Rae Thomas Recreation Center: Sports Marathon Day With school closed on May 16, 2018 Bette Rae Thomas Recreation Center hosted a Sports Marathon Day for children ages 5-12. Participants enjoyed a day of playing multiple classic favorites such as basketball, baseball, soccer, and volleyball. Many learned how to play kickball for the first time. The highlight of the day was a very competitive game of handball.

For more information on programs and activities offered at Bette Rae Thomas: BetteRaeThomasRecreationCenter@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov or call 980-314-1111.

Community & Recreation Centers Senior Centers: Lake Norman Senior Fun & Fitness Day The North Meck Senior Center hosted their annual Senior Fun & Fitness Day called Health-Opoly: Make Your Move! at Jetton Park on the shores of Lake Norman with support from Tyvola Senior Center, Shamrock Senior Center, and Mallard Creek Recreation Center and the Parks & Recreation Departments from Huntersville, Cornelius & Davidson. Attendees enjoyed guided nature walks by the lake and formal gardens, and lawn games including Cornhole, Ladder Ball, and Minute to Win It Competitions. A photo booth & selfie station with game themed props & costumes was a big hit! Exhibitors represented a wide array of senior service providers. Participants received a game card to “keep score� as they visited each booth, and once completed, the cards were turned in to be drawn for a door prize. Everyone loves a chance to act like a kid again, and the board game theme of the event had everyone engaged.

For more information about programs at the North Meck Senior Center contact northmeckseniorcenter@mecklenburgcountync.gov

Community & Recreation Centers Wallace Pruitt Recreation Center: Clayworks Saturday May 26 2017, Wallace Pruitt hosted a Clayworks workshop. With over 40 people in attendance, the program was a major success. Children as well as parents were able to design their own mask out of clay. Clayworks offers specialized workshops as a part of Culture Blocks. Clayworks has established relationships with a number of groups and organizations that collaborate on outreach-based programs. The result of its outreach is a broader base of enthusiasm for the ceramic arts in Charlotte, and ultimately, an increase in the selfconfidence, motivation, and creative skill of its participants.

For more information about our programs contact Wallace Pruitt Recreation Center at 980-314-1114 or email at WallacePruittRecreationCenter@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov

Community & Recreation Centers Therapeutic and Inclusive Recreation Services: Goalball Paralympic Sport Club Metrolina has a new Goalball program. Goalball is a sport specifically for people who are blind or have visual impairments. Every player wears blackout goggles to ensure equality. They practice skills such as diving to block a ball that is pitched at them and then slinging it back to the other team.

The group has improved tremendously over the past 6 weeks and are asking about when they can play in tournaments! Shout out to Bryan Joyner at Grady Cole Center for hosting our program on short notice!

Stacey.Thomas@MeckNC.Gov

Community & Recreation Centers Hickory Grove Recreation Center - Character Parties has Field Day! Every Thursday for the past school year at the Hickory Grove Recreation we’ve had our little friends from the Hickory Grove Pre-School to come and visit us for our fun Character parties. After learning things such as buildings, clothes and ball study, we had to end our school year out with lots of fun! So we had a huge field day for all the Pre-K classes. Check out our different crazy fun station we did last Friday on a beautiful hot Friday in the pictures below. We had a Duck Duck Goose station, Jump the Creek station, Crazy Chalk station and incorporated a Limbo station as well! Our little friends really enjoyed playing all the games. We are definitely proud of our Pre-School students as they graduate and go onto Kindergarten! Best of luck!

We are looking forward to be welcoming the new class of pre-k students for the upcoming school year. For more information, please contact the Hickory Grove Recreation Center at 980-314-1122 or send us an email at HickoryGroveRecreationCenter@MecklenburgCountyNC.Gov And don’t forget to check out www.ParkAndRec.com for other more fun activities county wide.

Community & Recreation Centers Ivory/Baker Recreation Center: Seniors See Charlotte!

Members from the District 8 Senior Rockers Group recently embarked on a trip to the Billy Graham Library. Participants on this trip thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship and exercise they received from actively viewing the displays within the walls of the library as a group.

For more information about our programs, please call 980-314-1112 or email: IvoryBakerRecreationCenter@MeckNC.Gov.

Community & Recreation Centers Mallard Creek’s Pollinators in Full Bloom The Mallard Creek Recreation Center is buzzin’ with pollinators! With the plethora of rain and sunshine, our center has become the perfect environment for pollination! Pictured below are a squash blossom and a Black-eyed Susan both with bees gathering some pollen. The bees do so by stuffing the pollen into hairy receptacles on their hind legs called corbiculae. An interesting fact- a single bee can carry about half its own weight in pollen! The work does not end here, the bees later have to unload the pollen themselves by depositing and grooming off any pollen that may have stuck to their bodies. We love our busy bees and all the pollinating they do!

For more information about the Mallard Creek Recreation Center, please contact us at 980-314-1121 or MallardCreekRecreationCenter@MecklenburgCountyNC.Gov.

Community & Recreation Centers Albemarle Road Recreation Center: Indoor Soccer FUN Our young soccer stars have been practicing on a weekly basis, and their hard work has been rewarded by having fun with their peers on game day. For many of our participants this is their first structured athletic activity. Witnessing the improvements these youngsters have made from week to week has been exciting and a thrill to be a part of.

For more information about programs at Albemarle Road Recreation Center Contact 980-314-1101 or email AlbermarleRoadRecreationCenter@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov

Community & Recreation Centers Sugaw Creek Recreation Center: Volunteer Appreciation Party Sugaw Creek Recreation Center celebrated the end of the school year with a fun -filled party to honor the volunteers in the Garinger High School Vocational program who assisted with the Achieve 225 program at Hidden Valley Elementary.

The appreciation party consisted of a live DJ, basketball games, corn hole, pizza and other snacks.

For more information regarding outreach opportunities, events and programs at Sugaw Creek Recreation Center contact 980.314.1124 or email SugawCreekRecreationCenter@MeckNC.gov.

Sports & Fitness and GCC/ALMS Adult Kickball Friendship SportsPlex was the place to be on Saturday, June 2nd as Adult Sports held its 4th Annual Metrolina Kickball Classic. Half of the teams entered in the tournament represented high-level kickball leagues across Mecklenburg County. In the Championship Game, Charlotte’s Finest defeated MARS 1-0 to claim the crown. It was the second straight season the title game was won by a 1-0 score.

For more information on our Adult tournaments and leagues, visit www.parkandrec.com or connect with us by email at AdultSports@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov or by phone at (980) 314-1117.

Sports & Fitness and GCC/ALMS Volleyball Bash Over 50 teams across 6 men’s and women’s divisions will converge on Memorial Stadium for the Annual Volleyball Bash this Saturday, June 9th. Set in the backdrop of the city’s skyline, the V-Ball Bash attracts players far and wide across the Carolinas. Catch all the action beginning at 4pm.

For more information on our Adult tournaments and leagues, visit www.parkandrec.com or connect with us by email at AdultSports@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov or by phone at (980) 314-1117.

Sports & Fitness and GCC/ALMS Adult Basketball What time is it? It’s Playoff time! The regular season of the inaugural 3-on-3 Basketball League has ended with PCS finishing as the top seed in the Open division and Basket Brawlers as the No. 1 seed in the Co-Rec division. Now it’s anyone’s guess who will be crowned champion. The opening round games are on June 11th and the championship games are June 13th at Tuckaseegee Recreation Center.

For more information on our Adult leagues, visit www.parkandrec.com or connect with us by email at AdultSports@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov or by phone at (980) 314-1117.

5841 Brookshire Blvd.

Charlotte, NC 28216 (980) 314-1000

Recreate All Year!

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www.parkandrec.com Please submit all news for the Friday Letter to your Division Director for review and routing.

Park Partners may contact The Friday Letter Team at Richard . McNeill @MecklenburgCountyNC.gov for publication assistance.

The Friday Letter Volume 8 • Issue 21 • June 8, 2018

CHARMECK ALERTS The CharMeck Alerts Notification System relays accurate and timely emergency notifications. You control how you’re contacted— whether it’s on your cell, work or home phone, via text, email or voice message. You can receive up-to-the-minute notifications about events and emergencies that may affect your home, workplace or other points of interest—anywhere in Mecklenburg County. Sign up here or call CharMeck 311. To receive CDOT-specific alerts, you must sign up for that item in the list.

Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Senior Leadership Team Lee Jones, Director Vacant, Deputy Director Renea Barber, Human Resources Liz Morrell, Strategic Planning and Evaluation Lorraine Bias, Sr. Fiscal Administrator Vacant, Capital Planning Terri Stowers, Community and Recreation Center Services Peter Cook, Park Operations Chris Matthews, Nature Preserves and Natural Resources