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FARRAGUT
Vol. 5, No. 6 • February 7, 2011 • www.ShopperNewsNow.com • 10512 Lexington Drive, Suite 500 37932 • 218-WEST (9378) By Valorie Fister
W
hen 3-year-old Casen Maddux visited a team of West Knox and Farragut Lions recently, he left with more than just a sticker for good behavior. The Concord United Methodist Church preschooler and his schoolmates underwent a very quick eye test that detects vision problems early on. It’s a key step in preventing not only the need for eyeglasses or corrective surgery later in life. It’s used to stop blindness. “I had a grandmother tell me that her 5-year-old grandson was legally blind in one eye,” West Knox Lions Club President Jim McFarland recalls. “By the age of 8 or 9, he had 20/20 vision in both eyes.” McFarland went on to explain that if eye problems are caught in children before the age of 5, it’s very possible for eye specialists to correct vision with the use of eye patches and other measures. For more than 10 years, the local Lions Clubs have been visiting the CUMC preschool and other area day cares and learning centers to catch vision problems early. The service is completely free to parents and schools. “Every year we find a couple of children we refer to an eye doctor who are in need of care,” CUMC preschool co-director Pat Rapkowicz said. “It’s definitely worthwhile. “It’s a wonderful service. And it’s free. How many things can you say that about nowadays?” West Knox and Farragut Lions donate their time and collect funding for materials for these programs. Money is gathered from both personal donations and fundraising efforts.
West Knox Lions Club President Jim McFarland calls on another Concord United Methodist Church preschooler for an eye screen. Casen Maddux, 3, gets a sticker from Lion Ron Welch after completing his eye exam. Photo by Valorie Fister
Lions screen to
save preschoolers’ sight McFarland said portable machines called auto refractors are used to look inside the eyes. Readings are printed out and sent to the Tennessee Lion’s Eye Center at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital where they are analyzed and returned to teachers and parents. Each week, Lions arm themselves with this machinery and visit preschools and homes to check vision in the local community. In 1997, 980 children were screened through this KidSight
Outreach vision program. In 2010, more than 37,000 children were screened. “September was a record for the year,” McFarland said. “More people were aware of this. Day care centers started screening. They realized this is not a scam. When you say ‘free service,’ they can’t believe it’s free.” McFarland said he personally was interested in doing good for his community and enjoys leaving centers knowing every child pos-
sible was checked for good vision. Another section of the population the Lions would like to reach is at-home mothers. Local mothers are encouraged to contact the Lions Club or a local day care center to sign their children up for free screenings. All that’s needed is a permission slip. McFarland said Lions will screen if there is only one child or there are 100 children to test. Farragut Lions Club members Norvell and Kathy Burrow assist-
ed West Knox Lions and said they, too, are happy to serve. “Well, our motto is ‘We Serve,’ ” McFarland said. “This is one of our best sight conservation programs. I’m elated knowing every one of those kids passed the screen, and I’m just as elated walking out when we’ve found one child in need.” The Lions Club encourages all day care centers to take advantage of this free community service. Call 690-2557 or your local Lions Club for information.
Donna Young drives greenway expansion By Betty Bean
Townsend, the director, agreed that we could go through Ijams. That happened because of her. Donna’s been a real credit to the city and greenway development.” Young worked closely with former mayor Victor Ashe, whose parks and recreation chief Sam Anderson hired her. Ashe is proud of her successes. “I may be the only Republican Donna ever placed a bumper sticker for and I love her for it. She is dedicated. She is passionate. She lives, eats and breathes greenways. She could drive some city higher-ups nuts in the pursuit of more greenways, but I was always thankful she was there and worked hard each day to make my vision of connecting greenways across Knoxville a reality.” When asked if she has a biggest failure, Young doesn’t hesitate: “Fort Dickerson. I’m still sad that we couldn’t put a greenway around that beautiful park. We spent more money dynamiting the back of the Gateway Center (in the city-owned space near Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse), where they put in fake rock. I hate fake rock.” Young almost got fired from the U.S. Forest Service for complaining about fake rock in the Ocoee River prior to the Olympics. “It was the first time they’d put a course on a natural river, and we didn’t want
When Donna Young came to Knoxville in 1994, the city had fewer than five miles of greenways. This year, as she prepares to retire as greenways coordinator, Knoxville boasts 50 miles of trails, all of which are paved except the one down the middle of Cherokee Boulevard. Young has met and exceeded all but one of her ambitious goals. Her vaulting aspirations are limitless and unquenchable and stretch like the trail she hopes will one day run from here to the Smokies and beyond. When asked to name her proudest achievement, she thinks a quick minute and then answers with no hesitation: “My two goals when I started the job, and they were arbitrary, were to complete 50 miles of greenways and to create connections. The Project for Public Spaces says there’s only one city, and that’s in Colorado, that started with parks in disparate places and worked from the outside-in, like we have done.” Will Skelton credits Young with being “the consistent face of greenways development in the city. If you met her in a grocery store, she would start talking to you about greenways. She was also really good at the visionary thing – the best example of that is the Forks of the River to Ijams Wildlife Management Center. She suggested that and Bo
“They had to send him back on another ship and tow the hulk of the USS Aaron Ward back to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which was an odd coincidence since our family’s farm was located there.” She counts Humphrey Bogart and Michael Douglas among the distant relatives. Young grew up near Atlanta and attended a Waldorf school where she learned “to view the world through art and nature. And kindness. Always kindness.” That reminds her of another failure: “Not connecting East Knoxville across the South Knoxville Bridge. TDOT wouldn’t allow it.” When Young moved to Knoxville, her daughter, Cameron Broome, now 29, was a student at Bearden Middle School. Young says she’s never regretted settling here. “I’m totally grateful to Victor Donna Young volunteers at Knoxville Green’s free bulb giveaway. Photo by S. Clark Ashe, who gave me my job and inspired me with his America Outany fake rock in there. But we had fine arts from UT and a master’s in doors experience. And Will Skelton to compromise with those SOBs and landscape architecture from UGA, was a great influence. He had this let them put fake rock underneath she long ago fell in love with the great idea – ‘Let’s put a greenway and real rock on top.” work of Frederick Law Olmsted, in every part of the city, then we’ll She jumped topics: “When I whose most famous work was New connect them.’ ” retire, don’t name anything after York’s Central Park. In retirement, look for Young me. Spend the money on putting a Young was born in Long Beach, in green politics. “A friend said greenway around the quarry. All the Calif., June 19, 1945, and went un- to me years ago that I have three way around it.” named for two weeks until her fa- agendas: education, environment A one-time college professor with ther returned from the war after his and taking care of those less fora bachelor’s in fine arts from the ship was sunk by a kamikaze attack tunate than myself. Those are my University of Georgia, a master’s in off the coast of Okinawa. credos.”
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