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MAGAZINE

TOWNE POST NETWORK, INC. AVON MAGAZINE FRANCHISE PUBLISHER Darren Boston

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A NEED FOR SPEED: AVON RACECAR DRIVER IS ON THE FAST TRACK

Valerie Randall

While most of her 8-year-old peers were riding bikes and jumping rope, Makala Marks was test-driving her first go-kart. From the moment her hands touched the steering wheel, she felt right at home. The passion didn’t surprise her mom, Nikki, who knew from the get-go that she had a little daredevil on her hands.

EDITORIAL MANAGER Josh Brown

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MAY WRITERS

Carrie Petty / Christy Heitger-Ewing Jon Shoulders / Seth Johnson Melissa Gibson

MAY PHOTOGRAPHERS

Brian Brosmer / Chris Jones, IMS PHOTO Picture This Photography / Ron Wise

SHOP LOCAL!

8 Business Spotlight: Frazee Gardens 37 Before You Start Another Fitness Challenge 13 Get Back From Back Pain 38 Search for History: Local Couple 15 Business Spotlight: Visits Presidential Grave Sites Dawson Family Dentistry 40 From Grief to Giving Back: Jamie 16 May Crossword Puzzle 19 A Need for Speed: Avon Racecar Driver Is On the Fast Track

25 Building Leaders: The Boy Scouts of America Grows & Transforms Lives

30 Through the Lens: Roberts Camera Celebrates 60 Years in Business

32 Business Spotlight: Service Plus 35 April Showers Really Do Bring

Turner Honors Son’s Legacy by Altruistically Donating a Kidney

43 Wood 2 Wow: Local Couple Builds Custom-Made Wooden Creations

47 Waiving the Green Flag: Avon

Resident Talks Being the Starter at the Indianapolis 500

Help our local economy by shopping local. Advertising supporters of the Avon Magazine offset the costs of publication and mailing, keeping this publication FREE. Show your appreciation by thanking them with your business. BUSINESS SPOTLIGHTS ARE SPONSORED CONTENT

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For Advertising, Contact Darren Boston Darren@AvonMagazine.com / 317-716-8812

61 Business Spotlight: Brain Balance Center of Plainfield

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FRAZEE GARDENS 3480 N State Road 267 Brownsburg, IN 46112 317-858-8440 frazeegardens.com

Writer / Christy Heitger-Ewing

that are bursting with fragrance and color.

“This is our happy place,” says Lisa Frazee, who owns Frazee Gardens with her husband Greg. Each day, the couple spreads that happiness to their customers, who, after enduring a long, grey Indiana winter are eager to tour the garden center’s bountiful and beautiful flowers and trees

Frazee Gardens, which is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this month, is special in so many ways.

Hendricks County,” Greg says. They also have herbs and vegetables so that folks can grow their own foods at home — whether it’s container gardening or traditional gardening.

“People like that we grow the vast majority of our annuals, perennials and shade, ornamental and fruit trees right here in

“The younger generation, in particular, is really into growing their own food,” Lisa says.

8 / AVON MAGAZINE / MAY 2018 / AvonMagazine.com

Lisa and Greg Frazee have grown Frazee Gradens from the ground up and this May, the retail garden center celebrates 10 years in business.

In addition, they provide landscape design and architectural services, including hardscapes and patios, fire pits, pergolas, and all aspects of outdoor living. Frazee Gardens grew from the success of Brownsburg Landscape, which Greg and Lisa founded in 1987. Soon thereafter, the idea to add a retail garden center began

to turn into reality. In 2008, they opened Frazee Gardens which includes a gift shop and boutique that boasts a distinctive selection of clothing, furniture, jewelry, books, wall art, and home decoration. Many of the paintings are done by Lisa herself. Not only is she a talented painter but she also sells artistic creations that are hard to find elsewhere. AvonMagazine.com / MAY 2018 / AVON MAGAZINE / 9

“We sell a lot unique items that customers don’t always find at other garden centers,” Lisa says. “I love when people come in to buy a plant or flowers and also leave with a new shirt or piece of art.” Customers will never get bored with inventory as the owners constantly switch things up.

“Each season comes with a facelift,” Lisa adds.

maintenance and care of the plants, flowers, and lawn at your home.

"We take pride in the quality and selection of our plants and trees," says Greg. "You may see something at a big box store that is flowering at that time, but they can't compete the quality, variety and year-round selection we provide. Not to mention the unique items in the gift shop."

Frazee Gardens also offers a variety of events specifically for kids, which are typically scheduled during school breaks. These events allow kids – and kids at heart – to use their imaginations while creating something fun and unique. Some of the most popular kids events include creating their own Fairy Garden or planting seeds in an ice cream cone that they can then bury in the ground at home and watch grow.

The garden center offers a range of workshops throughout the year, with spring and summer workshops offered every couple of weeks. Some of the most popular workshops include things like creating a custom container with seasonal plants and flowers or creating a centerpiece to decorate for the holidays. There are also classes designed to provide tips for the

Whether coming in to shop, participate in a workshop, or just get ideas, you are always welcome to browse the store while enjoying a cup of coffee or a bag of popcorn. “People appreciate those little things,

10 / AVON MAGAZINE / MAY 2018 / AvonMagazine.com

and we appreciate our customers—many of which we’ve been proud to serve for decades going back to when we founded Brownsburg Landscape,” Lisa says. The same is true of their valued, dedicated team of employees. This family-owned business has always cared deeply about the community. Through the years they have participated in, and hosted, a number of special events that benefitted charitable organizations in the community. Come out to Frazee Gardens, located at 3480 N. SR 267 in Brownsburg, and make it your happy place, too. To learn more, visit frazeegardens.com., email them at info@ frazeegardens.net, or call 317-858-8440.

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Perhaps your back hurts first thing each morning, every time you play golf, or only after you lift something heavy. You’re not alone. In fact, approximately 80 percent of Americans will experience back problems at some point during their lifetime. Dr. Nathan Prahlow, physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist at the Indiana University Health West Hospital Spine Center, offers these tips for alleviating back pain. “Back pain can be caused by age, arthritis, weight gain, or poor posture,” Dr. Prahlow says. “There are many common causes of back pain, and it’s not always easy to identify the root cause.” Here’s the good news: exercise can help. Exercise is a great way to prevent and treat back pain. Strong muscles stabilize your spine when you move and can prevent injury and pain. What kind of exercise is most helpful? That depends on what you enjoy. If you enjoy an activity, you’re more likely to stick with it. “If you have severe back pain or if you’re recovering from back surgery, avoid high-impact activities or activities that place stress on

the lower back,” Dr. Prahlow says. “It’s important to make sure your heart is up to the task before exercising, so remember to talk with your doctor to find a routine that will work best for you.” Stretching is also important. Just like weak muscles can lead to pain, tight muscles can place pressure on the spine and lead to injury. Your spine supports your entire body, so when stretching, be sure to target the whole body. If you aren’t sure where to start, talk with your doctor about stretches that may help. In addition to exercise, it’s helpful to treat pain with heat or ice. But when should you use heat and when should you use ice? “Many patients prefer heat for chronic back pain,” Dr. Prahlow says. “Ice is best for the first three days, but after that, you can use the one you like the best. Remember not to fall asleep on a heating pad, and don’t use ice directly on your skin.” A little soreness might be common, especially if you notice it after exercising. However, if back pain continues despite rest, or if it seems to be spreading, that may indicate a more serious problem. Speak with your doctor if you notice any of these signs.

MAY 2018 / AVON/PLAINFIELD MAGAZINE

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DAWSON FAMILY DENTISTRY 1669 East Main St. Danville, IN 46122 317-745-5173 daytondawsondds.com

Writer / Christy Heitger-Ewing

After graduating from Indiana University’s School of Dentistry in 2007, Dayton Dawson began practicing dentistry.In 2010 Dawson, DDS, purchased his childhood dental practice in Danville from Dr. Ted Huppert. In 2017, Holly Bradford, DMD, joined the team. Both Dr. Dawson and Dr. Bradford were longtime patients of Dr. Huppert. It felt good to buy a practice that had such a cohesive hometown feel. One of the hygienists has been there since 1978!

Such services include veneers, dentures, extractions, teeth whitening, oral cancer exams, 3D x-rays, biopsies, bonding/ white filling, dental implants, root canals, periodontal treatment, and Invisalign (an alternative to wire braces that uses transparent, incremental aligners to adjust teeth). Their state-of-the-art equipment enables them to create same-day crowns “She’s spent 40 years at this same practice, which is pretty special,” says Dawson, noting and bridges. In many practices, such procedures require two appointments, that most of the staff also worked for Dr. Huppert. That’s why it feels like family, and spaced several weeks apart. The practice also makes snoring and sleep apnea why family is so important to everyone at appliances for patients. Dawson Family Dentistry. “We have a family that has 13 children and we dedicate an entire afternoon to them

“We’ve had patients diagnosed with sleep apnea who didn’t want to use a CPAP

lymph nodes and checking the thyroid,” Dawson says. “We’ve actually found a decent number of thyroid issues by performing this exam.” Where most dental practices focus on teeth and gums, Dawson Family Dentistry looks at everything the mouth is attached to. And thank goodness they do. A few years ago, Dawson found a few lumps in the thyroid of two separate teenage girls. Their parents took them to the doctor where cancerous cells were detected. “A cavity is a cavity, but cancer can kill you,” says Dawson, noting the importance of looking for pathologies intra and extra orally during an exam. Typically, patients don’t go to their general physicians as often as they go to the dentist so this screening is especially important.

so that the mom can avoid having to make multiple trips,” Dawson says. Over time, the practice has transitioned to provide more technologically advanced treatment options. “Even though we’re a general practice, we offer a wide variety of oral health care services,” Dawson says.

machine or didn’t want to travel with the bulky device so they opted to use the practice’s sleep apnea appliance instead,” Dawson adds. Perhaps most unique, however, is the complete head and neck exam both dentists perform on their patients. “We run up and down the neck, feeling MAY 2018 / AVON/PLAINFIELD MAGAZINE

The practice accepts most insurance, which is one reason Dawson Family Dentistry was ranked Best in Hendricks County two years in a row by the “Hendricks County Flyer.” Another reason is that they are involved in the community, sponsoring the Kiwanis Club, sponsoring little league and working closely with Hope Healthcare Services. The office is open Monday-Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Appointments can be made by visiting daytondawsondds.com. For more information, call 317-745-5173.

MAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE Football Presented by Park/ Square Manor Manor Presenter Park Square ACROSS 1. Act the mendicant 4. Boys, to Burns 8. A bit loopy 12. Questionnaire datum 13.1."American ___" BACKFIELD 14. Sole 2. BLITZ 15. Also 3. Whirling BLOCKER 16. water 17. 4. Desist CENTER 18. up 5. Dug CHAINS 20. Hose hue 6. CHALLENGE 21. Particular, for short 7. "Concentration" DEFENSE 23. puzzle 8. DOWN 25. Modify 27. informally 9. Toupee, END ZONE 28. now POINT or never 10.___ EXTRA 31. Passage preventer 11. FACEMASK 33. Van Morrison classic 12.Snoop FALSE START 35. 13.Dash FIELD GOAL 36. 38. ___ Court 14.London's FORMATION 39. 15.Kathmandu FUMBLE country 41. Friends and neighbors 16. GAIN 42. Extinct flock 17.Celebrity GOALPOSTS 45. ribfest 18.Superior HALFTIME 47. to 48. 19.Deck HANDOFF 49. site, perhaps 20.Chalet HELMET 52. Club 21. INCOMPLETE PASS 53. "Take this!" 22.Born INTERCEPTION 54. in France? 23.Bounds KICKOFF 55. 56. Lost" setting 24."Paradise LINESMAN 57. 25.Bonus LOSSfor waiting

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35. REFEREE

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Writer / Christy Heitger-Ewing Photography provided by Picture This Photography & Denny Scott

Makala with her father, Scott Marks

hile most of her 8-year-old peers were riding bikes and jumping rope, Makala Marks was test-driving her first gokart. From the moment her hands touched the steering wheel, she felt right at home. The passion didn’t surprise her mom, Nikki, who knew from the get-go that she had a little daredevil on her hands. “She’s always loved anything fast and dangerous,” says Nikki, recalling the time that Makala was 4 years old and tried jumping her electric scooter over a six-foot snow drift. Thankfully, she landed at the top and got stuck so no bones were broken. The adrenaline junkie found her calling, however, with go-kart racing. By age 9, she was racing competitively, running in the Southern Indiana Racing Association (SIRA) where she won two championships — the first when she was just 10.

“I’ll never forget the smile on her face as she Motorsports Park. There she practices on walked around with a trophy that was bigger race simulators where she can pick the track she’s going to be racing and practice than she was,” Nikki says. a simulation on that specific track. Though the simulations are helpful, adjusting to realThen there was the race when she started life track conditions, which are constantly dead last and ended up winning. But shifting, is a true challenge. there have been lows as well. During one intense street race when Makala was 9, “I can practice on a Saturday and have her car flipped and the impact ripped off everything figured out, but Sunday if the her helmet. As a result, her face hit the pavement. That wipeout, which totaled her wind shifts slightly or the temperature is two kart, sent her to the hospital with a gash on degrees different, that changes everything,” Makala says. her forehead and two black eyes. “I was like, ‘Okay, maybe we should take a break from racing,’” Nikki says. But Makala had no intention of quitting. In fact, the following weekend, despite one eye being swollen shut, she headed to the track.

New Castle offers tough competition and a big group of racers (on any given weekend, 20-30 kids race in Makala’s class alone). Such stiff competition, however, sharpens skills.

“I told my parents I only needed one eye to race,” says Makala, who for the past two years has practiced karting at New Castle

“The medals she got from Kart Racers of America could fill up two shadow boxes,” Nikki says.

AVON/PLAINFIELD MAGAZINE / MAY 2018

Though Makala loved karting, the family couldn’t afford for her to continue the sport competitively. “With go karts, you need new tires every weekend,” Nikki says. “And some kids refresh motors after every race.” At 13, Makala traveled to Palm Beach, Florida, to attend the Lucas Oil School of Racing (she won a scholarship to attend

the school). There she was the only girl and youngest student in her class (other participants ranged from 17 to 60). Though Makala performed beautifully, it was hard for Nikki to watch the first time her 13-year-old got strapped into a racecar. “I was used to seeing her in a kart,” Nikki says. “Knowing what a full-blown racecar is capable of is a totally different story.” Makala received her Sports Car Club of

America (SCCA) novice license at 14. Last year she ran in the Yamaha Junior, which is for 12- to 15-year-olds. Makala turns 16 on May 10 so she’ll now move to the senior class. In addition, this year she’ll participate in Formula Vee with Wasserman Racing in the Challenge Cup Series, a series that involves six races — the first of which will take place this month in Canada. She’s also been invited to participate in the Brazilian Formula Vee.

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Though Makala suffered several serious setbacks following her fall —including seizures and migraines — she made a remarkable recovery and ever since has approached life full-throttle.

Often when Makala races, she’s the only female on the track. Her dominating spirit has more than once crushed the male ego. “Boys definitely don’t like getting beaten by girls,” Makala says. “Actually, the fathers usually have a bigger problem with it than their sons,” adds Nikki, though she’s quick to admit that she feels better about her daughter being out on a racetrack with skilled drivers than being on the interstate with distracted ones. Makala, for one, is laser focused. She knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to go for it. It’s an attitude that has flourished since suffering a near-fatal accident when she was just 4 years old. It was a rainy September day when Makala and her cousin were goofing around, jumping on the bed near an open window. One bounce caused her to fly backward, hitting the window screen, which popped

“Racing is in my blood. It has come naturally to me from day one,” says Makala, whose dad, Scott, is a crew chief at Andretti Autosport. As a result, Makala has already attended the Indianapolis 500 many times. She’s also been fortunate enough to receive coaching tips out. In an instant, Makala fell out the from several pros, including Pippa Mann, second-story window, smacking hard on Marco Andretti, Leah Pritchett, James the deck below. Knocked unconscious, Hinchcliffe, and Alexander Rossi (who won blood trickled from her mouth from having the Indy 500 in 2016 as a rookie). bitten her tongue. She suffered no broken bones, but that was only because her head Should her dream of becoming an Indy had sustained the brunt of her fall. As a car champion not work out, she has a result, she suffered swelling on the brain backup plan. and a fractured skull. “I want to work with newborns,” Makala says. Placed on life support, doctors were not optimistic about her chance of survival. It comes as no surprise to her mom, who says After three days, the neurosurgeon her daughter has been obsessed with babies delivered devastating news. He explained ever since she was practically one herself. that due to intense swelling, they needed to drill a hole in Makala’s skull to release “When she was little, she would wander off the pressure, then insert a device to check in search of babies,” Nikki says. for brain activity. But then something miraculous occurred. Makala opened As unique as Makala is, she shares one her eyes and uttered the words, “I want a universal feeling with teens everywhere: Reese’s Cup.” she’s itching to get her driver’s license so she no longer has to ride the bus. “Ever since then, I eat a Reese’s Cup before every race,” Makala says. “It’s my good luck “I get my permit in August,” Makala says. tradition.” “I’m so excited.”

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THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA GROWS & TRANSFORMS LIVES Writer / Christy Heitger-Ewing

Charles Coffelt first joined the Boy Scouts when he was in first grade. He continued through the program, earning his Eagle Scout as a sophomore. Now he’s a leader with Boy Scout Troop 308 and Cub Scout Pack 429. With sons in both programs, Coffelt is passionate about sharing the scouting life and passing along the skills and values he learned through the years. “I really believe the program helped me mature into the man I am today, and my fervent hope is that all four of my young boys will have a similar experience as they grow into men,” says Coffelt, noting that he still has lasting friendships from his Scouting years. “The program exposes young men to a

variety of experiences, from all the outdoor activities that Scouting is typically known for to STEM-related opportunities and Civic and Arts related experiences.”

just now starting to see all they got from Boy Scouts.” Restivo has been involved with scouting for the past 16 years. Her oldest son Dominic (now 19 and in his first year at the U.S. Naval Academy) is an Eagle Scout and was involved with Scouts from first through 12th grade.

The Boy Scouts of America, one of the nation’s largest and most prominent valuesbased youth development organizations, teaches leadership, builds character, and instills the importance of community service. “The Scouting program provides young adults the opportunity to learn practical skills in a variety of areas,” Dominic says. “It “We’re trying to give everybody a guiding also prepares them for success in a rapidly light to be a better person,” says Melanie Restivo, Special Education Secretary for changing professional world.” Plainfield Community School Corporation and Scout enthusiast. “These kids are getting Dominic hits on the mission of the Boy life lessons they may not fully appreciate Scouts of America, which is to prepare until they’re out of the program. I hear from young people to make ethical and moral boys now in college who tell me they are choices over their lifetimes. By the time

MAY 2018 / AVON/PLAINFIELD MAGAZINE

they’ve emerged from the program, they have worked with adults for years, developing skills in interpersonal communication, collaboration, and group dynamics. “They might be doing a niche project and complain that it’s stupid, but the truth is that they’re learning life skills,” Restive says. “Let’s face it — at some point in all of our lives, we’re going to work with someone we don’t like. These are tools they can take with them going forward.” The Boy Scouts provide a nice blend of education and fun. Sometimes the group uses meeting times to engage in community service projects or to earn merit badges. Other times meetings are reserved purely for enjoyment. “You’ve got to have a mix of the two because if it feels too much like a classroom, they won’t want to stay involved,” Restive says. “That goes for adults, too.” Through the years, Restivo has served in a variety of positions within Boy Scouts, including that of Scout leader. This is due, in part, to the fact that it can be difficult to recruit volunteers.

- DOMINIC RESTIVO

“Folks often hesitate to give up their weekends,” Restive says. “Others aren’t big into camping.” But those who are eager to lead do a phenomenal job. Doug Hartman, an adult leader with Troop 308, grew up in a Scouting family, advancing from Tiger Cub all the way up to Eagle Scout. “I learned and experienced so many fantastic things,” Hartman says. “Now that my son is involved in Boy Scouts, it’s neat to see him enjoying many of these same things. I think it has brought us closer together, and I love it.”

26 / AVON AVON/PLAINFIELD MAGAZINE / MAY MAGAZINE 2018 // AvonMagazine.com MAY 2018

Groups typically meet on a weekly basis. Not every boy will attend each week, however, because by middle school and high school they’re involved in other activities such as band, choir, theatre, and athletics. Restivo moved her troop meeting to Sunday nights to better accommodate schedules. “You make changes based on the needs of the current group,” Restive says. Once a month the Boy Scouts participate in different adventure trips such as hiking, caving, canoeing, rock climbing, ziplining, rappelling, paint-balling, and of course camping. “If it can be done outside, we’ve probably done it, even down to a good snowball or water gun fight,” Restivo says. The whole idea of Scouting is to expose kids to a variety of things while also helping them bond as a group. Setting up camp requires menu planning, open fire cooking, and dealing with inclement weather or equipment failure. “It’s about helping kids determine how they’re going to handle whatever life throws at them,” Restivo says. Summer camp experiences are one way they perfect this skill. There are a variety of campgrounds throughout the Hoosier state that are associated with Boy Scouts of America. One that’s located relatively close is Ransburg Scout Reservation in Bloomington. “We try to get the boys to one weeklong camp experience each summer,” Restivo says. You never know how such experiences will impact a Scout. Several years ago, Scoutmaster Brian Pace, a geologist with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, gave an Earth Day presentation to a class of first-graders. After the talk, the wife of Pace’s former Cubmaster approached Pace to ask if it was Scouts that first piqued his interest in geology. “I paused and told her I didn’t know,” Pace says. “[But Scouts] may have well been a spark that ignited my interest in geology and science.” MAY 2018 / AVON/PLAINFIELD MAGAZINE

Boy Scouts troops go through chartered aith-based, civic, and educational organizations such as churches, rotary clubs, PTAs, fire departments, and recreation centers. Scouts then typically engage in whatever community service project their charter organization is committed to. For instance, Restivo’s Troop 308 group is affiliated with Hope United Presbyterian Church in Plainfield so the boys regularly do grounds clean-up there. Or if the church is hosting a dinner, the boys may help serve food or wash dishes. They also may rake leaves, pull weeds, or trim trees for elderly members of the church. For their Eagle Scout Projects, Restivo’s boys have revamped the church playground by spreading fresh mulch, staining and sprucing up the equipment, building picnic tables, and putting in a community toy box. Boys have also built bat boxes and benches, cleaned up trails, planted trees,

and installed flagpoles. “A lot of the work is landscaping-based. These young kids have good, strong backs and can recover faster from manual labor,” Restivo says. Restivo is continually impressed by the positive changes she sees in her students as a result of participating in Boy Scouts and advancing through the chain of command. “Basically, the way it’s set up, there’s this built-in hierarchical training system,” Restivo says. “Older boys train younger ones on tasks. Then as the younger ones advance, they instruct those below them.” Restivo loves witnessing the inevitable transformation over time. “You see them evolve through the various levels of maturity,” says Restivo, whose

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favorite thing to watch is a shy kid emerge from his shell, come into his own, and take more initiative. “I like Boy Scouts because we go hiking and camping,” says seventh-grader Avery Hartman. “It’s just a great chance for social interaction.”

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Marketing and Human Resources Director Meredith Reinker, and owner Bruce Pallman.

THROUGH THE LENS ROBERTS CAMERA CELEBRATES 60 YEARS IN BUSINESS Writer / Jon Shoulders Photographer / Brian Brosmer

Roberts Camera’s ability to thrive in the photography, lighting and electronics retail business for 60 years has involved much more than just keeping up with industry technology that seems to evolve almost daily. Meredith Reinker, marketing and human resources director, says the Indianapolisbased, family-owned company’s willingness to adapt its business model to customer habits and shopping methods has been just as important to its success as keeping up with the camera and lighting industry’s ongoing technological advancements.

“The jewelry wasn’t doing great at the time so they started to pick up additional lines – service merchandise catalogs were how people shopped back then so they basically became a catalog showroom,” Reinker says. “One of my grandfather’s employees at the time was a high schooler who was taking a photography class and told my grandfather he could sell cameras. It was good timing in the sense that film was really evolving at that point and film cameras were getting popular, and then, of course, eventually digital took us into the next era.” Since its founding, Roberts Camera has continually found effective ways to reach beyond its Indy customer base, from a thriving mail-order business through the 1970s and 1980s to a successful sales presence through its official website, which was launched back in 1997. In 2012 the Roberts staff began a buy, sell and trade sister company called UsedPhotoPro, which deals exclusively in used camera equipment primarily online.

The company, which offers a full range of new and used photography, audio, video and lighting gear and currently operates two brick-and-mortar locations in Carmel and downtown Indianapolis, was founded by Reinker’s grandfather Robert Pallman as a modest jewelry business on South Capitol Avenue in August of 1957. Almost Reinker says her father Bruce, who has immediately, Pallman began adjusting his run the company for the past 45 years, business concept to meet customer demand. has brought an open-minded approach to INDY METRO / MAY 2018 / TownePost.com

sales and customer service that has helped Roberts Camera stay in business in a time where many camera shops have closed their doors due to dwindling sales. “Over the past 10 years, the evolution has been going fast with how people shop,” Reinker says. “Retail has changed so much as it’s gone from people having to walk into a retail store to shopping online – our sales now are about 60 percent online and 40 percent retail. So again, it’s that combination of staying with the technology and then how people actually approach retail.” To commemorate 60 years of service in Indianapolis, Reinker and her 64 full-time and part-time Roberts co-employees – many of whom have been with the company for 20-plus years – held an in-store celebration in August with special deals and promotions as well as free photography classes and camera cleanings. “Twice a year we also do a spring and fall photo expo where we bring in our manufacturer representatives, and tech reps from Nikon, Canon, Panasonic and all those types of brands,” Reinker adds.

“We offer free classes all day long, which helps to promote the classes that we offer regularly. We usually have anywhere from 10 to 12 classes a month for every level of photographer from fundamentals of photography up to specialty lighting and that kind of stuff.” Reinker adds that the explosion in iPhone camera use has had a twopronged effect on her industry, phasing out less expensive, pointand-shoot cameras while at the same time increasing interest in higher-end equipment and accessories. “The iPhone has gotten a lot of people interested in photography that otherwise might not have been, especially with social media where everybody is a photographer now,” she says. “So, we have people coming in now that have been using their iPhone for a long time but want to take that next step and get better images with better equipment.” Reinker believes the company is primed for another 60 years of success as long as it remains adaptive and flexible in the face of an ever-changing marketplace. “As Indianapolis has grown we’ve received a ton of support. Indianapolis has a very strong and vibrant community of photographers,” Reinker says. “In a time where photography has changed drastically, I think our customer base and the support we get from Indiana as a whole is awesome. Indy is a great place to be.”

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For more information on Roberts Camera including details on equipment rental and photography classes, visit robertscamera.com. Roberts Camera’s downtown store is located at 220 E St Clair St or you can call them at 317-636-5544. The Carmel store is located at 12761 Old Meridian St, or you can call them at 317-818-9800.

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SERVICE PLUS HEATING, COOLING, & PLUMBING 7520 E 88th Place Indianapolis, IN 46256 317-218-7929 ServicePlusNow.com

Writer / Seth Johnson Photographer / Ron Wise

Chris and Emily Cunningham truly value quality customer service. In fact, it’s why they started their own customer-service focused heating, cooling and plumbing company, Service Plus, in the first place. “Before we started Service Plus, we were a couple of kids, fresh out of college and at our first real jobs,” Emily says. “We owned our first home and needed to have some repairs done, and I was appalled at how incredibly hard it was for me to find a company to do the repairs, show up when they said they would, and get the work done properly. I said to Chris, ‘Honey, don't you know how to do a lot of this stuff? I think we could really make a difference in the home repairs industry.’”

Service Plus owners Chris and Emily Cunningham

they even have their 9-year-old daughter and so well that our customers become raving 12-year-old son help around the business fans,” Emily says. when possible. As for providing fulfilling careers for their “Our family is totally involved in this employees, Service Plus ensures that all its business — we love it,” Emily says. workers are adequately prepared to do their Ultimately, anyone who interacts with job with confidence. Service Plus becomes a part of the company’s family too. “We want to have the best trained and Through this realization, Service Plus was qualified employees, so our strategy is to born. Although running the company “We love the customers we serve,” Emily consistently offer technical training and was certainly a learning experience in adds. “We love the team we work with, customer service training to make sure the beginning, Chris and Emily quickly and that's what it all boils down to — the repairs are done properly the first time and picked up on the ins and outs of the home people.” that the excellent customer experience maintenance world, all the while keeping carries through from beginning to the end customer service at the heart of everything. At the heart of Service Plus are two core of your repair,” Emily says. values: Providing excellent service from “Once we were both working for Service the best trained and qualified technicians Having recently moved to a new location Plus full time, which was within four and staff members, and providing fulfilling just south of 96th Street on I-69, Service months of when we took our first service careers that employees joyfully embrace. Plus will now be able to serve both its call, we were 100 percent committed and customers and employees even better. we knew it was sink or swim,” Chris says. To inquire about heating, cooling and “We were determined to make it work and When it comes to excellent service, the company has a standard they’ve set for plumbing needs, be sure to give them a be the best at what we do, and we still feel themselves. call at 317-434-2627, or visit them online that way today.” at ServicePlusNow.com. The Service Plus “We define ‘excellent service’ pretty simply: team would love to help with any heating, Now 15 years and three kids later, Service cooling and plumbing needs you may have. Plus is still proudly a family business. In fact, we do what we say we will, and we do it INDY METRO / MAY 2018 / TownePost.com

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APRIL SHOWERS REALLY DO BRING MAY FLOWERS Writer / Carrie Petty

Oh May, your glorious month. Time to get busy! If April is the time when the garden is emerging from sleep, then May is the time in the garden when she has had two full cups of coffee and ready for high gear, time to bloom! Where to begin. Let’s talk lawns first. Make sure that mower blade is sharp people, and do not ever mow when it is wet. This is the first step to preventing diseased lawns. Also, to prevent moles set out multiple traps along the moles trail. An old American Indian trick — it is said that the moles move to the surface on a warm, sunny day at high noon. You can get them with a garden spade if you have the constitution to do so. I call the hubby for that trick.

Saturday worth of mulching and gardening chores, make sure you give the old body a good stretch and warm up a bit. Your back will thank me in the morning. At the age of 54, I have settled for one of those seat thingies that you can flip over and kneel on too. It has saved my gardeners back from strain. Visit all your local gardening centers and pick up something new. I suggest every year adding a new tree or bush to the landscape and at least a couple of new perennials to the flower garden. Always, always, try new veritable varieties. So many cool ones come out each year. If you have not tried Purple Kohlrabi, then you need to.

When planting any newly purchased pot grown specimen, a good tip is to scrape off the top half inch of soil out of the pot If you did not get your crab grass and toss it in the trash, not the compost preventative down in April, do it as soon as bin! This is where the weed seeds reside. possible. And make sure you cut your lawn Taking that soil off the top of the pot will to the highest setting on the mower, this way help prevent the introduction of new weeds you are shading out weed seeds in the soil in your garden. Particularly, the hard to and will have a much healthier lawn. The eradicate Thistle-It is a monster. taller the blade, the deeper the root! Many Indiana landscapes now have Hostas Now, when it comes to general gardening peeking up through the soil, their tall green chores for the month of May, first things spikes curled into a cone format, this is the first, stretch. Before you head out for a full perfect time to divide them and make more TownePost.com / MAY 2018 / INDY METRO

plants. Place your spade two inches away from the growth and dig down deep, tip your spade back to unearth the root ball to loosen. Do this all the way around the plant base and pull the entire thing out of the ground. Then divide each green spire into a new plant, making sure you capture a good rootstock as you go. This is the easiest and cheapest way to increase the size of one’s garden. This is the very act of ‘gardening’ itself! If you do this, I give you permission to call yourself a gardener. Bravo! Dividing Daffodil bulbs is a great chore to do now, and your garden will reemerge in the spring with a fresh facelift of yellow blooms. Just dig up a clump of foliage left behind after the blooms fade, and pull apart the bulbs with your hands. Again, be sure to capture a good rootstock with each bulb if you can. If not, they will survive. Replant one-by-one in a new hole elsewhere about six inches deep. This is also a great time to use a granulated fertilizer on your Tulips and bulbs to strengthen their roots for next year’s bloom. Gardening is always about looking forward. It is the most optimistic duty. So get going my friends. And as always, I hope I have helped you “Grow a More Beautiful Life!” Cheers.

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BEFORE YOU START ANOTHER FITNESS CHALLENGE Writer / Coach Roz Harris

Weight loss and fitness challenges are exciting because they’re fun, mix things up and keep you focused on a specific goal. They increase awareness and open the doors to better health. But not all challenges are created equal, and some challenges can be counterproductive to your health goals. If you’re going to join a short-term challenge this summer, here are five types of programs to AVOID when you’re trying to lose weight. 1. AVOID CHALLENGES JUST FOCUSED ON WORKING OUT. Any approach to wellness, better health and weight management needs to include nutrition, lifestyle changes and fitness. 2. AVOID CHALLENGES THAT DON’T INCLUDE SOUND NUTRITIONAL RESOURCES. Diets are like zombies: dead but they keep coming back to life. Ditch diets and join a program that showing you HOW to eat healthy every day.

3. AVOIDS CHALLENGES NOT FOCUSED ON REVVING YOUR METABOLISM. Weight training done right and smart cardio are the 1-2 punch that ensures you’re NOT wasting your time when you exercise and actually creates the FOUNDATION for a healthy metabolism. Studies show that when you add just five pounds of lean body muscle, your body burns 200 MORE calories each day. That’s revved! 4. AVOID CHALLENGES THAT DON’T SHOW YOU HOW TO MAKE LIFESTYLE CHANGES. For example, the Free Day Concept is critical. It’s a bad idea to workout every day, and it’s a bad idea to be on some eating plan or cleanse for extended periods of time without short breaks. 5. AVOID CHALLENGES THAT LACK SOLID ACCOUNTABILITY. If you fall off, will anyone notice? Join a challenge that wants you to succeed and will provide support to make that happen.

MAY 2018 / AVON/PLAINFIELD MAGAZINE

SEARCH FOR HISTORY LOCAL COUPLE VISITS PRESIDENTIAL GRAVE SITES Writer & Photographer / Melissa Gibson

On a trip in the fall of 1991 to the New England area, Jim and Connie Sieferman found themselves enjoying a picnic lunch, complete with turkey sandwiches, Pringles chips and Diet Pepsi, within view of President Calvin Coolidge’s gravesite. Connie says the year following that vacation, she and Jim would recall the time they had “lunch with the President”, eventually shortening the reference to “Pringles with the Prez” with fondness. A project was born for the couple, now married for 38 years.

They began planning little trips to see a Presidential gravesite or a detour from vacation plans to add to their scrapbook. On July 19, 2017 (also Jim’s 70th birthday) the journey was complete — 38 presidential grave sites over the course of 26 years, and a photo of Connie biting into a Pringles chip at each one. The pair ( Jim being a natural history buff and veteran) would research the president prior to the trip and add in their own special twist along the way. “It was really difficult in some places to smuggle in a potato chip,” Connie says. AVON/PLAINFIELD MAGAZINE / MAY 2018

“Arlington was probably the hardest because they stand guard there.” Still others, like Grover Cleveland’s site is barley marked. “It was interesting to see how they all held the same office yet chose such different things for themselves,” Connie says. “Nowadays they have presidential libraries and often choose to be buried there.” The president’s former and post-presidency lives were also educational for the couple. “They had personal lives, were human and were real people,” Connie says. “Truman

was a hat maker, Jimmy Carter a peanut farmer. That part of their lives was very interesting too.” The trips come with a unique experience and story to tell about each site. The couple was in the crowd at Gerald Ford’s funeral and burial. They agree Ronald Reagan’s gravesite is their favorite due to the picturesque landscape and learned of a “less romanticized” version of Abraham Lincoln’s life in Springfield, IL. They’ve been across the United States, sometimes stopping by five or six sites in one trip. “If you’re interested, you’ll find a way,” Jim says. “I don’t know that there’s as much emphasis on (history education) anymore. In the early 80’s I was flipping through a Social Studies book and there were just a couple of paragraphs on Kennedy.” “That was a huge touchstone in my life,” Jim says. Hopefully, their journey will inspire others to learn more of their American history. “Our kids go on vacation to Disney World and we love Disney too, but perhaps they should be going to Washington D.C. as well,” Connie says. “We make light of our Pringles game but we do take the time to recognize what these men gave to our country and it always gives us pause,” Connie says. MAY 2018 / AVON/PLAINFIELD MAGAZINE

JAMIE TURNER HONORS SON’S LEGACY BY ALTRUISTICALLY DONATING A KIDNEY

Writer / Christy Heitger-Ewing

When Jamie Turner saw her OBGYN on a Wednesday, she listened to her son’s heartbeat. Two days later, however, she stopped feeling movement. “Nobody can explain the heartbreak of delivering a stillborn,” Turner says. “You walk into the hospital pregnant but walk out with a box and a blanket.” Up until Dawson’s tragic death in 2010, Turner, a pharmaceutical sales rep, lived a charmed life. A collegiate softball star, she was a good student who never really had a run of bad luck. When Dawson died, her first instinct was to bellow to the universe, “Why me?”

After some time, however, it dawned on her, “Why not me?” “What makes any one person more special to be immune to tragedy?” she thought. The day she buried Dawson, Turner stood frozen in the aisle of Walmart, staring mindlessly into space in a grief-soaked haze. Suddenly, a woman shoved Turner’s cart out of the way and shot her a steely glare for blocking the aisle. It took every ounce of strength for Turner not to collapse on the floor in a puddle of tears. “I wanted to say, ‘Do you even realize what I did today? How can you be so uncaring?’” recalls Turner, who, in that instant, recognized how deeply AVON/PLAINFIELD MAGAZINE / MAY 2018

narcissistic, narrow-minded and impatient some people can be. “We honk in irritation at a traffic signal if the person in front of us doesn’t move the second the light turns green. We roll our eyes when a waitress gets our order wrong.” Right then and there, Turner vowed to make compassion a priority in her life. Turner went on to have a third child, Kennedy (prior to Dawson, she had Keegan). When Keegan was 6 and Kennedy was 3, Turner was still searching for a way to honor her son’s memory. “I was compelled to find a way to let his legacy live on, but I didn’t know how,” Turner says.

One night while lying in bed, she asked God to give her a sign — something that would clearly tell her what she was supposed to do. Three days later, she spotted a billboard with a picture of a girl on it who was the spitting image of her niece. Turner did a double-take and saw that the plea was for a new kidney for this little girl. When Turner got home, she researched the girl’s plight and found that the name of this girl’s doctor was Turner. Chills shot up Turner’s spine. In addition, the girl’s mother had donated her kidney (which sadly her daughter’s body rejected), and she did so on December 10 — Turner’s birthday. More chills. “You know how you always ask God for a sign but then when you get it, you’re like, ‘Well, I didn’t mean to go to that extreme,’” says Turner with a chuckle. “I was like, ‘Seriously? Organ donation is what you want me to do?” Instinctively, Turner picked up the phone, called the number on the billboard, and began answering a litany of screening questions. Two weeks later, she received a call from the National Kidney Registry. They had additional health questions. A week later, she went in for blood work, and after an extensive psychological evaluation, she was cleared to be an altruistic organ donor. Altruistic donation is when the donor gets nothing in return. Because Turner is an altruistic donor, should she ever have an issue with her remaining kidney, she would jump to the top of the recipient list.

Registry put a $1-million-dollar policy on her. “In the big picture, if I died on the table, I didn’t look at it as me leaving my daughters. I’d just be joining my son. It was a no-lose situation for me.”

“I want you to know that you not only changed my life but my grandchildren’s lives as well,” Howard wrote. “You’ve given me the gift of time that I never would have had with them were it not for your generosity.”

Though Turner came through the surgery just fine, she did develop a serious infection soon thereafter and had to spend 28 days in the hospital. Recovery required a fecal transplant.

Turner recites the quote, “You’ll never experience true joy until you give something to somebody who cannot repay you.”

“I joke that I donated a kidney to save someone’s life and someone else donated their poop to save mine,” Turner says. Going into the operation, Turner had no idea who the recipient of her kidney would be, and that’s what she preferred. “I didn’t want to pick my donor, nor did I want to know their backstory,” Turner says. Four months after the surgery, Turner’s recipient, Howard, sent her a heartfelt thank-you card. Since then, he sends a letter ever three to six months to fill her in on how he’s doing. He writes how grateful he is to have been able to walk his daughter down the aisle and to be able to go fly fishing with his grandkids.

Turner started off a six-person chain of donation. The chain has to start with someone who doesn’t need one in return. Then it’s like a blind lottery match for who gets what kidney, based on compatibility. The morning Turner went in for the surgery (in June 2013), a calming peacefulness washed over her. “There was no second-guessing or worry. I knew my family was taken care of,” says Turner, noting that the National Kidney MAY 2018 / AVON/PLAINFIELD MAGAZINE

“The truth is that my kidney wasn’t a gift from me to Howard. It was a gift from me to God,” Turner says. And though she’s forbidden from playing contact football, rugby, or ice hockey, for the most part, Turner has no restrictions in living her life. Above all, she’s happy. “When my feet hit the floor every day, I try to make a difference in someone’s life, even if it’s just in some small way,” Turner says. “Maybe I help a little old lady lift a case of Coke into her car. Maybe I pay for the person in line behind me at Starbucks. It’s about finding good meaning in your life.” Mostly Turner relishes knowing that she did something good in this world. Her act of love demonstrated true compassion. No doubt Dawson is beaming with pride.

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LOCAL COUPLE BUILDS CUSTOM-MADE WOODEN CREATIONS Writer / Christy Heitger-Ewing

Throughout their marriage, whenever Melissa Edwards was out shopping with her husband, Chris and pointed out something made of wood that she liked, he would respond, “Oh, I can make that!” He could…and he did. “He’s made a lot of our furniture,” Melissa says. “And he’s taught me so now I make things, too. We both like to work with our hands. I’d like to think I’m just as handy as he is with the tools.” When the couple was brainstorming how they could pull in supplemental income, a light bulb went off in their heads, and in November 2016, they launched their family business, Wood 2 Wow.

The pair, who both work full-time (he’s an equipment tech for IU hospitals and she’s an oral surgery technician), wanted their side gig to be something they could do together so they wouldn’t have to spend more time apart. So they work out of their garage. Chris often builds the pieces and Melissa applies paint or polyurethane to them. At any given time, the Edwards’ usually have a half a dozen orders to fill, each of which typically takes 4-6 weeks to complete. Roughly 80 percent of their orders are custom-made. “People will often send us a picture and say, ‘Can you make something similar for me?’” Melissa says.

right now with three children to run around. If the couple does have free time, however, they make their own creations and sell them online or at craft and hobby shows. For instance, last Christmas Melissa made vintage sleds as holiday décor that was a big hit. “I pre-made 20-25 of them and they sold immediately,” says Melissa, whose favorite part of the business is interacting with members of the Avon community. “Every day I get messages from people telling me that they love our craftsmanship and will definitely come back to us for future projects,” Melissa says. “Those words are motivating and keep us going when we get tired.”

In the future, Melissa hopes to open a shop in town. Schedules are just a bit too harried The couple has produced all sorts of MAY 2018 / AVON/PLAINFIELD MAGAZINE

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different projects — everything from clocks to coffee tables, serving trays to signs, office desks to doggie beds. They’ve made fishing pole holders and Harley Davidson helmet holders. You name it, they make it. For example, a customer asked the Edwards if they could make a decorative storage spot for her cat’s litter box. Tired of the eyesore, she wanted a cabinet that would contain the litterbox and designed in such a way that her felines could covertly enter and exit.

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“We make a lot of items that you wouldn’t find in a store,” says Melissa, referencing the time a woman contacted her to share that her family had a decades-old walnut tree that had stood in their backyard ever since her daughter was very young. Her tire swing hung from this tree. Her playhouse was made from this tree. A lot of sentimental value and memories were tied into this giant walnut tree. Sadly, it died and had to be cut down. The mother wanted to make a gift out of the tree’s wood. She had two long pieces of wood, which Melissa and Chris put through a planer to square up. They then fashioned floating shelves out of the boards. “When the customer picked them up, she teared up. And when her daughter received the gift, she cried, too,” Melissa says. “Those are my favorite kinds of projects because they have special meaning for the families.”

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100th anniversary of the Indy 500, and Bruce Crandall was named honorary starter. Crandall, who flew more than 900 missions as a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, had received the Medal of Honor — the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government.

For the past decade, Tom Hansing has been a starter for the Indianapolis 500. This means that on race day, he shows the flag colors from race control, which dictate what happens on the track. When Hansing enters the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on race “When he left the flag stand, he shook day, he’s always overwhelmed with emotion. my hand and clasped in his hand was the commemorative coin that all Medal of Honor “The morning of my very first 500, driving recipients receive,” Hansing says. “Everyone in underneath the tunnel on the north end, the grandstand was on their feet cheering. He between turns 3 and 4, and coming out and stopped and saluted. It was a ‘wow’ moment.” seeing the Pagoda, I remember thinking, ‘Is this for real? Am I really here?’” Hansing During practices, Hansing carefully studies says. “It’s goosebumps on goosebumps, and the cars’ colors because it’s hard to tell who’s through the years that’s never changed.” coming out of the fourth turn since they’re The electric atmosphere of race day could be described as the excitement of Christmas morning wrapped into the adrenaline rush of skydiving. “Right there along the front straightaway, when you’ve got all 33 cars coming at you for the very first time—that’s amazing,” Hansing says. Then there’s the energy that builds during pre-race activities. Hansing vividly recalls the 2011 race. It was the

so far down the track. Starters rely not just on the cars’ colors but also the computer that’s in the flag stand, which has a map of the racetrack and shows the car numbers as they’re moving around the track. A diamond indicates the leader.

Occasionally, starters help with set-up of timing and scoring. In the past, Hansing has also assisted with tech inspection, which includes looking at ride height and wing angle and also making sure the mirrors are MAY 2018 / AVON/PLAINFIELD MAGAZINE

within a certain parameter. “Dashboard and continuator lights are checked as well as other nuances,” Hansing says. “You have to do like 200 different things in 10 minutes or less.” Hansing was first introduced to the world of racing in 1999 when he met the midget starter for the United States Auto Club (USAC) while refereeing for Special Olympics basketball. Hansing started going to races, getting in with a pit pass and doing gofer work. He later got licensed. One of the first races Hansing worked was a Silver Crown Series race at the Indiana State Fairgrounds—a mile dirt track. With 32 seconds between laps, that’s just enough time to get distracted and forget to switch flags. So he’s always practiced keeping the flag he’s going to use in his hand. “Even when I’m waving the white flag for the last lap, I’ve always got that yellow flag in case there’s a wreck,” Hansing says. Though he has never forgotten to switch flags, he once dropped one at a USAC race in Richmond, Virginia.

“I hit the flag on the flag stand just right and it came out of my hand and floated to the racetrack as we went yellow,” Hansing says. “That was embarrassing, and the crowd gave me a hard time, which I deserved.” The most shocking memory, however, occurred in December 2013 at an indoor race when Hansing was taken out of the flag stand on a stretcher. Racer Nick Hamilton and another car made contact and Hamilton’s vehicle hit the wall. The car lifted and its front right wheel hit the bottom of the flag stand, causing the scaffolding to collapse. Hansing went airborne and came crashing down on his left side rib cage on top of the metal support bar of the flag stand. “People hollered at me to lay still,” Hansing says. From there it was all a blur as paramedics rushed to put him in a neck brace and position him on the stretcher. Miraculously, nothing was broken or

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punctured. Hansing thanked God for sparing him serious injury. Though he was raised Catholic, Hansing fell away from his faith during high school. In college, however, he met a beautiful woman named Rica at a country club dance. Though she initially declined his request to dance, three weeks later, she accepted his marriage proposal. That was 22 years ago. The couple began attending Our Shephard Lutheran Church and School in Avon when Rica was pregnant with their first child. The church’s marriage retreat, men’s retreat, and other functions helped Hansing reconnect with Christ. “Rica and I were fortunate to have people who walked alongside us and made us feel welcome,” says Hansing, who started volunteering with the church’s Little Rams program, which he now heads up. Little Rams offers soccer and basketball programs for preschoolers through fourth grade.

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Hansing loves mentoring the children and seeing their confidence blossom. He also helps coach the school’s basketball team and maintains the soccer fields and cross-country course. In addition, Hansing helps teach Bible and confirmation classes. Every opportunity to serve has helped his faith grow. This season, Hansing will be the starter for USAC and the Pirelli World Challenge, a new sports car series. He also splits the starter duties at Kokomo Speedway. For the Pirelli World Challenge (PWC), eight classifications will run throughout the season. (Not every classification will run on the same race weekend.) While Indycar events are a prescribed number of laps, PWC races range from 40 to 60 minutes. The PWC schedule contains 10 race weekends from March to September, with an 8-hour endurance race (part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge), which takes place in October. “It’s such a rush,” says Hansing of working in the racing industry. One of the biggest perks of the job is getting the chance to visit different cities. The flip side of travel, however, means time away from his family. Plus, since this isn’t Hansing’s full-time job (he works at Republic Airline as manager of CrewPay Systems), he has to use a big chunk of his vacation time to attend races. Prior to having kids, the couple made race weekends into extended getaways. For instance, when there was a race in Syracuse, New York, and another race the following weekend in South Boston, Virginia, they visited Washington, DC, in between the two. Now Hansing is more intentional about carving out time to do special things with each of his children. That might be catching a showing of Mary Poppins with his daughter Emma (13) or taking his son Robert (9) go-karting. Or sometimes he spends his free time at the track. Hansing has ridden with an Indycar driver for the two-seater experience at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “We got up to 190 mph,” Hansing says. “That was enough to catch my attention.” He also did the single seater experience where he drove an Indycar around the track three times with a pace car leading the way. “To realize that my bottom was less than 12 inches off the ground was crazy,” Hansing says. But as you might expect, he loved every minute of it. AVON/PLAINFIELD MAGAZINE / MAY 2018

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BRAIN BALANCE CENTER OF PLAINFIELD 160 Plainfield Village Dr. Suite 141 Plainfield, IN 317-707-7452 brainbalance.com

Writer / Christy Heitger-Ewing

Nicki Snodgrass was skeptical when she first stepped foot inside of Brain Balance. But she was also desperate after battling with her 5-year-old daughter over behavior issues, including extreme tantrums and refusal to listen. “I was at my wit’s end when I came to Brain Balance,” Snodgrass says. When she met with the center’s director & owner of the Plainfield location, Rhonda Zollner, however, her ears perked with hope. Brain Balance provides children ages 4-18 with a comprehensive, non-medical approach that combines physical and sensory exercises with academic skill training and healthy nutrition. “Everybody else focuses on bilateral stimulation. We are hemisphere specific, looking at comprehension, spatial, and bigger picture skills for the right brain and fact, figures, fine motor, and details for the left brain. We literally change the trajectory of brain development,” says Zollner, noting that function precedes development. “If you break your arm, when it heals, you go to therapy to work that weaker muscle. You’re not going to work both arms when one is fine. That’s what we do here with the brain.” Dr. Robert Melillo, creator & co-founder of Brain Balance Centers and author of several books, including “Disconnected Kids” and “Reconnected Kids,” maintains that 1 out of every 5 children is diagnosed with some type of neurological disorder that affects the ability to learn and socially interact. So he launched a program that integrates multiple aspects, including music, movement, light, sound and smell, as well as behavioral,

dietary and academic interventions. When a child first comes to Brain Balance, the staff completes a comprehensive assessment to determine if he or she is right or left brain weak. “We test more than 1,000 things with brain function,” says Zollner, who admits that the results are often eye-opening for parents. Crystal Callahan took her 7-year-old son Patrick for an evaluation and found that his left brain was functioning at an 11-yearold level while his right brain was that of a 2-year-old. “My jaw completely dropped,” Callahan says. “To hear that my son has the smarts of an 11-year-old is so impressive, but it hurt AvonMagazine.com / MAY 2018 / AVON MAGAZINE / 61

my heart that he was struggling on the other side at a much younger level.” The staff at Brain Balance doesn’t consider age, grade or symptoms during assessments. They look solely at brain function, focusing on the root problem. They find out where a child is maturity-wise in their brain by going all the way back to the brain stem and looking at primitive reflexes. This is because a brain is built from the outside in and the bottom up. “When you build a house, the first thing you do is lay the foundation,” Zollner says. “If you had a crack in the foundation, you fix that before moving on. We go back and build a child’s foundation so that it’s solid.” “Unless you deal with that core problem,

WHEN YOU BUILD A HOUSE, THE FIRST THING YOU DO IS LAY THE FOUNDATION. IF YOU HAD A CRACK IN THE FOUNDATION, YOU FIX THAT BEFORE MOVING ON. WE GO BACK AND BUILD A CHILD’S FOUNDATION SO THAT IT’S SOLID. - RHONDA ZOLLNER -

The larger testing room, used for physical activity, is where they look at the synchronization of the brain. They also work with cross-lateral gait aerobics, inner ear balance, and spatial awareness. The Once the assessment determines the sensory-motor room is where the majority duration of time a child likely needs to achieve brain balance, he or she attends one- of the sessions take place. For instance, if a child is right-brain weak, the right eye is hour sessions, three times a week. During blocked with a special pair of glasses so that these sessions, kids rotate from station to everything comes in through the left eye station. Melillo created various stations very intensely to stimulate the right brain. because through his research he saw that children didn’t just have cognitive, attention, They also work on auditory processing. or reading problems. They had motor, “We hear all the time from parents that sensory, dietary, and immune problems. their child can’t focus,” Zollner says. “What “All these areas of the brain are impacted so happens is that if you’re talking to me on my you can’t just work on one part of it,” Melillo left side and the television is going on my says. “That’s why most programs don’t work right side, the two sides of the brain are not processing at the same speed, so I’m going because they’re just looking at one piece of to catch bits and pieces of what you say and the puzzle.” you can do everything in the world to try to ‘fix’ a child and it won’t make a bit of difference,” Melillo adds.

bits and pieces of what’s on TV.” Parents can repeat themselves until they’re blue in the face, but if the child can’t learn due to an imbalance, “it’s like pouring water over a rock,” Zollner says. Brain Balance also works on processing speed (how fast a child takes in information), visual perception, and eye tracking. A child who struggles with reading might skip words or lines, make careless mistakes, or re-read the same sentence multiple times. At Brain Balance they look at how eyes are fluently reading from left to right and how quickly a child’s eyes shift from one thing to another. In addition, some kids turn their entire head rather than simply moving their eyes because they struggle with head/eye separation. If a child’s eyes aren’t tracking, that’s where distractibility comes in. “Often when a child struggles with reading, people say, ‘Make him read more,’ but that’s not going to do anything for the imbalanced brain,” Zollner says. “Forcing them to read will only serve to further frustrate them.” And speaking of frustration: teenagers, in particular, spend countless hours looking at their phones, which means they’re not shifting their eyes back and forth. On top of that, many schools utilize tablets so there isn’t the shift of copying from the desk to the board, the board to the desk. “They’re not using that function of the brain anymore,” Zollner says. “You don’t use it, you lose it.”

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With tablets, too, there’s swiping — no fine motor turning of the page. That’s not good since we rely on our senses for brain activation. “Teenagers sit side-by-side, texting each other,” Zollner says. “It’s no wonder they struggle to socialize and read body language.” Then there are the young children staring at devices. Parents don’t see the harm in letting their tyke play on an iPad, but doing so causes one side of the brain to develop too quickly, causing an imbalance. Zollner first learned about Brain Balance when her own son, Gage, began lashing out at her daily. Gage entered the program at age 6 and, within three months, his behavior changed dramatically. Recently Dr. Melillo came to Plainfield and held a seminar where he shared exciting news from Martin Teicher, a professor and researcher with McLean Hospital at Harvard Medical School, who stated that “Brain Balance exercises have widespread effects on functional connectivity.” The most poignant stories come directly from the kids who have gone through the program. These are kids who have often been written off by society as hopeless and helpless. “They hug me, thank me, and tell me that Brain Balance changed their life,” Melillo says. The center, which just celebrated its grand opening in March, has already helped numerous children, including Snodgrass’ daughter, who after three months, witnessed incredible improvement. “She’s constantly getting positive feedback from her teacher, and we’re having fewer issues at home,” Snodgrass says. “We can go out in public without worrying that it’ll be a humiliating experience. She has flourished through this program.” Brain Balance is located at 160 Plainfield Village Drive, Suite 141 in Plainfield. To learn more, call 317-707-7452 or visit brainbalance.com.

RHONDA ZOLLNER & BRAIN BALANCE CO-FOUNDER, DR. MELILLO.

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