As a parent, a husband, a Boy Scouts Den Leader, and a business owner I, Nolan, spend most of my time trying to be the person that leads the team.  Most of the great people in my life look to me for leadership.  In biblical terms our family is a Christian family and my wife has the role of being the caregiver and I have the role of provider.  Together we try to raise our two boys with strong values, a sense of independence, and hope they make good decisions in life.  Yet, with Thanksgiving quickly approaching, I reflect back on how thankful I am for others that lead me to make a difference and I encourage you to do the same.  Better yet, take this time to give thanks and take action!

About two years ago, I started growing my faith and attended my first church service at Cedar Creek Church.  Many of the messages over the years have hit home and give me simple and easy ways each week to make some personal improvements.  I still have a long way to go, but I feel I’m moving in the right direction. Many of our employees also call themselves “Creekers.”  Being surrounded with people who share similar values only makes my life better every single day.  If you feel you are looking for direction, I encourage you to take action and attend a service.  Be surrounded by others that share similar beliefs.

Usually every month many of the employees at our office volunteer to help a local community organization.  We have volunteered at Habitat for Humanity.  Our simple man power helped their team get ready for more local home builds.  The Susan G Komen Race for the Cure was a wakeup call for me on how many local people are affected by cancer.  It was also a wakeup call for me on how out of shape I am.  We have spent the day working at The Toledo Food Bank.  As a former Marine, it was an honor to hand out food to local Veterans and those in need.  My wife and our two young boys have spent time working with Vision Kitchen.  Being hands on and making a difference first hand is a priceless experience.  Each time, I get a ton more back than I give out.

Over the years, my wife and I have tried to take an active role in supporting local youth.  For six years, we ran the after school program for Junior Achievement of Northwest, Ohio.  In this incredible program we taught high school students how to set up and run a successful business.  In our six years of volunteering over $85,000 in college scholarships were given out to high school students in our program.  Last month, my family and I got to see one of the boys, now a man in the military, get married.  I can confidently say him and his wife are the people who we need to lead our Country back in the right direction.  It was easy to get involved when it was an area we were passionate about.

In September, I got the chance to see 6 to 10 year olds make a difference in The Boy Scouts of America, as our Pack 101 in Waterville collected food in their annual Scouting for Food program.  This is a community wide program that is making a big difference directly to local families in need.  Although there are great stories from Scouts all around Northwest, Ohio, I am impressed with the impact our local Pack had since I was actively involved as a parent and leader.  Between volunteers and Scouts over 186 man hours were put in to gather 426 bags of groceries that were donated to The Whitehouse Food Panty.  The simple choice of many local residents to set out a few items on their front steps and the decision by a group of youth to take action is now helping feed 57 local families.

Many of us take this time of year to reflect upon what we are thankful for.  What a great time of year it is.  I want to say thanks to many of you, even those who I haven’t had the chance to personally meet, but through the powers that be that have made a difference in my life.  I encourage you to take this time and think about what you are thankful for and take action.  Decide what you are passionate about and get out there and make a difference.  To find local opportunities and ideas about how you can make a difference visit www.volunteermatch.org or www.serve.gov.

For more information about The Retirement Guys, tune in every Saturday at 1 PM on 1370 WSPD or visit www.retirementguysradio.com.  Securities and Investment Advisory Services are offered through NEXT Financial Group Inc., Member FINRA / SIPC.  The Retirement Guys are not an affiliate of NEXT Financial Group. The office is at 1700 Woodlands Drive, Suite 100, Maumee, OH 43537.  Diversification does not guarantee against market losses. It is a method used to help manage investment risk.

'Head of Jesus’ — Rembrandt

A new exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) explores Rembrandt’s radical reimagining of Jesus, apparently in response to a series of personal tragedies that led the artist on a journey of religious contemplation, according to the exhibit’s curator.
“Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus” — a joint project of the DIA, the Musée du Louvre in Paris and the Philadelphia Museum of Art — is the largest exhibition to date of Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn’s work that focuses on the image of Jesus.
The exhibition, which opened Nov. 20 and will be in Detroit through Feb. 12, includes pieces on loan from more than 30 galleries across the U.S. and Europe and was also displayed in Paris and Philadelphia.
More than 64 works are displayed, including 52 small, intimate paintings, prints and drawings by Rembrandt and his students that illustrate how the Dutch master artist broke from traditional 17th-century representations of Jesus.
Many of the works, including Rembrandt and his studio’s seven “Head of Jesus” paintings, are displayed together for the first time.
“Rembrandt’s images were a bold departure from traditional renderings of Jesus by Western artists — both of his time as well as before and well after him,” said DIA director Graham W. J. Beal in a news release. “Visitors will have a rare opportunity to see how Rembrandt developed this image and how he employed his famous ‘chiaroscuro’ — light and shadow — to profound spiritual effect.”
Western portrayals of Jesus in the 17th century were based on ancient Greek sculpture and Renaissance imagery and typically represented him either performing heroic actions or as the embodiment of profound suffering, according to the release.
Rembrandt, who lived and worked in a Jewish neighborhood in Amsterdam, was the first Western artist to represent Jesus as Jewish. He also began depicting Jesus as vulnerable, humble and inspiring reverence.
Rembrandt initially painted Jesus in the traditional style, but, by the late 1630s, began to undergo a series of tragedies and setbacks, which led to a radical change in his art, said guest curator George S. Keyes.
Rembrandt and his wife wanted a family, but all their children except one died in infancy, Keyes said. Then his wife died of consumption.
“His art becomes much quieter, less exuberant, less dramatic, less bombastic,” Keyes said. “Rembrandt’s work really shifts very dramatically into a very meditative mode. I think this whole meditative strain through Rembrandt’s work represents a
very profound searching on his own part, in terms of trying to understand the true depth of meaning in his Biblical subjects.”
Keyes said he believes Rembrandt’s images of Jesus were not painted for clients, but for himself, as part of a personal journey for solace and religious meaning.
“I think what is really significant is that Rembrandt is such an effective narrator and these very meditative images allow us to look over his shoulder so that we, like all the other figures in these narrative scenes, become participants in the process of inward meditative revelation,” Keyes said. “I think it’s a remarkable achievement on the part of Rembrandt.”
The show also features works by other artists that illustrate life in 17th century Amsterdam. DIA’s head of interpretation, Swarupa Anila, said she hopes visitors come away with the understanding of the historical context Rembrandt lived and worked in.
“Rembrandt was very much situated in his time and place,” Anila said. “All of the cultural and artistic influences around him informed the images we’re looking at. They didn’t come out of some sort of remote artistic genius, like a flash of light. He’s looking at the world around him and processing what’s there and making something new. His exposure to Jewish people and traditions informed a new look and a different kind of representation of the historical figure of Jesus.”
Anila said she wants people of any cultural or religious background to feel comfortable walking into the exhibit.
“We want them to walk away feeling they’ve gotten a better sense of one of the world’s great artists and how he approached the subject matter of one of the world’s great religious leaders,” Anila said.
The Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward Ave., is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Tickets are timed and include museum admission and a multimedia tour. Adults are $16, groups of 15 or more are $12 per person, children ages 6 to 17 are $8, and members are free.
For more information, visit the website www.dia.org.

Senior Pastor David Claassen helps church member Andy Lenhart turn a shovel of dirt at the groundbreaking ceremony Nov. 6.

About 100 members of the Mayfair-Plymouth Congregational Christian Church in Toledo celebrated the groundbreaking Nov. 6 for phase one of its new facilities.
Members representing the diversity and history of the congregation participated in the formal groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the new church at 5555 Bennett Road.
“It’s truly a memorable and remarkable day for us after a journey that started 10 years ago,” said David Claassen, senior pastor of the Mayfair-Plymouth congregation.
“God called us to this land. We kept praying and believing that we would be able to acquire the land to build a facility that will be a better tool to bring more people to Christ,” he said at the ceremony.
Work is scheduled to begin with a $1.6 million budget in the spring of 2012 and to be completed next fall, Claassen said.
The new structure will consist of a multipurpose room and elementary education section. Worship services and other events will take place in the multipurpose room with elementary Sunday school in the same facility.
“This event celebrates 10 years of planning, research, designing and preparing for the future of our church and new family members we have yet to meet,” Claassen said.
The church leadership realized the congregation was growing beyond the capacity of the current building at 5253 Bennett Road, Claassen said. The congregation now has from 280 to 300 members with a sanctuary for 175 people and a parking lot with 60 spaces.
The current building will continue to house the church offices, adult and youth education, and other ministries until it is sold and phase two is built at the new site. The current property was listed for sale Nov. 1, Claassen said.
The church has conducted an ongoing capital campaign during the past 10 years and raised enough money to acquire the 23-acre site for the new church, refinance and pay off the mortgage on the existing property, and have $520,000 toward the new facility.
The initial meeting for the capital campaign for the new facility took place Sept. 11, 2001. Despite the tragic events of that day, it was a stark reminder that even amidst tragedy there can be hope, Claassen said.
The Mayfair-Plymouth congregation is working with several local organizations to make the new church become a reality.
The church has pre-qualified for financing of the project through Cooperative Business Services  of Toledo. The organization works with businesses and credit unions on shared funding of business loans.
Sun Federal Credit Union of Toledo is the sponsoring lender for the loan, which could be shared with other credit unions in Ohio. Credit union participants can share the funding of a loan, allowing them to reduce risk and maximize income.
Thomas Porter Architects of Toledo designed the site plan and new church facility.
The firm will provide architectural documents for the construction of the facility.
Willson Builders of Toledo is the general contractor that will begin construction of the new church in the spring.
The Mayfair-Plymouth Church is a combination of two congregations with long histories.
The Plymouth church dates back to the late 1800s and was last located at Cherry and Delaware streets in Toledo, which is now part of the St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center.

The list put together by a local family doesn’t look like a typical “Dear Santa” letter.
The top of the typed page lists the clients’ names, address and phone number.
The next section is divided into name, age, gender, clothing size, needs and wants.
The needs include shoes and clothes and the wants include long-haired dolls.
A few big-ticket items like a DVD player and Xbox are listed, but it is made clear that no one, not even Santa, is under obligation to fulfill those requests.
Last year, 40 lists like these were fulfilled. This year, the staff at the Zepf Center had to stop accepting families at 40, despite many more families wanting to be adopted, according to Christina Baskey, director of administrative services.
Oftentimes during the holidays, people who are a little better off ask what they can do to help families in need. The answers vary, but one opportunity is the Adopt a Family  program through the Zepf Center, which opened as the Elizabeth A. Zepf Community Mental Health Center in 1974.
The Zepf Center is a nonprofit community mental health center in Toledo that serves adults and children with mental health issues. Clients are either on Medicaid or have no insurance at all. For many of their clients, the holidays are a difficult time.
The Adopt a Family program allows client families to sign up through their case worker to be adopted by a person, group or business. Adopters receive information about the family’s wants, needs and interests to help when shopping.
“Last year we had 40 families adopted; this year we would have more than that but we have stopped accepting families at 40 due to wanting to make sure we can get them all adopted.
“If we end up having more adopters then we will accept more referrals from our case managers,” she wrote.
She suggested adopting a family as an alternative to gift exchanges in the workplace.
Those interested in adopting a family for the holidays should contact Baskey by phone at (419) 841-7701 Ext. 2209 or email her at cbaskey@zepfcenter.org. O

Connie Root and her husband Rich, photographed Nov. 20.

Sometimes, the difference between living and dying can be measured in seconds.
Such was the case the morning of Nov. 9 at McCord Junior High School. Connie Root, a sixth-grade science teacher, had just told the 23 students in her fifth-period class she wasn’t feeling well and would be taking the following day off to visit her doctor.
The students began working on an assignment. Connie returned to her desk. There, she began writing a reminder to her substitute. It was approaching noon. Connie got part of one word down and, suddenly, pitched forward, sprawling across her desk.

Uneasy morning
Connie had not slept well the previous night. She and her husband, Rich Root, spent much of Nov. 6, a Sunday, doing fall clean-up chores at their 10-acre property in rural Fulton County. Connie pulled weeds and assumed the sharp, deep pain she felt in her left armpit was the result of that effort. But she also felt heartburn, something she had never experienced before. She started taking ibuprofen to ease her discomfort.
Connie was still in bed as Rich was about to leave for work at the BP refinery in Oregon. She told him about her restless night and feeling ill. He suggested she call her physician, Dr. Nancy Stadler.
Connie considered staying home, but that was not her style. She loved her job and possessed a strong work ethic. In her 15 years at McCord, Connie had only missed a few days. So off to work she went, a fortuitous decision, as it turned out, since she would have been home alone otherwise.
At McCord, as Connie mingled with her colleagues before classes began, she let it be known she wasn’t feeling well. By chance, Mike Cook, the husband of teacher Merry Cook, was there. Mike, a Sylvania Township firefighter and paramedic, overheard Connie talk about the pain in her armpit. That concerned him. Arm pain can be a warning sign that a heart attack is imminent.
Mike studied Connie. Her breathing was fine. She wasn’t sweating. Her skin color was good.
“She looked the same as she did every day,” he said.
Still, Mike suggested to Connie that she contact her family doctor, thinking she might be sent to the ER, he said. Tedra White, a ProMedica spokesman, said records show that Connie told Dr. Stadler’s office she had shoulder pain after exercising. Based on that conversation, the office scheduled an appointment for the following morning, White said.
Tomorrow, as it turned out, was too late.

Students, teachers act
Just prior to Connie collapsing, her students had heard her breathing loudly and heavily, so they quickly recognized something was terribly wrong.
Jaret Hoschak and Mark Curtis, both 11, sprinted out the door, heading for the cafeteria. Andy Riggs, 12, hustled next door to Linda Cromley’s classroom.
Using the wall-mounted phone, Sarah Sabol, 11, dialed what she though was the office but turned out to be — fortunately — Rebecca Griffey’s nearby classroom.
In the cafeteria, Jaret and Mark found the school’s principal, Keith Limes, and told him they thought Mrs. Root had suffered a seizure. Kathleen Theiss, a close friend of Connie’s who had been involved in the earlier discussion about her illness, was nearby. She and Limes headed for Connie’s classroom. Along the way, Limes called 911.
When they arrived, they found Griffey directing the students out of the classroom toward her room. Linda Cromley was there, as was Merry Cook, who had been in Griffey’s classroom when Sarah called. Cook was on her mobile phone with the 911 dispatcher, whom she called at 11:56 a.m. They were soon joined by another teacher, Tim Nottke.
Nottke and Theiss, both of whom were certified in CPR, examined Connie, who was still in her chair with her head on the desk. Cook was trying to find a pulse, to no avail.  Nottke and Theiss moved Connie to the floor behind her desk.
At that point, she began turning blue. When informed of this, the dispatcher told the teachers to begin CPR.

Connie Root

Using both hands, Theiss began quick, rhythmic compressions of Connie’s chest. Her color began to improve, but Nottke still could not find a pulse.
He told Theiss: “I hope the paramedics hurry up and get here.”
By good fortune, Mike Cook’s station, No. 2, was only two-tenths of a mile away. Paramedics arrived within a few minutes. They quickly inserted an intubation tube into Connie’s mouth to open her breathing airway.
Right behind them, arriving at 12:03 p.m., were Lucas County EMS paramedics. They attached an automated CPR harness to Connie’s chest and began administering shock drug treatments into her bone marrow through a catheter inserted into her tibia.
It took a while, but the paramedics were successful.
“After the third shock she came back and started breathing on her own,” said Brent Parquette, EMS training and quality assurance manager.

Heart surgery and brain testing
At Toledo Hospital, tests determined that Connie had suffered a heart attack. Dr. James Smith, of the on-call CardioCare Consultants group, happened to be at the hospital and was summoned to surgery.
While changing into his scrubs and reading the electrocardiogram results, Dr. Smith was stunned to see Connie’s name on the report.  Previously, he and his family had been neighbors with Connie and Rich for seven years. They were close friends.
“I got sick to my stomach,” he said. “Emotionally, it caught me off guard. But I switched modes and did what I was trained to do.”
Smith found that Connie’s left anterior descending artery, known as the “widowmaker,” was 100 percent blocked, underscoring the seriousness of her heart attack. Over the course of an hour, Smith guided thin wires through the blocked artery to open some space. He then inserted a balloon catheter to further enlarge the opening, after which he added a stent to keep the artery open.
The surgery was a success but Connie was not clear of danger. The potential of permanent brain damage lingered.
“We didn’t know how long she had been out before CPR started,” Smith said.
Connie was transferred to the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, where she spent five days. Doctors there immediately initiated a therapeutic hypothermia treatment known as ICE protocol, which, by running a cold saline solution through an IV, dropped her body temperature to 91.4 degrees.
By lowering Connie’s core body temperature and placing her in an induced coma, the chances of her brain activity remaining normal were enhanced, according to Smith. But not guaranteed.
After 24 hours, the hypothermia treatment stopped. Connie woke up. Her body temperature returned to normal. Testing ensued. The news was terrific: She appeared to be fine.  Perhaps the proof came during her last night in ICU, when in the middle of the night Connie managed to dislodge a ventilator. She wanted out. A few days later, on Nov. 16, Connie went home.
Smith was thrilled — and awed.
“Anybody who experienced what she has and is able to walk out of the hospital with full neurological function and no significant aftereffect is very lucky,” he said.

Aftermath
From a medical perspective, measuring Connie’s good fortune is simple. When someone suffers a heart attack and stops breathing, every minute that passes without treatment reduces the chance for survival by 10 percent, according to Parquette, the county’s paramedics trainer.
As recently as 2005, heart attack victims like Connie only had a 12 to 15 percent survival rate in Lucas County. That number is around 45 percent today.
“I think it’s a result of a more aggressive approach to treatment in the field and advances in the equipment and drugs we carry,” Parquette said.
During her stay at Toledo Hospital, Connie’s family and friends kept replaying the events that led to her miraculous survival.
Said Rich, her husband, “I’m what if-ing it to death. It’s pretty incredible.” What if Connie had stayed home? What if she had the attack while driving to work? What if she had driven to Dr. Stadler’s office or to the ER?
Of course, the largest what if is this: What if the students and teachers hadn’t reacted as they did?
“At McCord we have four cornerstones,” said Limes, the principal. “Two of them are respect and integrity. The kids definitely reacted with those two things [in mind]. They were being really good people who cared and who still thought clearly enough to do the right thing.”
Ironically, this was the second classroom incident involving some of the same students. Earlier this school year, a student in Brian Mitchell’s class suffered a seizure. While he was attending to the student, Mitchell asked Sarah Sabol to call the office, as she did during Connie’s attack.
Jaret Hoschak, however, said he sat still and did nothing, an action that bothered him for weeks.
“I felt bad,” said Jaret, who envisions working as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Fish employee one day. “I could have done something to help. So when Mrs. Root collapsed, I knew I had to do something.”
Kathleen Theiss, who under extreme pressure performed critical CPR on Connie when it mattered most, deflected all praise to the students and Limes.
“I was impressed with Keith,” she said. “He had an aura of being calm. He let the teachers do what they were doing. He kept the other students in lockdown so they wouldn’t see Connie carried out to the ambulance. And, then, after the fact, he tried to control any rumors leaking out. That was important.”
For her part, Connie — known at McCord as a strict but fair teacher who gets the maximum effort and results out of her students — has no memory of Nov. 9. In fact, her mind is blank over a 10-day period before and after her heart attack.

Presently, Connie’s at home recuperating. Six pill bottles sit on her kitchen counter, an odd sight for someone who has been healthy all her life. She has frequent headaches, tires easily and is sleeping poorly. Normally a boisterous woman whose voice can be heard the length of a football field, she’s down a decibel or two at the moment.
“I’m still afraid it might happen again,” she said.
She’s scheduled to see Smith on Dec. 7 and hopes she’ll get the OK to drive so she can return to work.
Meanwhile, she’s trying to align her emotions.
“It’s hard for me to understand the enormity of what happened because I don’t remember anything,” she said. “I feel bad because I know how scared I made everyone. After listening to everyone explain what happened, I realize how lucky I am. It wasn’t my time.”
Connie is crystal clear on her thoughts about her students.
“It’s amazing, but I’m not surprised,” she said. “They’re such good kids. They’re not the sort of kids that would sit back and do nothing.”
Ditto Kathleen Theiss.
“If there’s something that needs to be done, she just does it.”
As for the future, Connie said she’ll come up with a project of some sort to show her appreciation and help others in a similar situation.
“I have to do something,” she said. “I’m just not sure what.”

I’m sure most people in the Toledo area are familiar with Frankenmuth and many (who like large crowds) enjoy going there during the holiday season. However, I’ve found that not nearly so many have heard of Crossroads Village and Huckleberry Railroad which is between Frankenmuth and Flint, a little east of Mt. Morris off I-75.
Visiting the two of these can make a very full day-trip or an even better two or three day trip.  When we do this trip, we usually go between Christmas and New Year when they do not seem to be so crowded. Of course, accommodations during that time or any of the weekends preceding Christmas will probably be pretty tight in that immediate area. Nearby Flint and Saginaw also offer many more possibilities.
Crossroads Village is open 4 -9 PM Nov. 25-27, Dec. 2-4,9-11,16-18, 20-23, and 27-30. The Huckleberry Railroad, which is a restored steam train, makes runs along a route decorated with thousands of lights at 5, 5:50, 6:40, and 7:30. Later trains are added if necessary. Combination tickets for the train and village : Adult $13, Seniors $12, and children 2-12 $10. Tickets for just the village are available at slightly lower prices.
The village is somewhat like a mini-version of Greenfield Village with such buildings  as shops, school, church with pump organ, historic houses, farm buildings, and cafe. A highlight is the Colwell Opera House where a short holiday program is presented several times during the evening. In the school children have the opportunity to make a craft and in the church sometimes local choirs present programs. If there is snow, there can even be sleigh rides. In a glass enclosed structure toward the rear of the village, a carroussel is popular with children and even some of us old folks. Of course, everything in the village is decorated to the extreme for the holidays.
Snacks and hot chocolate are available in the Crossroads Cafe next to the opera house on the main street and a more extensive menu in the larger Mill Street Warehouse.
We have always enjoyed taking the 5 o’clock train because there is some daylight left and we can see the scenery along Mott Lake. On the return trip the lights are in “full bloom.”   If children want to ride in the caboose, they need to get in line early for the train. Carols are played over the speakers in the train for all to sing along.
If we do this as a day trip, we usually have lunch at Frankenmuth and then about 3:30 drive to Crossroads village so we are there when it opens. Several years ago we took a group of children from our church’s outreach program for a chicken lunch at the Bavarian Inn and then to the Village. On the train ride one of the little girls, who did not appreciate the historic wonder of the Huckleberry Railroad asked, “When is this thing going to go upside down?” Oh well – we try. Just a sign of the times.

Way Library concludes the Golden Girls of the Silver Screen film series with the 1953 film, “Mogambo,” starring old-time screen sirens Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly.  Filmed on location in Kenya, Clark Gable plays the great white hunter employed in the business of selling animals to zoos.  Gardner is an American show girl stranded at the game camp, Kelly the prim wife of an anthropologist who is visiting to study gorillas.  The romantic triangle combines love and action and is all beautifully filmed in color by director John Ford.
The film will be shown, Sunday, November 27th at 2:00 p.m. in the lower-level auditorium of the library.  No reservations are required.  Admission and refreshments are free.  Jose Cardenas, an instructor in cinematography at BGSU will discuss the film and answer questions. The library is located at 101 East Indiana Avenue in Perrysburg.  For more information call 419-874-3135.

A benefit concert Nov. 27 will raise funds for the preservation of Toledo’s Vistula Historic District as well as a local church’s community outreach program.

The Historic Vistula Foundation and Salem Lutheran Church are joining to present “A Winter Solstice,” a concert featuring local musicians performing seasonal music.

The concert is set for 7 p.m. Nov. 27 at Salem Lutheran Church, 1125 N. Huron St., for a donation of $25.

Among the performers will be Tapestry, comprised of harpist Denise Grupp-Verbon and her husband Michael on guitar; the Eric Dickey Jazz Trio; The Clarence Smith Community Chorus; Musica Antigua De Toledo; The Quartet Bernadette; The Cottonwood Jam String Band; and A Little Bit Irish.

Event organizer Richard Martinez, chairman of the Historic Vistula Foundation, said the music will be eclectic, ranging from jazz to medieval renaissance to gospel and spiritual.

“It’s going to be quite a wonderful, joyous, warm evening of music and they’ll be supporting some good organizations dedicated to the history of Toledo and to the community here that we live in,” Martinez said.

There will also be speakers reading poetry and other literary selections pertaining to the winter solstice, Martinez said.

The Historic Vistula Foundation, working with its community development corporation United North and other community leaders, is dedicated to preserving the heritage and character and enhancing the quality of life of the Vistula Historic District.

Salem Lutheran Church offers many neighborhood outreach and feeding programs for both adults and children.

For tickets or more information, visit www.historicvistulafoundation.org or call (419) 389-3452.

The third annual Holiday Bazaar on St. Clair Street will feature seasonal eats, art, gifts and more during the first weekend of December.

More than 50 vendors are participating this year at seven St. Clair Street locations: Sur St. Clair Gallery, The Art Supply Depo, Ahava Spa & Wellness Center,
Downtown Latte, Fine Things Bistro, Swank Gifts and Shared Lives
Studio. Each venue is in charge of bringing artists to their shops, said Jules Webster, owner of The Art Supply Depo.

Even though The Art Supply Depo is one of the newest stores in the area, Webster largely coordinated the Holiday Bazaar because she wanted to make sure it happened.

“I think it’s a great way to enable local artists and small businesses to bring their unique handcrafted products to the market place and it’s an opportunity to share the talent of our local artisans with the city,” she said. The Art Supply Depo has 10 artists/vendors participating.

Webster said she expects the Holiday Bazaar to be well-attended. At least 400 people typically attend weekend events at The Art Supply Depo, she said, adding that the venue Sur St. Clair Gallery has more than doubled the number of vendors it had last year.

Several exciting artists are showcasing their work, Webster said. She is looking forward to Phoebe Starr, handcrafted-metal jewelry artist, Maria Aloyce, a Tanzanian artist and Bethany Helzer, designer of photo-jewelry. Helzer makes her work by taking pictures of nature, laminating them on a metal plate and enclosing them in a lacquer bubble.

“Vino and light edibles” will be served at Webster’s store and other locations. Hungry visitors can also go to Fine Things Bistro for artisan bread or Downtown Latte for holiday drinks like Candy Cane Mocha, Egg Nog, Gingerbread and Hot Chocolate.

Webster emphasized that the Holiday Bazaar is a way to support the community. “It’s a great opportunity to encourage people to buy locally made products for the holidays,” she said.

The Holiday Bazaar is Dec. 2 from 6-10 p.m. and Dec. 3 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m on St. Clair Street.

The holiday season is traditionally a time of giving. The latest event at The Shops at Fallen Timbers is a prime example of just how much local artists give back to our community every day. On November 26, members of the UT and BGSU clay programs are coming together in support of the Empty Bowls Project of Northwest Ohio.

The charity event allows patrons to purchase an original hand crafted bowl, filled with delicious soup and bread donated by local restaurants, while giving to those less fortunate. All proceeds go directly to benefit the Toledo Seagate Food Bank. Empty Bowls is an international grassroots effort to fight hunger. The Project was founded in 1991 by the Imagine Render Group.

The Fallen Timbers event was spearheaded by BGSU senior Tobias D. Bird, with help from organizers like UT lecturer Karen Roderick-Lingeman and many others. Artists include Rex Fogt, Karen Roderick-Lingeman, Jennifer Allan, Clay Leonard, Joe Pintz, Julie Beuller, Erik Zohn, Gabriel Reed, Nadine Saylor, Matt Paskiet, Robert Geyer, Jill Allen, and Adam Goldberg.

Bird, who is originally from Lakeside, Ohio, moved to the Bowling Green area last year after his wife accepted a teaching position at BGSU.

“I have been involved in numerous charity functions starting in my teens with my local church group. Most recently I have been a volunteer Mediator in the State of Michigan helping people to find peaceful solutions to their conflicts,” said Bird. “The true beauty of The Empty Bowls Project is that it is simple and elegant. Create something as simple as a bowl, but create it in a way that it becomes more than a bowl. It becomes a symbol of hope and possibility.”

Tickets for Empty Bowls are $20.  The event runs from 10am-8pm and will also feature a silent auction. Attendees can bid on a piece with the final auction night being held at the Annual BGSU Arts Extravaganza on Dec. 9. Sponsors include P.F. Chang’s, Granite City Food and Brewery, Abuelos, Mancy’s, Degage Jazz Café, and many more. The event will be in the former Sbarro Pizza location near Rave Cinemas. Fallen Timbers is located at 3100 Main Street, Suite 1599 in Maumee, Ohio.

“The amount of support I have been given by the artists, the Seagate Food Bank, The Shops of Fallen Timbers and all of the restaurants has been amazing and inspiring.”

For more information visit The Empty Bowls Project of Northwest Ohio on Facebook or contact Karen Roderick-Lingeman at Karen.roderick-lingeman@utoledo.edu