Croydon parade featuresVets in Corvettes

By Diane Davies-Dixon 

On Monday, Croydon held a Memorial Day parade hosted by the Croydon Joseph A. Schumacher V.F.W. Post 1597 in Bristol Township.

The procession began at State Road and Cedar Avenue and proceeded to the Joseph A. Schumacher V.F.W. Post 1597 on Bellview Avenue.

Diane Davies-Dixon/Photo

Neighbors gathered on their front lawns and along State Street while some spectators sat on the backs of trucks or in lawn chairs in front of cars.

“Today we celebrate freedom with other veterans that survived,” said Mike Thompson, 19, of Bristol Township.

The parade is about all our vets, according to Janis Cordingly, of Bristol Township.

“Today is a big celebration to honor our boys,” said Cordingly. “The living and the dead.”

Diane Davies-Dixon/Photo

Cruising in style in the parade were veterans in Corvettes, antique cars and military vehicles.

Not far behind were Scooby-Doo, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Goofy, Mini-Mouse and SpongeBob.

Leah Ibbetson, 23, of Bristol Township, never attended the Croydon parade until Monday.

“I appreciate everything they did for us. I appreciate our freedom,” said Ibbetson. "Glad I am home for the parade.”

“It is awesome our troops keep us able to have our freedom,” said Al O’Donnell, 24, of Bristol Township.

To read more go to : http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/croydon-parade-feature-vets-in-corvettes/article_b0cae2c9-150b-5dc8-aa90-79e186629527.html 

Money, money

By Diane Davies-Dixon Correspondent 

Posted on October 22, 2012

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  by Carl LaVO

Imagine a store that has all your sporting goods and equipment and provides lessons in that sport too. That would be pretty awesome, right? That was the idea Nora Broderick, 10, of Northampton developed during a recent hour-long finance management workshop in Newtown Township.

Learning how to run a business was the objective for Junior Girl Scouts in the fourth- to fifth-grade category.

Under the guiding hand of Zalig H. Stein, a CPA from Huntingdon Valley, and other CPAs, Nora was among 70 girls who recently had a chance to reach for the stars at St. Andrew Youth Ministries in Newtown Township.

First the girls had to think individually of a business they wanted to start and the reasons for doing so. Next came setting hours, promotions, commercials, listing goods and services, business names, locations, how to advertise and convince investors that their business would be better than competitors'.

Nora suggested her store offering lessons in various sports would set her business apart.

Stein agreed. “Know everything you can about the business,” he told the girls. “Read about it and research it.”

In the end, each of the Scouts took the podium in front of the group to outline their plans. Many decided on opening in New York, though that brought a frown from Stein.

“Before running they have to walk or they will fall on their face,” he later said. “You have to grow a business.”

Suggestions were made for the Scouts to start out mowing lawns and baby-sitting so a sense of business can develop.

To read more go to: http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times_news/money-money/article_f8ec5912-fb25-512f-b7e6-9aa6adefa4f4.html#user-comment-area

Kelly's quest for the Silver

By Diane Davies-Dixon Correspondent 

Posted on September 3, 2012

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  by Carl LaVO

In a year of the just-completed Olympic Games, 13-year-old Kelly Young is closing in on a Silver.

A Girl Scout since kindergarten, the Lower Makefield teen is in line for Scouting’s second highest honor — the Silver Award — for leadership and community involvement.

She released scores of monarch butterflies this summer at the Silver Lake Nature Center in Bristol Township as part of a project she designed to help sustain the threatened species.

The Girl Scout Cadette had to search for a meaningful project to the community as part of her reach for the silver. Her love of butterflies inspired the idea of releasing the colorful insects as part of summer camp at the nature center. Jenn Bilger, coordinator of volunteers at the center, thought it was a great idea.

As Kelly put it about her interest in science, “It just felt natural to pick this project.”

With the backing of the Girl Scouts’ regional council, she formed a team of girls — some scouts and some not, as required by Girl Scouts — and waited for painted lady monarch caterpillars to arrive in the mail.

To her disappointment, they all died within the first few days.

With additional caterpillars on the way, Kelly trekked to the Delaware Canal to pick milkweed leaves with monarch caterpillar eggs on them. Eight eggs were collected. None survived.

The mail finally brought live caterpillars, settled into a salad container full of milkweed leaves. Survivors at last.

To read more go to: http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times_news/kelly-s-quest-for-the-silver/article_da569d45-fa53-51b7-bf68-e8273af26bc1.html?mode=story