The Sanatoga Post

Tavella as the Chick-fil-A cow.

POTTSTOWN PA – Pottsgrove High School graduate and local singing sensation Dustin Tavella is inviting a few hundred close friends – and hey, you can come too, even if you don’t know him; he won’t mind – to help shoot a music video March 20 (2011; Sunday) from noon to 7 p.m. in Pottstown’s Memorial Park on King Street.

Pop rocker Tavella’s fans on Facebook and elsewhere last week received messages asking them to arrive in force at the park for the filming of a video for his song, “She Got Me Singin’.”

“Come out and bring ALL your friends!,” Tavella wrote. “It’s gonna be a blast. Feel free to bring basketballs, footballs, volleyball stuff, bikes … whatever you would wanna bring to keep yourself occupied during down times.” Creating video magic, apparently, takes time and patience.

Tavella is collaborating with Dan Newman of the Lehigh Valley’s New Man Media to create the production. Newman reports Tavella is looking to leverage his musical talents into more commercial ventures. Together the two recently released a test advertisement for fast food outlet Chick-fil-A that promoted a Groundhog Day sandwich offer earlier this month (February 2011).

• Watch the Tavella commercial, above, or see it at New Man Media’s Vimeo account.

Those familiar with Tavella’s earlier videos know that in each he features his grandmother, Maria Tavella. She’ll be at the park, too, he promised.

Photo from Vimeo

POTTSTOWN PA – A total of $979,879 in grants were awarded Friday (Feb. 25, 2011) by the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation to 32 projects submitted by local organizations and schools in concluding its Fall 2010 fundings, the foundation announced.

The recipients included three projects proposed by groups with offices in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township; one in Limerick; and 15 in or affecting Pottstown.

The Visiting Nurse Association, with offices on East High Street in Sanatoga, will share in more than a half-million dollars in foundation money to improve access to medical services.

Formed with the proceeds of the multi-million dollar sale of Pottstown Memorial Medical Center to Community Health Systems of Tennessee, the foundation provides grant money to local schools and non-profit organizations across portions of western Montgomery, eastern Berks and northern Chester counties that offer programs which motivate people to adopt healthy lifestyles.

Awards totaling $267,075 were presented to 20 projects aimed at reducing behavioral health risks; $527,654 for three projects intended to improve access to medical services; $160,500 for six projects intended to enhance formal and informal supports; and $24,650 for three programs meant to improve physical and social environments.

“The grant applications submitted are innovative and consistent with our mission to enhance the health and wellness of area residents,” according to foundation Executive Director Dave Kraybill. Grants were awarded to:

In Lower Pottsgrove:

• Coventry Christian School, for the Keep ‘Em Moving enhancement of physical and education programs;
• Family Services of Montgomery County, Project HEARTH (Helping Elderly Remain In Their Homes);
• VNA Community Services Inc., Personal Navigator program with expanded legal support services.

In Limerick:

• Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Parish, for its physical education and health program.

In Pottstown:

• Child, Home and Community, for Pottstown adolescent prenatal, parenting and support;
• Pottstown Area Seniors’ Center, Enhancing Prime Time Health;
• Pottstown Area Seniors’ Center, Save Our Collaboration;
• Pottstown Family Center, Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program;
• Pottstown Karate Club, Level 1 cross-fit certifications;
• Pottstown School District, wellness campaign with Pottstown Community TV;
• Schuylkill River Greenway Association, Bike Pottstown program;
• St. Aloysius School, Steps to a Healthier You fitness and nutrition program;
• Community Health and Dental Care, Inc., community-based health care center sustainability;
• Montgomery County Community College, Dental Sealant Day;
• Montgomery County Community College, Service Learning to Build the Capacity of Community-Based Non-profit Organizations Project;
• Freedom Valley YMCA, specialized aquatic wheelchairs;
• Pottstown Area Police Athletic League, PAL administrative and operating support;
• Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities, capacity building initiative; and
• Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities, walk-in freezer.

The foundation’s online community, Mission Healthy Living, provides area residents with information on how to lead a healthier life.

Shoppers at Limerick's outlets, hunting for bargains.

LIMERICK PA – Consumers who are members of the American Automobile Association (AAA), and particularly its East Penn chapter with offices in Royersford PA, can benefit from a special shop-and-save program being presented March 12 (Saturday) at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets, West Lightcap Road, Limerick PA.

Outlet center representatives said it will observe “AAA Member Appreciation Day” by offering one-day savings to members who show their AAA identification cards at participating stores. In addition, the outlet mall will give gift bags to the first 50 AAA members who register and present their card at the information center located in its food court; and enter AAA members for prize drawings.

AAA staff members will be on site at the outlets from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. No purchases are necessary.

SANATOGA PA – The annual Pennsylvania Division Citation Award of the American Cancer Society was presented this month (February 2011) to National Penn Bancshares Inc., which operates banking branch offices in Sanatoga, Royersford and Pottstown PA, to recognize financial support it provided during the society’s 2010 Daffodil Days fund-raising campaign.

Last year marked the first time National Penn participated in Daffodil Days at a corporate level, the society announced. Banks in all five of the company’s regions supported the effort, resulting in donations of more than $11,000. Citation award winners are nominated and selected by American Cancer Society employees across its 12 divisions statewide.

The society “values what a great community partner we have in National Penn,” said Erik McGahey, its East Region income development director. The bank plans Daffodil Days participation again this spring, he said.

Daffodil Days is the organization’s oldest and most-recognized fund-raising program. The three-month promotional campaign involves the sale of daffodils, which are delivered in March by volunteers. During the past 14 years, Daffodil Days has raised nearly $240 million nationwide.

MADISON NJ – Quest Diagnostics Inc., which promotes itself as the world’s leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services – and which operates patient service centers in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township, Gilbertsville, Trappe, Phoenixville, and Collegeville – said Thursday (Feb. 24, 2011) it would buy Athena Diagnostics, a laboratory specializing in genetic testing for neurological disorders.

Signage at one of Quest's service centers.

Athena’s owner, Thermo Fisher Scientific, is selling the business for $740 million in cash. Based in Massachusetts, Athena offers advanced diagnostic tests used to rule out or confirm physicians’ diagnoses of neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, neuromuscular disorders such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and developmental disorders.

Athena generated about $110 million in revenues during 2010 and is growing at a double-digit rate, Quest said. Its Lower Pottsgrove facility is located on Medical Drive. The sale is expected to close early in the second quarter of 2011.

Photo from Creative Dimensions

POTTSTOWN PA – Peace and personal relief, attorney R. Kurtz Holloway contends, may be found  in – of all things – some paperwork.

Holloway, a Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township resident who also serves as township solicitor, recently wrote that the most important help his clients could offer to their loved ones is to prepare “four basic personal and estate planning documents” well before they’re ever needed. They include a will, a general power of attorney, an advance health care directive, and general information about the location of personal and financial information.

Holloway is a partner in the law firm of Wells Hoffman Holloway and Stauffer, 653 High St., Pottstown PA. An article he wrote last month (January 2011), titled “Estate and Personal Planning Basics – How to Really Help Your Family,” appears as the most recent feature on the firm’s website, here.

“Many people find themselves in difficult situations involving decision-making for a loved one who left no instructions,” Holloway wrote. “Who stands to inherit if someone dies without a will? What happens when an elderly parent becomes too mentally feeble to handle his or her finances? … These situations cause a great deal of grief and frustration, and sometimes cost substantial expense to those left to handle things,” he added.

An instruction list that details where personal and financial information can be found, complete with what are now-vital passwords and access codes, could be particularly useful, according to Holloway.

THAR SHE BLOWS, AND STRONGLY TOO – Wind gusts Friday (Feb. 25, 2011) of up to 60 mph in some locations across Lower Pottsgrove and Limerick (PA) townships brought down tree branches and power lines, created temporary traffic detours, and left a few homes without electricity. Among the places affected was the Fred Beans Kia automobile dealership on North Lewis Road in Limerick (above) where landscapers will soon be busy picking up sticks and limbs from the dealership’s lawn. Similar winds snapped young tree trunks in half (below) along the roadside in Sanatoga; and leveled a left-turn directional sign (bottom), also in Limerick.

Photos for The Post by Aimee M. Herbert, Aimee Marie Photography

LIMERICK PA – Operators at Exelon Nuclear‘s Limerick Generating Station (LGS) manually shut down its Unit 2 reactor Friday (Feb. 25, 2011) at 9:10 a.m. because a generator “support system” was not operating properly, company spokesman Joseph Szafran said.

Exelon's Limerick Generating Station

The closure occurred “as expected, safely and without incident,” he added, at “no risk to the public” and without staff injuries.

Station personnel worked throughout the day to solve the problem and restore the unit to service. Szafran did not offer an estimate on how long Unit 2 was expected to be out, the suspected or determined cause of the support system failure, or details on its repairs.

Limerick’s Unit 1, meanwhile, continued to operate at full power, Szafran said. Just eight months ago, during June 2010, it was Unit 1 that went offline due to what was described at the time as an “electrical fault,” and Unit 2 kept operating.

Photo from Google Images

Alan Shawn Feinstein sits in the mailroom of his foundation's offices

POTTSTOWN PA – For a second consecutive year, the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities is one of 2,000 agencies that will participate in a nationwide, two-month-long fund-raising effort that allows them to share a million dollars to assist hungry families in their communities, cluster Executive Director Barbara Wilhelmy said Friday (Feb. 25, 2011).

Donations to the Cluster Outreach Center, 137 Walnut St., Pottstown PA, of food, cash and checks during March and April enable it to participate in a funding match provided by the Feinstein Foundation, founded by philanthropist and humanitarian Alan Shawn Feinstein, Wilhelmy said. The outreach center is the cluster’s primary site for food, clothing and emergency assistance distribution.

Area residents’ gifts to the campaign allow them “to be partners in the most successful grassroots campaign to fight hunger,” she added.

The cluster represents a consortium of area churches and religious groups that have been organized to provide emergency food, clothing, household goods, financial assistance, and social services guidance in the greater Pottstown area for more than 40 years. The center also serves five meals weekly at various sites through its community meals program.

During 2010, the cluster served 11,976 individuals through its food pantry, and more than 16,000 individual meals at community sites.

For more information on donations to the cluster’s efforts in the foundation’s “One Million Dollar Challenge,” visit the cluster website.

Photo from the Feinstein Foundation

Jonathan Spadt

VALLEY FORGE PA – Jonathan Spadt, a Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township resident and chief executive officer of the intellectual property law firm RatnerPrestia, is headed for a two-week trip in Europe to drum up business and meet with some of the group’s international clients, the firm’s marketing coordinator, Jeannie McCann, reported Friday (Feb. 25, 2011).

Spadt is scheduled to lead presentations prepared for clients and partners in Germany and Switzerland. His topics include “Avoiding Common Licensing Mistakes” and “Obtaining U.S. Discovery in Non-U.S. Litigations.”

Later during the trip, Spadt will be joined by RatnerPrestia shareholder and attorney Gerard O’Rourke. Both are heavily involved with business abroad, and are part of the firm’s initiative to build business internationally, McCann said.

In addition to being CEO, Spadt is a member of the firm’s Management Committee and chairs its Intellectual Property Strategy and Risk Management group. He also serves as president of the township Board of Commissioners.

Photo from RatnerPrestia