The Sanatoga Post

SANATOGA PA – An idea inspired by a prayer breakfast discussion of educational difficulties among families living in the Rolling Hills apartment complex on Buchert Road has blossomed into a tutoring-and-sports program at Coventry Christian Schools that recently won a $20,000 grant to boost its growth.

Coventry Christian's Lower Potsgrove campus

Coventry Christian, whose campus occupies the former Lower Pottsgrove Elementary School on North Pleasant View Road, received the grant from the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation for its Project Purpose program.

It offers private tutoring on Sunday and Wednesday nights with Rolling Hills students, most of whom attend the Pottsgrove School District. It also sponsors a basketball team, the Chesmont Hills Warriors, whose players must be enrolled in the tutoring program to ensure they are what Coventry Christian Director of Advancement Mark Fisher describes as true scholar-athletes.

• Read a story by reporter Frank Otto, titled “Coventry Christian School receives $20,000 grant” and published online last Wednesday (Feb. 15, 2012) by The (Pottstown PA) Mercury.

The Bill Koss Combo played during June in Lower Pottsgrove's summer concert series

SANATOGA PA – Municipal parks and recreation boards can be like fiefdoms, Alyson Elliott, Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township‘s assistant manager, explained last week. All of them serve certain groups of people exclusively, and so far few of them have been inclined to let others in on what they do.

The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), as well as the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation, would like to change that, she said.

The boards, usually made up of volunteers, are responsible for planning taxpayers’ fun and games. They find talent for summer concerts in the parks, arrange bus trips to nearby attractions, and schedule kids’ sporting events like baseball and soccer. Each does similar things, but only for the residents of their township or borough.

DCNR and the foundation, both of which control some of the grant money that pays for local recreation programs, are advocating the appointment of a regional recreation coordinator, Elliot told the township Board of Commissioners during its Oct. 3 (2011) meeting. As the title implies, he or she would coordinate activities between boards, with an eye on involving more people and also reducing costs.

The idea has been pitched several times during regional meetings that Elliott attends. To date, though, “each community has been somewhat apprehensive about jumping in,” she said. The municipalities are uncertain a regional approach could ensure their specific taxpayers’ recreational needs or desires are met, Elliott added.

DCNR apparently knows a political stumbling block when it sees one. Faced with continued opposition to a coordinator, Elliott reported it recently announced plans to conduct a study that would “help communities narrow down” what they do differently for their specific audiences, as well as what they do in common.

With that information in hand, she noted, maybe attitudes toward a coordinator would change.

Commissioners voiced no opinions on whether or not they consider coordination a good idea, but asked Elliott to keep them updated on the study’s results.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Oct. 3):

• Townships Talk About Coordinating Fun And Games
• Local Fire Crews In Schools This Week, Teaching Safety
• Township Bends To Give Garbage Bidders Choices
• The Problems At Pruss Hill Lurk Beneath Its Bridge
• Police Detail At Limerick Hearings Cost $1,468
• Pruss Hill Bridge Might Re-Open With Weight Limit

POTTSTOWN PA – There’s good news across greater Pottstown PA, according to the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation, about student obesity: it’s going down.

Body Mass Index (BMI) statistics included in the foundation’s latest newsletter, its Fall 2011 edition, indicate that more Pottstown area students who once were considered obese – grossly overweight given their comparative height – have been losing pounds during the past three years.

Fourteen percent of 29,450 students who live in the foundation service area, which includes the Pottsgrove, Pottstown, and Spring-Ford Area school districts, were deemed to be obese following screenings conducted during 2010. That compares to 17 percent during 2007, and means 883 students both dropped weight and dropped out of the obese category during the period.

The foundation actively promoted the newsletter’s release Wednesday (Sept. 28, 2011) in announcements on Twitter and other social media platforms.

There was improvement too, but less so, in the category of students considered overweight, the statistics show. They accounted for 17 percent of all students measured last year, and 18 percent of those measured during 2007. The 1-percent decline represents 294 students who got healthier.

Not surprisingly, the percentage of students who were said to be within a healthy range of weight rose during the three-year period from 64 percent in 2007 to 68 percent in 2010. “Physical activity makes a difference in Pottstown,” the foundation triumphantly Tweeted.

Potentially worrisome in the BMI statistics is growth in the number of student considered at-risk for being underweight. That category rose from 2 percent during 2007 to 3 percent last year. The newsletter did not comment on a cause.

Pennsylvania law requires student height and weight measurements to be taken at least annually. The state’s goal, under the law, is “to determine the pattern of growth for each child, so that his weight and height can be interpreted in light of his own growth pattern rather than those of his classmates.” BMI screenings became mandatory for children in kindergarten through 12th grade during the 2007-’08 school year and beyond.

Photo from Google Images

POTTSTOWN PA – Three western Montgomery County (PA) organizations – the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation, the Phoenixville Community Health Foundation, and the Schuylkill River Heritage Area – will use a $10,000 donation from L.L. Bean Inc. to support outdoor experiences for elementary and middle school students, the groups announced Wednesday (Sept. 21, 2011).

Local public schools can apply to the foundations to help pay for proposed outdoor activities; the Heritage Area will provide assistance and supervision of the resulting events, its staff writer Laura Catalano said. Ten school districts in the Phoenixville and Pottstown areas, including the Pottsgrove School District, are eligible for what are being called mini-grants.

The money can be used to pay for field trips and programs specifically related to physical activity and outdoor education. It could include activities such as a hike through an area park, biking along the Schuylkill River Trail, or visiting an arboretum. L.L. Bean’s contribution coincides with its opening of a retail store next Friday (Sept. 30) at the King of Prussia Mall.

“When we open a store in a new community we like to engage with local conservation, recreation and education interests to support their promotion of active, healthy lifestyles,” said Janet Wyper, community relations manager for L.L. Bean Inc.

“We are pleased to participate in this partnership, which clearly supports our goal of creating regional recreational opportunities that connect people to the environment so they value and protect it,” said Kurt Zwikl, Heritage Area executive director. Representatives of the foundations also praised and thanked L.L. Bean for its gift.

Photo from Google Images

SANATOGA PA – It’s taken awhile to put together all the appropriate pieces – ideas, plans, paperwork, and money – to build a proposed boardwalk nature trail at Sprogel’s Run Park in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township. It also now looks like it will take awhile longer to get trail construction started.

Something like this ... maybe

Bids for the work submitted from three builders all came in over-budget, Assistant Manager Alyson Elliott reported to the Board of Commissioners. That’s not a project-killer, she told board members during their latest meeting (April 21, 2011), but it does mean the township will need to adjust its specifications and re-advertise for bids, taking more time.

The trail through part of the 22-acre park at 75-1/2 Timberview Dr., Pottstown PA, was first conceived during 2008. The plan won grants totaling $75,000 from Occidental Chemical Corp. and the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation to make it happen, but it encountered stumbling blocks since then. Most are related to the state of the economy, and reallocation of money the township itself had earlier planned to spend on the work.

When bids were first sought March 23 (2011), the specs called for “approximately 1,425 (linear feet of) blazed nature trail, and the installation of four boardwalks, two observation areas, five interpretive signs, site furniture, associated grading and drainage improvements, and other related work for a complete project including seeding and landscaping.”

Some of those items must change, Elliott said.

The township wanted to be environmentally conscientious in boardwalk building, and its guidelines called for the use of recycled lumber. As it turns out, what’s old and used is pricey, too; reclaimed timber drove the cost up. In the next bidding round, contractors will be given options on materials.

Although the trail route was marked out two years ago, the specs allowed for flexibility in placing walks and observation platforms. Builders, who expect to make a profit, priced what they thought might be the added cost of risking such flexibility into their estimates. Next time, Elliott said, locations will be specified and the guesswork won’t be an issue.

The “site furniture” cited in the specs (mostly consisting of benches and trash cans) and the interpretive signs that will tell visitors what they’re looking at along the trail, and what else they might look for, are coming out. The township thinks it can have its maintenance department make and install them less expensively.

It could take a few weeks before the bid packages are revised, new specifications sent out, and new bids are received, Elliott said.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners meeting of April 21):

• Ooops! Builders Tripped Up On Sprogel Run Trail Specs
• Commissioners Happier With Bank Signage Proposal
• Rupert Road Bridge Repair Funds ‘Wait’ In DE Bank
• Spend That Money! Sunnybrook Funds Get Last OK
• Township Plans $375,000+ Suit To Fix Rupert Bridge
• Cooperation Agreement On Commissioners’ Agenda

Photo from Pinecliff Sanctuary

POTTSTOWN PA – The first four installments of a locally produced, six-episode web video series about bullying, its causes and effects, and how parents can help their children cope with it, have been released for public viewing, the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation announced Friday (March 25, 2011).

The first of the four, “The Evolution of Bullying,” features an interview with Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Police Officer William James, who also serves as the school resource officer at Pottsgrove High School.

Other videos also available are:

• “Signs Your Child Is Being Bullied,” with Lorraine Henry, full-time mental health out-patient counselor at Creative Health Services in Pottstown PA;
• “What Parents Can Do To Stop Bullying,” with Sharon Giamporcaro, Montgomery County deputy district attorney and chief of its Juvenile Division, and Mary Anders, a detective in the district attorney’s office; and
• “How Parents Can Help Their Child Heal From Bullying,” with Audrey Leffler, coordinator of the Children’s Safe Program on Domestic Violence at Creative Health Services.

All four, and two others expected to be released during April (2011), have been posted to the foundation’s YouTube account, but also are part of its “Mission: Healthy Living” community health website.

• Watch James discuss how bullying began, above, or see it and others in the series at the “Mission: Healthy Living” portal.

Each video runs between 7 and 10 minutes in length.

SANATOGA PA – When Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township workers armed themselves with tape and chalk during September 2008 to mark what they expected would become a trail in Sprogels Run Park, 75-1/2 Timberview Dr., it was hoped the path and its unique boardwalk over and around several natural features could be built in a year or less.

A sign on Timberview Drive marks the start of open space that is Sprogels Run Park.

Occidental Chemical Corp. and the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation donated a combined $75,000 in grants to make the project happen, but the economic recession intervened. Township funds also allocated for construction were either conserved or used elsewhere, officials said later, and the trail’s completion was put on hold.

It may again get a green light tonight (Monday, March 7, 2011) when the township Board of Commissioners gathers at 7 p.m. in the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA, for its first of two March meetings.

Board members are scheduled to consider advertising for contractors to bid on building the boardwalk, and installing signage and other amenities. Their meeting is open to the public; a board agenda can be downloaded from the township website, here.

Sprogels Run Park consists of 22 acres off Kepler Road in the township that “Positively Pottstown” blogger Sue Kepler has described as “simply a beautiful wooded playground.” Its most prominent feature is the run itself, a stream that crosses Upper and Lower Pottsgrove as it heads south to empty into the Schuylkill River.

Also on the commissioners’ agenda:

• Approval of earlier announced changes to the pension plan for the township’s uniformed police officers;
• Reappointment of volunteer members to two its Civil Service and Parks and Recreation commissions; and
• Discussion of another proposal to re-name Armand Hammer Boulevard, which runs through both the township and the borough of Pottstown from East High Street south to Industrial Highway.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ March 7 meeting):

• Sprogels Run Park Project On Commissioners’ Agenda

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.

New program manager hired.

POTTSTOWN PA – Anna Brendle, a Philadelphia resident with a background in planning, has joined the professional staff of the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation, High Street, Pottstown PA, as its program officer for schools, recreation and active living, the foundation announced earlier this month (Jan. 7, 2011).

Brendle will manage the foundation’s grant programs and funding to schools, preschools, parks and recreation centers, and community organizations involved with physical activity programs. The Pottsgrove School District has been a foundation grant recipient for several years. She also will focus on researching and writing federal and state grants to supplement existing programs.

“We are excited to welcome Anna to our team,” said foundation Executive Director David Kraybill. “She brings … a wealth of experience in managing the grant-making process. Anna is also very familiar with supporting and guiding grantees … to administer their programs and bring new ideas to the table.”

Brendle holds a bachelor of science degree from Penn State University and a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of California Irvine.

Dr. Laurie Betts.

POTTSTOWN PA – The trends, causes, and health implications of childhood obesity, and practical steps parents can take to prevent or reverse the condition, will be reviewed Jan. 13 (2011; Thursday) from 7-8 p.m. in the Pottstown Senior Center, 724 N. Adams St., Pottstown PA, during a program being sponsored by the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

Dr. Laurie M. Betts, the foundation’s program officer for access to health care, will be the featured speaker. Advance reservations are requested by calling 610-323-2006 Ext. 21 by Jan. 10 (Monday). The discussion will be held in the conference room.

Photo from the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation