And
the Beat Goes On at College Park Unit 217
By
Ivy Christoffers
Now
I had just a very few days to prepare for the Greenbelt Labor Day Festival
that Unit 217 has Participated in for the past 14 years. We have been very
fortunate to be able to partner up with Brian Schafer, owner of “Big Fat
Daddy’s” food service. Here we work a food booth that sells pizza, onion
rings, blooming onions, chicken tenders, beef and chicken fajitas, gyros,
smoothies and sodas. The festival runs for four days and takes a lot of people
to insure success. We were a little shorthanded in Unit 217 volunteers this
year so I called on local Boy Scout Troop 1033 for some much needed
assistance. Scoutmaster Gary Stewart organized a very able work party,
scheduling two Boy Scouts and a Scout Leader for each four-hour shift. My
heartfelt thanks to the following Boy Scouts: Robert Shaw, Jeffrey Hopper,
Nolan Grainger, Larry Hartzell, David Timus, Max Carmichael, Michael Stewart,
Evan Flores, Robert Shafer and Andrew Sillers. Thanks also to Scout Leaders
David Timus, Paul Grainger, Jim Hopper, Paula Crowley, Robert Shafer and Larry
Hartzell. We also thank Boys and Girls Club participants Douglas Depaz, and
Michael Huynh. But most of all, we thank Gary Stewart for organizing this very
able work crew and for all the time Gary spent with us. Many of the parents
stopped by the booth to thank Unit 217 for allowing the boys to be a part of
this learning experience and to earn more community service hours in
preparation for their citizenship merit badge. This was definitely a win-win
situation. A big vote of thanks also to the following volunteers from Unit and
Post 217: Margaret “Nanny” Begley, Helen Condatore,
Nancy Peirce, Katy and Mitch Beard, Angie Rodreguez, Judy Slarb and Ken
Gray. Miss College Park, Erica Williams, joined us on Saturday afternoon and
she was heard tocomment, “This is the most fun of anything I have done so
far.” This event is very important to us as it affords us the opportunity to
earn much of the funds we need to support our many programs throughout the
year.
On Sunday, September 11 Post 217 held their annual picnic for Post and Unit members and their families. As in the past, the Greenbelt Concert Band, under the direction of conductor Tom Cherrix, entertained with wonderful mixed musical program of marches, classical, spiritual, popular show tunes and patriotic music. It was a beautiful summer “day in the park” behind the Post home with a terrific luncheon served before the concert. As usual, Post member Bill Bladen and his committee organized it. An added treat was the visit of two of our friends from the 450th Airborne Battalion from Riverdale, MSgts Jennifer Brooks and Hugh Carew, who had that day returned from Rhode Island where the 450th Battalion participated in an international parachute competition. We are very proud to report they took third place in the event. I understand the 450th also had the first ever all female team as one of their competing teams. Hugh is the son of one of our Unit 217 members, Susan Carew. We know she is very proud of him. We will be traveling to Ocean City this month to attend the American Legion Auxiliary Fall Conference and learn about all the new areas of concern that need our attention. In the meantime, many of our members are focusing on those families affected by Kristina and Rita.
Our
Halloween Party for the community children will be held on October 30th from
1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Plan to bring your little goblins up to age 12 to have a
great time with us. I don’t know who has the better time, the children or
their parents. As you can see, we keep busy at Unit 217 and always seek
qualified members of the community who wish to join us in these good times as
we continue to work with our veterans, our youth and our community.