Over $1.5 million since 2004. That’s the total amount spend on kids and families for Secret Families Muncie, after about $180 grand was spent on 350 families in Delaware county according to a social media post by Ben Smith who serves as the account each year. Each family received a decorated live tree, fully wrapped presents for every family member, a $100 gift card for food, and a bible.
6th District Congressman Pence announced the service academy nominations last week. Nominated for the Military Academy at West Point, John Thomas Hicks, Yorktown High School. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Payton L. Plank, New Castle High School. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs Addison M. Moore, Richmond High School. Rory M. Powers, Yorktown High School. A couple of the nominees received more than one recommendation.
This Thursday, a drive through toy drop off event happens at the Middletown Lions Club building on Raider Road – 5:00pm-6:30pm. They’re trying to fill Toys for Tots boxes to give kids a Merry Christmas.
BBB Scam Tracker has received complaints about false advertisements and phony promises for holiday decor. How the Scam Works: when your package is delivered, the product is a poorly manufactured miniature version of what you thought you bought. How to Avoid Holiday Décor Scams – You can always look for business ratings and customer reviews on BBB.org. Be wary of deals that seem too good to be true. Don’t make quick purchases on social media. Always use your credit card for online purchases to allow you to dispute fraudulent charges. If you spot a scam, report it at BBB.org/ScamTracker.
Starting pay just under $54,000, funding to your HSA, a $5k signing bonus and many other benefits: the Muncie Police Department hosting what’s called a Lateral Hiring Transfer Process. For info, hit cityofmuncie.com. The release did not state how many officers are being sought, or if these hires are from regular City budgeting.
The Hire Veteran Health Heroes Act of 2021 was signed into law last week – it directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to create a program that will help actively recruit medical personnel, who are within one year of completing their military service, to remain in federal health care in departments like Veterans Affairs.
Another sign of the labor shortage – at Yorktown’s Osborne’s Country Kitchen, they posted on social media last week, “because of being short staffed we have had to make the decision” to limit hours Tuesday through Friday.” They continued that they hope this will be temporary until they can find some employees, and “the owner and cook has been wearing themselves out working 14 hour days.”
Over the weekend, we saw this story: Hawaii was under blizzard warning as 12 inches of snow and winds up to 100 mph were expected. Believe it or not, it is not unheard of for the higher elevations on the Big Island to get snow. We triple checked this story – to make sure no one was pranking us.
Here’s the plan this week for Second Harvest Food Bank Tailgate Food Distribution events. Tuesday in Marion, Wednesday in North Manchester in Wabash county, Thursday at Muncie Mall parking lot, and Friday in Anderson at the old K-Mart lot. All are 10 a.m., except Wabash – yours is 12 noon. All are welcome, regardless of home county or reason for need. No IDs, Proof of Address or Income required.
