Community briefs 6/1/06

Local families hold reunions

• Overbeck -- The William H. Overbeck family reunion will be held June 11 at shelter No. 22 at Cape County Park, South. There will be a covered dish meal at 12:15 p.m.

* Acup-Cook -- The Acup-Cook family reunion will begin at 10 a.m. Sunday, June 4, at Cape County Park, shelter No. 4. Family and friends of the late Charley and Annie Cook-Acup are invited. There will be a covered dish meal.

* Schrock -- The Schrock family reunion will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 10 at Cape County Park North, shelter No. 8. There will be a pot luck lunch. For more information, call Cordelia Peters at 243-4062 or Nancy Myers at 243-0643.

Democratic group to meet

The Cape Girardeau area democratic meetup group will meet Wednesday, June 14, at 6:30 p.m. in the lower level of Commerce Bank's William Street location. The speaker will be Larry Danials with the National Association for Mental Illness, discussing the impact Medicaid cuts have had on services for the mentally ill. A meal will be provided.

Master gardener program available

Have some spare time on your hands? Want to learn about gardening, plants, and other horticulture subjects? Have you considered becoming a Master Gardener?

The master aardener program is sponsored by University of Missouri Extension. The purpose of this program is to assist Extension's educational programs in horticulture, gardening, small-scale food production, and consumer environmental issues. Members answer questions from the public by telephone, clinics, demonstrations, and/or workshops.

Individuals interested must be available to participate in classroom training once a week for 11 weeks. For this training, there will a $135 per person core course fee. Some of the classroom training topics include turf, soils, vegetables, woody ornamentals, and much more. In addition to this Level I training, interns will be required to devote 30 hours of community service time before becoming an active master gardener. To continue in the program, members must devote an additional 20 hours of service in succeeding years to remain an active member. Advanced training will also be offered to those who have completed the intern phase beginning within the next year. Some of the topics include seed saving, water gardening, container gardening, and butterfly gardening, just to name a few.

The Southeast Missouri Master Gardener group (SEMOMG) will be offering the Level I training course beginning June 1 and will be every Thursday thereafter until Aug. 10. The training course will be at the Cape Girardeau County Extension office in Jackson starting at 6:30 p.m. If you are interested in becoming a Master Gardener, contact Donna Aufdenberg at the Bollinger County Extension office at 573-238-2420.

Heart Walk needs donations, teams

It's time to start gearing up for the annual Cape Girardeau County Heart Walk to be held at Capaha Park on September 30. Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 killer of men and women in the United States, however the funds raised at the walk will support local medical research and educational programs for the American Heart Association.

If your company would like to sponsor the walk, the planning committee is still accepting sponsorships. Deadline for sponsorships is June 26th.

Another way to participate in this year's Heart Walk is to form a team. A team may consist of friends, family or co-workers. Deadline for forming teams is June 9th. However, you may form a team or sign up individually up to the day of the walk.

If you have any questions about this year's Heart Walk or would like to make a donation or form a team, contact Cindy Rhodes of the American Heart Association locally at (573) 776-1364.

Children's museum to open

Cape Girardeau will have a new place to play and learn next month. On June 6th, at 10 a.m., the Discovery Playhouse, a new Children's Museum will open at Westfield West Park.

A Grand Opening "Fun Fair" will be held on Saturday, June 17th from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Grand Opening events will include balloon artists, science experiments by Jason Lindsey of KFVS12, and other kids' activities.

The Discovery Playhouse was established by the Southeast Missouri Children's Museum, a recently formed non-profit organization. The Discovery Playhouse is a place where children in the Southeast Missouri region can have fun while learning through "hands-on" experiences. The museum will encourage children to develop a love of science, the arts and the experience of learning.

For more information, call Martha Brown at 651-5263.