The ‘feel good’ stories of 2022
Shopping for flowers after the grand opening of the FFA greenhouse April 22 at Central Greene High School are (from left) state Sen. Camera Bartolotta, FFA state reporter Trevor Maxwell, advisor Jamie Finch, club president Alex Schultz and Lauren Strelick. (Photo by Colleen Nelson)
Colleen Nelson
Central Greene High School students tend to plants grown at their newly refurbished greenhouse. (Photo by Colleen Nelson)
The further one wades into Ryerson Station State Park蘑菇视频 zero gravity pool, the deeper the water gets. A big, green, twisty slide splashes into the deep end of the pool, and the complex蘑菇视频 on-site spray park adds another element of fun to the water amenity. (Photo by Katherine Mansfield)
The water that spouts from colorful spray park tubes and shapes is reusable, which reduces waste inside Ryerson Station State Park蘑菇视频 new pool complex. The new complex opened officially Memorial Day weekend in 2022.
A field of black-eyed Susans greets visitors to the swimming complex at Ryerson Station State Park in Greene County. The complex, which sits near the original state park pool, opened in May.
Colleen Nelson
Coral 鈥淏uzz鈥� Brodak stands inside The Brodak Museum replica of her late husband John Brozak蘑菇视频 original hobby airplane shop in Carmichaels.
Visitors check out exhibits at The Brodak Museum in Carmichaels. (Photo by Colleen Nelson)
Courtesy of the Brodak family
Model aviation enthusiasts will delight in the 1950s replica hobby shop inside The Brodak Museum. The shop is based on John Brodak蘑菇视频 own hobby shop, which he operated in Washington.
Katherine Mansfield
Zander Maurin celebrates his title, 鈥淜ing of Cash,鈥� with Jefferson-Morgan junior Kaileigh Coneybeer, whose One Dime at a Dime campaign to raise money for Corner Cupboard was successful, in large part, due to Zander蘑菇视频 fundraising efforts.
Courtesy of Jodi Fulks
Zander Maurin presents his fundraising efforts 鈥� $1,141 that he desperately wanted to bring into school all in dimes 鈥� to his teachers at Jefferson-Morgan elementary. Maurin蘑菇视频 efforts to collect dimes for One Dime at a Time earned his class a pizza party and him, the title 鈥淜ing of Cash.鈥�
Zander Maurin is known as both the Duke of Dimes and the King of Cash, and his fundraising efforts, combined with that of his classmates, earned Tammi Byers鈥� class a pizza party for donating the most money to One Dime at a Time. (Photo courtesy of Jodi Fulks)
Visitors at the Greene County Tribute To Heroes walked through the Cost of Freedom American Veterans Traveling Tribute that featured exhibits from World War I to present day, including a 9/11 tribute. (Photo by Karen Mansfield)
Karen Mansfield
A woman reads the names of soldiers who died in the Vietnam War on the replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, part of the American Veterans Traveling Tribute that was on display at the Greene County Tribute to Heroes exhibit at the Greene County Fairgrounds. (Photo by Karen Mansfield)
Courtesy of Greene County Tribute to Heroes
The Tunnel to Towers Foundation蘑菇视频 9/11 Never Forget Mobile Exhibit, which appeared at the Greene County Fairgrounds this week as part of the Greene County Tribute To Heroes, included recordings, artifacts and items recovered from rubble after the Twin Towers collapsed. (Photo courtesy of Greene County Tribute to Heroes)
Courtesy Marcia Webber
Zane Webber enjoys playing in the loft of the playhouse he received through Make-A-Wish Greater Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Courtesy Marcia Webber
Zane Webber, 4, walks up the front of his playhouse. Zane is now in the maintenance phase of recovery after undergoing treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2022.
Zane Webber plays in front of the playhouse he received from Make-A-Wish Greater Pennsylvania and West Virginia. (Photo courtesy of Marcia Webber)
As 2022 comes to a close, it蘑菇视频 time to take a look back at the stories in Greene County that warmed our hearts. There were many that made us smile this year: tales of generosity, perseverance, community development and recognition.
The Messenger would like to share some of our favorites with you, and hope you find the same joy in reading about them as we did in reporting them.
FFA Greenhouse opens at Central Greene
The newly refurbished FFA greenhouse at Central Greene High School officially opened its doors on Earth Day (April 22).
After two years of pandemic restrictions, the greenhouse was bursting with blooms and students were ready to sell spring flowers and plants.
Thanks to two Pennsylvania FFA Foundation grants, the greenhouse had new plant tables designed and built by students, fresh floor covering, and a computerized labeler that can produce labels for the plants, a task that used to take hours to do by hand.
The greenhouse serves not only as a great place for folks to pick up plants, but also as an educational experience for students. Staggered planting started in February, and when seedlings started to sprout, students separated them into individual cells and flats.
Flower plugs from Wagner蘑菇视频 Greenhouse were planted for artistic effect in hanging baskets, and the overhead watering system is there to be turned on and off as young horticulturalists learn to gauge the needs of their cultivars as the spring sun warms the greenhouse and watering becomes more critical.
As the students prepare for another season, keep tabs on hours and plants on Facebook at Waynesburg FFA.
New swimming complex opens at Ryerson Station State Park
A new swimming complex opened at Ryerson Station State Park on Memorial Day weekend.
At the end of the 2019 pool season, a groundbreaking was held at the new complex, which took a couple of years to complete. The new digs boast a splash pad and tipping bucket and a zero entry pool with a twisty slide.
鈥淥ur goal was to create something remarkable,鈥� said DCNR secretary Cindy Adams Dunn, who attended the grand opening. 鈥淲e all know the history of Ryerson Station: The loss of the dam, the loss of the lake, the loss of the park that was. We doubled down 鈥� and committed to a long-term process to make this a spectacular park in our system.鈥�
The parking lot is covered in a solar canopy, the first of its kind to be installed in a state park, putting the park at zero in terms of energy consumption as the energy for the park is generated by solar.
The pool and spray park are open at no charge to visitors during the summer months.
Brodak Museum opens
In June, the Brodak Museum opened its doors as a tribute to late businessman and aviation enthusiast John Brodak.
Guests to the museum can experience Brodak蘑菇视频 expansive aviation collections, including airline memorabilia, a replica 1950s hobby shop, and a collection of stewardess uniforms and model aviation kits by industry pioneer George Aldridge. Also included are military aircraft items like reconnaissance cameras and practice bombs.
Brodak grew up in Carmichaels and began tinkering with model airplanes as a teen. He taught himself to fly the control-line model Sterling P-15 (think model airplane meets kite, only the P-51 runs on an engine and can do stunts) and opened his first hobby shop shortly after marrying Coral Lee 鈥淏uzz鈥� Welsh in 1960.
Between running successful businesses and raising a family, Brodak found time to master the art of control-line model airplane piloting. He competed in and won several national competitions. In 1991, he launched Brodak Manufacturing and Distributing Co. Inc., the largest model airplane manufacturing company in the world.
Six years later, he founded the Brodak Fly-In, an annual model airplane competition connecting builders and flyers from around the world. The event, the largest of its kind, was held annually through 2019. It returned this year, starting Monday and running through this Sunday at 100 Park Ave. in Carmichaels.
Brodak died in 2020 at the age of 81.
The museum that stands as a tribute to him is open by appointment only.
For more information on the museum or the Fly-In, visit https://brodak.com
鈥楧uke of Dimes鈥� collects 10K dimes
In May, first grader Zander Maurin lugged a $1,141 donation for One Dime at a Time into Jefferson-Morgan Elementary School.
That蘑菇视频 11,410 dimes!
The youngster at his mother Ashley crafted donation boxes for the first-grader蘑菇视频 father and two grandmothers 鈥� both beauticians 鈥� to collect dimes in at work. Word of Maurin蘑菇视频 fundraising efforts spread, and a family member returned from an out-of-town trip with dimes in lieu of souvenirs.
His pint-sized philanthropy helped earn his class a pizza party 鈥� all while helping a Greene County nonprofit.
The One Dime at a Time campaign, spearheaded by Jefferson-Morgan junior Kaileigh Coneybeer and her marketing internship classmate Wyatt Wilson, raised about $7,000 for the Corner Cupboard Foodbank to put toward the purchase of a refrigerated truck.
Tribute to Heroes honored veterans, first responders
October brought a five-day Tribute to Heroes to the Greene County Fairgrounds, honoring and memorializing veterans and first responders.
Throughout the week, visitors toured the Cost of Freedom Tribute by American Veterans Traveling Tribute, which included an 80% replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and exhibits from World War I to present day.
The Cost of Freedom Tribute also featured the Tunnel to Tower Foundation蘑菇视频 9/11 Never Forget Mobile Exhibit, where visitors were able to hear audio recordings of first responder radio transmissions and see artifacts, including pieces of World Trade Center steel and items recovered from the rubble after the Twin Towers collapsed.
The free event was the culmination of the efforts of Vietnam veteran Rick Black, who died in 2021, and had long hoped to bring the exhibit to Greene County. The Tribute to Heroes committee, which included Black蘑菇视频 daughter Stacey Marshall, picked up where he left off to make his dream into a reality.
Make-A-Wish helps Rices Landing boy蘑菇视频 recovery
In November, Zane Webber, 4, of Rices Landing received a brand new playhouse through Make-A-Wish Greater Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
On Jan. 24, Zane was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, a cancer that attacks the blood and bone marrow and impacts white blood cells.
Since then, he has undergone 10 months of treatment, including chemotherapy, and has battled a fungal infection that forced him to undergo open heart surgery on April 16.
Complications had Zane spending most of a six-month stretch hospitalized at WVU Medicine Children蘑菇视频 in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Because of his love of playing outdoors and a wish for a play space, a team of Make-A-Wish volunteers set up the backyard playhouse that looked like his family home.
鈥淗e蘑菇视频 actually doing great. His treatment蘑菇视频 going well. He蘑菇视频 been feeling really good, feeling so much more like himself,鈥� said Zane蘑菇视频 mother, Marcia Webber.