Terri Rimmer

November 22, 2005 Dear McKenna: It’s time for your annual Thanksgiving letter again. I can’t believe you’re five! My heart is comforted by the fact that you have such a great life. Your life is everything I wanted it to be for you. Every time I get a picture and see your smiling face looking back at me I know how lucky I am and what a great life you have. At times five years ago seems like a long time ago. Other times it feels just like yesterday. I happened to be talking with Stephanie, my best friend the other day. She was in the operating room the day you came into this world. She was telling me about a girl your age that is not as lucky as you. Every time I hear a story such as hers I am so glad you have the life you do. Your spirit keeps me going and I often have dreams about you, good ones in which you are happy, reflecting your true life. In those dreams I also see myself at your age and I feel like a Higher Power is showing me who I really was in Technicolor – innocent and pure...

By Terri Rimmer New York supermodel and 2004 Tsunami survivor Petra Nemcova has turned her tragedy of losing her boyfriend to the disaster and battling her own injuries into a foundation, a book, and an inspiration to others. Happy Hearts Foundation was started by Nemcova to help the child victims of the Dec. 26th natural disaster. Nemcova’s book Love Always, Petra: A story of the Discovery of Life’s Hidden Gifts is having all the proceeds from sales of the book to go to the Give 2 Asia Happy Hearts Foundation. The publication of the book coincides with the one-year anniversary of the Tsunami that devastated coastal Thailand and its neighboring nations. Nemcova was featured Dec. 15th at the Wharton Club speaking to the National Press Club about her recovery and efforts. She told one British website regarding working with the child victims: “They don’t see you, they look through you and it was very heartbreaking. I want to put the stars back in their eyes.” Nemcova, 26, held on for eigh...

By Terri Rimmer Founded in 1977, CATS (Creative Arts Theatre & School) is one of the oldest operating youth theatres in the nation and the only one in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex where kids perform for peers and run the lights, sound, and crew. It has a rich heritage in theatre education and has classes year-round for kids 4-18 and adults in all areas of theatre education like Creative Drama, Acting, Musical Theatre, Private Voice, Technical Theatre, Ballet, Tap, Jazz, and others. Its mission is to develop potential of young people from diverse backgrounds through performing arts training and performance opportunities. The history is a great story of dedication to performing arts training and live family-oriented theatrical shows for people and their families in the area. In 1982 CATS’ board and citizens formed the Arlington Arts Associates, Ltd. To buy a building at 1101 West Randol Mill Road to give the school a way to continue and grow. The yearly CATS’ Spotlight Series of p...

*GLSEN Tarrant County meets the second Tuesday of every month, 7 p.m. at Bennigans. Call 817-294-5101 or go to glsentarrant.org. *PFLAG Fort Worth meets the first Thursday of each month, 7 p.m. at First Jefferson Unitarian Universalist Church, 1959 Sandy Lane. For info, go to pflagfortworth.org or call 817-428-2329. Tarrant County Gay Pride Week Association meets the third Sunday of each month, 3 p.m. Go to tcgpwa.org. Fusion Support Group meets the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of every month at 6:30 p.m.; dinner provided; 214-521-5124; at the Resource Center of Dallas. *Through March 26th - "Gauguin" exhibit at the Kimbell Art Museum, 3333 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth. For info call 817-332-8451 #293. Feb. 23rd and Feb. 24th - "The Power of Inclusion," Ninth Annual Equity and Diversity Conference, UNT Denton. For info call 940-565-2456. March 30th - Seventh Annual Women of Color Conference, UNT Denton. For info call 940-565-2456. Sept. 14th - "An Evening with Maya An...

By Terri Rimmer Ten Thousand Villages Shop has received the Co-Op America People’s Choice Award for Green Business of the Year by a vote of the public. The store’s Holiday Collection is also available in stores and online at tenthousandvillages.com. “The Fort Worth Star-Telegram will be featuring a photo of our products in a future issue as part of a feature on Co-Op America’s Green Gift Giving Catalog,” said Juanita Fox, media coordinator of Ten Thousand Villages. “The column, ‘Savvy Consumer” will also be syndicated to all Knight Ridder papers, meaning it may show up across the country.” You can celebrate the spirit of Hanukkah with fairly traded menorahs, tzedakah boxes, and home décor – made by artisans from around the world. Many Ten Thousand Villages Stores have longer hours during the holidays and will be conducting festive activities including Benefit Shopping Nights to raise funds for groups and Holiday Bag Sales. Ten Thousand is one of the largest and oldest fair trade compan...

By Terri Rimmer As the first wave of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) Baby Boomers reaches age 59 ½, the first year they are eligible to make tax-free withdrawals from their retirement plans, many are taking their first real look at retirement and a good portion are not happy. A new study shows that gays, lesbians, and the transgendered are more likely than straights to worry about how they will survive when they retire. The study also shows that staying healthy later in life was the most frequently cited consideration in retirement among LGBT Boomers; financial concerns are second; and being old and alone was third. “Despite their comparatively moderate concern over finances, only half (54 percent) or those in the GLBT group are saving at a rate needed to maintain their lifestyle in retirement,” said Sandra Timmerman, director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute. “Of significant interest is that 16 percent of GLBT Boomers say they spend no time at all on retirement ...

By Terri Rimmer Police in three Texas cities are trying to determine if there are any links in the unsolved murders of seven gay men over the past five years. While a joint task force has not been created, the investigators in Dallas and Garland are sharing information the Dallas Morning News reported on Thursday. The possibility of al ink was first suggested by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered (LGBT) newspaper The Dallas Voice and Dallas City Council Member Ed Oakley. “We’re not ruling out anything,” Sgt. Kenneth LeCesne told The Morning News. The most recent victim was Samuel Jarnigan Lea, 28, a University of Texas student. His body was discovered Oct. 31st inside his apartment near the campus. Police believe they may have a suspect in Lea’s killing but no hard evidence. The suspect is described as a hustler with a drug habit and a violent past. The victims in the other unsolved murders are: Craig Ceson, 46; James Stephen Watts, 64; Agustin Fernandez Jr., 44; Bobby Dalton Be...

By Terri Rimmer The Fourth Annual Ol’ Country’s Boot Scootin’ for Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) of Fort Worth, TX raised around $4,500 after expenses Oct. 22nd held at Dance Makers of Texas for pancreatic cancer research. “The group that made it were a very enthusiastic bunch, who really stepped up to the plate,” said Virginia Griffin, Team Hope Fort Worth volunteer coordinator. “They really came through with buying raffle tickets and bidding on the silent auction items. The quilt my sister Cindy for made ended up bringing in over $700 and we got over $2,000 in the silent auction, with some on the phone participating in the bidding. It was a very lively participation.” Griffin said the entertainment, Class Act, a group of women who volunteer dances as a community service, were a hit with the crowd. They did three sets with the last set getting the crowd to participate. Griffin said that was the first year of the event that the organization had that many people on the dance ...

By Terri Rimmer I remember when my sister was in high school she told me about weird initiations cheerleaders and pep squad members had to go through to be part of the squad. The rule was after the initiation if they called you it meant you made it and if they didn’t, but just showed up at your house you were part of the team. Such initiations were often held at the local mall and included such bizarre dares as singing a love song to an old man while standing on a bench in the mall. Another initiation involved getting zipped up in a sleeping bag and being rolled down the mall. And another is just too disgusting to print. Hazing or initiations date back as far as 1905. In 1909 in Denver, CO, some members of fraternities and sororities at high schools there (about 100 members) refused to relinquish their membership in these groups. When brought into some new group like a school or club people are naturally anxious to begin by making a good impression on the others. The desire to initiate...

By Terri Rimmer A publishing company is searching for mothers to write for a new anthology of hopes and advice for their children. Topics include: A Wish for My Daughter/Son, Before You Leave for Kindergarten/College, Friendship, First Love, Marriage, Eat Life, Lesson From Your Grandparents, and other topics. Submissions should be in Microsoft Word (or compatible program) and sent as attachments to pammer@houston.rr.com. At the top of the page include your name, address, phone number, email address, children’s names and ages, and your birthday, The contest is sponsored by Outside Voice. Different methods of celebrating Mother’s Day have evolved in the last several decades. The tradition of giving gifts, flowers, and celebrating mothers with festive meals has early traditional beginnings. The story begins in 1858 when community activist Anna Reeves Jarvis organized Mothers’ Works Day in West Virginia. In 1913 Congress declared the second Sunday in May to be Mother’s Day. Since then Mo...

By Terri Rimmer Recently 14 Nature Conservancy staff and two volunteers helped out in Mississippi with Hurricane Katrina relief. The country’s wildland fire management resources were mobilized to help with the government’s response. Although their hurricane-related duties didn’t have anything to do with flames their training lent itself well. During the stay in Hattiesburg, MS the team from the Nature Conservancy was able to have housing, transportation, meals, and other needs met. Within the organization the help was orchestrated by Paula Seamon and Sam Lindblom of the agency’s Global Fire Initiative. The team was involved in a variety of activities from clearing timber to helping evacuees. The Initiative helps teach people how fire can be useful and how it can be destructive. According to a press release from nature.org, the Conservancy’s website, the agency and partners have proposed renewed coastal conservation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. A September release also stated that ...

*Written by Mackenzie’s transitional moms The first nine days 8-15-00: Today is my birthday!!! My birth mom named me Justine Hope. They say I’m just beautiful. I weighed 7 pounds and 2 ounces and measured 19 ½ inches long. I have beautiful soft golden brown hair. 8-17-00: I got to go home from the hospital today with my transitional family. The nurses were sad to see me go because I was such a good baby but my transitional family was glad to see me. They think I’m so sweet and just wonderful. They are a little worried because my appetite is very light. 8-18-00: I got to go to Gladney today to see my birth mom. She was so glad to see me. We had a good snuggle but she isn’t feeling too good just yet. Some of her friends came to see me and they thought I was so beautiful. I’m still only eating ½ to one ounce at a time. 8-19-00: We had a good day today. I started eating a little better this morning. I like to lay in my bed and look at my bear mobile. I’m very strong. I like to raise my he...

By Terri Rimmer Chase Bank is presenting the 2005 Trains at NorthPark Mall, an annual holiday fundraiser which benefits the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas, TX. You can only imagine taking a creative trip through a small Golden Gate Bridge, Mt. Rushmore, and to the Dallas skyline in addition to experiencing Times Square and Washington, D.C. The event, which started Nov. 19th, continues through New Year’s Day and is a beautiful model train display with over 35 ‘O’ trains traveling on a tiny trek across the U.S. It started in 1987 and since then the vehicles have been viewed by more than one million, providing the monies to operate the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas, a home-away-from-home for families who have traveled there with their kids for treatment in area hospitals. “Thanks to our generous sponsors and those who visit The Trains each year we have been able to make our House into a home for the families we serve,” states Ronald McDonald staff. New to the trains this year is a uni...

By Terri Rimmer Hands On Network has started a drive to get 6.4 million volunteers involved nationwide in two years. Affiliates have also stepped into major leadership roles in local communities across states. “We just couldn’t sit around and watch this stuff go on around us,” said Network Volunteer Danielle Cuviller. The national civic movement is to bring people together to improve communities and there are numerous chapters all over the U.S. The agency is made up of 52 volunteer organizations that serve as entrepreneurial civic action centers nationally and internationally. Over the past few years a number of volunteer focused campaigns have been launched with high hopes. According to staff combining the urgency of needs in communities with a belief in action to help people and stir the nation the Hands On Campaign will focus on problem solving and will adopt a project-management approach to effective community work. According to literature from Hands On while increasing volunteeris...

By Terri Rimmer Americans For Health Care is supporting a Fair Share Health Care that will prevent large, profitable corporations from shifting the cost of their employees’ health care costs onto workers, taxpayers, and other businesses. According to the organization the act will require these companies to spend a certain percentage of their payroll taxes toward health care for their employees or pay the difference of what they do pay into the state’s Medicaid fund, help alleviate the financial pressures facing states as they struggle to contain Medicaid costs, reduce the bill taxpayers pay to cover these corporations’ business costs, and level the playing field between companies providing good jobs and benefits to their workers and those that don’t. Ruben has liver cancer and though he has health insurance and works full-time, his policy isn’t very good. He was recently told by a medical rep that he would have to fork out $300 every time he was to go through radiation, something he co...

By Terri Rimmer The 11th Annual Diamond of Hope Ball featuring a gourmet dinner, auction, and live entertainment benefiting the local American Lung Association will be held Feb. 11th at the Fort Worth Club. From 6:30 p.m. until midnight at 307 West 7th Street on the 12t Floor in Fort Worth, TX Paige Farr and Paige Morton will co-host the event. Entertainment will be provided by Random Axis. Individual reservations are $150.00. Research friend couple sponsorships are available for $500 which includes two dinner reservations, featured in PowerPoint presentation, listing in event program, and certificate of appreciation. Bronze sponsors pay $1,500 which includes a table for ten, a listing in the program, featured in PowerPoint, sign, and listing in American Lung Association’s website. Silver sponsorships are available for $2,500 which includes select seating for ten, a half page ad in the program, feature in PowerPoint, acknowledgement during the ball, table sign, and listing in website. ...