Hits and misses
Courtesy of Dr. Michelle Steimer
Nate Steimer sits among stuffed animals donated as part of Operation Teddy Friend.
Tony Todaro, front, carries a box of electronics, as Tylor Nolte prepares to carry a television and other devices into the facility during a recent bimonthly electronics recycling collection at the JVS Environmental collection site in Ellsworth.
Karen Mansfield/ Observer-Reporter
Colleen Nelson/For the Observer-Reporter
Central Greene High School students tend to plants grown at their newly refurbished greenhouse.
Thanks to the compassion of 7-year-old Nate Steimer of Claysville, children who have been forced from their homes in war-torn Ukraine soon will be gifted with some “special friends” – assorted stuffed animals intended to lift their spirits and offer some comfort. “He saw something in those kids that nobody else would have seen,” said his mother, Dr. Michelle Steimer, assistant professor of psychology at Waynesburg University. Thanks to Nate and his Operation Teddy Friend, more than 1,500 stuffed animals are being shipped to Ukrainian refugees in Poland, Germany and Moldavia, with some going to children of families that will be arriving in Pittsburgh. “This was a lesson for him in life that despite all of the bad things that happen in the world, we have the power to be kind and we have the power to make a difference, be it one bear at a time half a world away,” Steimer said.
State Rep. Jason Ortitay is to be commended for his tenacity in his efforts to get a bill creating a statewide online course catalog for high school students over the finish line. Ortitay, a graduate of Avella High School, recalled taking a course by watching tapes on a VCR, and told the Observer-Reporter an online course catalog would expand learning opportunities for all students in Pennsylvania, particularly those in smaller districts with limited resources. “It’s an issue of equity across the state,” Ortitay said. The measure was approved by the state House and has moved to the Senate for consideration.
Students at Central Greene High School must be exceptionally proud of the greenhouse they created to sell flowers, greenery and garden plants to the public. Members of the FFA program (formerly known as Future Farmers of America) were forced to delay the opening of the refurbished greenhouse in 2020, when like so many things, the pandemic forced them to scuttle their plans. They persevered, continuing to raise funds to support the project, and on Earth Day, April 22, students hosted a grand opening to show off their work and offer plants for sale. Programs like this one are important to our schools, offering not only educational opportunities, but imparting practical life-long skills that could potentially turn into a career. Supporting them by purchasing spring and summer plants and flowers helps to keep initiatives like this alive. To see when the greenhouse is open, check out Waynesburg FFA’s Facebook page.
Washington County’s partnership with JVS Environmental in Ellsworth is helping local residents properly dispose of electronics by offering bimonthly collections on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. It’s illegal in Pennsylvania to throw electronics out with standard household garbage – computers, cellphones, and other devices contain toxic chemicals such as mercury, lead, and cadmium that harm the environment – and the JVS Environmental e-cycling site offers an opportunity for people to safely rid their homes of the unwanted goods. “I think it’s great to take something that would be thrown away and to use it for something else, to give it another life. It matters that we’re wasting less stuff,” said Vince Gusbar, owner of JVS Environmental.