For This Birmingham Mom, Giving Back to Schools Is Way of Life

Rosemary Scheidt has been active in Birmingham Public Schools for more than 20 years and also volunteers at the Furniture Bank of Southeastern Michigan.

Editor's Note: This article originally posted on Oct. 18, 2011. It is an example of the ways people give back in Birmingham. If you know about others, tell us about them in the comments. After growing up as a student in Birmingham Public Schools (BPS), Birmingham resident Rosemary Ricelli Scheidt continues to give back to the school district and the community in every way possible.  The 54-year-old has held many volunteer roles within BPS over the years including PTA/PTSA president at Quarton Elementary School, Derby Middle School, for the district at large and now is the corresponding secretary for the Seaholm High School PTSA. Additionally she is the past president for CECAC (Community Education through Communication And Collaboration), …

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Video Spotlights Birmingham Students Volunteering With Habitat for Humanity

Birmingham students helped build walls with Habitat for Humanity Detroit on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

High school students from Birmingham Public Schools are the stars of a recent video spotlighting student volunteers with Habitat of Humanity. The video, posted to Youtube on Jan. 26, was taken on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The Birmingham students, wearing Groves High School and Birmingham United hockey sweatshirts — as well as hard hats and work gloves — helped Habitat volunteers in Detroit build walls during the day off from school. "Thank you volunteers and family partners," writes Habitat for Humanity volunteer Keith Kol, who uploaded the video. Students across the district volunteered on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this year, including Berkshire Middle School students, who delivered donated items to Gleaner and Lighthouse of Oakland …

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Groves Teacher Gives Back During Summer Trip to Kenya

As part of the Africa Inside program, Groves science teacher Bonnie Bartnick spent the summer volunteering at an orphanage in Nairobi.

One Groves High School teacher not only took a break from school this summer, but a break from Michigan, the United States, technology and all the comforts of home. Bonnie Bartnick, a Groves science teacher, spent her summer in Kenya with the non-profit Africa Inside, where she worked with young people and donated more than 60 pounds of art supplies to a Nairobi orphanage. "Taking a trip like this is life-changing," Bartnick said. "To see first-hand people living with no electricity or running water, without even a garden, makes you stop and think about how much we need to live." "Most of us have too much of everything and not enough connection to the Earth," she added. "Visiting places like Kenya or Tanzania reconnects us to our …

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Volunteers From First Presbyterian Help Build High School in Mexico

As part of a mission trip with the First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham, a dozen Birmingham residents helped build a secondary school building in the impoverished Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.

In Birmingham, there is no question in middle school graduates’ minds that the end of summer vacation marks the beginning of another, unavoidable school year. For teens in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, a high school education is not only avoidable, but unaffordable, inconvenient and unavailable. At an age American teens associate with a babysitting gig or driver’s education, Mexican teens often begin jobs or families of their own. At the beginning of April, members of the First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham (FPC) youth group began construction of a classroom building in Leona Vicario, Quintana-Roo, Mexico, that will provide schooling for youths, grades 10-12, through the Yucatan Peninsula Mission (YPM). The 13-person group spent four …

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Need to Know: Your Guide to Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Birmingham

Featured events include the Kids Against Hunger project at Harlan Elementary and the 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration at The Community House.

It's Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and all around Birmingham, citizens are gathering to celebrate the life of the famed civil rights leader with special gatherings, service projects and more. Wondering what's going on around town today and this week? Here's what you need to know: The Race Relations and Diversity Taskforce, in collaboration with the North Oakland County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, will host the 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration at 8 a.m. Monday at The Community House. This year's theme is "Why is it taking so long?" Rochelle Riley, columnist for the Detroit Free Press, blogger and children's activist, will deliver the keynote address. Riley has won several awards for …

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30 Days of Giving, Day 6: The Salvation Army

If you find yourself dropping change into kettles, consider starting your own online red kettle.

This is the sixth in a 30-day series of ways Patch community members can give back this holiday season. We hope you'll take part in this 30 Days of Giving and take the spirit beyond the holidays, because there truly is need all year long. Dropping change in the red kettles outside the grocery store is a traditional part of the holiday season. While the tradition of bell-ringing volunteers still continues, there is now another way to donate to The Salvation Army — giving to an online red kettle. In order to widen its approach and better utilize social media, The Salvation Army has created the online red kettle system, giving individuals, groups and companies the ability to collect money virtually in their own kettles from friends, family, …

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30 Days of Giving, Day 5: Goodwill Industries

Donate money or toys at your local Caribou Coffee or bd's Mongolian Grill to benefit Goodwill Industries.

This is the fifth in a 30-day series of ways Patch community members can give back this holiday season. We hope you'll take part in this 30 Days of Giving, and take the spirit beyond the holidays, because there is "need" all year long. Good things come to those that give, and through Dec. 6, do-gooders will receive $1 off a future cup of joe at their local Caribou Coffee when they donate a toy to Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit. Caribou Coffee, in conjunction with FM 88.7, or 89X, as well as bd’s Mongolian Grill, are hosting a '12 Days of Christmas' campaign to collect toy donations to be sold at Goodwill’s Santa Shop. The shop gives Goodwill clients, who are unemployed or receiving education through Goodwill, the opportunity to …

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30 Days of Giving, Day 4: Habitat for Humanity

Lend a hand this holiday season by volunteering at Habitat for Humanity's ReStore or constructing a home.

This is the fourth in a 30-day series of ways Patch community members can give back. We hope you'll take part in this 30 Days of Giving, and take the spirit beyond the holidays, because there is "need" all year long. Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County is a nonprofit organization with a mission to eliminate poverty and ensure that those in need have a decent place to live. The organization builds and renovates houses annually and is always in need of a crew of volunteers for completing house projects and manning the ReStore, which is located at 150 Osmun St. in Pontiac. Volunteers for construction projects are still needed on Tuesdays and Thursdays through the holiday season; volunteers for ReStore are needed Tuesday through Saturday. …

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30 Days of Giving, Day 1: Toys for Tots

'Tis the season for giving and Patch is giving you 30 ways to contribute over the holidays.

For the next 30 days — every day until Christmas Eve — Patch will bring you great ways to help spread holiday cheer past your front porch and help people and organizations across the area. There are hundreds of supportive nonprofits in Oakland County with heartwarming missions; we hope one — or several — will strike a chord with Patch readers. While participating in Black Friday shopping, or making some local purchases at the independent stores to support Small Business Saturday, consider adding goodies for the Toys for Tots program to your shopping list. Every year the Toys for Tots program strives to collect thousands of new, unwrapped toys to distribute to needy kids. There are a variety of drop-off locations for Toys for Tots …

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Catherine Grace

3:06 pm on Monday, December 5, 2011

Meadowbrook Urgent Care is also a Toys for Tots drop off location from now until Monday December 19th. They are in Birmingham at 33722 Woodward Avenue.   more ›

Editor's Journal

Patch is Bringing You 30 Ways to Give Back This Holiday Season

Patch is looking to give back to the people who need it most this holiday season by connecting you with the charities and organizations that need your help.

Last Thanksgiving, I wrote about the dozens of things I was thankful for as a relatively new resident of Birmingham — all the ways this city and the surrounding metro area had given back to this ex-Ohioan, making her feel at home in her new hometown, Birmingham, MI. Having lived here for well over a year now, I’m more thankful than ever this Thanksgiving, and it has to be because of the people. The ever-friendly residents I meet on a daily basis, the city leaders who are willing to sit down and discuss complicated issues, the folks who smile when they learn I’m from “the Patch” — really, you have all made this editor’s life infinitely better as she strives to bring you the news and information you need for your local life. And so, this …

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