For many developmentally disabled, homeless or mentally ill adults, the Vista Center in Flint is a place of community and compassion. “Many of our clients need contact, not crisis. We provide a place where they can come to get out of the house and escape loneliness and isolation,” explains director, Pat Beal. “We provide options for them that they may never get otherwise.”
The game grabbed Shane Proulx’s attention, causing him to sit up and take notice.
Growing up, Royce Stephens learned a thing or two about the motivating effect that sports could have on youth. “My father was the leader of my Boy Scout troop and he would teach us from the handbook for the first half of our meeting and allow us to play basketball for the second half,” he says. “When he stopped letting us play basketball, kids stopped coming. He used basketball to provide an incentive to education.” While playing basketball at Hamady High School, Stephens learned the hard way when he decided to sit out his junior year and in doing so, suffered a drop in his grades. “I realized how important sports were to me and I knew what I had to do. I turned it around quickly,” he adds.
The holiday season’s most enchanting story will captivate audiences as the Flint Institute of Music brings The Nutcracker back to The Whiting!
Christmas is the time of year to give to those who are less fortunate. The Greater Flint community is especially generous and always willing to lend a helping hand. This year, the need is greater than ever due to fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. Following is a list of some organizations that help the needy and how you can assist them.
Organized by Don Clough in 1966 as the Flint Civic Wind Ensemble and sponsored by the Flint Community Music Association, today’s Flint Symphonic Wind Ensemble (FSWE) continues to produce beautiful music and entertainment for the Greater Flint community. “We have been in operation for more than 50 years,” says current Conductor, Chris Anderson. “We are entirely made up of adult volunteers with an age range of early 20s to late 80s. We are a welcoming group, open to everyone.”
Student at Central Michigan University (CMU), 19-year-old Flint native Lydia Taylor has been named one of the top finalists in the seventh annual Breakthrough Junior Challenge, a global competition for students that was designed to inspire creative thinking about science.
Ben Baldwin, the Holly High School Band Director, joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1993 as a high school senior, following in the footsteps of seven generations of his family serving in the military. It wasn’t exactly the path he had planned for his life. A talented trombone player, he loved music and had intended to attend Michigan State University. Then, the U.S. Marine Corps Band came to his town and his father attended the performance. “Dad signed me up for an audition for the band without telling me!” Baldwin exclaims. But he went to the audition and much to his surprise, was offered a position with the band. “Once I got in, I changed my mind and realized it was a good opportunity for me,” he remembers.
Genesee County’s history has its fair share of heroes. From businessmen, star athletes and entertainers to doctors, philanthropists and Civil Rights leaders, the area has certainly produced and when the country needed its people in the tragedy that is war, Genesee County answered the call sending troops wherever they were needed, no matter the conflict. When Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, Lincoln issued the call to arms and Genesee County acquiesced, sending every able-bodied person it could muster.
It is sheer joy to watch a graceful figure skater spin, jump and glide across the ice. And, there is a figure skating club in Flint Township where people can learn the sport and showcase their talent. The Iceland Competitive Edge Figure Skating Club (ICEFSC) was established in 2012. According to Cristy Bosley, Vice President, the predecessor club, Flint 4 Seasons Figure Skating Club dates back to 1987-2010. Sanctioned under the USFSA (United States Figure Skating Association), the governing body for the sport, the club operates out of Iceland Arenas in Flint Township.
Jashell Mitchell is perfectly content to work in the background – in fact, that’s the whole point. “It’s in the name of the foundation. We like to work behind the scenes,” she says. “We want the focus to be on those we support. We would rather be invisible.”
