12 The Hampton Roads Messenger


Volume 13 Number 3


Around Hampton Roads Chesapeake Area Team Hosts


Shelter for Homeless CHESAPEAKE, VA – Chesapeake Area Shelter Team’s (CAST’s) Emergency Winter Shelter Program for the Homeless will offer shelter at area churches every Wednesday through the morning of April 4. The nightly intake begins at 7 p.m. at 1209 20th Street.


Rules set to ensure the safety of guests and volunteers are as follows: • Max 49 homeless guests accepted with ID • Dinner and breakfast served to overnight guests


• Homeless with cars are welcome (must meet nightly at the intake location)


• No alcohol, no drugs, no weapons • No pets • Breathalyzer screening • No sex offenders (database checked) • Smoking is at the discretion of the host church


CAST reserves the right to accept or reject a guest from loading the bus or entering the host church location.


Homeless Shelter Listing: www.cityofchesapeake.net/government/ city-departments/departments/human-services/community-programs/ outreach/homelessness/homeless-resources/Homeless-Shelter-Listing. htm


Popup Business Offers Co-


working, Workshops, Child Care HAMPTON, VA – A popup business on Fort Monroe next week in Hampton aims to combine the idea of a co-working space where work-from-home parents can find community as well as child care.


The popup week also offers business workshops and topics to draw those at-home workers out of their home and into a community space and tests the market for membership, in which the Momentum entrepreneurs would create a dedicated space.


Founders Aazia Mickens-Dessaso and Marla Schuchman are already entrepreneurs themselves but see a need for creating a community that combines rather that separates work and family. Schuchman is owner of Three Sheep Consulting, a marketing firm, and Mickens-Dessaso was one of five people named an Emerging Global entrepreneur by the White House for her tech startup in 2015.


Popup week will take place at the Fort Monroe YMCA, 8 Ruckman Rd.


Morning themes ($15 per day) run from 9 a.m. to noon. Pick one day or choose all four:


Dec. 4: Brand Storytelling. Learn to build a focused brand message while your child has story time.


Dec. 5: 4 p.m.-7 p.m. (Free): Shop at the Momentum Maker Market.


Dec. 6: Set your business goals for the new year, working one-on-one with Schuchman.


Dec. 7: Mom Boss Meetup and time to work on 2019 Vision Boards, while the kids make art of their own.


NNFD Receives Outstanding


December 2018


Outstanding EMS awards are given to agencies that exemplify outstanding professionalism to the communities they serve. The PEMS nomination said NNFD stands out among many other great organizations because of the department’s continued commitment for improvement.


“Each year, NNFD pilots new programs, techniques and procedures in the practice of EMS. Recognizing that not all new initiatives will succeed, the agency also has a robust performance improvement program to monitor the success and failure of these initiatives,” the nomination states.


NNFD implemented initiatives to increase high-quality CPR in 2018, including PulsePoint, an app which alerts trained bystanders when someone nearby needs CPR. The department also started offering hands-only CPR training to community groups. In addition, Riverside Health System donated to NNFD three LUCAS Chest Compression devices, which allow medics to perform safer and more effective CPR.


NNFD also added a third EMS Supervisor in the last year to support both citizens and EMS providers during difficult illness and trauma calls. The additional position creates ready access to an advanced skill set for the most critical patients, as quickly as possible.


Additionally, NNFD outfitted the entire transport fleet with power lift stretchers, which greatly reduce the physical stress imposed on providers as they respond to more than 24,000 calls for medical service each year.


ODU Students to Make


Holidays Brighter for Children NORFOLK, VA. – For the third consecutive year, Old Dominion University (ODU) industrial technology students in the Darden College of Education and Professional Studies will use their classroom experience to make the holidays a little brighter for children.


But this year they’ve expanded the program. The students will deliver about 60 toys they researched, designed and fabricated to patients in the Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorder Center at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters.


And for the first time, another 60 toys will be delivered via U.S. Navy volunteers to the Henrico Health Department Refugee Clinic in Richmond where, on any given day, over 200 children receive treatment.


ODU is collaborating with the City of Norfolk to help assemble and package toys at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5, at the Maker’s Space in the Slover Library. The toys will then be loaded onto Navy vehicles to be delivered to CHKD and the Henrico location.


Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander and University President John R. Broderick will be at the Slover Library for the send-off.


"The city is happy to take part in Old Dominion University's annual holiday tradition. This tradition brings together the community and gives joy and cheer to our community's youngest residents, who are receiving cancer treatment," Alexander said.


Petros Katsioloudis, professor and chair of STEM education and professional studies, has led the semester-long MerMADE STEM TOYS4KIDS project each year. Basim Matrood, lecturer in the same department, has assisted the last two years.


The students created colorful puzzles for the youngest patients, three- dimensional puzzles for the middle age group and logic puzzles for older patients (up to age 22).


“It was important that our design could work for both boys and girls,” sophomore Cameron Baum said.


To date, more than 300 toys have been fabricated and distributed to children throughout Hampton Roads via CHKD.


EMS Agency Award for 2018 Newport News, VA – Newport News Fire Department (NNFD) is the recipient of the Governor’s Emergency Medical Services Award for Outstanding EMS Agency of the year. The award was presented at the 39th Annual Governor’s EMS Awards Ceremony in Norfolk on Saturday, November 10.


“The achievement shows the hard work and dedication by NNFD’s emergency medical professionals, as well as the department’s commitment to a progressive and holistic approach to EMS,” said NNFD Assistant Chief of EMS Robert E. Lee.


“I am proud of the organization. It’s quite an accomplishment,” Lee added. “It’s good to be recognized by the state agency, as well as your peers.”


NNFD was selected earlier this year as the Peninsulas EMS Council’s (PEMS) Outstanding EMS Agency of 2018. The regional award winners from the 11 EMS Councils across the Commonwealth were then eligible to be considered for the Governor’s award.


Learn what's new at HBCUs across the country at www.thehbcuadvocate.com


According to Katsioloudis, the project allows students to connect their academic work to the outside community, which speaks directly to Old Dominion University’s service-learning mission.


“In all of our classes, students have to produce a final product, so why not make something that can make a change in somebody’s life?” he said. “We see this every time we deliver the toys to the children. They are smiling, and even if it’s only for a few minutes, we made their day."


“It’s about giving back to the community. We are fulfilling Martin Luther King Jr.’s statement ‘Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.’”


Nominations for Portsmouth’s


First Citizen Being Accepted PORTSMOUTH, VA – Portsmouth’s First Citizens are individuals who embody the spirit of citizenship through service to the community. Each year the public is encouraged to submit nominations for the award and a First Citizen Committee, comprised of the former First Citizens, makes a final selection.


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