Chefs' Challenge benefits local community kitchens
Three chefs were cooking for a cause Sunday evening.
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Three chefs were cooking for a cause Sunday evening.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>An unemployment benefit program that has aided more than 600,000 Hoosiers since it began is planned to expire by the end of December. The benefit program was signed in 2008 to provide emergency federal benefits during the recession.According to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, around 18,800 Hoosiers are currently receiving the extended benefits.Joe Frank, a spokesman for The Indiana Department of Workforce Development, said Hoosiers initial claims for unemployment benefits are the lowest they’ve been since the program started. “We’re just not seeing the claims traffic like we’ve seen since before the recession,” Frank said.Frank said the decline in claims is a result of fewer unemployed Hoosiers and more people going back to work.“From what we’re seeing is, there’s just more jobs,” Frank said. “Businesses are creating more jobs, more jobs are available, and people are just going back to work. The raw numbers show that people are going back to work.”Indiana’s unemployment rate is 7.5 percent, compared to the 7.3 percent national rate. Indiana’s unemployment rate level will qualify Hoosiers to receive 37 weeks of extra benefits through the federal unemployment extension after the 26 weeks expire.“Our unemployment rate over the past three plus months has gone down by nearly 1 percentage point,” Frank said. “The unemployment rate for Indiana for October was down to 7.5 percent and back in July it was at 8.4 percent and statistically that’s a large decline.”Frank said Hoosiers would still be entitled to all the services that WorkOne offers to anybody that is a job seeker if the benefits expire.“They can certainly come into WorkOne if they haven’t already, and we sure hope they have already, to try to see what different education and training services we offer through WorkOne so we can get them back to work as soon as possible,” Frank said.However, Derek Thomas, senior policy analyst for the Indiana Institute for Working Families, said his concern with cutting the extended relief is that it will drive more people to give up looking for work altogether and drop out of the labor force.“Hoosiers have seen stagnating wages, and one-third of our state is below levels of economic self sufficiency, which means they can’t afford the most basic needs of a family and now is not the time to be cutting more benefits for Hoosier families,” Thomas said.In the fourth quarter of 2012, 67 percent of Indiana’s unemployed were not receiving unemployment insurance benefits, the 42nd least generous in the U.S, Thomas said. Thomas said Indiana has some of the lowest average weekly unemployment benefits and also have more poverty-waged jobs than all of its neighboring states. “Cutting unemployment benefits is not going to magically encourage folks to just start going out and looking for work when the pay is still below the poverty guidelines, when many of these jobs being created are poverty-waged jobs,” Thomas said.Thomas said they have been proposing a policy called Work Sharing, a bill that would help to reduce the costs of the state’s long term unemployment to tax payers through benefits and also to the workers.“While we support the extension of long term benefits in the short run, we’d also like lawmakers to start thinking about how we can better design our unemployment benefit system,” Thomas said.Thomas said people need to start raising the minimum wage and making some changes to the unemployment system, i.e. Work Share.“As long as we keep taking money out of the hands of families, whether it be unemployment benefits, SNAP benefits, the more this is going to affect our overall economy because families don’t have enough of the money to spend within their communities,” Thomas said. “These policies are not just there to provide some integrity and relief to families, but they are also economic development policies.” Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @allifrie.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After almost a decade of absence, professional hockey is returning to Indianapolis. The owners of central Indiana’s new professional hockey franchise revealed its team name at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on Nov. 26. Indy Fuel will compete at the newly renovated $64 million Coliseum starting in October 2014.“We look forward to giving Hoosiers great hockey and a new choice for family entertainment,” Sean Hallett, franchise president and CEO, said in a press release. “Every winning tradition starts somewhere, and we’re starting today.” Indy Fuel will join the ECHL, a premier “AA” league of the NHL where new talents are often noticed, according to the release. More than 500 previous East Coast Hockey League players have gone on to play in the NHL.The Coliseum was originally built in 1939, and renovations began in October 2012. The renovations are expected to be complete by April 2014. The renovated Coliseum will include an 8,200-seat venue, a two-level seating bowl with a state-of-the-art scoreboard and sound system, new concessions and other renovations.“The Indiana State Fair commission signed a lease agreement with the hockey team, and so we have a deal in place that accounts for a lot of their needs and provides us a steady revenue stream from the team,” said Andy Klotz, public relations director for the Indiana State Fairgrounds.Morgan Greenlee, senior communications manager at Visit Indy, said the team will bring tourism to the city.“It’s just a big economic draw for the city,” Greenlee said. “They are playing 36 home games across 23 teams in the ECHL, so it’s an opportunity for us to welcome fans from destinations that we really haven’t competed against yet in any sport.”Greenlee said the hockey team will offer another opportunity for corporate partners to get involved. “Indy Fuel has said that they want to be a big player in the community, and I think that will be another win-win for Indianapolis,” she said.Greenlee said the fans who go out to restaurants, shopping and stay in hotel rooms will have an economic effect on the city.“Anything that is going to bring in more people to the city from across the in-state or regional or outside of our region — teams coming into the city, that brings in businesses,” Greenlee said. Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After 22 years of service to Ivy Tech Community College, Bloomington campus Chancellor John Whikehart announced this week his retirement, effective Jan. 15, 2014.Whikehart has been a leader in Bloomington for 12 years and has increased Ivy Tech’s Bloomington campus enrollment by 150 percent since 2001.“It’s been amazing to witness the transformation of this institution from both a vocational/technical school when I first started in 1991 to a comprehensive community college,” Whikehart said. “It’s been an amazing journey and I’ve had the great good fortune to work with some wonderful faculty and staff on this campus.”Whikehart said he will miss his co-workers because they’ve provided a family experience.“We’ve had so many successes on this campus; one of them, clearly, is the relationship we’ve developed with Indiana University Bloomington,” Whikehart said. “In the 12 plus years I’ve been here, the collaborations, the educational partnerships, the transfer credit opportunities that we’ve created for students so they can move seamlessly between our two institutions, has been an accomplishment of which I’m very proud, and I’m very proud to have worked with colleagues at Indiana University.”During his 12 years, Whikehart established the Center for Civic Engagement, the Center for Lifelong Learning, the Indiana Center for the Life Sciences, the Gayle and Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship and the Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center.Kenneth Gros Louis, IU chancellor emeritus, worked closely with Whikehart between 2004 to 2006 to increase the number of courses that could be transferred from IU Bloomington to Ivy Tech.“He was so wonderful to work with,” Gros Louis said. “Everyone I know in the community is extremely fond of John and our main concern over the last decade is that he was so good that he might be taken away and moved to the central office in Indianapolis.”Gros Louis said Whikehart greatly improved the Ivy Tech’s quality.“From my observations over the years, the Bloomington Ivy Tech, especially under John, is probably the best, if not one of the best Ivy Tech campuses in the state, and that’s really due to his leadership and through his involvement," he said.Though Whikehart is retiring from Ivy Tech, he said he is not retiring from life. “I’m going to see what’s out there, explore opportunities, and I hope that I can make or continue to make a contribution to our community, the Bloomington community,” Whikehart said.Mayor Mark Kruzan has known Whikehart since 1986, when he was elected to be a state representative for Bloomington in the Indiana General Assembly, and Whikehart was on the senate Democratic staff of the Indiana senate.“He truly loves the student body,” Kruzan said. “It’s important to him that everybody has an opportunity to improve themselves.”Kruzan said the City of Bloomington has benefited from his leadership because he is a strong advocate for civic engagement who has worked hard to encourage Ivy Tech’s staff, faculty and students to get involved in the community.“John built a team that transformed Ivy Tech into a true community and regional institution,” Mayor Kruzan said. “His commitment is to the principle that everyone should be empowered to achieve their potential. You just don’t meet that many individuals for whom every person’s future is important to him.”Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Hoosier Hills Food Bank has distributed more food so far this year than in all of 2012. The food bank has given 3,193,845 pounds of food this year, 15 percent more than the 2012 total of 3,187,465, according to a press release. “The main driving force remains the fact that while we are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel for the economy, it hasn’t really gone down as far as the low-income people yet,” said Julio Alonso, executive director of Hoosier Hills Food Bank.Alonso said there are still many people who have low incomes and have not come out of the recession yet.Another problem is that in early November, there were reductions in food stamp benefits, which help people already struggling in the market, Alonso said.“When you reduce their ability to get food at the grocery store and through food stamps, the natural effects drive those folks to emergency and supplemental food providers like food pantries and soup kitchens, and those are the agencies we supply,” Alonso said. “So it’s not unexpected that we would see an increase.”Hoosier Hills Food Bank might be awarded a $20,000 Hussman Foundation Hunger Relief Challenge Grant. The Hussman Foundation will give Hoosier Hills Food Bank $20,000 if they can raise that same amount from new or increased donors. Alonso said the goal of Hoosier Hills is to have the money by May 2014, although they have up to a year to raise the money.Alonso said they have been able to keep up with the increased demand of foodby getting more food from their retail partners.“We try to have a diversified base of support for our food so that we’re not overly reliant on one particular source,” Alonso said. “Retail and wholesale donations are an important part of that, and, fortunately, those have been higher this year so that has helped a lot.”The food bank has also been able to access more food from their national partner, Feeding America. They have access to food that’s donated on the national level and can access it as long as they pay the transportation cost to Bloomington.Alonso said during the last several years, the food bank has continued to purchase more food.“We don’t rely completely on donations anymore,” he said. “We actually purchase the food, help supplement these donations we receive, and we’re continuing to do that with an emphasis on fresh produce.”Alonso said the holiday season is always busy for the food bank because the partners they work with do more for the holidays. “They do thanksgiving baskets,” Alonso said. “They do holiday baskets. They do special meals, so they’re usually looking for more food. It’s also a busy time on the other side of things because a lot of folks are thinking about issues like hunger and homelessness during the holidays.”Vicki Pierce, executive director of Community Kitchen of Monroe County, said they have also experienced an increase in meals served. The number of meals served at the soup kitchen has gone up almost 10 percent this year. Pierce said they expect to hit another record by the end of the year.“When something bad happens in the economy it takes longer for the need to hit us because people don’t come to a soup kitchen until they kind of exhausted all their other options,” Pierce said. She said at this point it also becomes harder for people to get back on their feet. “By the time people need to utilize a service like ours, they are usually in it for a longer period of time,” Pierce said. “It’s not a situation usually they bounce back from in a month.”Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A second business on Walnut Street has decided to close its doors within the month.After almost nine years of business, Superior Shoes has decided to close as the result of an owner’s divorce. Earlier in November, William’s Jewelry began its closing sale after 102 years in business.Rachel Hubbard, co-owner of Superior Shoes, said the store is officially closing today, but they plan to be open next week as they continue to clean the store and sell the remaining merchandise. Hubbard and Rich Raade are siblings and co-owners of Superior Shoes and also own Superior Shoes in Ironwood, Mich.“My brother, who is my business partner, is getting a divorce and even though the sales are good here, just with him being in Texas and me being in Michigan, it’s just too hard with him having to leave the business because of the divorce for me to be able to run it all myself,” Hubbard said.The store has sold everything from Toms to Sperry’s to Dansko, Raade said. Hubbard said they have primarily marketed to college students and their parents. “Every time we had our sale, the same faces I would see over and over, and you’d just get to know people and you would know their ups and their downs,” Hubbard said. “Its just amazing, just the connections you make with people.”Hubbard said business has been really great during the last nine years. “The Bloomington community has always been really supportive of the local stores and the local shoe brands,” she said.Hubbard said some of her favorite memories are from the parent weekends and when college students would come to the store in the spring to buy shoes for interviews.Superior Shoes will continue to have their shoe store in Michigan where their headquarters are located, and they will continue to operate their online business. Hubbard said she hopes to come back to Bloomington within 12 to 18 months and open a shoe store in the downtown area.“We are going to consolidate, take a couple years and figure out, okay, how can we come back strong again,” Hubbard said.Valerie DeWar, Bloomington resident, IU alumna and customer at Superior Shoes, said she appreciates their selection and quality of shoes. “I’m very sad in terms of the fact that the store’s closing because I’ve lost the shopping option, but also I’m concerned about what this says about the downtown square and the fact that two stores are closing right next to each other concerns me because I would like to focus on downtown,” DeWar said.Hubbard said the atmosphere of Bloomington is different from anywhere else in Indiana. “It’s just this haven of really accepting, diverse aggressive people that will be hard to get over. I’ll really miss that,” Hubbard said. “I love the community because it’s diverse, it’s accepting of everyone. It’s so great because everyone is just nice. The downtown is the place to be.”Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>More than 400 people waited in line for the grand opening of H&M at College Mall Thursday afternoon. The new fashion store opened its doors at noon, and customers were lined up outside of the mall as early as 5 a.m. At the grand opening, the store gave away T-shirts, gift cards and had a DJ playing music to keep customers entertained. Nathan Elrod, director of marketing and business development for College Mall, said H&M will drive more traffic in the mall. “One of the things we’ve been trying to do this year is simply bring in new stores that will fit in really well with this market,” Elrod said. “I think H&M is the driving force behind that. It will obviously apply to not only college kids, but the younger demographic as well.”Elrod said he expects to see an increase in costumer traffic because of the store opening just before the holiday season.The new store replaced four stores in the mall — Anthony’s Pets LLC and Foot Locker, which were relocated, and Abercrombie & Fitch and Kitchen Collections, which are no longer in the mall.The store includes collections for ladies, men, young ladies and young men as well as children, according to a press release. “We have 40,000 plus IU students that are here, and this is kind of their main target,” Elrod said. “H&M is a trendsetter, so I think that will apply especially in the college students.” Amanda Fong said she waited for more than an hour at H&M.“It was crazy. I’m glad it mellowed out, but that wait was crazy.” Fong said. “They had really good sales today, and I liked the selection.”Taylor Oligee, a sophomore at IU came to the store opening because she wanted to see the clothes they offered.“I thought it was fun, it was different than what we have,” Oligee said. “It’s nicer than what we had before, and they had a good selection.”Sierra Farber, a senior at Bloomington High School South, said she liked the diverse selection of clothing.“I thought it was so cool. It was like a party and a club instead of an actual store,” Farber said. “All of the employees were upbeat and enthusiastic. It was really great.” Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @allifrie.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After more than a year of construction, the YMCA is planning to open its new northwest location in Monroe County on Wednesday.An open house took place Sunday for the public to tour the new facility and enroll for membership.“We’ve been doing evaluations and assessments over the past 15 years,” said Sara Herold, marketing director for the Monroe County YMCA. “There really isn’t a community facility that reaches this side of the community, so we knew there was a need for licensed childcare and also a need for a pool.”The northwest location plans to have a full-size Olympic outdoor soccer field by spring 2014.The new facility offers a licensed childcare center, an indoor multifunctional pool, a wellness center with cardio and strength training machines, an indoor track that circles the wellness center, a child watch service, a full-size Olympic gymnasium with basketball courts, a teaching kitchen, IU Health orthopedics and sports medicine, as well as doctors for rehabilitation.“Placing medical providers of orthopedics, sports medicine and rehab within YMCA is a mutually beneficial and cutting-edge concept,” said Timothy Steiner, medical director of orthopedics and sports medicine for IU Health Bloomington Hospital.The partnership with IU Health Bloomington Hospital will allow YMCA members to be able to rehab with a physical therapist in their own gym where they can continue to follow what they have learned after their recovery, knowing their therapist is right around the corner, Steiner said.Steiner said YMCA members who have been injured will have care provided for them in a familiar place where they are comfortable.Those who are not YMCA members will be exposed to the new facility they wouldn’t have seen otherwise.“We are really trying to reach out,” Herold said.The IU Health orthopedics and sports medicine is expected to open by mid-December.Before YMCA opened its doors, it had 400 memberships, and the goal is to have 2,200 members by April, Herold said.John Mosby said he is considering a membership at YMCA because it’s close to home. Mosby said he tried to go to the southeast location, but it was not feasible to commute from Ellettsville. “Commuting and working out where I work at wasn’t worth the time or the money to get there,” Mosby said. “They build this facility over here, and I wanted to see what it was like and see if there is some stuff my family could use.”Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Nathan Berning took the semester off to focus as co-CEO and chief marketing officer of “The Swiss List.” Since the company began on Oct. 1, 2010, the texting service that informs students of local social events based on their interests has expanded its presence to seven campuses in the state, including Purdue University and Ball State University.“Our long-term goal, and what we are working on right now, is establishing a service that allows you to figure out what’s going on around you based on your interests, based on the people that you know and the place that you live,” Berning said.Berning said the company plans to launch a new service — an event-based social-networking website set to launch by spring 2014.“It’s like Facebook or Twitter,” Berning said. “It’s a feed of events going on in your area based off of your interests.”Berning said business has been successful. Last week the company sent out close to 15,000 text messages.“We send out about between 50,000 and 60,000 text messages a month right now, mostly at IU,” Berning said.Berning said the company has been expanding one college at a time, and right now it is focusing on Purdue and Ball State. “We guess that by the spring we should be operating our texting services at 25 campuses,” Berning said. Berning said he hopes to launch additional revenue streams on the social-networking platform. Berning said it will allow users and businesses to sell tickets to events and see what’s happening before, during and after the events.Every event on the service is user-generated. Therefore, the company is not liable for anything that happens at the event, Berning said. Cicero “Swiss” Beemon, founder and co-CEO of the Swiss List, said the company is planning for the future. “The future of Swiss List is all events all the time — anything that you can possibly imagine,” Beemon said. “But right now the focus is on social events going on around campus during the weekend.”Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A Monroe County non-profit composed of more than 100 women supporting active nonprofit agencies in the community announced they will issue donations to the Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington.Members of the organization, 100+ Women Who Care, gathered at Bloomington Country Club on Wednesday to hear from members of local nonprofit organizations. Representatives from three nonprofit organizations were randomly selected to speak for seven minutes about their organization and why 100+ Women Who Care members should vote for them. Representatives from People and Animals Learning Services, Meals on Wheels and the Boys and Girls Club were those selected to speak. After the presentations and a group vote, the Boys and Girls Club received the most votes and a $100 gift from each member of 100+ Women Who Care.Carol Maloney, coordinator for 100+ Women Who Care, said since the organization has grown from 81 to 200 members, initial awards of $8,100 have increased to $20,000, which is the most recent donation. “It’s taken on a far greater identity, and without a doubt, it’s just an opportunity for women in Monroe County to show how much they care together, which then allows us to have impact,” Maloney said. “People that are in it are excited.” 100+ Women Who Care began in November 2011, and members meet four times a year. Each member must also make one additional gift of $100 per year to the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County, a partner of 100+ Women Who Care. “The idea of bringing a group of women together and officially and effectively working together to make impact was the original intent,” said Tina Peterson, president and CEO of Community Foundation. “I think we’ve struck on a nerve here. Women appreciate the opportunity to be directly engaged with the giving decisions and to do it collaboratively.”Melissa Carter-Goodman, a long-time resident of Bloomington who has attended a few sessions of 100+ Women Who Care, said the organization is the power of women supporting the community. “It’s a quick, easy and effective way to really contribute to the community,” Carter-Goodman said. “In an hour you make this huge impact, and the power of 200 hundred women doing that is just really impressive.”Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For 102 years, Williams Jewelry has been a gem in the Bloomington community. Mark Thoma has worked in the store for 50 years. Now, he has decided to close its doors. Ed Williams founded the store in 1911, and Don Thoma bought the store in 1953 after Williams died. For more than 50 years, Williams Jewelry has been operated and run by the Thoma family and for the past 20 years by Mark Thoma, who took over the business after his father Don retired. Don Thoma kept the name Williams Jewelry to continue its reputation.A store-closing sale started Thursday and will end Christmas Eve.“I’ve worked so hard for 50 years to make it a really good name, and I didn’t want to sell it to somebody who might change that reputation,” Thoma said. “We’ve worked hard to have the reputation we have, and I want to take it with me.”Thoma said his kids all have their own careers, and he doesn’t have anyone to take over the business, which is the main reason he is closing.“This is my 50th year,” Thoma said. “That was kind of my goal, to reach this milestone. If nobody in the family was interested in taking it over, then basically just shut it down.”Thoma said loyal customers have been calling him to express their disappointment, but most everybody is happy for him and have wished him well for the future. Thoma has emphasized the customer service and friendliness aspect of the business since he took over.“I’m going to miss the people, I mean, there’s no doubt about that. I’ve made so many friends over the years,” Thoma said. “Bloomington and south central Indiana have been so good to us over the years, but it’s time. The years are flying by and time is flying by, and I’ve got to slow it down a little.” Thoma said he plans to relax, spend time with his family and work on projects. “My experience has been absolutely wonderful,” Karen Bennett, who has been an employee for almost nine years at Williams Jewelry, said. “To work with Mark has truly been a learning experience. I’ve learned so much from him just from his passion, his honesty, integrity in the way he conducts his business and in the way he treats his customers and everyone in general.”Bennett said she understands Thoma’s reason for closing and said he needs to spend time with his family. “We all understand. It’s going to be very sad though because we’ve made so many friends through customers and just not being able to see them on a daily or weekly basis is going to be hard,” Bennett said. Bennett said the way Thoma has conducted business has made Williams Jewelry different from other jewelry stores.“He’s such a smart business man and the longevity of this store, being in business for as long as it has, it’s a true testament to the way he has conducted business over the years,” Bennett said. “Bloomington is really going to miss this store.”Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After experiencing a 220-percent year-over-year increase in new customer bookings in 2012, Sri Lanka-based WSO2 is opening a new office in Bloomington. WS02 is a software company that builds enterprise middleware, which are tools used to help people build software for themselves. Outside Sri Lanka, the company has offices in California and the United Kingdom. Opened Oct. 25, its new office in Bloomington is where residents gathered to watch the traditional Sri Lankan oil lamp lighting ceremony for good luck to celebrate the opening.“We are a global company, and a lot of our work is done in Sri Lanka, but a lot of our customers are here,” CEO Jonathan Marsh said.Marsh said one of the advantages as a company in Sri Lanka is they have relationships with universities there.“We have tons of internships, we have lots of research projects that go on and just an incredible recruiting pipeline for the top talent coming out of those universities into our company,” Marsh said. Marsh said as the company expands to the United States, they hope to do the same thing in Bloomington.“We will do well here if we can successfully recruit great talent to help us deal with our customers, to help support, consulting, solutions, architecture,” Marsh said. Marsh said helping customers architect solutions, helping them with consulting and helping customers solve their issues is hard to do from Sri Lanka because of the different time zones.“The main thing that we can do here easily is a little bit more customer facing,” Marsh said.Marsh said Bloomington is attracting more tech companies, and many graduates who come to school at IU are having to go elsewhere to find work. “I think we’re excited to find candidates that are interested in staying in Bloomington for a while,” Marsh said. IU School of Informatics and Computing Dean Bobby Schnabel said this is the next step of what has been a great relationship. “We have one of the world’s largest computing and information schools here in Bloomington, and one of our goals has been to grow a technical community in town that interacts with that school,” Schnabel said. “Very technical communities almost always have schools that they interact with, and conversely, great schools in the computing world almost always have broadening technical communities.”Schnabel said there haven’t been that many technical jobs in Bloomington, so building up the supply of these jobs is beneficial. Marsh said they want to start interviewing now for people who might graduate in December and also start interviewing now for people who might graduate in May in order to have 12 employees by next summer. Sanjiva Weerawarana, founder, chairman and CEO of WS02, said he has had a long relationship with the computer science department at IU, as well as Indiana as a whole because he attended Purdue University to obtain his Ph.D. in Computer Science.“It’s a place that I feel there’s a relationship with the University and the community,” Weerawarana said on why he moved here. Another reason Weerawarana said he moved to Bloomington is because of the quality of life and the way people live in Bloomington. “It’s a much better environment than California,” Weerawarana said.Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A Goodwill student ambassador, dressed as a witch, greeted customers at the store on Auto Mall Road Thursday. The store presented its first Scare and Wear, an event aimed at getting customers to come in and shop for costumes, with volunteers helping them.The event offered shoppers a 30-percent discount for anything in the store if they showed their student ID and offered them food and a chance to win prizes. “Halloween and October in general is the biggest season for Goodwill,” Katie McClelland, marketing specialist for Goodwill for Central Indiana, said. “So it’s something that we always love to go above and beyond and just make it really fun.” Scare and Wear started in 2012 near Ball State University, and this is the first year the event is taking place near both IU and Purdue University, McClelland said. “Really, we just want to give students a reason to come and shop, and make it fun. We want to have food, prizes and just make it a fun atmosphere for everyone,” McClelland said. “Everyone’s going Halloween shopping, and why not shop at Goodwill, because you can get it for a few dollars opposed to 20 dollars.” Goodwill launched its student ambassadors program in 2012 at IU as a way to engage with the college students.Sam Perry, director of marketing and communications for Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana, said having student ambassadors helps give them insight into what the students are interested in and what gets them to come shop. “It’s difficult for us as staff in Indianapolis to really have our finger on the pulse of what’s going on on the campuses,” Perry said. Perry said students who didn’t shop at Goodwill in the past will have a reason to come out and see that they have a variety of items that aren’t Halloween-related. “We get that students are often shopping on a budget, and that’s definitely something we can help with,” Perry said.Chelse Carroll, assistant store manager for Goodwill on Auto Mall Road, said events like Scare and Wear help raise more awareness of where their Goodwill location is and let people know that people can find their costumes at Goodwill. “You don’t have to look for a specific costume, that our whole store can be used to find your needs,” Carroll said. Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Parking meters downtown will allow drivers to download the Parkmobile app as another option for payment starting the first week of November.The app will serve as an alternative to putting in physical payment at the meter. “We decided to do it as a customer service function,” Susie Johnson, Bloomington director of Public Works, said. “We thought it would be something that folks that are parking downtown might find convenient, an easy way to pay the meters or to reload time on a meter if you are away from the meter when it expires.”Drivers can download the Parkmobile app for free on their phones and register with Parkmobile by providing them with a plate number and credit card number.Parkmobile charges a fee of 50 cents per transaction. For those drivers that set up an electronic wallet, where they preload money onto the wallet, it will cost 40 cents.“When you pull up to a parking meter you activate a parking session and it will send a message to our parking enforcement staff,” Johnson said.The message will inform the parking enforcement staff that a driver with that license has paid though a certain hour. “If the officer encounters that plate number, they would enter the plate number and see that the person has paid, and they would not be ticketed,” Johnson said. Alex Collignon, a senior at IU, said the new parking app seems to be a lot more convenient for the students.“I think it’s a lot better,” Collignon said. “If you’re in class and you ended up staying late or if you wanted to stay late at the library, it would be nice to just stay there and upload the money to the parking meter instead of trying to find change.”Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Michael Pfrang, Sigma Phi Epsilon member, was killed by a cannon after it misfired during a parade at IU in the late 1960s. Tour guide Sharon Porter Phillips said some people say Pfrang still haunts the Sigma Phi Epsilon house. According to IU Board of Trustees’ minutes from Oct. 25, 1968, this incident happened during the Homecoming parade when a smoke-making device exploded on the float the fraternity had constructed.On Friday, the tour, organized by the Monroe County History Center, guided people through the museum where they had the opportunity to hear stories about some past Monroe County residents.Prior to the museum tour, Porter Phillips took people on her tour bus to see and learn about paranormal activity in Bloomington’s history. “As a staff we kind of get together and just dream up really cool ideas that the community might like to enjoy,” said Jenny Mack, exhibits manager for the Monroe County History Center. Angi St. Clair, education and volunteer manager at the Monroe County History Center, said this is the first time they have done a tour like this, and they were hoping to appeal to a diverse audience. “While we want to educate people, we also want people to realize that history is fun,” St. Clair said. “Hopefully, once they come in here and have a good time, they’ll come back and visit again and spend a little bit more time with our exhibits.” Porter Phillips, who started the business Misguided Tours in October 2012 to give comedic tours around Bloomington, said she also hoped to make history more interesting.She started the business because she said she thought having a tour with a comedian, who was taking people to places they didn’t know, would be a great addition to Bloomington. “I started working on the material, doing the research, finding out things that people don’t really know about Bloomington,” Porter Phillips said. The tour included a visit to Rose Hill Cemetery where Porter Phillips told stories of Ross Lockridge, a novelist, and Alfred Kinsey, namesake of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at IU, among others who are buried there. “The idea of history and comedy as a married thing is very hard for people to understand,” Porter Phillips said. Porter Phillips said she has been working in conjunction with the Monroe County History Center to make history more interesting. “Several residents who were born and raised here take the tour and go ‘I didn’t know that,’” she said. “I appeal to people that live here, but I’m also doing it as a tourist attraction because we do have a huge tourism business here in Bloomington coming from all different directions.” Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Scott Reynolds said he always wanted to open a coffee shop. So he put his dream into action and opened Crumble Coffee and Bakery with co-owner Laura Noelle.Crumble Coffee and Bakery, which opened Sept. 25 at 1509 S. Piazza Drive on the east side of Bloomington, is focused on being both a great bakery and a great coffee shop, Reynolds said.“It seems like most places are either a coffee shop primarily, and then they maybe have a few things just for people who want to snack, or they’re primarily a bakery that offers a pot of coffee for people who might want a coffee to go. But we really try to do both,” Reynolds said.Reynolds said the new bakery offers any kind of espresso drink imaginable and has at least two different kinds of brewed coffees that rotate daily. The bakery also provides a variety of goods, including cookies, muffins, brownies, fruit bars and quiches.He said they are eventually going to try and have sandwiches and soup.The interior features an open kitchen, which Reynolds said he envisioned for people to smell the baking and see what was happening.All of the baked goods served at Crumble Coffee and Bakery are homemade by Noelle, who is constantly trying new recipes, making new items and old favorites, Reynolds said. “I think what sets us apart more than any other thing is that we do all of the baking and the making of the food right here,” Reynolds said. “We’re bringing in all of the ingredients and doing everything from scratch, and we’re combining that with really, really, really good coffee.”Aside from baking, Reynolds said one of the other things they’ve focused on is getting to know their customers.“We really value the chance to get to know people,” Reynolds said. “Building a community, more than just running a business, is really important to us.”Reynolds said they were primarily baking with the idea people would want to purchase a cookie with their coffee, but people have been ordering more baked goods than expected. However, Reynolds said the jump in business has been great.“Business has been better than expected so far, and we’re just really happy that people are finding us and coming in here,” Reynolds said. Reynolds said they see themselves as a distinct alternative to other options in town .“We’re not right next to campus, so we’re not kind of in the midst of all the craziness and the busyness,” Reynolds said. “So we’re a little bit more tucked away, which makes us a little cozier, but at the same time we’re a local option and we use locally roasted coffee and we make all our stuff here.”Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Kroger on South College Avenue celebrated its grand reopening Oct. 3 after a $7.6 million renovation. The renovations began in early January and expanded the store to 52,000 square feet.“We’ve changed everything but the pre-existing walls pretty much,” Kroger manager Todd Ladow said. “You name it, we’ve got it.” The store added a new beverage center with a seating area, expanded and updated the produce department, implemented a full service floral department, integrated natural foods with grocery, renovated the pharmacy to include a walk-up window, upgraded the meat, seafood and bakery departments, upgraded the deli and bistro and added a new sushi island and specialty cheese island. John Elliott, Kroger central division spokesman, said Kroger renovates its stores to keep up with the changing expectations of customers.“An example of that, relevant to that store, would be people who are not going to restaurants as often as they used to, and to some extent, going to fast food less often, and instead, they’re buying home-cooked quality meals at supermarkets,” Elliott said. Elliott said the renovated store has an eat-in café area where customers can buy breakfast, lunch or dinner, or take it home to their families.“You can pick up that food at our store in the same amount of time it takes to get through a drive-thru so you don’t have to give up nutritious, healthy choices,” Elliott said. Elliot said the renovations should increase overall sales at the store and provide a significant number of additional full-time and part-time jobs.Although the store has only been re-open for less than a week, Ladow said business has been phenomenal. The store has put 40 new people on payroll and is continuing to hire, Ladow said. Tony Pattin, a Kroger customer, said he thinks the store has improved a lot, but said it’s weird adjusting to the new layout. “It looks a lot nicer, and it’s easier to move around and find your food,” Pattin said. “It makes you want to shop there.”Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Monroe County Planning Department met Sept. 25 to discuss the possible enforcement of new rules for any truck stops constructed along the new Interstate 69 extension. “With I-69 coming through Bloomington, we anticipate there will be increased over-the-road trucking,” Director of the Monroe County Planning Department Larry Wilson said.“Right now our zoning in Monroe County has no provision for truck stops or travel plazas.”Wilson said the department wanted to make sure they discussed possible standards for truck stops or travel plazas that might be located in the county. Travel plazas are areas along highways were drivers can stop to rest.Wilson said the main concerns are traffic flow, effects on local roads from the weight of the trucks, air pollution from idling trucks, hazardous waste spills and crime associated with truck stops.The planning committee has also proposed implementing a conditional use permit, which means anyone seeking to build or construct a truck stop or travel plaza in Monroe County will have to go through the Board of Zoning Appeals in order to locate a facility in one of the heavy industrial zones.“These are big facilities, and they have a lot of in-and-out traffic with trucks, and frankly, there are many good locations in our county for this type of facility,” Wilson said. But, he cautioned that the location of these truck stops or travel plazas will have to be carefully planned. “Most of the exits within the Bloomington area are congested already and addition of truck traffic in those areas would be probably disastrous on Third Street or Second Street,” Wilson said.I-69 is scheduled to be completed in Bloomington and tie into Interstate 37 by about the end of 2014, Wilson said. “Our goal was to have this in place before that happens,” Wilson said. The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce is currently working with family-owned Stone Belt Freight Lines.The company is trying to understand how the ordinance could effect them, the trucking industry and the community as a whole, Liz Irwin, director of advocacy and public policy for the Chamber, said.“The county is doing the responsible thing by looking at the issue and creating a plan that is right for our community, a plan that factors some of the concerns such as pollution and traffic impacts on local roads,” Irwin said.Irwin said trucks not having a place to stop could have a negative impact on the community and on businesses.“Consideration needs to be given for the unintended consequences as well as keeping in mind that we depend on the trucking industry for almost all of what we purchase,” she said.Irwin said most of the products purchased by consumers are delivered by truck.She said the cost of delivering those goods is affected by many factors including trucking accommodations. “The more difficult it is for trucks to deliver their goods, the higher the cost,” Irwin said. “By not having a place for trucks to stop for refueling and servicing, we could effectively increase the costs of the things we buy.” Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Community food pantry Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard once struggled to accommodate all its patrons. Its old facility had limitations, and lines took almost an hour.Then, a bigger, brighter, more efficient facility was built.Now the average number of patrons served each week has grown by 35 percent, or 780 more people each week, according to a press release from the nonprofit organization. The community-based food pantry, which has operated since 1998, opened its new facility at 1100 W. Allen St. on June 10, 2013. Mary Beth Harris, director of development at Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, said they had planned an expansion to the new facility for two or three years prior to starting on the project because they were beyond capacity at their old location on Walnut Street. “We were limited in a number of ways in that facility, in that we could only be open two hours a day,” Harris said. “We didn’t have efficient storage space on-site for food to last longer than that period of time.” The new facility, which is open six to seven hours a day, Monday through Friday, has efficient storage, a walk-in cooler and freezer and a teaching kitchen and classroom on-site where they give nutrition education, sample tables, workshops and are creating a demonstration garden, Harris said. Within the first three months of operation at the new facility, Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard has served almost 1,400 new patrons who had never used pantry services in the past, according to the release.Harris said prior to the move, there were people who couldn’t access services they needed. “We really feel that there are more people in the community who need access to our services,” Harris said. “Being able to provide emergency food as well as gardening and nutrition education I think really helps the long-term sustainability in our community in that, you know, people have better access to food. They have better access to learning how to grow their own food and cooking in healthy, affordable ways.”Amanda Nikey, chief executive officer of Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, said there has been less anxiety, and it has been a lot less hectic for the patrons since opening the new facility.“In this larger facility, we really don’t have lines anymore,” Nikey said. “People used to wait sometimes 45 minutes to an hour in line just to get into the food pantry. I think that kind of just creates less anxiety for people and less stigma and less kind of fear of coming into the pantry.”Nikey said the new location is a bright, cheery-looking space, which makes it more inviting than the old location. “People have kind of room to move around like you do in a grocery store, which was just something we didn’t have in the old space,” Nikey said.Nikey said with the 35 percent increase of services, it has been challenging to keep up with the need and to make sure they have enough food and a variety of food. “We are doing the best that we can with the resources that we have,” Nikey said. “We rely really heavily on community support.”Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard works closely with the Hoosier Hills Food Bank, which provides the majority of its food. The pantry also relies heavily on volunteers, Nikey said. “Volunteers play a huge role in what we do everyday,” Nikey said. “I mean, that six hours is staffed by volunteers, so we’ve seen a huge increase in our need for volunteers in the community.”Nikey said more volunteers are offering their services. “We’ve seen the community kind of step up, and people are, you know, coming in and wanting to give their time to make sure that, you know, we not only have food on the shelves, but that patrons have someone helping them if they need it or greeting them at the door,” Nikey said. Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Bloomington recently eliminated a proposed fee for use of metered spaces by street festivals and other events after community members expressed concerns.The festival parking meter policy, which was scheduled to go into effect Oct. 1, would have required festivals and other downtown events to pay a fee for each metered parking spot.Susie Johnson, director of public works for the City of Bloomington, said in an email that event sponsors would have been required to pay 85 percent of the rate for each parking space during the time the meter was not available to the general public.Miah Michaelsen, assistant director for the arts in the City of Bloomington’s Economic and Sustainable Development Department, said they had looked at a lot of other communities that do charge for lost meter revenue, but felt it was best not to proceed with the policy after hearing from event organizers.“Getting feedback from those most affected, we felt that it would be detrimental to them and potentially negatively impact the quality of an event in particular or potential for new events to emerge,” Michaelsen said.Mayor Mark Kruzan said downtown nonprofit events are destination attractions that need to be encouraged.Charging for events would work against the goal of encouraging events downtown such as Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, Fourth Street Festival of the Arts and Crafts and Taste of Bloomington, Kruzan said in a press release.However, Michaelsen said people who use the parks to stage events will still have to pay.Chad Rabinovitz, producing artistic director of Bloomington Playwrights Project, which sponsors the Arts Fair on the Square, said he expressed concerns about the policy to Kruzan, saying nonprofit organization events bring business to Bloomington.“We felt it wasn’t the best situation for the City of Bloomington to charge us,” Rabinovitz said. “You have tens of thousands of people who then spend money in Bloomington and give business to local shops."“We’re bringing people from out of town who stay overnight and create business for the Bloomington community while also creating events that make Bloomington an enjoyable place to live.”Rabinovitz said Kruzan, who listened to his concerns regarding eliminating the fee, made the best decision for the community.“It’s truly remarkable that Bloomington has someone like Mayor Kruzan who is so open and willing to listen,” Rabinovitz said. “Our goal is to serve the community, and this decision allows us to better serve the community.”Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.