Coffee House this Saturday at the Mid Town Family Resource Center

Will Kimbrough's coffee house at the MTFRC is this Saturday. Will is an excellent musician, songwriter and showman, who will put on a very entertaining evening of music. These coffee houses are a way to promote our agency among live music fans, and provide a continuity to the other live music events throughout the year. We will be raffling some tickets to see John Prine on April 2, and selling the new 2011 Series t-shirt ($10) as additional funding efforts.

Johnny Cash Tribute

Saturday night saw our 6th annual Johnny Cash Tribute benefit here at CHS-Parkersburg. The event was held at 6 Pence Pub in Parkersburg. Kim, the owner, is a real gracious host to our events, and shows many acts of kind, thoughtfulness to us. We thank Woody Hupp for doing sound for the show. Woody is a local musician who does some open mikes around town, and is always supportive of live local music. The musicians who performed included: Randolph Ramsey, Steve Peck, Jeff Fox and Jimmy Clinton, Jonny Nutter and Aaron Whited and MaryMary. Then we had some "after hours" impromptu performances, including a "cutting edge" rendition of I Walk the Line accompanied by I-Phone, by Greg Oxley. We had a good turnout of fans, and lots of enthusiasm and support. We had good participation in some trivia contests and lots of good door prizes were won. We raised $930 for the Mid Town Family Resource Center from the event. As always, a great time was had, and it leaves us eagerly looking forward to the next event in the Americana Music Tribute Series, our Cajun/Chili cookoff, and Hank Williams Tribute, March 26th, also at 6 Pence Pub.

Troubadours of Divine Bliss coffee house March 18

Yet another coffee house is going to be held at our store front, Friday March 18th. The Troubadours of Divine Bliss, an acoustic duo from Kentucky, two women, with great creativity and intriguing backgrounds will perform for us. 8 Pm will be show time this night. $15 tickets will get you a highly entertaining evening of music; a truly unique opportunity in Parkersburg to see such talent.

Will Kimbrough Coffee House

A second coffee house of the year will be held, March 5th at our store front (converted!!) coffee house (a k a the Mid Town Family Resource Center!!) at 7 pm. Will Kimbrough, a national touring singer songwriter will be coming to town from his base in Nashville Tennessee. $15 for tickets, to see this talented and versatile musician and performer. Will has won instrumentalist of the year through the Americana Music Association. He has collaborated with a wide range of musicians, songwriting, producing albums, and performing. He is a keen writer and observer of the human condition; has a wit and sensitivity, and can mesmerize an audience with his musicianship.

Johnny Cash Tribute February 26th

We will be holding the 6th annual Johnny Cash Tribute on February 26th at 6 Pence Pub in Parkersburg. The music begins at 9 pm, for a $5 donation. Local musicians play sets of songs celebrating the music of Johnny Cash. There will be prizes and contests that evening, too. This benefit, part of our year long Americana Music Tribute Series, is hosted by the Mid Town Family Resource Center, and the McKinley After School program. They will be running a 50-50 drawing up to the night of the event. We will have our 2011 Tribute t-shirts available, and have a few other fund raising opportunities going on connected to this kick off event.

Youth Expo

CHS-Parkersburg will participate again this year in Wood County (Family Resource Network's) Youth Expo, this year, moved from the Mall to the Elite Sports Center, but still held on President's Day, February 21st. There will be lots of youth-oriented organizations with displays and informational tables, and lots of door prizes and handouts and activities. We are proud of our staff's involvement in the leadership and planning of all sorts of FRN activities and events. Missy Storey has solicited a lot of prizes for this event, and will "staff" our display and table.

Valentine's Sweets fund raiser and community awareness raising

Two teams of CHS-Parkersburg folks braved the elements on Friday February 11 and Saturday February 12th to have a table in front of the Foodland on Emerson Ave. selling home made Valentine's Treats, and recruiting volunteers, mentors and foster homes. These were both cold days to be outside, so those involved definitely showed their dedication to the mission and work of CHS-Parkersburg.

Youth Coffee House

Randi Marshall spearheaded a youth coffee house that was held at the Mid Town Family Resource Center on Saturday, February 12th. About 35 people attended this music event. Young musicians performed sets of songs for the audience; which was a mix of familiar and new faces. Randi has been inspired by the "adult" live music events we put on at the Mid Town FRC, and wanted to showcase local youth talent. Everything went off well, and so we look for additional shows to be set up.

Family Night

A monthly Family Night was held last Thursday at the Mid Town Family Resource Center. Home made soups were the main course, and folks really enjoyed them, due to the cold weather, as winter drags on. A good mix of "tried and true" neighborhood families and some of the newer folks created a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. For the parent activity, we had Jodi Smith of WVU Extension lead a discussion on bullying. There was good interaction around this topic of high interest. The children made Valentine's goodies, for the families, and for a couple of events coming up around the holidays.

Valentine's candy and treats

The two Lisa's and their respective programs, are having a Valentine's candy (and other sweets) sale tomorrow and Saturday in front of the Foodland on Emerson mid day (10- 2 ish). For LDP this is a second annual; they will be creating the goodies today (and probably tomorrow!) and raising a little money and awarenss for our work. This engages the youth participants in our programs in outreach, too.

Life Skills Session on Domestic Violence; staying safe

LDP hosted Ann Pifer, from the Family Crisis Intervention Center Monday for a life skills session with young people associated with our Transitional Living Program, and others connected to the Mid Town Family Resource Center. These on going sessions helping with life skills, have had a focus on healthy relationships lately, and this session was well received by the youth. We very much appreciate Ann coming to do this with us.

Civic Dialogue on Youth and Violence

LDP and I took 5 youth from our neighborhood and Transitional Living program out to Pressley Ridge School for a deliberative discussion on the topic of Youth and Violence, facilitated by Jean Ambrose a long time friend of mine, who I greatly admire for her work with "issues forums." 5-6 youth from Pressley Ridge, several staff members and our crew held a conversation on the topic for about 2 hours. Everyone's voice was heard; everyone practiced listening to another's point of view, and some areas of concensus were found, and some new ideas were taken in. Thanks to Tim Bauman for hosting us, and for Jean's facilitation, and thanks mostly to the youth who took the time to practice and participate in their civic life!!!

Book and Record Sale held today

Lisa and I pronounced the Book and Record Sale held today at the Mid Town Family Resource Center a success; both based on raising over $750, and the good conversations and engagement we made with community members about what we do here. We had a little "friendly competition" between the vinyl record sales and the book sales, but both benefit the Mid Town Family Resource Center. I'll let Lisa say which side won!!! Thanks to all the people who donated books, got the word out, came to the sale, and helped with the organizing and collecting/ sorting books and such.