Antioch Community Centers are ready to greet you if you need to escape the heat during the next few days. The Antioch Senior Center is a recognized cooling station and is open to all residents from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm.  There is plenty of room and residents can visit and keep cool at the Nick Rodriguez Community Center during senior center hours. 

The Antioch Community Center at 4703 Lone Tree Way is open for all residents from 8:30 am to 8:00 pm; the lobby is a great place to rest and visit.  The community center will be open on Saturday and Sunday until 5:00 pm if anyone needs a place to get out of the heat.

The Antioch Water Park is open Friday, September 1st from 4:00 – 7:00 pm. Admission is only $4.00 per person.  On Saturday, Sunday and Monday the operating hours are 11:00 am – 6:00 pm; regular admission applies.  Monday, Labor Day, is half-price admission day for all visitors.  You can keep cool in the water for only $8.00 per person all day.  Come splash with us while you keep cool. There are five different pools and spray parks for all ages at the water park.

For additional help please call the Recreation Department at (925) 776-3050, ext. 0.

Today, Wednesday, August 30, 2017, The Salvation Army will send Hayward Corps officer Capt. John Kelley and Antioch Corps officers Capt. Randy and Major Sheryl Clarke to assist the Hurricane Harvey scene in Texas.  The officers will provide emotional and spiritual care in areas where Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services teams are located.  They are scheduled to be in Texas through September 12. 

The Salvation Army has had more than 50 canteens (mobile kitchens) deployed to the affected areas in Texas.  As of Monday evening, 6,288 meals, 7,162 snacks, and 5,664 drinks have been provided to evacuees and first responders. 

Both Kelley and the Clarkes are familiar working in emergency disaster scenes.  The officers worked together at the Clayton Fire (2016) and Valley Fire (2015) in Lake County.  They handled meal services, along with emotional and spiritual care. 

Donation Information

Monetary donations are only needed at this time.  The Salvation Army uses 100% of disaster donations in support of local disaster relief operations.

To give, visit www.helpsalvationarmy.org or call 1-800-SAL-ARMY (1-800-725-2769).  Donations by mail may be designated “Hurricane Harvey” and sent to:

The Salvation Army

P.O. BOX 1959

Atlanta, GA 30301

In-kind donations are not currently being accepted outside the disaster area.  However, these gifts are vitally important to your local Salvation Army. To give items locally, visit www.SATruck.com or call 1-800-SA-TRUCK.

Volunteers assist veterans during a visit by Assemblyman Jim Frazier (center) during the 2017 Stand Down on the Delta at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds, Aug. 11-14. Photos by Genevieve Mann

Dear Editor:

Delta Veterans Group would like to thank all of the volunteers that served for Stand Down on the Delta, 2017.

With your help, our community was able to provide services for over 260 veterans and their families.

Over 1,150 volunteers came together over 10 days to set-up, serve and tear-down our encampment. Over 5,800 meals were served in just four days.

Veterans received much needed supportive services, medical services, dental care, vision care, and mental health services.  We also had barbers, beauticians, entertainment, spiritual guidance and much more over the four days.  Plus – their animals were cared for onsite by C.A.R.T. – the Contra Costa County Animal Rescue Team.

We were also able to take over 40 veterans fishing on our Delta Shoreline…and yes, they caught a lot of fish…The largest fish was caught by a female veteran for the second Stand Down in a row…

All of this could not have happened without you – the volunteer.

Respectfully,

Gerald JR Wilson, President/Executive Director, Delta Veterans Group – Stand Down on the Delta

The new Second Chance Family store offers clothes, housewares, décor, art and more.

Features rare war images available for purchase; benefits local non-profit

Some of the photos from the Warrior Images art show available for purchase at the store.

By Allen Payton

The East County Veterans have opened a new store, today, Monday, August 14, 2017 in Antioch’s historic, downtown Rivertown. It’s named the Second Chance Family Store and their first customer was Mike Gilmore, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Army.

Located at 520 W. 2nd Street, the store offers clothes, shoes, military hats, housewares, home décor, artwork for sale to support the organization’s efforts serving veterans in Antioch and East County.

Josie Monaghan, the director of the organization and manager of both the new store and their Thrift Store next door, was excited to have the store open.

Before the store opened it hosted the first annual Iraq and Afghanistan Photo Art Gallery Sale, entitled “Warrior Images”, presented by Joey Garcia, a local combat veteran Marine and Monaghan’s son, on Sunday August 6.

Josie Monaghan thanks the store’s first customer Mike Gilmore, a Vietnam War Army Veteran.

The rare photos and images, taken by Garcia and many other veterans from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, were and are for sale. All proceeds benefit East County Veterans Support Services, which is a local non-profit organization run by Josie Monaghan, who has been helping veterans for years.

The idea behind the art show was not only to raise money with veterans in need, but to inspire people with images captured overseas. Images like yours and mine that have been hidden away for years in my garage collecting dust.

“The photos serve many purposes, including to remind us of loved ones living or gone, who also served in previous conflicts of war, to enjoy as art in your home or to remind us of the voices of those veterans who sacrificed all, and are no longer with us,” said Garcia.

The event was catered by Big Don’s BBQ and featured a live performance by Antioch’s own Ben Benkert, plus music by DJ Christina Amato of CC entertainment.

Stop in the store today to see the photos and the many other items available for purchase. East County Veterans Support Services is a tax exempt non-profit 501c3 organization. For more information call (925) 206-4976 or email warmemories@yahoo.com. You can also “Like” them on Facebook.

By John Crowder

The Rotary Club of Antioch was one of only two clubs in their seventy-two club District to receive the recently established Cliff Dochterman Award at a Rotary District meeting and ceremony held in Woodland, California on July 8.  The award was accepted by Milanka Schneiderman, Immediate Past President of Antioch Rotary on behalf of the Club.

The award, named after the past-president of Rotary International during 1992-93 and a Moraga resident, is presented to Rotary clubs that excel in all areas of Rotary. Requirements include participation in local, international, vocational youth, and club service. Clubs that receive the award are recognized for showing great care for their members, and for undertaking a project that can be emulated by other clubs and which will make a significant difference in the communities they serve.

The project that the Antioch Rotary Club undertook was the Empowerment Project for young women.  The project involves bringing together girls from local schools to screen the 2014 film, ‘The Empowerment Project: Ordinary Women Doing Extraordinary Things.’ After the screening the girls listen to a panel of successful women discuss their careers and life paths.  The idea for the project in Antioch was first proposed to the club by Antioch Rotarian Sal Sbranti in early 2015.  Sbranti’s daughter was involved in the production of the film.

After determining that the project would be a good fit for the Club, members of Antioch Rotary reached out to the principals of Deer Valley High School (DVHS) and Antioch High School (AHS), who both responded enthusiastically to the proposal.  In partnership with the Antioch Unified School District (AUSD), later that year, the program took place over two days, the first day at DVHS, and the second at AHS, for approximately 2100 girls from the schools.  Response to the program was unequivocally favorable.

Following the success with Antioch’s high school girls, the following year Antioch Rotary undertook the project for the 8th grade girls attending Antioch Middle (AMS), Black Diamond, Dallas Ranch, and Park Middle Schools.  The inspirational project was once again well received.  John Jimno, principal at Park Middle School, called it, “overwhelmingly positive,” while Lindsay Wisely, principal at AMS, called it, “an absolute game-changer for our 8th grade girls.”

Schneiderman tells the story of a girl she met while visiting Antioch High School earlier this year, who was still wearing a bracelet she had received at one of the events.  “She told me that the program had inspired her, for the first time, to consider going to college,” said Schneiderman.

This year, the Antioch Rotary Club and AUSD will be bringing all of AUSD’s 8th grade girls together for a “Day of Empowering Girls” event.  The full-day program will be held at the Antioch Fair Grounds on Wednesday, October 11.

For more information about the Antioch Rotary Club, visit antiochrotaryclub.org or contact project coordinator Sal Sbranti at salsbranti@comcast.net.

On Monday, September 4th – Labor Day – the Antioch Water Park will be half price admission all day long.  The hours of operation on September 4th are 11:00 am to 6:00 pm.  Bring your family and friends and join the lifeguards and recreation staff to say good-bye to summer fun.  It’s a customer appreciation day for everyone so break out the swim suits one last time and enjoy the five slides, various pools and Cattail Harbor spray park. 

Fall swimming lessons and fitness classes begin September 5th and registration is open now.  This last session of classes will give all ages the opportunity to master that swim skill they have been working on all summer.  Classes fill up early so do not wait to register.  For more information call the Water Park at 925-776-3070 or visit the City’s website www.ci.antioch.ca.us/recreation.

COME SPLASH WITH US while summer is still here.