Written by
Dee Loflin, SMT Manager/Writer
Dexter, Missouri – You were introduced to little Drew Albritton in a previous ShowMe Times article called, “Voice of Praise Evening of Music for Drew" and what a wonderful event this turned out to be.
Drew is a three year old little boy who has to undergo his next procedure, a stem cell transplant. Hopefully this will be the next step towards being cancer-free. His parent, Elizabeth and Mike, are so very grateful to the Dexter community for all that they have done, for each and every prayer, for all the love and support that has been sent their way. They cannot express their gratitude enough.
This Saturday, March 2nd, there will be a Used Book Sale and Bake Sale at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church fellowship hall from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
If you would like to contribute, Amy Moon is the “Gal in Charge” and she is asking for any used books, magazines, DVDs, and CDs to be donated by Friday afternoon and you can bring them to the Corner Cottage in Dexter.
The items will be sold extremely reasonable and there will also be a yummy bake sale.
As a specialty item, they have a whole truckload of brand new Williams-Sonoma cookbooks called “Holiday Favorites” for just $5 each. These normally retail for $24.95 and everyone could use another good cookbook. What a great idea for a stocking stuffer for Christmas this year.
There will be a limited number of Drew bracelets available for sale as well.
Three great door prizes will be offered and there will also be a quilt raffle. What a great way to raise some money for a wonderful little boy.
Elizabeth Carroll Albritton, originally from Dexter (Class of ’97) and her husband, Mike, also have a new baby girl that's about three months old. Mike is gonna have his hands full with her while mom is with Drew in isolation.
Drew was unfortunately diagnosed with ganglioneuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer in children. He has already undergone several rounds of chemotherapy, and he had a surgery in which the doctors were able to move about 90% of the tumor that is attached to his spine. This latest treatment, a stem cell transplant, will help Drew to re-grow bone marrow. Drew and his mother, Elizabeth will be in isolation for about a month following the procedure.
This is an awful lot for such a little boy to have to endure at such a young age. Please stop by and find a bargain book and a yummy treat and offer your kindness to a family that surely could use the support and your prayers.
A mother can never imagine having to go through something like this with her child, but with support, prayers, friends and family, a mother's spirit can be uplifted.
Here is an excerpt from Elizabeth's Albritton's Facebook page from today as so many folks want to know how little Drew is doing. Elizabeth writes, "I've gotten so many text messages about Drew today, I thought I'd just update on Facebook. I can't get back to each and every person, there have been so many, but I know you are thinking about Drew."
"We admitted to the bone marrow transplant unit this afternoon. We spent a long period of time sanitizing everything we brought. Food and my clothes must be kept outside his room. His clothes and toys can be in his room with rules. His clothes had to be packed in ziploc bags by outfit after they were washed in hot water and dried for a long period of time."
"I cannot use his bathroom at all so I have to go down the hall. A lot of people have sent well wishes for a surgery. It's actually not that kind of transplant. He will get two high dose chemo drugs over the next 5 days that will be so potent it will kill all of his bone marrow in an attempt to kill any rogue cancer cells. In order to restart its functioning, he needs a "transplant" of his own stem cells. His stem cells were harvested back in September and have been frozen ever since"
"On Tuesday, after all of his chemo is done, they will thaw his stem cells and push them through his central line. It's just a small syringe of what looks like blood. It will take just a second to push it through his line and it is done. After that, it's just a matter of waiting for his counts to recover and the cells to en-graft and start working again. It could take a few days or several and during that time he has absolutely no immune system, that is the dangerous part."
"That is why he is in isolation and can't leave his room. His biggest enemy is his own body as he has nothing to keep his natural bacteria at bay. He will take a lot of antibiotics and other things to try to prevent an infection as the slightest thing could become life-threatening."
"That's the short explanation of his transplant! Keep him in your thoughts and prayers as it will be very difficult for him over the next couple of weeks as the chemo makes him feel bad. He is doing well now, watching movies and relaxing! Thanks for all the well-wishes!"
Our thoughts and prayers to the Albritton family. We wish Drew a safe and quick recovery. Everyone will be praying for your family!
Written by
Dee Loflin, SMT Manager/Writer
Dexter, Missouri - As Christmas and New Year Holiday donations for food have all but “ran out of time” for the shelves of the Stoddard County Mission’s food pantry, the 1st Annual ShowMe Times March Madness Food Drive aims to score big with lots of food.
The food drive is patterned after the national spring college basketball tournament, matching up businesses in weekly competitions to see which one can bring in the most food. The winning business in each bracket will advance to continue play in the following week.
“Let’s make a full-court press to stock the food pantry”! exclaimed Kim Slavings, Director of the Stoddard County Gospel Mission.
Here is the game plan for the March Madness Food Drive. We are asking local businesses to go head-to-head in an all out battle to see who can collect the MOST ITEMS of food for the Stoddard County Gospel Mission. Each business will have an entry fee of $100 to participate with some of the proceeds going to the Stoddard County Gospel Mission. Slavings commented, "This is a great idea and it’s a win-win for us at the Stoddard County Gospel Mission. We can get so much community involvement when the food is needed the most."
The ShowMe Times will announce the participating businesses on March 1st. Anyone in the community who wishes to donate to those businesses may do so. You don't have to be an employee to donate. "We want everyone who goes into one of those businesses to drop off something that the Mission can utilize," stated Dee Loflin, Manager of the ShowMe Times.
Then each Friday in the month (March 8, 15, 22, Thursday 28th as Friday is a holiday and the Mission will not be open) the Stoddard County Gospel Mission will help with receiving the donations from those businesses. The Mission will also help calculate the winners in each bracket and assist the ShowMe Times with scoring.
Each business can bring their donations anytime during the week, but the food must be at the Stoddard County Gospel Mission no later than 3:00 p.m. on the dates above.
To ensure that businesses of all sizes are able to compete on a level playing field, the ShowMe Times will use a unique scoring system. The total number of food items donated by a business will be divided by the total number of employees in that business, resulting in their score for that week. That way large businesses with lots of employees are on equal grounds with perhaps a very small business.
Now this is where it gets interesting! We don't want businesses to stop playing or taking in donations of food once they have "lost" in their bracket. Losing businesses now have an advantage to "block" their former opponents by donating their food to the Stoddard County Gospel Mission in one of the business's who is still participating and so forth. When it's down to the final game (week) all businesses can "slam dunk" their donations towards one of the two finalists to help them win!
The ShowMe Times will keep you informed weekly as to the winners and losers, their scores and how many items have been donated. Hopefully there will be some friendly competitions.
"We need non-perishables such as can goods, spaghetti, rice, cereal, beans, peanut butter, soups, mac & cheese, canned tuna, canned vegetables, noodles, spaghetti sauce, drink mix packages, ramen noodles, boxed cornbread, just about anything that is non-perishable and folks would eat regularly." stated Slavings. "You wouldn't believe how many of the elderly we see on a fixed income and they are so appreciative of anything we can offer."
The winning business will receive recognition in the community receiving three months of front-page advertising with the ShowMe Times. And of course the big winner will be the people in our community who get their food from the Mission.
“This is an awesome opportunity to pull everyone together to help those in need in Stoddard County,” stated Loflin. “It is also a great way to showcase those businesses who are helping one another in our community.”
Businesses wishing to participate should contact the ShowMe Times no later than Thursday, February 28th. They may call 573-624-7469 or 573-380-3318 or emailing us at news@showmetimes.com
The winner of the 1st March Madness Food Drive will be announced on April 1, 2013.
Stoddard County businesses, WE NEED YOUR HELP! Let's show The Mission what we can do for them!
Written by
Dee Loflin, SMT Writer
Dexter, Missouri – Gaige Willems is fighting the battle against cancer. This is the second time his leukemia (Acute Lymphblastic) has returned. When his mother, Misty, learned they were going to have to fight again, they were devastated. They knew it was going to be a challenge and the community has come together to support and pray for the Willems family.
Gaige is only 10 years old, but he is a real trooper and loves basketball. Facebook page his parents set up is call Gaige’s Battle off the Court and you can follow his progress as he fights this terrible disease.
Cancer never takes a break. Monday was no holiday for Gaige as headed back to St. Louis to start another round of chemo. Each day is a blessing as his family prays for the cancer to finally go away for good. So many people have reached out to help the Willems family and Angie Laden is no different.Angie wanted to raise money to help offset the costs of so many expenses the Willems’ family is facing so she decided to have a T-Shirt fundraiser. The T-shirts are awesome and sport the Peace, Love Cure for Leukemia on one side and Gaige's Battle Off the Court on the back. Orange is the cancer awareness ribbon color for leukemia.
BA Promotions in Dexter, Missouri is also helping and printing the t-shirts! The T-Shirts are $20 each with 50% of the proceeds going straight to the Willems family. You can order sizes youth small all the way up to adults 3X.
You can stop by BA Promotions, fill out an order form and pay for the shirt. You may also contact Angie Laden on her Facebook page or by calling her at 573-624-4804 or 573-421-5029. Angie stated you could also contact her via her email, laden91@gmail.com. She will be more than happy to email anyone an order form or drop one off. All checks must be made out to Angie Laden.Orders must be placed by Thursday, February 28th.
Hurry and get your t-shirts now and wear to the “Prayers for Gaige” Fundraiser on Saturday, March 30 at the Dexter Park and Recreation Gym in East City Park.
Dee Loflin, SMT Writer
The Rotary Club of Dexter will sponsor a Blood Drive on Thursday, February 21, 2013 from noon - 5 p.m. at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. The Red Cross will be in the Parish Center located on 102 East Castor Street.
This will be a great opportunity to give to an organization that helps our community in many ways. The Red Cross not only handles 1/2 of the United States supply through these blood donations, but offers CPR classes, first aid classes and other health and safety programs, they provide food, shelter and emotional support to victims of disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes and floods.
What do you need to donate blood? It's very simple!
1. A blood donor card and driver's license or two forms of identification, especially if you are a first time donor are required to check-in.
2. Donors must be at least 17 years of age, weigh at least 110 pounds, and be in reasonably good health.
3. Donating blood involves four basic steps: Registration, Medical history and mini-physical, Donation and at the end a nice Refreshment.
Any information given to the Red Cross during the donation process is confidential.
The need for blood is constant and every pint counts. Each day, patients in our county are helped by donors who have given blood. Here is just one example of how a blood drive recently helped a person. Thirty units of red blood cells and five units of platelets were transfused to a car accident victim and saved their life. Had generous donations not been made his/her family would be attending a funeral instead spending time with their loved one. Thanks to the many dedicated Stoddard County residents who have given over the years, the blood products were available for these types of patients and other like them.
The Red Cross needs your help! Donate today! Visit www.redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-733-2767 for more information on how to volunteer or donate. We hope to see you at the Rotary Club Blood Drive Thursday.
Dee Loflin, SMT Writer
Dexter, Missouri - The First Baptist Church will be hosting a Wild Game Dinner on Friday, February 22, 2013 at 6:00 p.m.
This is the second year for one of the most spectacular events for sportsmen in the area. Last year, The Duck Commander, was the guest speaker. This year's honored guest is David Hale from "Knight and Hale Ultimate Hunting" television show and the maker of the infamous Knight & Hale Game Calls.
This popular outdoor television show has been around for over a decade and is centered around breathtaking Whitetail Deer and Rocky Mountain Elk hunts. With their home-grown ability to tell a good story, superb camerawork and state-of-the art graphics, they are both entertaining as well as educational for the hunting audience.
Both, David Hale and Harold Knight are to say the least, avid hunters. They began their careers in the hunting industry as entrepreneurs in the game call business. Their television program is one of the top Nielsen rated hunting shows airing 52 weeks annually.
To find out more about their game calls and hunting topics go to www.knightandhale.com. They also have a Facebook page, Knight and Hale Game Calls. If you want to know more about David Hale, go to www.outdoorministrynetwork.com. He is quite involved in "Outfitting Your Faith".
The Wild Game Dinner will be catered again this year by the famous Cajun cooker, Darrell Hicks from Jackson, Tennessee. There will be plenty to eat, duck, quail, deer, squirrel, and hog.
Darrell is a World Champion Cajun Cooker. His father, JB Hicks developed a unique seasoning blend that is now world famous. Darrell, his wife Ann and the rest of the Cajun Cookers have make food for many powerful folks in the United States. Even Sam Walton, Wal-Mart, once said for that for his last meal, he wanted Cajun Cookers. How can you top that statement? They have cooked at many events for Anheuser Busch, John Deere, FedEx, Bass Pro Shops and NFL organizations.
They won the World Barbeque Championship at the Memphis in May Fest in 1987. This win validated to everyone that Darrell was here to stay and his food was fantastic! “We are so glad to have them available to cook for our Wild Game Dinner," stated Pastor Steve, “It is truly an honor to have them.”
Get your tickets soon as they were sold out last year and it will most likely be a sell-out crowd this year. Cost is $25.00 per person and you can contact the Church on Castor Street, Dead Fingers Gun Shop on Highway 25 or Thurston Auto Parts on US 60 Business to purchase them. It should be an exciting night of entertainment and great food.
Something new this year! Bring any mount for showing including deer and turkey and if by any chance you happen to have a dinosaur mount, Steve Easterwood, Pastor of the First Baptist Church said, "Bring it too!"
The first 20 horn mounts will get a free score by Don Roper, an official mount scorer. The mounts will then be displayed in the First Baptist Fellowship Hall. Please bring your mounts on Thursday, February 21st at 6:00 p.m. to the Fellowship Hall on Walnut St.
There will be a drawing for a shotgun and there will be over $2,000 in prizes, including gift cards to gun shops and more.
For more information contact the First Baptist Church at 573-624-7436 or go to their Facebook page, First Baptist Church - Dexter, MO.
