Age Spots-by Jackie Dover
Making Changes for the New Year
As we welcome a New Year, Aging Matters wishes Ruth Dockins much happiness in her retirement adventures. Ruth has been an amazing advocate for seniors for over 20 years and has been a mentor to me for the last 10. I know there is no way to replace her, but I will do my best to make her proud.
This is a very busy time for us at Aging Matters and one of the most important things we do is helping those who qualify for the “Circuit Breaker” program, also known as the Missouri Property Tax Credit (MOPTC). This credit returns a maximum of $750 for renters and $1,100 for owners who owned and occupied their home. The actual credit is based on the amount of real estate taxes or rent paid and total household income.
To qualify for the Circuit Breaker you or your spouse must be 65 as of December 31, 2015 or 100% disabled. Also, those who are 60 or older and receiving surviving spouse social security benefits could qualify. You must be a Missouri resident with total household income of $27,500 or less for a single renter, $29,500 or less for a married couple who rents. If you own your home your income must be below $30,000 if single and $34,000 for a married couple. If you are veteran with 100% service connected disability, your VA payments are not counted as income.
Forms can be downloaded from the MO Department of Revenue website www.dor.mo.gov or by calling our office at 335-3331 or 1-800-392-8771.
Special Note: Jackie Dover is the new Public Information Director for Aging Matters. She is a mom of four boys and has worked at Aging Matters for over 10 years. Aging Matters serves 18 counties in Southeast Missouri.
Today marked my three-year anniversary at the ShowMe Times. Tomorrow I will continue to embark on my fourth year of adventures, and I couldn’t be more excited about where the ShowMe Times is headed. There will be some exciting news and innovative developments waiting around the corner that I can’t wait to share with all of you. Just keep following the ShowMe Times for the latest and greatest!
Having come from a completely different background with my previous career I never imagined or even dreamed of doing work like this, but Alan Hedrick showed me a new avenue of “work”. I have truly enjoyed taking photos and writing articles about our great community, our schools, and our local businesses.
There is never a moment when something is not taking place in one of our Stoddard County towns. Tonight I had the pleasure of attending the “It’s a Wonderful Life” event at the Stoddard County Courthouse in Bloomfield. It was truly a magical evening listening to Christmas songs and drinking hot chocolate! It is a wonderful life that I have and I am truly blessed!
Thank you to everyone who has supported the ShowMe Times and those who will continue to make the ShowMe Times the best positive news source in southeast Missouri. I could not have done it without the wonderful people of Dexter, Bernie, Bloomfield, and the surrounding areas. Without your support the ShowMe Times would not be so popular.
One of our milestones this year was that we reached 5,500 LIKES on our Facebook page! Our Twitter account and our website have tons of traffic as well. Believe it or not I have taken more than 250,000 photos over the past three years and hope to continue into 2016.
With my three year anniversary comes another very special anniversary for ShowMe Times. We will be celebrating our 5th year online on February 1, 2016. I can remember introducing myself to people and some had never heard of the ShowMe Times. Now I rarely run into someone who hasn’t heard of us.
Looking to the future I am extremely pleased and excited about the New Year ahead. It’s my hope that 2016 will be even better and more electrifying than ever.
From our home to yours have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I will see you at the next event with camera in hand!
Dee Loflin
ShowMe Times Manager/Editor
A travel alert, which is to be in effect until Feb. 24, said current information suggests that militants with the Islamic State, al-Qaida, Boko Haram and other terrorist groups continue to plan attacks in multiple regions. U.S. authorities said the likelihood of terror attacks will continue as members of IS return from Syria and Iraq, and other individuals not affiliated with terror groups engage in violence on their own.
Extremists have targeted sporting events, theaters, open markets and aviation targets. In the past year, there have been multiple attacks in France, Nigeria, Denmark, Lebanon, Turkey and Mali. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Oct. 31 bombing of a Russian airliner in Egypt, killing 224 people.
"U.S. citizens should exercise vigilance when in public places or using transportation," the alert said. "Be aware of immediate surroundings and avoid large crowds or crowded places. Exercise particular caution during the holiday season and at holiday festivals or events."
The State Department said the U.S. is exchanging information with allies about threats of international terrorism.
The travel alert was issued the same day that Belgium's prime minister announced that Brussels would remain at the highest alert level for at least another week. The increased security measures following the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people have virtually shut down the Belgian capital.
Reflections of 10 Years Ago
by David Fowler
I woke up early this morning because my heart is full. This is not my typical preacher’s Monday ritual, but today, I’m grateful for my congregation in ways I hadn’t known I should be. Now I know that these are even greater folks than I thought they were.
Ten years ago a family drove into the Sadler Chapel parking lot to welcoming cheers and banners and a big meal. Three generations of a family of sisters: McCoy, Miller and Ott, were refugees from Hurricane Katrina.
It all started when LeAnn Kelly was watching the news and saw the devastation and was sure there was something the church could (or must) do. She called then pastor Andy Lambel saying, “They need water and shelter and we can offer that.” Pastor Andy caught her vision. Soon a church meeting was called and after talking it through they said, “Go.” Their hearts were ready, the door stood potentially open. Well, now what? No one knew. LeAnn started calling Red Cross and others with the offer of shelter.
Gail Walker’s sister living in Jackson Mississippi, had invited a displaced family sheltered at a nearby church to her home to use their swimming pool. Walker’s sister was so impressed with the family that she told Gail, “if you want to help someone these folks are great!” And the wheels started turning. The invitation was extended. And a New Orleans family had to decide: “Will we move that far North to live in a community with less than 1% black population?”
At the refugee shelter Linnette and Henry McCoy spent a sleepless night. Henry was a contractor and had been offered tools, and contracts and whatever he needed to stay and rebuild. He prayed. He said, “When God troubles you at night you need to listen.” Well, God troubled. Henry listened. By morning the message to him was, “Go north, and don’t come back.” They agreed to come. He told us this past Sunday, “It felt like the message to Lot in the Old Testament: Don’t look back.”
At Sadler Chapel, another group of people were suddenly mobilized and not looking back. The reality of what they’d agreed to do settled in, and wheels began to turn. The Sunday school rooms were turned into bedrooms and the fellowship hall became a big living room. A shower was constructed. Furniture arrived from all over the region as people began to hear what this little church was doing. And on that September day as the cars drove into the lot there were beds, there were clothes in every size, there was food, there was a living room with the TV hooked up. But most importantly there was love.
The extended family lived in the church building for approximately 4 months. And there were many challenges. We learned that we cook the “wrong color” of beans to have with cornbread. (They should be red) There were challenges for our guests to access their own bank accounts in the aftermath of Katrina.
Prescriptions that had to be found, and filled, or started anew.
There were jobs to be found, and school to settle into.
Yesterday, the families that lived in our little church building those years ago came back. They took the morning service and a good part of the Sunday School hour, and then lunch and a time in the sanctuary after lunch to express their gratitude. They gave testimony that they felt unconditional love, from Sadler Chapel.
They said they did not experience racism here and they were deeply and truly grateful for what God did to make us into an unlikely family during a horrific time in their lives. And they gave us an offering…’seed money’ they said…to help someone else.
Together we lit candles for some who had died in their family and ours since they were lived in our building. They remembered two of ours, Wanda Martin, and Tom Stevens, (who they called the little
Quaker man because he reminded them of the guy on the oatmeal box.) We remembered Linnette’s twin sister, her mother, her father and step-father. We stood together in silence loving our families…no… loving our one family.
There were many firsts. Perhaps the ones that impressed me most were these two. Sadler Chapel hosted the first M.L.K. Day and Black History Month celebration in Dexter. The next year the school began to honor this day.
This fall, one of our family, Daniel McCoy was hired at the Dexter Public School, the first African American hired there as teacher and assistant coach. (He is shown in the photo above in his classroom.)
There were many testimonies of thanks and praise. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of what it meant to us have them return, and remember, and love on us for a day. But it’s fantastic to see, and recall, and celebrate whenever the church of Jesus pushes out into the deep and finds a way to get love right. This weekend we were given a gift to celebrate one of those seasons of getting love right for Sadler Chapel thanks to the McCoy, Ott, and Miller families who came and reminded us of who we are in Christ.
We’re family and as they sang to us, we’re all so very grateful.
—David Fowler
Sadler Chapel
Submitted by Ruth Dockins, Age Spots
Cape Girardeau, Missouri - An area-wide event called “A Time to Pray” is planned for 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12 at Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.
The prayer service is an inter-denominational event with speakers from area communities, including: Dorothy Wilson, Lucas Presson, and Doug Austin of Cape Girardeau; Mike Cowan of Oak Ridge; Scott Eakers, Father John Harth and Sam Roethemeyer of Jackson.
“There are so many issues in the world today, but our first response should be prayer,” said Doug Austin, one of the organizers. “This event is about prayer, seeking God’s guidance and exalting His name.”
The speakers will lead the group in prayer and highlight specific mentions of prayer in the Bible with focus on the 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
