central west end
Pedal the Cause, pictured above, has whizzed its way up over the past five years to become one of the most significant cancer fundraisers in the metro, raising nearly $9.4 million to fight all kinds of cancer since it started. That is a chunk of change, and every dollar raised goes directly to projects geared to fight cancer at BJC’s Siteman Cancer and St. Louis Children’s Hospital, both on Kingshighway just north of I-64 in the Central West End. (This is important to note, since many charitable efforts here and elsewhere have been criticized for directing too many funds toward covering administrative costs. This year’s event raised a record-breaking amount … but we have to play it close to the vest, for now. The check presentation is slated for Nov. 19 at Ballpark Village during a special program from 5:30 to 7 p.m., with the BIG check reveal scheduled for 6 p.m. Over the last half-decade, participants working year-round, not just during the September cycling event itself, have raised millions toward 56 cancer projects—41 for adults and 15 for children. Anyone interested in helping raise the bar even higher can mark next year’s calendar for Sept. 24 and 25, 2016, when Pedal the Cause will be held at Chesterfield Amphitheater. And not everyone needs to get saddlesore, or even wear spandex. If you don’t want to cycle, you can be a ‘virtual’ rider.
ballwin
Through their First Things First Foundation, Kurt and Brenda Warner continue to make a mark on our community, and their charitable holiday spirit is second to none. Since 2001, Warners’ Warm-Up has been a way to keep those less fortunate less chilly over the winter, by the collection and distribution of new or gently used coats. Ballwin’s finest are on the team: Open 24/7, the lobby of the Ballwin Police Department has been a collection point for a number of years. Nov. 14 is the cut-off point for donating coats at the PD, 300 Park Drive in Vlasis Park. Operation Food Search then collects the coats for distribution. More than 200,000 articles of outerwear have been donated since the program’s inception. Also in the lobby are collection boxes for Toys for Tots, the ever-popular toy drive of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. New and unwrapped toys will be collected through Dec. 16 for underprivileged children. We realize your Halloween decorations still may be up and that you may not have bought your gobbler yet, but as the weather turns colder, keep in mind those less fortunate. The holidays will be here and gone before you know it. But a coat will keep a needy youngster or adult warm all season long, and next fall, too. Just think how warm and tingly such a donation will make you feel!
st. louis
The recent renovation of our 150-year-old Central Library is all about knowledge, for sure. (And if you haven’t seen it yet, prepare to have your hands ready to catch your chin, because your jaw will drop.) But it’s about entertainment, too (and fundraising) Grab your basket of goodies, toss on your best red cape, and traipse into the forest when the St. Louis Public Library Foundation continues its tradition of literary-themed fundraising events with Stranger Than Fiction: Into the Woods. If you’d like to come as Little Red Riding Hood for the gala—Saturday, Nov. 21—go for it, because Grandma Wolf will probably be awaiting you eagerly. The attire is billed as cocktail or ‘Fairytale Festive.’ Proceeds support literacy and after-school programming offered at library locations throughout the city year-round: Homework Helpers, Summer Reading Club, Read It Forward, Reading Pays, and Playdate Theater. But I digress. Why? Because, well, what’s the absolute value of pi? It’s 3.14 something something, mathematically speaking. But
Pi has a different value to the library if you purchase The Bookmark pizza from any of the five Pi Pizzeria locations around town. The vegan creation might even intrigue a carnivore or two with its roasted carrots, parsnips, rutabagas and kale—and the knowledge that 15 percent of proceeds from The Bookmark pizza will be donated to Central Library through the end of the year in ongoing celebration of its 150th anniversary! There’s a bookmark, too. You know, for books.
chesterfield
They call it a hospital without beds. Mercy’s Virtual Care Center, which opened last month in Chesterfield, is the world’s first venture dedicated entirely to care outside its own walls. A four-story, 125,000-square-foot building, the Virtual are Center houses 330 Mercy employees—but no patients. Doctors and nurses are in-house, but sensitive cameras and real-time vital signs allow the medical team to ‘see’ patients where they are, be it in a traditional hospital, a doctor’s office or in some cases, at home. Telemedicine has been around for a decade or so, but this offers a second set of eyes … or, for some hospitals, the only set. In the latter scenario, stroke sufferers can benefit from immediate care via telemedicine; many community ERs don’t have a neurologist on-site. Mercy reports that its SafeWatch system is the largest single-hub ICU in the nation. Doctors and nurses offsite monitor hospital patients’ vital signs, providing additional observers to augment bedside caregivers in 30 ICUs across five states. Since the concept was introduced in 2006, Mercy officials say SafeWatch ICUs have seen a 15 percent reduction in how long patients stay in the hospital. Mercy’s Virtual Care Center also was designed to be a workspace for innovations in patient care and product testing—officials say the building invites collaboration and the development of new ideas for getting care to patients when and where they need it, with less expense. The sparkling new $54 million facility is at 15740 S. Outer Forty Road, which is directly across Clarkson Road from Chesterfield Mall.
webster groves
The speed limit along Elm Avenue in Webster Groves is 25 most places. But many drivers get leadfoot between Big Bend and Lockwood … including me. Thing is, this is a residential area. Of late, these bright red signs have appeared in a number of yards along the route: ‘Drive Like Your Kids Live Here.’ I found myself slowing down … from 35, or so, which is how fast traffic generally flows through there. But it got me thinking—and slowing down even more. Webster is one of several communities nationwide fed up with drivers treating residential streets like a drag strip. Chagrin Falls, Ohio, is another upscale community where drivers rush from here to there—and in neighborhoods, for goodness’ sake, not on thoroughfares with high speed limits. Folks there, and in communities from coast to coast, also have invested in these signs. They were not issued by the city, MoDOT or the county. They’re available online from a company that notes the highest death rate for kids 14 and younger is from traffic accidents. That’s grim. And we think this is important to keep in mind. Speeding is not for our residential neighborhoods! Go out and order your yard signs today. The ones we saw are two-sided and flexible, similar to political campaign signs; and reflective signs, too, are available. Now, for anyone who’d like a ‘Drive Like Your Mother-in-Law Lives Here’ sign, we didn’t see one in the catalog.
