the hill
It’ll take more than one crazy cat lady to make this happen: A $40,000 fundraiser for Animal House Cat Rescue and Adoption Center, a no-kill shelter, could raise as much as $80,000. Meow? (Translation: How?) A donor will match gifts, dollar for dollar, up to 40 grand. Staff and volunteers at Animal House are giddy about how kitties in the metro, especially those rescued from city streets and alleys, could benefit. Take Lavender, formerly feral and frightened; she’s ready to adopt now … after five years! Staff and volunteers gave her the time, attention and love she needed, and for the past year, she’s been getting along well with other cats. She presently resides in one of the community rooms. Lavender exemplifies the shelter’s willingness to take on cats that may require extra time and effort. Additional funding means the shelter can expand capacity, improve and update living spaces, and broaden the scope of preventive and rehabilitative medical care. Founded in 2010, Animal House is on The Hill at 2151 59th St. Adoption hours are 1 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays.
sunset hills
‘Friendship’ Village? Apparently not so much if you’re gay. Mary Walsh and Bev Nance are married, but they were denied residency at the Sunset Hills retirement community because they ran afoul of the company’s ‘cohabitation’ policy: Marriage is ‘understood’ in the Bible to be the union of one man and one woman. The couple’s federal lawsuit could take a while to resolve, as there are no state or federal laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. Under federal law, however, same-sex marriage is legal. Walsh, 72, and Nance, 68, have been in a committed relationship since the 1970s, lived together in a Shrewsbury home since 1995, and were married in Massachusetts in 2009. Now, the policy might be somewhat easier to understand if Friendship Village were affiliated with a religious organization. At least Nance and Walsh might have found out earlier that, as lesbians, they weren’t welcome. They wouldn’t have kept receiving marketing materials. They might not have put down a $2,000 deposit, or prepared to sell their home. So they were shocked by the official letter denying their application. This isn’t some random religious zealot refusing to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. It’s an organization of caregivers flatly denying two retired women a stress-free place to spend their remaining years together. In my humble opinion, Friendship Village management needs to start acting like compassionate adults.
chesterfield
With all that jazz, can butterflies sleep? You could find out by attending Wine & Jazz Under the Stars at the Butterfly House, a benefit for the Radio Arts Foundation (RAF), the only classical radio station in the metro, from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 14. Miss Jubilee and The Humdingers will perform, and tickets also include wine, soft drinks, appetizers, parking, and a raffle for items and gift certificates from local businesses and organizations. Proceeds will help bolster children’s programming and boost the station’s signal, among other things. The 1,500 or so butterflies that flit and flutter freely within the 8,000-square-foot conservatory garden in Chesterfield’s Faust Park may be oblivious to the 1920s and ’30s sounds from Miss Jubilee (Valerie Kirchhoff) et al., as they’ll be playing for dancers under a tent outside. RAF, on the air five years, is an HD (hybrid digital) station … as Steely Dan sang in its 1978 hit song “FM (No Static at All).” Your ears will love the CD-quality sound, whether you’re listening via an HD receiver (most newer cars are so equipped) or online. Forty unique programs— including orchestral, chamber, jazz, blues, opera and symphony—are broadcast 24/7 on 107.3 FM and 96.3 KNOU HD2 FM and streaming live on the web. A new program, Sunday Matinee on Broadway, premiered recently.
u. city
OK, we’re gonna get ‘Magic Mini Golf’ in The Delmar Loop. And that’s great. But how much longer do we have to wait for the much-ballyhooed Loop Trolley, which has been promised since—let’s see, spring 2015, maybe even earlier? Joe Edwards, Delmar Loop impresario and owner of Blueberry Hill, Moonrise Hotel and Peacock Loop Diner, says he’s as frustrated as anybody looking forward to riding the refurbished trolley cars. Two are completely restored; the third is having an ADA-compliant lift installed. Meanwhile, at 6160 Delmar Blvd., the mini golf attraction will fill a gap in the streetscape across from The Pageant, which Edwards co-owns with Patrick Hagin of the late, lamented Mississippi Nights rock concert hall on The Landing. Plans also include renovating an adjacent, historic church building: It started out as a Presbyterian church, had a mid-life crisis as a synagogue, and was vacated a little more than a decade ago after finishing its career as a Baptist church. Edwards says he’s not sure what the future holds for the building. Meanwhile, barring complications with the city, he hopes construction can begin in three months or so on the mini golf attraction, which is to feature:
>> An indoor, year-round, whimsical (did we mention Joe Edwards?) 18-hole miniature golf course
>> Shuffleboard lanes for families, couples and leagues
>> An indoor, 16-foot-high Ferris wheel repurposed from The Muny with five cabs that each seat three children or two adults
Magic Mini Golf will have a kitchen, bar, amusement games, and display cases with golf and magic-related toys, figurines and art. We did ask Edwards a few more questions about the doggone trolley that’s supposed to run the 2.2 miles from The Loop to the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. He’s loath to speculate, yet again, when it will start operating; the latest delay has been due to excruciatingly slow safety and security inspections by the Federal Transit Administration and MoDOT. But he did say riders will pay $2 for a two-hour pass, $5 to ride all day.
notable neighbors: st. louis
Lead pastor of The Gathering Matt Miofsky has his divinity degree from Emory University in Atlanta, but his undergraduate degree from Washington U. is in mathematics. How, in heaven’s name, did that all come about? Miofsky grins. “People have a lot of faith in math,” he says. Many mathematicians, Descartes and Newton among them, had a philosophical bent. And we take it on faith that mathematical calculations will one day get us to Mars. But now, back to terra firma: Twelve years ago, at 28, Miofsky was associate pastor of Webster Hills United Methodist Church when he got a very strong feeling he needed to move on to something different, something new, something for the city, in the city. A place where everyone felt welcome: People of color, women, LGBTQ people, kids and youth all working together, each applying a unique gift to carry a message of love, hope and renewal. In 2006, however, on the night before the very first service, his faith was sorely tested: The musicians canceled. Sunday morning came insufferably humid, and the circa 1920s building on McCausland Avenue held the heat well. But many came that morning, many more the next week, and they’ve kept on coming. The Gathering now has locations in Clayton and Webster Groves and is eyeing Metro East, and it’s just about to move into a new, 26,000-square-foot, $8 million building at 2360 McCausland Ave. on a former used car lot, next to a Walgreens. (First services are slated for 9 and 10:45 a.m. Aug. 26.) With a vast lobby area at 4,000 square feet for gathering(s) and 600 sanctuary chairs equipped with memory-foam cushions, it’s the first new church built from scratch in the city in Lord knows how long. “The city has been undergoing cultural and economic renewal,” Miofsky says. The Gathering, officially a United Methodist Church, is all about spiritual renewal for the ‘unchurched.’ Miofsky is charismatic, yes, but also has a knack for business; it’s that math thing. Although he often may preach ‘live’ at McCausland and appear elsewhere via video in real time, this is anything but a cult of personality. Each location has its own site pastor. The Gathering boasts talent ‘at all positions’… from musicians and tech staff to Sunday school teachers. “I have a mixture of gifts,” Miofsky says. “But I can pick any field and there’s someone here who’s good at it.” Visit gatheringnow.org.
