Join the Circus! - Community News

8 Community News February 23, 2011
From St. Peters Alderman Gus Elliott...
In the late 1890s and early 1900s, like today, the economy underwent
a change. In central Missouri, where a second-generation
Missourian named Gus Elliott ran the local blacksmith shop,
the need for blacksmiths vanished almost overnight with the rising
popularity of the automobile, but my great-granddad didn't
get discouraged. He shifted his focus, taught himself to work on
cars, and soon found himself again in high demand.
A little over a hundred years later, my great-granddad’s strategy
still works, and it is exactly how we're all going to pull the economy
out of its current slump. We're going to have to retool our
unemployed workforce. And the best tool we have is education.
For workers, that is where the Graduate America Priority 1
(GAP 1) program comes in. I recently heard about this program
from Wentzville Mayor Paul Lambi and our own Ward 2 Alderman
Judy Bateman, whom I overheard talking about how to get
the word out in St. Peters. The GAP 1 program aims to recruit
people with college degrees or technical training to act as "College Coaches" to each help two people
finish a degree and get back into the workforce. The program is looking for three things right now,
sponsors to donate the $250 it takes to train one coach, volunteer coaches, and participants. If you
think any of these three roles might be for you, please contact Ed Watkins, Founder, Graduate America
Priority 1 (GAP 1) at 314.330.7078.
No matter where you are in your career, entrepreneur or employee, employed or unemployed, I can't
stress enough how important education is for our future economic stability. If you don't have a college
degree or specialized training, it is worth the effort to get it. If you do, it's doubly worth your effort to
help others get the training they need to bootstrap themselves into better jobs.
St. Charles First Assembly to Offer
a Saturday Night Service
If you are a 20 or 30-something looking for a spiritual
experience but Sunday morning doesn’t work for
you, there is a new opportunity coming to St. Peters.
Starting Saturday, Feb. 26, St. Charles First Assembly
of God, located at 4750 North Service
Road, will begin offering a Saturday night
service at 6 p.m.
Lead Pastor Jerry Harris said he’s not
trying to get church people to come out to
a new service.
“We want to give people who don’t have
a church the chance to try us out, particularly
the nearly 1,000 people in their 20s
and 30s who attend our popular, monthly
car show during the summer months
known as ‘The Lot,’” Harris said. “With the
Motorcoach Gives
Land O’ Lincoln Tour
Visit the home of President Abraham Lincoln while marking
the 150th anniversary of the Civil War in the motorcoach
tour Land O’ Lincoln presented by the St. Peters Rec-Plex on
Tuesday, March 22.
The tour will travel to Springfield, Ill. to the Abraham Lincoln
National Historic Site where Lincoln and his family
lived until 1861 when he was elected to be our 16th president.
After getting a glimpse of Lincoln’s family life and surroundings
in a four-block area, the tour will then travel to
the Oak Ridge Cemetery to visit Lincoln’s tomb and other
war memorials.
The last stop on the tour visits the new Lincoln Museum.
It traces Lincoln’s life from the log cabin in Indiana to the
White House and finally his assassination at Ford’s Theater.
There is a $71 per-person fee that covers admissions, tour
guide, motorcoach, gratuities and cost of lunch at Chesapeake
Seafood House for a nice selection of meats and seafood.
St. Peters’ Rec-Plex motorcoach tours meet on the west
side of City Hall, One St. Peters Centre Blvd. The Land O’
Lincoln tour will depart at 8 a.m. and return at 7 p.m.
To register or learn more, call 636.939.2FUN, or go online
to www.stpetersmo.net and click on Rec-Connect.
service and car show going on simultaneously, community
members will have a new venue where they
can get their car fix and Jesus fix at the same time.”
Activities will be available for children ages three
through sixth grade in Kids Zone during this new service
time. A fully staffed nursery will also be available
for ages 2 and under.
To learn more about St. Charles First Assembly of
God, its new Saturday night service at 6 p.m. or the
church’s regularly scheduled times of worship that include
a traditional Sunday morning service at 9 a.m.,
followed by a contemporary service at 10:45 a.m., call
636.936.1912 or visit www.StCharlesAssembly.org.
Save Your
Aluminum
Cans for
Our Soldiers
St. Peters kicks off its annual
Pennies for Patriots aluminum
can drive on March
8. Bring your cans to Recycle
City and place them in the
specially marked dumpster
under the American flag in
the recyclables drop-off area.
When you donate your aluminum
cans in the
Pennies for Patriots collection
container, the value
of the cans is donated to the
USO. To get to Recycle City,
take Mid Rivers
Mall Drive
north of I-70
over the railroad
tracks.
Turn right
on Ecology
Drive and
follow to Recycle
City.