Banner 2-29-2024

Page 4 — Thursday, February 29, 2024 — The Hastings Banner

The Hastings Banner

Devoted to the interests of Barry County since 1856

Published by... Hastings Banner, Inc.

A Division of J-Ad Graphics Inc.

1351 N. M-43 Highway • Phone: (269) 945-9554 • Fax: (269) 945-

News and press releases: [email protected] • Advertising: [email protected]

Frederic Jacobs

Publisher & CEO

Hank Schuuring

CFO

- ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT •
Classified ads accepted Monday through Friday,
8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Chris Silverman

Mike Gilmore

Ty Greenfield

Jennie Yonker

- NEWSROOM •
Jayson Bussa (Editor)
Molly Macleod (Copy Editor)
Brett Bremer (Sports Editor)
Greg Chandler
Hunter McLaren

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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:

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Hastings, MI 49058-

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Have you met?

Do you remember?

Did you see?

Honoring a life saver

Earlier this month, Barry Township

Police Chief Jenny Johnson (left) present-

ed Officer Jacob Fielstra (right) with a

Meritorious Award for Bravery and Life

Saving. Fielstra was commended for his

role in two incidents last year. On Oct. 4,

officers were dispatched to a local gas

station following reports of an aggressive

male. Fielstra administered life-saving

CPR to the subject following self-inflicted

injuries during the altercation.

Fielstra was also the first to report to

the scene of a Nov. 16 structure fire,

where he helped to manage the scene.

(Photo provided)

Pricey pie

Banner May 20, 1999

A classy ride for a pricey pie is what Barry County Sheriff Steve DeBoer got Saturday after Dave Hekhuis purchased the

strawberry treat at the annual Chamber of Commerce fundraising auction. Hekhuis, the owner of the Chrysler Superstore,

paid $275 for the pie, auctioned by Jenny Morawski (left) of AppleTree Auctioneering at Spring Fling on the courthouse lawn.

Here, the happy participants enjoy the classy Plymouth Prowler Hekhuis took to the event.

Teresa Pash had to beg her mom to let

her take piano lessons.

Her siblings told her to put it off as long

as she could. Tired of practicing every day,

they warned Pash she should enjoy her free-

dom while she still could. Even her mom

cautioned her to wait, telling her she could

start lessons when she turned 8 years old.

Pash couldn’t stand to wait.

“For a solid year, I begged. I was 6 years

old and I begged and begged every single

day,” she said. “Finally, my mom couldn’t

take any more. At seven, I got to get a

teacher.”

She didn’t dread the lessons like her sib-

lings did. After graduating from Hastings

High School in 1981, she moved to Seattle

while attending the University of Puget

Sound studying performance and pedagogy.

She came back to Barry County in 1991,

moving to Nashville where she still lives

today. She’s been performing the whole

time, making stops all over West Michigan.

She’s played for years at The English Inn in

Eaton Rapids, Nashville Baptist Church,

Nashville Methodist Church and many oth-

ers. She’s even been tapped to play at com-

mencement ceremonies for Davenport Uni-

versity and Baker College – sometimes

performing in front of a live audience as

large as 16,000.

She’s been teaching, too, providing les-

sons to students of all ages as Pash Perfor-

mance in Nashville. It’s been a very reward-

ing experience, she said.

“It’s a different thing, working with

adults... they can do something that they

never thought they could do, and they’re

learning an instrument and it’s really

rewarding for them,” she said. “The little

kids keep you on your toes, you have to go

really fast. They might run around your

room a few times before they come over to

the piano and sit down. Then you go,

‘Okay, now let’s learn this!’ It’s fun.”

Pash remembers what it was like to be a

young, eager student. She’s a certified

Kindermusik instructor, which has allowed

her to take on students as young as 6 and 7.

It requires a different teaching approach but

is just as rewarding to both the student and

the teacher.

“A lot of instructors and piano teachers

won’t take little children,” she said. “It’s a

totally different way to teach. They want

(students to be older), 8 or 9. I say that’s too

old – start them when they’re 6 or 7. Don’t

wait that long.”

Over the years, she’s changed how she

teaches to find the best way to reach stu-

dents. During the COVID-19 pandemic,

she began both teaching and performing

online. For the churches where she per-

formed, she recorded worship videos fea-

turing hymns and praise songs for home-

bound churchgoers. She also began provid-

ing online lessons for her students, which

she still offers today. It’s a great way for her

to reach students who otherwise might not

have time to learn, she said.

“That’s a wonderful thing,” she said.

“(One of my students) is in Lansing, and all

we do is online (lessons). It works with that

person’s work schedule.”

Even after 53 years of playing, she hasn’t

thought about slowing down or taking up

anything else. She’s currently serving as

president of the Battle Creek Area Music

Teachers Association and is a charter mem-

ber of the Nashville Business District. She

hopes to continue working to inspire the

next generation of musicians for years to

come.

“There’s not a lot of trained pianists

around anymore. You just don’t find them,”

she said. “I’m trying to build up my stu-

dents to take over, and they do. They

become music directors, they play in their

churches and there’s a real need.”

For inspiring the next generation of pia-

nists and supporting the community even

during challenging times, Teresa Pash is

this week’s Bright Light.

Advice for adults who want to learn

their first instrument: I’d say do it. I have

quite a few adults. We don’t have recitals;

we have soirees and little parties and gath-

erings. You’re never too old to learn. It’s so

good for the brain. We’re all about doing

things that keep our brain sharp, but learn-

ing a new instrument is one of the best

things. The thing about the piano, it uses

both hemispheres of the brain, because you

have both the right hand and the left hand

as well as the foot. It’s a full brain workout.

What has kept you interested in play-

ing piano: When I’m playing the piano, I

feel like I’m flying. I move so fast, and I

can express everything I’m feeling so fast

and free. Absolutely free to be as creative as

possible. I don’t know any other instrument

that can do that. Maybe there are, but I

don’t know. I love it.

Favorite pieces to play: I specialize in

’20s, ’30s and ’40s. I think it’s the most

beautiful music ever written, by far. It’s

romantic, it’s expressive. That’s what I play.

Each week, the Banner profiles a person

who makes the community shine. Do you

know someone who should be featured

because of volunteer work, fun-loving per-

sonality, for the stories he or she has to tell,

or for any other reason? Send information

to Newsroom, Hastings Banner, 1351 N.

M-43 Highway, Hastings, MI 49058; or

email [email protected].

Teresa Pash

Home is our ‘Foundation’

Home is where the heart is, and lots of

homes are where a community’s heart is.

It seems every municipality, suburb, vil-

lage and crossroads in America today is

struggling with the same question: How do

we provide more housing? And the stakes

are a lot higher than just digging more

holes, pouring walls and hanging curtains.

The results of a 2023 Michigan Public

Policy Survey report a growing concern

that lack of housing is impacting the state’s

economic growth and sustainability. It’s a

problem, the survey says, that has spread

from “mostly urban” communities to rural

and mostly rural communities.

“These challenges have the potential to

disrupt Michigan’s current economic devel-

opment strategy and emerging efforts to

increase the state’s population,” said Tom

Ivacko, executive director at the Center for

Local, State and Urban Policy at the Uni-

versity of Michigan’s Ford School of Public

Policy. Ivacko maintains that, as the state

continues to engage in a campaign to attract

new industry and business, communities

are hindered by the limited housing options

for workers and are calling on state and

federal support for a remedy.

According to U.S. Census data, some

167,000 people left the state in 2022. Mich-

igan now ranks among the top 10 states that

are losing population and officials are lay-

ing most of the responsibility on a lack of

housing.

The Michigan Public Policy survey con-

cludes, “As national and statewide housing

costs increase alongside other inflationary

pressures, addressing local housing short-

ages is crucial to support local economic

and community development programs, to

grow the local workforce by drawing new

owners and renters to the state and by cre-

ating new construction jobs and increasing

local government revenue.”

With no clear leadership, however, local

communities have been left to themselves

to address this critical issue. In Barry Coun-

ty, we can be proud that one organization

anticipated this crisis over 10 years ago and

continues to effectively address the trouble-

some situation.

When the Holiday Inn Express opened

its doors just west of the city in 2013, it was

because the Barry Community Foundation

helped provide “gap funding” to provide

the financial package necessary for its exis-

tence. The county’s first national franchise

hotel was an acknowledgement of the busi-

ness potential and recreational interest in

our area and of the burgeoning need to

support those interests with permanent

housing. Since then, the Foundation has

provided the same kind of gap financing to

several local businesses for expansion and

remodeling projects that might not have

been possible without its support.

These were the first visible examples of

the Foundation’s efforts to invest in the

community and, under the passionate

vision and encouragement of President and

CEO Bonnie Gettys, we’re now seeing the

power that a local philanthropic organiza-

tion can provide to support communi-

ty-driven housing solutions.

In Hastings, the Tyden Lofts on the cor-

ner of State and Park Street is under con-

struction and when finished will provide 60

apartments in the downtown area. And plans

are underway for a major development near

the Hastings Manufacturing Company on

the former Royal Coach site that will pro-

vide 138 single and two- and three-bedroom

apartments within walking distance from

the downtown business district.

The Foundation has provided the financ-

ing for a modular home in north Hastings

and has recently purchased two lots on which

it plans to build two homes on State Road.

In Nashville, the Foundation helped the

community to complete its “Shuffle House,”

the first new construction single-family

home in the village in nearly 30 years.

The Foundation also worked with Dog-

wood Community Developers in re-purpos-

ing Nashville’s iconic W.K Kellogg School

• built in the mid-1930s – into a 20-unit
  apartment project. And on the main street in
  Nashville, the Foundation is cooperating

with Phares and Lori Courtney, owners of

Court-Side Screen Printing & Embroidery,

to convert the upper floor of their building

into two apartment units and to make some

necessary upgrades to the structure. Plus,

the Foundation is helping Nashville’s Route

66, a group of citizens looking for ways to

promote and grow its community.

The Foundation has also participated in

other communities across the county such as

Revitalize, LLC, a community development

group in Delton focused on the business

sector and badly-needed housing projects.

The group supported a new water tower,

which was needed to provide the water nec-

essary for continued growth of the area.

It’s projects like these that will provide

some badly-needed living spaces and pro-

mote economic growth in our rural com-

munities.

The realization in this ongoing process is

that Barry County is fortunate to have the

vision of the Foundation’s leadership. The

state’s 2023 Public Policy report suggests

that a majority of small, rural governments

are not likely educated in local housing

support efforts. Among local leaders state-

wide, the survey notes that many are unfa-

miliar with several new housing programs

launched by the state

For instance, the state’s “Good Hous-

ing-Good Health” plan offers a wide range

of services including housing stabilization,

navigation and outreach services, referrals,

emergency shelters and other services. In

total, 18 health departments and organiza-

tions are participating including our local

Barry-Eaton Health Department.

The survey says the number of local offi-

cials reporting a “lack of single-family

housing has nearly doubled in the past six

years, going from 23 percent to 41 percent.”

Plus, an estimated 18 percent of Michigan

families are “housing burdened,” meaning

the cost of housing is more than 30 percent

of their incomes. And mortgages hit their

highest rates in over two decades last year,

while rents jumped nearly 14 percent in a

year, the second largest gain in the country,

according to Rent.com.

In Gov. Whitmer’s State of the State

message on Jan. 24, she responded to the

crisis saying, in 2024, we will make the

largest investment to build housing in

Michigan history. We will invest almost

$1.4 billion to rehabilitate nearly 10,

homes. That’s 10 times what we put into

housing just 10 years ago.

Across the state, local community foun-

dations have taken on the challenge to solve

the housing crisis in their respective com-

munities. They’re using their influence and

unique skills to forge partnerships with

local governments, businesses, developers,

investors, financial institutions and other

stakeholders to promote housing projects.

It’s a new paradigm for community founda-

tions because it goes beyond the traditional

model of using donations and legacy gifts

to provide grant-making to non-profit com-

munity organizations.

“Never doubt that a small group of

thoughtful, concerned citizens can change

the world. Indeed it is the only thing that

ever has,” said author Margaret Mead.

In Barry County, we’re not leaving the

problem up to state and federal agencies –

we’ve developed a plan of action and are

moving forward on these and other projects

in the future.

Editor’s note: I’m a proud member of the

Barry Community Foundation Board of

Directors and have seen first-hand the bene-

fits of investing locally where it matters most.

Fred Jacobs, CEO,

J-Ad Graphics Inc.