Page 8 — Thursday, August 24, 2023 — The Hastings Banner
Hastings Police: Slow down, be
careful as kids head back to school
Hunter McLaren
Staff Writer
Class is back in session, bringing with it the chaotic early morning
drop-offs and late afternoon pick-ups at schools throughout Hastings.
With the increased vehicle and pedestrian traffic downtown, Hast-
ings Police Chief Dale Boulter said it’s important for drivers to be
cautious, especially in the hours before and after the school day.
“Pay attention, be careful, watch and obey the crossing guards,”
Boulter said. “Not only the crossing
guards, but the school buses, too.”
The Hastings Police Department
just wrapped up training for its school
crossing guards this year, Boulter
said. Although they’ll be positioned
at busy intersections before and after
school, he implores drivers to be
aware of their surroundings and slow
down where there are pedestrians.
Boulter said it’s common for a few
drivers to speed past a crossing guard
while they’re still in the intersection.
The department takes a hard stance on
endangering pedestrians and won’t hes-
itate to issue drivers a citation, he said.“It seems like every year there’s always some issues. I don’t think
people intentionally do it, I really don’t,” he said. “Last year there
were some citations issued for disregard of a crossing guard. If they
are caught, they will be issued a citation no matter what. I have a
pretty hard stance on that.”
State law mandates that drivers must wait for pedestrians and
crossing guards to clear the street completely before proceeding
through the intersection. Drivers in violation can be charged with a
misdemeanor.
Drivers who disregard stopped school buses can also face penalties.
Flashing yellow lights on a bus function like a yellow stop-light, sig-
naling drivers to slow down and prepare to stop. When the lights flash
red, drivers on both sides of the road are required to stop by state law.
Violators can be charged with a civil infraction and receive points on
their license.
The most important thing to keep in mind is the safety of kids, their
parents and crossing guards, Boulter said. While HPD officers will be
strictly enforcing laws to keep crossing guards safe, it will take some
awareness and caution from drivers to ensure the safety of the Hast-
ings community.
“I get the fact that you’re busy, or that there’s a lot of distractions
in your car,” Boulter said. “But this is something we definitely have
to monitor 100 percent of the time, and we can’t be everywhere all
the time.”Lani Forbes celebrates 25 years at helm of Barry County United Way
Jayson Bussa
Editor
Lani Forbes can remember donating to the
United Way as a 16-year-old working her first
job at a Meijer grocery store.
“My dad had always been a donor, so I was
familiar with what they did,” she said.
For the last 25 years, instead of just donat-
ing to the United Way, Forbes has managed
entire campaigns in her role as Executive
Director of the Barry County United Way and
Volunteer Center.
Forbes just recently celebrated the 25-year
milestone. Her colleagues surprised her at
last week’s board of directors meeting with
an engraved granite award, flowers, cake and
cards from various members of the communi-
ty extending congratulations on the two-and-
a-half decades at the helm of the community
organization.
While Forbes admitted that she knew the
big 25-year marker was fast approaching, she
said the surprise celebration was exactly that
- a big surprise.
ROOTED IN SERVICE
Forbes sat down with the Banner to reflect
on her 25 years of service to Barry County,
tracing her career all the way back to the day
she walked on to the job.
And while Forbes has spent a quarter cen-
tury of her life serving the community, she
was doing similar work even before she
arrived at the Barry County United Way.
Prior to applying and accepting the execu-
tive director position, Forbes worked at a
downtown Grand Rapids-based inner-city
Christian child care center called Building
Block. There, as a development director, she
worked with area homeless shelters to pro-
vide safe and secure preschool and daycare
for at-risk children.
“I really loved what I was doing,” Forbes
said. “I loved working with the families and
the different organizations in downtown
Grand Rapids.”
That’s why, when she was invited to apply
for the position of executive director at the
Barry County United Way (absent from the
volunteer center at that time), she admitted
that she initially wasn’t interested.
The Barry County United Way and the
Barry Community Foundation had formerly
shared an executive director before each get-
ting their own.
Forbes said that Lyn Briel, a long-time,
hyper-involved Barry County community
member who has served in roles with organiza-tions like the Thornapple Arts Council, Ameri-
can Red Cross and Thornapple Manor, really
pushed her to try for the newly-open position.
As someone who is now a 33-year resident
of Freeport, the job change would also give
Forbes a chance to serve the county in which
she resided.
“(Briel) said ‘I think you should apply for
it. I’ll write your resume. I’ll write your cover
letter. I’ll deliver it,’” Forbes said. “She really
pushed me to apply to the position. It did
sound very interesting but I wasn’t sure if I
was quite capable of all that. It seemed like a
lot and I was a volunteer center director and a
development director. I didn’t think I was
prepared to be an executive director.”
But, it turns out the board of directors
thought differently as Forbes was brought on
to the job.
She said, in those initial years, she leaned
heavily on long-time Barry Community Foun-
dation President Bonnie Gettys and the Unit-
ed Way’s board of directors to find her way.
“Bonnie had really grown the organization
by leaps and bounds (as shared executive
director of the United Way and Barry Com-
munity Foundation). Again, part of the reason
they needed to split was because she had
grown both organizations to the level they
were at. ... So, fortunately, we were in the
same office. Bonnie was in the front office
and I was in the back office.”
Forbes took over in July, right as the Unit-
ed Way was gearing up for its annual cam-
paign. Ron Neil, a retired post commander
for the Michigan State Police, was the cam-
paign chair that year as the United Way aimed
at raising around $362,000.
“I can remember both Ron and I thinking
‘What do we do now?’ because neither of us
knew,” Forbes said with a smile. “Luckily,
Bonnie was there to guide us as well as the
United Way board was thankfully gracious
toward what I didn’t know and was willing
to help.”
EVOLUTION OF THE UNITED WAY
But once Forbes got her feet under her, a
fairly significant transformation of the United
Way ensued.
With the help of then-administrative assis-
tant Jennifer DeVault – who was JenniferRichards at the time – Forbes and the United
Way formed its volunteer center, harnessing
the energy of volunteers from throughout the
Barry County community.
Her organization’s mobilization of volun-
teers – and how it underscored the generosity
of the local community – has become a call-
ing card for the United Way.
In that same vein, Forbes and her team also
created the annual Day of Caring event, which
is coming up next week and is expected to
draw about 500 volunteers who will go out and
complete several community service projects.
“When we have volunteers, we’re really
empowering people to use their time and tal-
ent to make things better in the community,”
Forbes said. “It’s such a great opportunity to
engage and find out what’s going on in the
community when you can volunteer.”
The laundry list of direct services the Unit-
ed Way offers now – everything from the
Fresh Food Initiative and utility assistance to
car seat education and the annual backpack
program – did not exist back when Forbes
took the helm. The United Way, at that time,
directly funded other agencies instead of
doing the work itself.
“Every time there seems to be an issue that
comes more to the forefront, our board of
directors is willing to step out and take a look
at what that looks like and how to move for-
ward with that,” Forbes said, heaping praise
and credit into her organization’s board.
Now, United Way offers an extensive menu
of direct services while still partnering with a
robust list of agencies in order to help them in
their work, as well.
“Lani has created one of the premier Unit-
ed Ways in the entire country,” Gettys told
The Banner. “It is one of the only ones that is
fully supported by an administrative endow-
ment, so when they do their United Way
campaign in the fall, actually every single
penny goes to the organization.”
Listening to the community and its mem-
bers is no doubt a crucial part of the gig and
one that Forbes has thrived at.
“It’s important to look at how do we make
sure that every person in the community has
the ability to make their voice heard? So, it’s
not just folks that are upset about the politicalenvironment that you hear from,” Gettys said.
“It’s truly the mother that is struggling on how
to make ends meet and the senior citizen that
is living alone and feeling isolated. How do
we get to them and get their stories and help
them have their voice in the community?”
And, what’s in store for the next 25 years
for Forbes?
From the sounds of it, she’s going to keep
truckin’.
“No different from when I started here,”
she said. “I don’t know. It has kind of always
been about where I’m supposed to be. I enjoy
empowering our staff to lead that direction
and our board to lead that direction – to really
look at what the needs are in the community.”
And those needs ebb and flow, as Forbes
and her team found out during the COVID-
pandemic when they had to throw its tradi-
tional playbook out the window.
“I don’t think we really ever know what is
next in front of us,” Forbes said. “We can
plan all we want but that’s not what seems to
happen.”with a
SAXON SPIRIT
... let it show!
Celebrate the
SAXON SPIRIT
PRE-GAME
TAILGATE PARTY
FRIDAY, AUG, 25
5:30-7:15 PM
To show community support for our football team
and the spirit of being a Saxon,is sponsoring a tailgate party with free grilled hot dogs,
chips and a drink to anyone before the games
with MTK at the main entrance toBaum Stadium at Johnson Field.
Varsity Soccer at 5 PM • Varsity Football at 7 PM
Hastings Summerfest Community Worship
Sunday, August 27, 2023; 9:30 am
Here (Thornapple Plaza)
Free Community Cookout at 11:00 am
Tuesday marked the first day of the new school year. Hastings Police Chief Dale Boulter wants to
remind drivers to be careful of the increased foot traffic on busy roads, like South Broadway Avenue
near Central Elementary and Hastings Middle School. (Photo by Hunter McLaren)Lani Forbes speaks at a United Way campaign kick-off event in September of 2011.
(Photos provided)Lani Forbes is seen here at a volunteer award event that took place around 2008. She
is seated next to Megan Lavell (left), now the executive director of the Thornapple Arts
Council and Liz Lenz (right), who heads up the Barry County Substance Abuse Task Force.Colleagues and community members
surprised Lani Forbes with a celebration
last week to commemorate her 25 years of
service as executive director of the Barry
County United Way and Volunteer Center.