8 Thursday, August 8, 2024 BATTLE CREEK SHOPPER NEWS http://www.thebattlecreekshopper.com
STATE OF MICHIGAN
PROBATE COURT
CALHOUN COUNTY
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
Decedent's Estate
CASE NO. and JUDGE
2024-0701-DE
Hon. Michael L. Jaconette
Court Address: 161 E. Michigan Ave.
Battle Creek, MI 49014
Court Telephone No: (269) 969-
Estate of Robert P. Behnke,
Sr., Deceased. Date of birth:
08/09/1935.
TO ALL CREDITORS:
NOTICE TO CREDITORS: The
decedent, Robert P. Behnke, Sr.,
Deceased, died 06/20/2024.
Creditors of the decedent are
notified that all claims against the
estate will be forever barred
unless presented to Robert P.
Behnke, Jr., personal representa-
tive, or to both the probate court at
Calhoun County Probate Court,
Calhoun County Justice Center,
161 E. Michigan Avenue, Battle
Creek, MI 49014 and the personal
representative within 4 months
after the date of publication of this
notice.Jason S. H. ter Avest (P77841)
Kreis, Enderle, Hudgins, &
Borsos, P.C.
One West Michigan Avenue
Battle Creek, MI 49017
(269) 966-Robert P. Behnke, Jr.
113 South B Avenue #
Athens, MI 49011STATE OF MICHIGAN
COUNTY OF CALHOUN
NOTICE TO CREDITORSTrust Estate of Raymond
Lee Walters.TO ALL CREDITORS:NOTICE TO CREDI-
TORS: The decedent,
Raymond Lee Walters,
died October 26, 2023.Creditors of the dece-
dent are notified that all
claims against the dece-
dent, trust and trustee will
be forever barred unless
presented to the Trustee of
the Living Trust of Raymond
Lee Walters, dated
November 26, 1992 within
4 months of the date of
publication of this notice.
Date: 8/01/David P. Lucas P
70 West Michigan Ave.,
Suite 450
Battle Creek, MI 49017
269-965-Trustee:
Bryan Scott Walters
34 South LaVista Blvd.
Battle Creek, MI 49015
269-580-QUESTIONS:
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BURMA
Continued from Page 1
is married to Nathan Cem and they
have two children, daughter Grace
and son Noah, both of whom attend
the Catching the Dream Learning
Center located at the Burma Center.
“I think this town has been really
welcoming for us,” said Khim of
the now nearly 3,000 Burmese
Americans who call Springfield and
Battle Creek home. “And that’s also
why a lot of Burmese people choose
this place to live, work and play and
raise our kids here.”
Khim said she has stayed in Battle
Creek since immigrating because she
loves the community.
“I went to college, I work here,
I have two kids now and they will
be going to school,” she said. “My
daughter is going to go to kindergar-
ten this fall and I see lots of support
from the community.”
One example of that support, she
said, occurred when she received
a text message from the Lakeview
School District liaison
in her native language
about her daughter’s
enrollment.
“It was in my language
and I thought, ‘this is so
amazing,’” said Khim.
“Even me, I speak
English no problem and
I would have been fine
if someone who speaks
English contacted me
and said these are the
things I need to do but
I can only imagine, a
Burmese parent who has
language barriers and
have that person as a
support person reaching
out to them.”
That’s one reason the
Burma Center exists, so
in turn, Khim is help-
ing those families and
individuals bridge those
gaps.
Located in the
83,0000-square-foot
former Springfield High
School at 765 Upton
Avenue, the Burma
Center only uses about
1,600 square feet of the
building it owns.
Burma Center Executive Director Christina Khim, left, talks with some of her
staff including (second from left to right) Data and Finance Administrator
Cindy Par, Office Administrative Supporter David Latt, Health and Wellness
Department Resource Navigator Samuel Thang and Resource Navigator
Pyeesone Thiri. (Shopper News photo by Shelly Kehrle-Sulser)It generates revenue by leas-
ing space to Calhoun Community
High School, Woodlawn Preschool,
Catching the Dream Learning Center,
Veterans Helping Veterans and to the
W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Founded in 2011 by Martha
Thawnghmung on a shoestring bud-
get, support for the Burma Center
has grown steadily over the years to
the point that it now has just success-
fully completed a $3 million capital
campaign and has just received an
additional $1 million grant from
the Michigan Department of Labor
and Economic Opportunity, most of
which will cover infrastructure and
structural updates to the 1956 build-ing.
“Everybody, both public, nonprofit,
private sectors, everybody come in,
show that support and lift us up,”
said Khim of last year’s capital cam-
paign. “And this is when I see the
power of collaboration. And it’s the
beauty of the collaboration between
the public sector, the private sector,
and our community itself, individual-
ly, they contribute as a business, they
contribute. Everybody pitched in,
the city of Battle Creek, the city of
Springfield, and all of them pitched
in and, like, it’s amazing the over-
whelming support that we’ve seen
throughout this capital campaign.”
The center, which employs three
full time and three part time staff
who operate summer and after
school programming, act as resource
navigators and as office staff,
receives operational support from
the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the
Miller Foundation, the Battle Creek
Community Foundation, the United
Way and from fund raising.
Battle Creek Unlimited also last
year awarded the Burma Center a
$300,000 matching grant and Denso
awarded the Burma Center $250,000.
Duncan Aviation has also provided
support.
“Everybody keeps saying ‘this is
the only place where we feel that we
can be ourselves.’ You know, we can
feel like we belong here,” said Khim
of why it’s important to invest in the
Burma Center. “This is a tangible
place that they can say ‘this is ours’.
This building has become not just
a building anymore. Like, it creates
belongingness, a sense of belonging-
ness for our Burmese people.”
Khim has been involved with the
center, which has become a second
home to Burmese American resi-See DIRECTOR on 9