Dear Students and Parents,
Planting, caring for, and harvesting fresh vegetables and flowers from your own garden is a fun experience for kids and parents.

The West Shore Chorale and Orchestra is proud to present its annual “Carols and Choruses of Christmas� Concert, at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday December 4. “The Chorale has always thought of Lakewood as its home,� says Conductor John Drotleff. Indeed, the Chorale was founded in 1968 by a group of three Lakewood Residents including former Lakewood Mayor, Robert Lawther. The Chorale’s first conductor, Lakewood resident B. Neil Davis, was the Fine Arts Department Chair at Lakewood High School for 25 years. And Drotleff, also a Lakewood resident, held that position for seven years. The group spent their first years rehearsing at the Lakewood Civic Auditorium then moved to Lakewood High School. Although parking constraints recently prompted the eighty-five voice group to move their rehearsals into Rocky River, they still sees themselves as a Lakewood based organization. “Anyone who knows us, knows that Lakewood is where our roots are,� says Drotleff. “We even keep our mailing address here.�

LakewoodAlive launches its Fall Forum Series with a program dedicated to the findings and recommendations generated by the Grow Lakewood committee. The Grow Lakewood committee is a citizens’ task force headed by Mike Summers and comprised of 12 long-time Lakewood residents and leaders.

LAKEWOOD - They go to The Arab American Women’s Organization (A.A.W.O.) meetings for various reasons: to seek relaxation, to hear a guest speaker, to receive and give help with language and cultural challenges - and their chance to make a difference in the community they live in.

Back in 1996, author Robert Putnam made a simple point: the cure for social unease is to join a civic group. A community of joiners is healthier, safer and happier as well as more likely to generate employment opportunity. In a civic group, health is generated from the face-to-face interaction that creates relationships. Trumping the isolating effects of mass media on the individual psyche, these relationships of civic engagement bind communities to an easy natural flow that enhances the quality of life at every turn.

They came with sharpened blades to Lakewood Park on Father’s Day morning. A man looking like Santa Claus wielded a special safety blade given to him upon retirement by employees at City Hall. Like others in the crew, he was doing what he had been told to do. The crew took care of kids.

Mary Anne Crampton, President of LakewoodAlive, addressed a gathering of approximately one hundred members of the Kiwanis Club of Lakewood at the Masonic Temple on June 7th. She spoke on citizen involvement, service to the community and educational initiatives focused on economic development. Seeing that "our two organizations share a core common value," Crampton talked about the "the genesis and mission of LakewoodAlive," as well as "the tools we are using to carry out that mission."