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Show Page 2 NEWS AND NOTES T(j KEEP YOU i 1 ank collects teddy bears lor treatment center Barbara Christiansen NORTH COUNTY STAFF For the ninth Christmas season, the Bank of American Fork has added a new service teddy bear collection. Bank employees and customers cus-tomers have been bringing teddy bears and other stuffed animals, both new and gently used, to the bank's branches to gather them and send them off to two family treatment centers, the Family Support and Treatment Center in Orem and the Family Treatment Center in Midvale. The final count shows 5,808 bears, up from last year's total of 5,368. "Both centers are wonderful and they have great facilities to help people," said Sandy Dubois, executive secretary, who spearheads the drive. "The plirpose is for counseling for children in crisis through family support centers." She explained how the animals ani-mals are used. "When a child comes into the center, they need therapy," she said. "During therapy they give the teddy bears or stuffed animals. ani-mals. During the time they are teaching them they are helping them to heal. Every time from then on when they pick up the stuffed animal it reinforces the therapy session. They said it is so important." Christopher Liechty, the bank's vice president of communications, com-munications, said the need for the bears is great. "Even though we have deliv- . ered thousands of bears, it is not even close to what they use throughout the year," he said. Dubois agreed. "They go through hundreds of bears a day," she said. When the therapy sessions are over, children are put into a crisis nursery and can take the bears with them, she said. "These teddy bears are just a godsend to help these little children," she said. "They clutch onto the little bears like there is no tomorrow. They tell me it Mon-Fri 10 am 6 pm Sat 9 am 5 pm 268 West Center Street Provo 374-5520 www.artista.net La r V AGTIUAfrlflCEllUES 0 v Tirv,n nr 1 r,; .tfi'V, i BARBARA CHRISTIANSENNorth County Courtney Powell adds a stuffed animal to the Bank of American Fork collection of teddy bears and stuffed animals, which will be donated to children's shelters. is huge, very important to the children." The centers also use the bears in play therapy and the children have opened up through that play, helping the healing process, she said. Because the bears and other stuffed animals are used in the therapy, they are more than toys. "It is not just a gift," Dubois said. "It is helping a child in crisis cri-sis all year round." The bears and other animals have come from employees and customers, and many have been displayed in the lobbies of the bank's branches. "We had a little girl bring in her collection of bears," she said. "She said the bears had made her happy when she needed it and she wanted to pass that along. When a child gives to a child, it is wonderful. "It is amazing to watch people peo-ple open up their hearts," she said. "That is why we have so much fun doing it. It is a very personal experience for every o)n UWUi Starling t . v- r mm) AMERICAN INFORMED AND "f - S.-A one at the bank." Richard Beard, president and CEO of the Bank of American Fork, said he appreciated the help of the customers and others. oth-ers. "This is a community effort with donations and volunteers from organizations such as Bailey's Bai-ley's Moving & Storage which donated trucks, boxes and staff to help transport the stuffed animals to the centers," he said. Bailey's donates the equipment, drivers' time and gas to deliver the bears. "Winston Churchill once said our lives are not measured by what we get but by what we give," Beard said. "One of our principle values in our bank and in our community is to strengthen individuals and the community." Dubois explained how the drive got started. "Nine years ago the employees employ-ees got together," she said. "We were all giving gifts to each other and said there was a better bet-ter way to spend Christmas A At HI I n ft 1 O fciiiiai in i ' rff f : 11 PPIIIite ifffitii niiwofinon fit t HRTISTfHSO! Or loin us on the cruise for only $399! See store lor details! FORK CITIZEN 1 - INVOLVED i l"'"P!lllll I &3 . - t. , , ,n.aj and that would be to help someone. some-one. Instead of giving gifts to each other we would pool our resources and help someone in need. We picked abused children centers and we have enjoyed helping them. "It has been wonderful for the employees. We look forward for-ward to it every year. It is won- derful to partner with someone in our community and help them." The bears and other stuffed' animals are delivered to the facilities during the holiday season, sea-son, but donations are accepted at any time. "There are people who bring teddy bears in randomly throughout the year," Liechty said. "We will take them as long as people bring them in," Dubois said. "The whole purpose is to get the bears to the children. We have taken them on Christmas Christ-mas Eve before. We will make a special trip if need be. It is real important that these kids get what they need." 1 ft DP Off? jiWJ UuvJ U Isura D fo) l(o) PI UU m UUL ON ALL PURCHASES OVER $1000 Starting Water Continued from Page 1 door is locked. I am through," she said. "They brought a paper around to me. They figured fig-ured out how much (water) I had used and what I paid." She said her water bill has been about $1,500 a year for the restaurant. Under the new rate structure, the same amount of water would cost $8,688. The culinary water rates are being increased to en-courage en-courage residents and business busi-ness owners to connect to and use secondary water. Parker's problem is that she has no need for water outdoors out-doors since there is no landscaping. land-scaping. "I can't even use a drop of it out there," she said in an interview. "They want to charge me over $8,000. I'm sorry." She said she has been talking with other business owners, encouraging them to attend a question and answer forum for businesses today from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the City Council chambers, 31 N. Church St. She anticipates the city officials of-ficials may be surprised by encountering opposition. "I think they figure this old lady don't know nothing," she said. "They will find out differently." She predicted other small businesses would be forced to close their doors if the rate change happens. "All of your small businesses busi-nesses will close if this goes through," she said. Evan Brady is a former owner of a small business, The Yogurt Parlor. He agreed with Parker's assessment. "That increase as they have printed it, it appears to me to be awful heavy," he said. "If it goes into effect Lillian will close her business. There will be other businesses closing, too, especially the restaurants. restau-rants. It has the potential of being a tough row trying to maintain a viable business district. At that rate, it's going go-ing to be a burden for those business owners. If we were still in business, we wouldn't bat an eye, we would close." Linda Walton, the city's public relations officer, said the city had studied the businesses. nnn JL not I Thursday, December 18, 2008 "There are about 30 businesses busi-nesses in American Fork that will have an increase over $10,000 annually," she said. "Mostly those are larger busi-nesses busi-nesses that use lots and lots of water. We have sent people peo-ple out to talk to them specifi-cally, specifi-cally, to make Sure they are aware of it. We also sent notices in utility bills and posted information infor-mation on the (city's) Web site. We wanted to make sure they are aware of it, so they could budget for it." Mayor Heber Thompson said the culinary water rates reflect the portion of use by various segments of the community. com-munity. , "Commercial water users us-ers have, in the past, paid a smaller proportion of fees for water," Thompson said in a statement. "Because residential property owners can use more pressurized irrigation ir-rigation for landscaping, now commercial property owners represent a larger percentage of culinary water use and, consequently, must pay for that higher quality water." Thompson said the pressurized pres-surized irrigation system will be less expensive overall and preserve the culinary water. That was part of the council's consideration when they put the issue on the ballot in 2007. "Weighing the option of funding a new water treatment treat-ment plant versus the pressurized pres-surized irrigation system was a wise choice - pressurized irrigation is less expensive in the long run and preserves our culinary water." In addition, in an effort to promote conservation of water wa-ter in an arid climate, rates increase with use of large amounts of water, according to city water rates. "We have also been in con- and other non-profit orea- - nizations that are impacted by commercial water rates to determine alternatives for conservation and use of pressurized irrigation for landscaping," Thompson said. "All commercial water users will need to anticipate the increased rates in the New Year when forecasting budgets."- Those who wish additional information about the pressurized pres-surized irrigation project may call the hotline at 763- 5281 or check the Web site at www.afcity.comafpi. ! u S: |