Alvarez Salutes America Celebration

After 39 years of practicing law in Lake and Porter counties, Wally Alvarez wanted to give back to the community.

So he talked it over with his brother Mario, and the inaugural Alvarez Salutes America Celebration was born.

The festivities started Friday night with music from High Noon and a carnival atmosphere. Vendors from around the area sold homemade sausage, fudge, kettle corn, Mexican food, ice cream, funnel cakes and Italian ice. Kids bounced around the Porter County Fairgrounds with snow cones and prizes from game booths. Later in the night, the Titus Rodes Band took the stage just before a fireworks display.

To add a charity element, Alvarez sought out help from Nancy Adams, Porter County commissioner. She connected him with Family House and the Porter County Animal Shelter.

Continue reading this story at The Times.

Mom to the World - Judy Engel

Judy Engel never dreamed she would be a mom to so many.

“We always said we were stopping with three kids,” Judy Engel said. “Then, we added 57 more ... from 23 different countries.”

Engel and her husband, Phil, started hosting international students in their home in Portage in 1997 through a short-term exchange program with the Lions Club. In this program, international students would come from and stay with a host family for six weeks at a time to experience American culture from the inside.

Within a few years, Engel was coordinating the exchange program for Northwest Indiana.

Then, Francisco changed their lives. Two days before he left Brazil to study in America, his host family backed out. Judy and Phil agreed to fill in on a temporary emergency basis. He moved out eight years later.  

“A few days after he arrived, we knew God wanted him to live with us,” Judy said.

Continue reading this story at the NWI Times.

Boone Grove Celebrates Graduates’ Diverse Achievement and Service to Others

As friends and family gathered for the 124th annual Boone Grove High School commencement ceremony, the band established the festive mood with several special songs.

In her welcoming address, class President Paige Kraushaar paused for a moment of silence for Alyssa Salapski, “the angel of the senior class,” who lost her battle with leukemia in their sophomore year. Kraushaar also reminisced, “Porter Lakes Elementary and Boone Grove Elementary kids didn’t actually like each other on our first day of middle school. But now most of us have a best friend from the other school.”

Next, the senior choir sang “Carry On Wayward Son,” accompanied by Jacob Williams on acoustic guitar.

Guest speaker Kathy Sherman was with these students on their first day of sixth grade. “It has been a wonderful experience to watch the class of 2013 mature from children to young adults,” she said. “It has been an honor to be part of your lives.” ...

Continue reading this story at The Times.

Hebron High Class Basks in Shared Good Times

Being together since kindergarden has helped Hebron High School graduates bond, said Rick Cheek, the school's band director.

“They’re a tight-knit group," he said. "They’re always hanging out together. We always hate to see the senior class go.”

Class President Aaron Plomann shared the sentiment in his welcoming address to the 124th commencement:

 “I can’t think of any other place I’d rather graduate.”

Allison Lewis, co-salutatorian, expressed the students’ thanks “for everyone who works at our school from the cafeteria workers to the janitors, the faculty and the coaches. We wouldn’t be graduating without you.”

Continue reading this story at The Times.  

Valparaiso Police Memorial

I'm now writing part-time at the Northwest Indiana Times.  Basically, I'm just filling in when their normal writers can't make it to an event.  Here is my first article with them.  Valparaiso is about 10 miles south of Chesterton, where I live.

The men and women who keep Valparaiso safe lined up Wednesday morning to be honored and to remember their fellow officers who have fallen in the line of duty.

Chief Michael Brickner opened the Valparaiso Police Department's annual memorial service with an account of Ranger Margaret Anderson, who was shot and killed at Mount Rainer National Park during a routine traffic stop on Jan. 1, 2012. She was the first of 120 law enforcement officers killed in the United States in the line of duty in 2012.

To read the rest of the article, please click here.

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