Mero Village, Dominica

Dr. Les Behrends, our technical director, and I got back from Dominica two weeks ago.....the wastewater garden was nearly complete by the time we left. We are honorary citizens of the village of Mero now..everyone was so wonderful and most have so little to live on. One guy told Les that "He believed in hard work, he didn't believe in tired, he believed in hungry." That says it all. We will be back in Mero this summer for the grand opening of the public toilet and the clean water camp for the youngsters of the village!

SALSA Contest winners announced!

We were delighted to have 5 restaurants and one individual, Tom Kale, enter our inaugural salsa contest. The restaurants made some awesome salsa and it was obvious that people are very partial to different salsa tastes. It nearly ended up a 6 way tie, but truly, we had a 3 way tie for first place with Mojo Burrito, Amigo's in Red Bank and Ayala's on Signal Mountain all receiving equal numbers of votes to establish our 3 winners! However, El Meson, La Altena, and Tom all had significant votes as well and it could have gone to anyone. I think we need to have a larger voting population next time! Thanks so much to all our entrants. You are all winners!!

Thanks for a GREAT Beach Party!!

It's not too easy pulling off an event after delaying it because of snow. It simply would not have been possible without the help of so many folks....esp Connie, Annette, and Angela! Without them, this party would not have happened! Then add Larry, John, Susan, Rebekah, Melissa, Lavonda, Emmy, Maria, Christine, Corinne, Nancy, Mary, and Tom.....who did amazing work and then Pam and Maureen were our auction ladies and Matthew helped set up. So many volunteers helped and so many folks were very generous in their donations and the Tennessee Aquarium, Leisure Time Dive, Pruetts on Signal Mountain, Contemporary Portraits, and Athens Distributing all sponsored our event. Nice. So thanks, one and all! You did it for the kids and the water, both in the Caribbean and home in the Tennessee Valley.

P. S. Watch for event pictures from the Forehands!