welcome to the february edition of north east germany i'm your host joe cullum coming up in the next half hour we'll go behind the scenes of a play in white bear lake we'll meet the new program coordinator at the white bear senior center and we'll dive into some icy hello everyone and welcome to the february edition of northeastern will cullen every month the northeast journal we give you an inside look at the people and places that make up the northeast section of the twin cities the white bear lake high school theater department has a long record of excellence we recently stopped by a rehearsal for their latest one act play making a classic scene french that was the goal for a white male high school theater director david hands with his staging  early america was really looking to europe for their literature and it's a piece of literature that i think is forgotten and the way that it's sort of fallen in the slippery slope of pop culture as we think of like the tim burton movie which has like the name and nothing else re that's really flexible that can work with the strengths and the personalities of the students the students are thrilled to have so much responsibility in every aspect of the play i'm really excited about it and it's been a lot of fun because the students we've to participate a lot and like help instead of the director to say here's what you need to do let's do it he's let he's let us make decisions for ourselves and kind of say hey we should totally do this would be great and it's been a lot of fun and kind of created together this has been different than any other show i've done because of the way we build the scenes in the way we work out each individual part instead of just being told what to do and where to go in to see in this time david has actually be involved in the  process of making the show and so he'll tell us specific things we want in the show and in that specific scene but then he won't tell us exactly how to do it and it'll be all a suggestion process and we're all raise our hands literally everyone has been involved in the scene and created it together so honestly this show is different than any other one because if it was a different group of kids it would be completely deaf and then it is now one evening at north campus to get ready to try to qualify for the state one act play contest senior lexie and fang likes their chances i think we have a really strong theatre pair and i know last year we were one point away from making it to state which was really disappointing but at the same time it was really awesome to show that we are still a very strong program  this one was a little chilly or though than being inside to see a play producer mary klein a photographer jeffrey wilson braved the elements to attend this year's polar bear plunge a we're going to have almost two thousand people jumping into the freezing cold waters so we're preparing today to get everything ready what's kind of funny about it is it takes us about three days to set up for a plunge like this and it takes us about four hours to tear it down you know so i it's kind of interesting in that respect but we do it because we do it for the right reasons for the athletes especial this particular cause i suffer but i think it's worth it i think special olympics is just you know just a great program even if you haven't plunged into an ice cold lake this is still been a frigid winter most people know to take the proper precautions with hats gloves and mittens but what's the protocol for keeping our four legged friends warm producer mar set out to find the answers common sense really needs to rule if you're uncomfortable being outside there's a good chance your dog and we're talking about dogs primarily there's a really good chance that your dog is uncomfortable as well it's been a cold winter with sub zero temperatures hitting last month and causing schools to shut down for several days with air temperatures that low exposed skin can become frostbitten in five minutes and like humans our pets can suffer from hypothermia  seeing oftentimes cats that come in that have been strays for a period of time where they've lost their tips they have lost their tips to frostbite it's like someone who's in a fingertip to frostbite so it definitely can happen you know that's that's a risk for an animal that's left outside too long just like it would be for a long your pet can stay outdoors depends on their activity level and their clothes larger dogs built for the cold can withstand longer periods outside and for arctic breeds or water dogs the colder the better if you don't get like mine in loves coming to the dog park no matter how low the temperature drops you may have discovered he also loves to pick up an eat something another dog had left behind and there's definitely the potential for him to contract intestinal parasites by doing that you know why did dogs do that it's an age old problem i think there's a combination of the unfortunate just like the flavor they like the taste i always thought nature had taken care of that but apparently not and i think there is an aspect of play you'll see some dogs that will grab these frozen stools  them and play in a role on it another danger to pets is any freeze which contains a chemical called ethylene glycol it is a sweet flavor that appeals to dogs and children make sure to clean up all spills and store the product out of reach even a small amo can cause kidney failure so don't sidewalks community postle wash and dry them after they've been outside and finally pets rely on humans to care for them so when their owners fail it's our responsibility to help them it's one of those things that i think people worry about what's going to do to change your relations with your neighbors and things like that and so everybody has to make individual judgments but there certainly are such circumstances where the reporting was warranted in the best interest of the animal it's time for short break we'll be right back with more of ne journal in just a minute heroes from across the upper midwest are coming home from wars in iraq and afghanistan only now some have a new battle to fight unemployment hello i'm rocky lynn co founder of the tribute to the troops i'm  advanced technology and demonstrate teamwork discipline and leadership under difficult circumstances this year tribute to the troops the armed forces and the upper midwest in the chapter are asking you to how are our today's that employers you've welcome back to northeast dremel i'm now joined by the new adult program's coordinator of the white bear area senior center andrea wildman hole all andrew i want to thank you so much for joining me today and you have too far to travel and all the senior center and early childhood areas just basically right across the parking lot from us here and before we get in so too much about the senior center in the senior program can you give us a little bit of your background how did you you know get to this position to work with the senior program yeah i actually started in the school district eight years ago as the adult enrichment cord nater and then i went ahead and got a master's degree and leadership in education so i kind of it kind of evolved and then they combine my position with the senior program position and now i get to interviewed her over the years various things going on at the senior center and what exactly is the white bear area senior program it is a wide variety of things the center itself has activities going on every day from bridge to wi bowling to woodworking and any type of program you can come up with it seems we have card playing and then we also do meals on wheels every day and we also have a line well below which is transportation for anybody over the age of sixty in the school district great and i can certainly attest that it seems to stay busy over there also that we basically are just right across the parking lot from you guys and it often looks very busy over there seems like there's always something going on and we do and i'm even trying to get it more busy so i'm part of my goal over there is to offer more adult classes not just the groups that are going on but offering like i pad classes for seniors so i'm trying to create some more opportunities there and i'm sure things always need to evolve not only just to stay fresh for the people there and for your staff but also just as technology is changing and different things change that they maybe want to keep up with their grandkids and kind of the next generation and i would love for more people to stop by so i'm trying to get towards younger mature adults as well as the very senior population they're kind of a cut off i mean in some ways fifty five they can com yeah i believe it's fifty five and up can join our program do you think there's any kind of resistance i mean i know some people obviously the minute they turn fifty five maybe they're getting a r p things mail yes they maybe are trying to shy away from that but i'm sure if they just took a look over there and saw what's happening they'd probably enjoy it you know they would and that's why i want to offer more classes that are geared towards anybody any adult of any age can actually come to those classes in particular so yeah i would like to get as many people in the doors possible we for the a a r p smart driver classes which are for fifty five and up so we do get a big group of people who are fifty five and up but do attend classes over there and i know just from working here we do quite a bit of work with what really police and fire departments it seems like they have offerings over there from time to time as well all the police department yeah there are some safety classes that they have and there are some online safety classes and i try to get them in whenever we can  a i'm working with class which is another senior services consortium group i have an advisory committee that i'm working with right now to help find the needs of the seniors in the community and they're helping guid me i also run all the adult enrichment class for the school district so in that brochure comes out there's probably around eighty classes in there just for adults to attend i put together all those classes i also in charge of the building supervisors for the school districts that help with evening activities so yeah and that's all wonderful to have variety in my day well i'm sure you have just that brochure takes up a lot i mean it's got that within the last we have two and work through it now there is it seems like every year there's more things being offered in there and there's always a variety some ones i've seen before ones and ran new and always a lot of interesting looking things the person can say yeah my goal is always thirty percent know each pressure so it does take a lot of work but i really enjoy doing right now do you need volunteers over there to help out oh always even the smarting we are trying to get one more meals on wheels driver so we are in need of meals on wheels drivers we have office assistance and help on the  front currently we have around three hundred volunteers but we do need more so please contact us if you are interested now volunteers i mean are you looking for senior volunteers or could it be know somebody who is in their twenty's or thirty's just anyone who's looking to help out you know we do focus on the older adults that come in and volunteer but even even meals on wheels is that usually the older it can be anybody but it is an all there group but yeah anybody of any age can help me  who was wanting to help you probably not going to turn the no no and we have around ninety clients right now that we're serving and meals on wheels so we would appreciate any more drivers that we can get i'm sure this is an important time of year when it gets so cold out and you perishable food items to get them through a couple days so that's my latest project it's a great idea now is there an opportunity for people to donate money as well if they're interested if they maybe can't donate their time or in addition to donating their time they want to help out the senior program yeah we do we welcome any type of donation people can give around thirty dollars does provide enough meals for one week for meals on wheels so yeah and we do sustain on donations you know is there any interaction you know between the seniors and you know this whole program is part of the white barrier school district and how you're going to share the building there with the early education center is there interaction there or even within the here in the district yeah well right now i'm working on helping getting more reading buddies volunteers and from the senior program and anybody else that's interested for birch lake elementary actually so yeah we are trying to interact with students of all ages and i know sometimes i've actually used the playground area out there quite a bit since i work over here and i have a young son so there's been plenty of times we played over there and a lot of times we'll see seniors come and go and they seem to enjoy sounds like you have no shortage of things to keep you busy or not it's great you know it's that we always see a lot of activity over there and it's just any time i've been over there we've done stories over the years it's just fun as such a vibrant community it's not you know people sit around another there's always a lot of things going on and you know you have that kind of craft area over there as well off the corner we have around one hundred people that are consignees that bring in their crafts and you can come in between eleven and three monday through friday to see what kind of crafts to purchase i'm looking for baby blankets right now so i'm going to probably get one of those today i mean just it's wonderful there's some great stuff we got a few years ago i've done a story on some bunco players there and while my photographer was shooting i just kind of wandered over there and spent a lot of time looking around at all those great i'm six be great for gifts or definitely some unique you know it's going to handmade items that you're not going to find elsewhere but i've bought many for christmas presents so yes well if people are interested area senior program dot org ok and for people who aren't familiar you're located right off the county road offering up right next to here a county road after an bel air ok great so you have the so exciting area up there to come to they can see our building there is a really nice playground there was a senior center early childhood so there's a lot of a lot of activity in this little area boy barely one hundred i want to thank you so much and wish you the best of luck in the future with the libraries in your program and i'm sure we'll be over there hopefully  covering some of the things you're offering all right thank you thank you and it's time for short break we'll be right back with more of ne journal in just a minute a gray what do you do in the bushes oh oh i'm not then just doing some bird watching yeah yeah you know this doesn't seem like such a great place for bird watching all right i was just trying to get a look inside my city hall i don't know any other way to get information greg you're such a silly man you don't have to be a creepy spy why don't you just watch g t p t n yeah yeah the government television network it's on cable channel sixteen they've got a ton of information of everything that's going on in the twelve different communities in the northeast suburbs of ramsey and washington county no kidding seemingly i can get all this information by watching channel sixteen at my own home  better believe it and they've got all their shows on their website too that's g t n dad or r g wow i thought i should go check out channel sixteen right away and what he is doing over there welcome back to northeast ronnell it's been a brutally cold winter in minnesota we thought we dip into our balls to show you a story we did when the weather was a bit warmer here's a look at the river valley writers were needs jon burge is the executive director of the river valley writers in olds many of the forces that are used for the therapy she's a special needs teacher by day and it was through that job she discovered that many of her students  the horse is an amazing animal at first i thought of them as a tool because they work great with tight muscles they work great if kids are going to try and hold on to reins and you get that feedback right there but more than a lot of good things out in him his speech is there his social capabilities have gotten better and no different kind of activities or stuff and you like trail writing michael plays christie cargoes daughter emily is one of the youngest writers at five years old she's already a seasoned veteran of the river valley writers and christie says the therapy is helping emily's multiple leads including and she is just happy when she's on here when the horse is moving at a good pa his posture just improves he's set so nice and straight and he saw natural on the horse and strengthening his core muscles like the abdomen and back are one of the things that we need to work on my compass he has low muscle tone and also he just can pay attention a lot conditions what's interesting is that you're up really high and i remember riding one time down our row and realising there was a pond and i saw it i mean really beautiful white piece on this pond i never even saw that time when i walked that road so you see things you don't see when you that horse and you can see fire there you're taller than everybody else i don't know it's empowering burge as it were of activity on writing nights making sure all of her volunteers are in place and that all the writers are having fun she hears many success stories each week from the parents in attendance i hear that that the writer is thinking better i'm sure that the writer the next day at school isn't a better known are possibly there chatting more on the way home river valley writers offers therapy in three locations like elmo skandia and east farmington wisconsin are currently raising money to add a site in afton as well the season lasts from april to october which causes many of the riders to miss the horses during