On March 23, 2018, residents of Meadowview Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center were honored at a graduation ceremony recognizing their commitment in meeting the training requirements to become members of the PEER project.

Meadowview is a new training site for the Pennsylvania Empowered Expert Residents (PEER) project. Graduates were treated to a reception and refreshments were served. Carol Dieffenbach, B/S/S/T Area Agency on Aging, Inc. Ombudsman and the Activities Department of Meadowview Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center were available to recognize the graduates on their recent accomplishments.

Pictured (l-r) are: standing - Activity Aide Mercades Alfano, Ombudsman Carol Dieffenbach, Activities Director Joanne Ladne, Administrator Sue Smith; sitting - PEER Graduates Dorothy Smith, (partially visible Roberta Lowry), Connie Arthur, Donald Whitney, Frances Allen, Byron Gunn.

Administrator Sue Smith praised the residents for partnering with the Department of Aging on this statewide project. Social Worker Erica Yerke, representatives from the therapy, nursing, activities departments also attended the ceremony.

PEER Connie Arthur read the poem "Look at Me" to the group. Resident Joe Wilson read "One at a Time".

PEER (Pennsylvania Empowered Expert Residents) project encourages a partnership between residents and facility staff to work together to solve concerns before they become more intense problems. The PEER Project is a concept to train resident advocates to work from the inside with facility staff and residents to enhance quality of care and quality of life for their "peers".

The PA State Ombudsman Office initiated the project to work with selected sites with long term care residents who have volunteered their time and expertise to self-advocate issues that will resonate for their "peers".

Graduates attended 10 one hour training sessions, which provided tolls on self-resolution and advocacy. Residents will continue to meet at Meadowview Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center to promote quality of care and life for all residents in the facility.

To learn more about the B/S/S/T Area Agency on Aging, Inc. Ombudsman Program or the PEER Project, please call 1-800-982-4346.

The B/S/S/T Area Agency on Aging, Inc. is funded in part by the Pennsylvania Department of Aging; the United Way of Bradford County; the Lycoming County United Way; the United Way of Susquehanna County and the Bradford, Sullivan, Susquehanna, and Tioga County Commissioners.

Susquehanna County businesses have until April 25 to reserve a space in the reprinting of the Susquehanna County Tourism Map brochure – a valuable tool used to guide visitors around Susquehanna County and directly to local businesses.

The brochure is funded in part by a grant from the Endless Mountains Visitors Bureau and the Susquehanna County Room Tax Fund.

Anyone wishing to be a part of the brochure, please contact Barb Toolin at Happenings Magazine no later than the April 25, 2018 deadline. She can be reached by emailing info@happeningspa.com or calling 570-587-3532.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue is encouraging dairy producers to consider enrolling in the new and improved Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy), which will provide better protections for dairy producers from shifting milk and feed prices. With changes authorized under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) has set the enrollment period to run from April 9, 2018 to June 1, 2018.

"We recognize the financial hardships many of our nation's dairy producers are experiencing right now. Folks are losing their contracts and they are getting anxious about getting their bills paid while they watch their milk check come in lower and lower each month. The Bipartisan Budget Act provided some much-needed incentives for dairy producers to make cost-effective decisions to strengthen their farms, mitigate risk, and conserve their natural resources," said Secretary Perdue. "This includes our support of America's dairy farms. We encourage dairy producers to review the provisions of the updated program, which Congress shaped with their feedback. Those changes are now in effect, and I'd ask any producers who are interested to contact their local USDA service centers."

About the Program:

The program protects dairy producers by paying them when the difference between the national all-milk price and the national average feed cost (the margin) falls below a certain dollar amount elected by the producer.

Changes include:

• Calculations of the margin period is monthly rather than bi-monthly.
  
  
• Covered production is increased to 5 million pounds on the Tier 1 premium schedule, and premium rates for Tier 1 are substantially lowered.
  
  
• An exemption from paying an administrative fee for limited resource, beginning, veteran, and disadvantaged producers. Dairy operators enrolled in the previous 2018 enrollment period that qualify for this exemption under the new provisions may request a refund.
  

Dairy operations must make a new coverage election for 2018, even if you enrolled during the previous 2018 signup period. Coverage elections made for 2018 will be retroactive to January 1, 2018. All dairy operations desiring coverage must sign up during the enrollment period and submit an appropriate form (CCC-782) and dairy operations may still "opt out" by not submitting a form. All outstanding balances for 2017 and prior years must be paid in full before 2018 coverage is approved.

Dairy producers can participate in FSA's MPP-Dairy or the Risk Management Agency's Livestock Gross Margin Insurance Plan for Dairy Cattle (LGM-Dairy), but not both. During the 2018 enrollment period, only producers with an active LGM-Dairy policy who have targeted marketings insured in 2018 months will be allowed to enroll in MPP-Dairy by June 1, 2018; however, their coverage will start only after active target marketings conclude under LGM-Dairy.

USDA has a web tool to help producers determine the level of coverage under the MPP-Dairy that will provide them with the strongest safety net under a variety of conditions. The online resource, which will be updated and available by April 9 at www.fsa.usda.gov/mpptool, allows dairy farmers to quickly and easily combine unique operation data and other key variables to calculate their coverage needs based on price projections. Producers can also review historical data or estimate future coverage based on data projections. The secure site can be accessed via computer, smartphone, tablet or any other platform.

USDA is mailing postcards advising dairy producers of the changes. For more information, visit www.fsa.usda.gov/dairy or contact your local USDA service center.

Know a young person between the ages of 16 and 25 who has demonstrated an enthusiasm and passion for an innovative idea or project? Is he or she working or developing new ideas in areas such as music, the performing arts, technology or entrepreneurship?

If you do, or if you're such a young person yourself, then look to the non-profit Hunter Brooks Watson Memorial Fund which is seeking grant applications for its June 15th cycle of awards. These grants, up to $5,000 each, are not scholarships for academic studies, but rather direct financial support to assist innovative young people in bringing their ideas and projects to fruition.

In its recent grant cycles the Fund has helped finance new Internet projects, recording studio updates, expansion of online businesses, and several music and performance projects. Grant applicants do not have to be enrolled in school, but simply have to explain through the grant application why funding is needed to move their project forward. There is no cost nor obligation to apply.

The Memorial Fund was created in honor of Hunter Brooks Watson, a young man tragically killed as a passenger in a car crash in the spring of 2016, just before he was to enter his junior year at Syracuse University. Hunter had already reached high levels of success in a variety of areas, including music, performing, starting a business, and as a computer technology major at Syracuse.

Further information, and the grant application itself, is available online at hunterwatson.org/grants. The application deadline for the current grant cycle is June 15, 2018.

During National Volunteer Week (April 15 – 21), area residents have an opportunity to join a local volunteer team making a difference in children's lives around the world in Jesus' Name.

Each year approximately 150,000 U.S. volunteers help transform empty shoeboxes into tangible expressions of God's love by packing them with fun toys, school supplies and hygiene items. Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan's Purse, partners with local churches worldwide to deliver these gifts to children suffering from poverty, natural disaster, war, terror, disease and famine. For many of these children, this is the first gift they have ever received.

"National Volunteer Week is a great time to consider how you can be a part of sharing the love of Christ with children in need around the world," said Mesfin Abera, an Operation Christmas Child regional director who oversees the Susquehanna County area. "Without our team of dedicated volunteers, we could not reach millions of children each year with the hope of the Gospel.

If you are interested in joining a local team or applying for a leadership opportunity in the Susquehanna area, visit samaritanspurse.org/volunteerwithOCC or call 410-772-7360.

Operation Christmas Child has delivered more than 157 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 160 countries since 1993. This year, the local Northeastern PA Area Team hopes to collect 12,514 shoebox gifts to contribute to the 2018 global goal of reaching more than 11 million children in need.

In last week's issue, we inadvertently announced (in the headline) that a Little Free Library was now in service in Thompson.

In fact, the new Little Free Library is in Clifford Township, at the Clifford Recreational Center on Cemetery Road.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Pennsylvania State Police Honesdale is looking to identify the individual in the above surveillance photo. The individual is suspected of damaging a vehicle in the Honesdale Walmart parking lot on 04/05/18 at approximately 5:55 PM. Anyone with information regarding this incident or the identity of the individual is asked to contact PSP Honesdale Barracks at 570-253-7126.