By Filippa Malmström
The Kids are Alright
The Alachua Youth Advisory Council recently took first place in the 2024 Municipal Youth Council Community Service Contest with their service project to provide fundamental requirements for school-age children, called “Restoring Dignity.”
The purpose of the project was to help young students and their families with the essentials they could not provide for themselves. YAC members contacted several business and community members in the area for donations towards the mission. The items donated included dental supplies, soap, shampoo, socks, first aid supplies and more.
“We are just so proud of our Youth Advisory Council,” said City of Alachua Mayor Gib Coerper. “Year after year, these young people really challenge themselves to go bigger and bigger in their service to the community.”
The Florida League of Cities hosted the annual competition and will soon present the trophy in recognition of the YAC and its winning project.
Tree-mendous Effort
The University of Florida recently began a new tree inventory program. During the next two years, a team will measure trees throughout Gainesville as a part of the study funded by the City of Gainesville.
With support from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Extension team, the city released an urban forest management plan in 2020. The new inventory studies the improvement of the evolving urban forests and supports the city and its citizens’ goals.
Associate Professor of Forest Systems Michael Andreu, Ph.D., and UF Environmental Horticulture Assistant Professor Ryan Klein, Ph.D., are set to lead the project. Walking around in yellow vests, the researchers will list all of the trees in city parks in an ecological study of Gainesville’s public and private forest areas, hoping to see an improvement.
Suite Healthcare
Terrance Health and Rehabilitation Center has opened new dialysis suites. In addition to its rehabilitation services, the center now offers in-house dialysis treatments, the first in Greater Gainesville.
Opening in May, the new dialysis suites have been in the works for more than a year. Beyond the center’s comprehensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services, the goal of is to help more of GG’s residents.
The facility now offers patients dialysis five times weekly for two hour and 50 minutes sessions. Mary Lassiter, Dialyze Direct’s care coordinator for the area, emphasized the benefits of this method over the usual four to five-hour sessions. While longer dialysis sessions might tire patients for the rest of the day, this approach minimizes the strain on their hearts and allows patients to recover in about one hour.
Terrance Health is looking forward to expanding its business even further, including a program on cardiology and collaborations with nearby hospitals to help them fulfill their discharge planning criteria.
Food for Thought
This summer, Alachua County Public Schools will serve free meals for children under 18. The Summer Meals Program focuses on delivering food to children under 18, regardless of the family’s income.
The meals will include breakfast and ingredients to make lunch. They will be available at 70 sites around the county and at multiple mobile sites, including one each in Alachua, Archer, east Gainesville, High Springs and four locations in Hawthorne.
Global Means 3D
Gainesville based company Slice Engineering is making its name known in the world of international business. Not only was it named 2023 Tech Company of the Year by the Greater Gainesville Chamber of Commerce, but it is also most recognizable for its 3D printer parts for NASA, Honda and the U.S. military. Many other well-known brands have also turned to Slice for business after seeing its success. From $50 upgrade kits sold on Amazon to $1,500 solutions for industrial robots, the company focuses on reliability, performance and USA-based support.
While it is still not very common for hardware products to be made in the United States, Slice is seeing an increase in use of 3D printing, as more businesses use the technology in their products– putting Slice on top of the list.
Coffee with a Cop
Beyond delicious coffee, residents of Greater Gainesville recently got the opportunity to meet and chat with the community police department. Bringing everyone together strengthened the relationship between residents, police and the community.
Newcomers and long-time residents got to meet the people keeping the community safe and working for the city’s growth. The event brought both trust and safety to the residents and police officers. Nearly 50 people attended “Coffee with a Cop” from 6 to 8 p.m. on June 5. The Hawthorne community has hosted the event four times a year since 2011 to help bring people of the community together to create a special bond.
The Best They Can Be
Forbes Advisor ranked The University of Florida as the best U.S. military-friendly college in 2024.
This recognition is evidence of the effort and resources put forward by the university to ensure that service members worldwide can enroll in UF Online’s reasonably priced online bachelor’s programs.
To determine its rankings, Forbes Advisor used 25 data points in student outcomes, affordability, student experience, credibility and the application process to evaluate 3,836 accredited nonprofit colleges that offer online bachelor’s degree programs.
