Screening at Exeter Senior Center Tuesday

Tuesday, October 27th the Exeter Senior Center will be hosting the UNMC Cosmopolitan Mobile Nursing Unit from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Free screenings will be available including Blood Pressure, Blood Glucose, Body Mass Index and Cholesterol testing, free for 60+, Cholesterol testing for under 60 is $15.00. Sahara Bone Density tests will also be offered free for those 60 + and a charge of $8.00 for those under 60.

Brought to Exeter by the Lincoln Area Agency on Aging and UNMC. For questions call Lifetime Health at 402-441-7575.

Altar Society Hosts Annual Card Party

Loading plates at the ultimate salad bar.

The Exeter St. Stephens Altar Society held their Annual Salad Luncheon and Card Party on Thursday afternoon.

Row upon row of salads, sandwiches and relish trays greeted luncheoners as they were welcomed in the Exeter Legion Home. Nearly 150 women attended the event.

Raffle tickets were available for multiple craft items including a beautiful quilt made by Bert Gill of Jackson, Nebraska and a nativity scene anonymously donated. The quilt was won by Kennedi Koozer with Bambi Ogren winning the nativity scene. Margaret Petro announced the winners.

After the salads were polished off the ladies got down to the real business of the afternoon, cards. Several games of pitch and bridge were enjoyed by the attendees.

Officer Brian McFarland Speaks to Exeter Cub Scouts

The Exeter Cub Scouts came with ammunition, loads of questions for Exeter Police Officer Brian McFarland.

Monday after school the officer spoke to the boys on being good citizens and answered their many questions about weapons, car chases, police dogs and how many people he had arrested.

Patiently Officer McFarland answered all of their questions, when legally proper, and listened to their stories.

The Bear Scouts were working on their "Law Enforcement Is a Big Job" achievement. The week prior the boys had done fingerprints, made a list of neighbors to get help from and learned emergency phone numbers. The visit with Officer McFarland helped them complete the achievement.

The Webelos Scouts were working on their Citizenship Pin, learning about what it takes to be a good citizen, learning about proper respect and treatment for the flag and learning about their duties and responsibilities as a citizen.

New Scoreboards at Exeter-Milligan School

New scorers table

New scoreboard on the south wall of the gym.

New scoreboard on the north wall of the gym.

It was time for some new scoreboards in the Exeter-Milligan High School gym at the Exeter location and they have arrived and have been placed in time for basketball season.

The scoreboards were purchased with a generous donation from a life estate gift, a donation from the E-M Foundation, a donation from the E-M Booster Club and a donation from Pepsi.

Who doesn't love a ride on a fire truck?

Exeter preschool students with their teacher, Mrs. Laura Stueben.

It's the Exeter-Milligan kindergarten class posing for a picture on top of the fire truck.

The Exeter-Milligan first grade class couldn't get over the size of the tires on the truck.

The second graders pose for a picture with the fire truck.

The Exeter Volunteer Fire Department once again sponsored fire truck rides for the Exeter Preschool, Exeter-Milligan kindergarten, first and second graders.

Each class took their turn along with their teachers touring the town on top of the departments big fire truck.

At the end of the school day the students were also presented a frisbee full of goodies courtesy of the department. Students at the Exeter-Milligan site in Milligan were given a bag full of information on fire safety as well.

Volkmer's Pumpkin Painting a success despite the weather

There were lots of bats, jack o lantern's and pumpkins Saturday morning in the shed of Bill and Terri Volkmer.

The Volkmer's hosted their Eighth annual Pumpkin Painting Party for painters of all ages despite the dusting of snow and the cold temperatures overnight.

The crowd was a little thinner because of the weather this year but with well over 100 in attendance during the morning event the shed was more than full.

Attendees are invited to pick out their paint colors and seat themselves in a spot at the low tables and benches to paint. There are plenty of patterns and samples of the Terri's talent for inspiration if needed.

The themes the kids chose ranged from actual jack o lantern's to the two and three year old special, paint swirled everywhere, to the ever popular Green Bay Packers.

The kids enjoyed popcorn while they waited for the pumpkins to dry and get clear coated.

More pictures in the slideshow on the side!!!

Local Junior Rangers

Peytan, Jordyn and Trystan Brandt are pictured from the left with their quilts displaying their National Park Junior Ranger badges and patches.

Following their latest travels the children of Roger and Dianne Brandt of Exeter have each surpassed the 100 mark in their collection of Junior Ranger Badges. The badges are earned at America's National Park Service sites. When visiting a park all you have to do is request a Junior Ranger activity book and complete the activities while learning about the park. The program is available for ages four through the teen years. Upon completion of the book, Junior Rangers are awarded a certificate and a badge or patch or sometimes both. The goal of the program is not only education, but also to encourage young people to do their part in helping to preserve and protect our national treasures.

Jordyn, age 12, has earned 118 badges, Trystan, age 10, has earned 115 badges, and Peytan, age 8, has earned 107 badges so far. They display their badges on wall quilts made by their grandmother. Not all of their badges are the same as they have all been on at least one individual trip with their parents.

Their travels have taken them all over the United States. All of the children agree that their favorite experience was the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial where they enjoyed riding to the top of the St. Louis Arch. Other highlights of their travels include: following the entire Lewis and Clark trail all the way to the ocean in Oregon, visiting forts and battlefields from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, touring ancient Native American ruins in the southwest, exploring caves, hiking and viewing wildlife in our scenic parks, and just relaxing at some of our unspoiled National Seashores.

They can't wait to see where the road takes them next as they continue to add to their collection.

Coffee/Birthday Club Celebrates 50 years

Members celebrating the 50th anniversary of their coffee group are pictured from the left front row, Tess Moor, Delores Bailey, Jean Hoffman, Loryne Moore, LaVonne Guthrie, back row from the left are Barb Heffelfinger, Suzanne Johnson and Linda McCabe.

They've watched fifty years fly by as they've talked about their pregnancies, watched their kids grow up and get married, struggled with their parents aging and now are busy with all of their grandkids and great-grandkids activities.

For fifty years a group of women in Exeter have been gathering in each other's homes for coffee and fellowship.

After fifty years the women claim to remember no big fights or arguments and they continue to meet every other month. The group always stayed close to a dozen members but the members have changed, some moving out of the area and some moving in, but three of the original members remain. The passage of fifty years has changed the conversation among the women drastically. "We used to talk about diapers, but now its Medicare," said one of the newer members, Linda McCabe.

It started all of those years ago because "we just wanted to get out of the house," according to original member Delores Bailey. The other two original members LaVonne Guthrie and Tess Moor piped in about how they "just brought our babies along and watched them play while we talked."

Other members recalled how the topics have changed from worries about their children, to concerns about their parents and now the activities of their grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The group always gets together on a gift whenever one of the kids get married and its always a serving tray, while at funerals they go together for a plant. They don't really have a set name for the group but sometimes they call themselves the birthday group because at one point they got together for everyone's birthdays. Loryne Moore recalled that "We used to each bring a card for the birthday person but we decided it would be better to give the person the dollar that we would have spent on the card and then they would let us know what they bought with the money."

The hostess served coffee and treats and they spent the afternoon watching their kids play together and visiting. There was always an olive tray on the table and in the early days of the group everyone watched the tray as it went around the table. Taking an olive was your way of announcing to everyone at once that you were pregnant. As the group explained this ritual they all laughed, proclaiming that original member Delores Bailey "got the most olives."

These Exeter women have enjoyed fifty years of coffee and have no plans to stop meeting now, although the olive tray probably doesn't have the same significance.

Exeter-Milligan Students Enjoy Outdoor Ed Day

Ty is happy about being at Outdoor Education Day despite the low temperatures and strong winds

At the far right high school junior Amanda gets ready to show her group of students how to eat like a bird during Outdoor Education Day. Seated at the table from the left are Hunter, Cailtin, Eli, Jacy, and across the table is Ty.

Juniors Taylor (left) and Heather (right) get ready to do some teaching with their group of students with Brooke on the right.

Jacy (right) and Kelsey (left) work on the wind project.

Despite cool temperatures and strong winds, Friday found Exeter's Gilbert Park full of second graders and high school students eager to learn from each other.

During the event, which lasted most of the school day, the students explored the park, made weather vanes and ate like birds during the annual Outdoor Education Day.

Exeter-Milligan second grade teacher, Marla Weber, initially created this educational day as a project when she was in college. She has tried to include an outdoor education day each year for her students.

Mrs. Weber makes up packets of ideas for the students from the Exeter-Milligan Senior High Biology 2 class of Miss Sliefert. In class, the juniors get to pick out a packet which has one topic in it, they get the materials ready to do projects with the second graders and then are graded on how well they present the materials and work with the younger students.

This year the stations included rain, insects, tracks, trees, birds, wind and senses. To keep a variety during the day the students also played several neature related games throughout the day. At each station the "students use reading, writing, math, science and social skills, while learning about their environment. Each center was designed with hands-on activities and the students had an opportunity to record their findings in a journal," according to Weber.

Both teachers, Mrs. Weber and Ms. Sliefert, agree that "It is a learning experience for both groups of students. When the high school students have to know how to teach it they realize they have learned a lot."

Ms. Sliefert said, "The interaction between the two groups is wonderful. The high school students are well prepared. Even though the subjects are simple, teaching it is a different story."

One of the goals for Mrs. Weber was, "Having the students learn about nature in a hands on experience. This helps them remember the lessons and then having take home items helps too. They will go home and share with their families what they made and this will reinforce again what they have learned today."

At the end of the day students had a pile of things they could take home including a animal track plaster cast, a rain stick, a tree ring of their life, and a wind vane along with their journal and some great memories. Neither teacher could decide which class looked more forward to the event.

Not only did both groups get to spend the day away from the school building, but by moving their classroom outdoors, they got to learn about the world around them through lessons in the park.

United Methodist Sponsors Food Bank Backpack Program at Exeter-Milligan School

From the left, LaVonne Guthrie, Cathy Rhodes and Exeter-Milligan Superintendent Paul Sheffield hold the backpacks that Sheffield will distribute on Fridays containing enough food to feed a family of four for the weekend.

Cathy Rhodes, left, and LaVonne Guthrie, right, spend an hour or so each month packing dry goods in sacks to be placed in backpacks each week to help feed needy families in the area.

LaVonne Guthrie shows the some of the food that is packed in each backpack for elementary students.

The United Methodist Church in Exeter had been looking for a mission, a way to reach out to the community and share. Who knew it would involve backpacks?

A comment made by a family member sparked church member LaVonne Guthrie's interest. Her daughter-in-law, Kris Guthrie, participates with the weekend backpack program in Lincoln and the Food Bank "was wanting to bring the program to the rural areas," according to LaVonne.

United Methodist Church member Cathy Rhodes and LaVonne Guthrie have spearheaded the effort along with the assistance of Superintendent Paul Sheffield.

They connected with the Lincoln Food Bank and arranged for the United Methodist Women to sponsor the backpack program at the Exeter-Milligan Elementary School for a year.

The idea behind the program was to provide nutritious menu items that are easy for kids to prepare and eat. The backpacks, stuffed with canned and boxed goods, sometimes include a voucher for bread or eggs which can be used at a local grocery store. They almost always include a large box of cereal which Rhodes hoped "kids can have breakfast on some of the leftover cereal during the week as well."

"The Lincoln Food Bank brought a big truck with a pallet of food that we put in a storage area at school and we assemble the backpacks there," according to Guthrie.

The two women meet together once a month and pack the food in plastic grocery sacks which contain "enough food for four people for a weekend. The menus are very nice and there are six different menus that will rotate," Guthrie explained.

Superintendent Sheffield distributes the backpacks every Friday and when they come back on Monday he refills them with the bags that Rhodes and Guthrie have prepared for the next week, sets them in a sealed plastic tub and is all ready for the next Friday.

With the discounts the Food Bank receives on bulk purchases, each weekend of meals costs between $4.50 and $6.00 per week. The United Methodist Church hosted an ice cream social with the proceeds to go toward the program. "We're (the United Methodist Church) okay for this year but after we get it going we're hoping that some of the other organizations in the area will be willing to help," hoped Guthrie.