August 2024 Overland Business Association (OBA) Meeting
Last week, the Overland Business Association (OBA) had another great meeting. Here are the highlights:
Ken Crowder welcomed everyone to the meeting and recognized founding member Greg Weshe of Overland Hardware as well as Scooters Coffee on Page on their second year in Overland.
Overland PD K-9 Officer Enzo and his handler Officer Kenny. Photo Credit: Overland Police Department
The Overland Police Department followed with a visit from Enzo, OPD's newest K-9 officer, and his handler Officer Kenny. Enzo specializes in detecting firearms, ammunition, and black powder-based explosives. Enzo's joining OPD would not have been possible without the generous donation from Justin Delivers Hope, a non-profit that focuses on heroin/opiate abuse prevention and supporting Police K-9s.
Next up, Ritenour Superintendent Dr. Kilbride reminded everyone that school starts on August 19th and will be the district's 157th year of education. The district fully staffed at just over 900 employees. He also spoke about Ritenour's Early Childhood Development Center going into their 3rd year of free tuition. The center can currently handle 208 students, but the district is working on plans to expand the program to be able to serve the 500 or so new kindergarten students expected to join the district every year.
He also told us that Ritenour's Black and Orange Day will be August 24th, 10 AM - 1 PM at Ritenour High School. Additionally, on August 24th the District will host a Non-Partisan Political Advocacy Training event from 1 PM - 4 PM at the Ritenour Auditorium. This training is designed to help people learn how to communicate with their elected officials effectively and ensure their voices are heard.
Dr. Kilbride also thanked Scooters Coffee for providing free coffee to anyone with a Ritenour ID as district staff was ramping up for the start of the new school year.
Angela Gabel, the Executive Director of the Ritenour Co-Care Food Pantry was next. She spoke about the Overland Police Department holding an active shooter training program, that was open to the public at the Husky Support Center on Midland.
Ritenour Co-Care Food Pantry's 2024 Spooktacular Trivia Night Fundraiser. Image Credit: Ritenour Co-Care
She also reminded everyone about the upcoming Ritenour Co-Care Spooktacular Trivia Night fundraiser that will be on October 11th with both Dr. Kilbride and Ken "Mr. Overland" Crowder as the night's MCs. This is the organization's largest fundraising event of the year. Tickets often sell out early so be sure to register your table right away.
Next, Carla Browning, Market Master of the Overland Farmers Market, spoke about the market and its need for volunteers, primarily for setup and breakdown on Saturdays. While the Market appreciates the regular help from a handful of mostly 70+ year-old regular volunteers, as well as help in the afternoon from Kevin Rodriguez, a Ritenour Senior, and his brother Joseph, a Ritenour Alumni, a few more hands would make a big difference. Just four additional volunteers could be a game-changer. Additionally, for anyone whose school, employer, church, or other organization requires or recognizes volunteerism, the market would be happy to fill out any paperwork a volunteer may need for this.
Overland Police Department 2024 Cops On Top Fundraiser for Special Olympics - Photo Credit: OPD
Overland Police Chief Andy Mackey reminded us about the Cops on Top fundraising event at the Overland Dunkin' Donuts on Page Ave. This fun, annual event raises money for the Special Olympics. Every year they head up there and won’t come down until they meet their fundraising goal.
Next, Ken Crowder let us know that the Overland Neighborhood Preservation Commission members were writing and mailing postcards to all the well-maintained homes in town that caught their eye so far this year. It’s a great gesture that shows the community pays attention and appreciates the hard work so many residents put into their homes.
Scooter's Coffee at 10190 Page Ave in Overland, MO. Image Credit: Google Maps
The Featured business of the meeting was Scooters Coffee on Page. It's hard to believe it, but they've already been in Overland for over two years (they opened their doors on August 9th, 2022)! If you haven't tried them yet you're really missing out. Learn about all of their delicious coffees, teas, pastries, breakfast sandwiches, and much more by clicking here.
Scooter's Coffee's "Dogust" offerings supporting the North Shore Animal League. Image Credit: Scooter's
Besides all their many delicious offerings Scooters is all about charity and good causes. This Month they're celebrating "Dogust" with a special menu of Birthday PAWty drinks including the The Birthday PAWty Latte, which is available hot, iced, or blended, and features world-class espresso paired with vanilla and white mocha flavors to provide that classic birthday cake flavor. 10% of sales from this menu will go to the North Shore Animal League, which helps support numerous no-kill animal shelters in our area and across the country!
Scooter's Coffee's Courage Cookies sold to support Pink Agendas. Photo Credit: Scooter's
Scooters is also partnering again with Pink Agenda - Breast Cancer Research Foundation to help provide funding for life-saving breast cancer research as well as raise awareness by selling Courage Cookies for Breast Cancer Month in October. These delicious treats are sugar cookies with savory cream cheese frosting and pink sprinkles!
Scooters also has some great new drinks coming! a Green Apple Infusion, a Maple Bourbon Latte, and of course, Pumpkin and Pumpkin Spice offerings are coming back too! Click here to see all of their amazing limited time items. While giving their presentation at the OBA meeting they raved about their local staff, many of whom are Ritenour students. As some of their staff are now heading to college, the military, and more they’re hiring, so check them out if you're looking. Also, Special Thanks to Scooters for once. again providing their energizing and scrumptious coffee for the OBA meeting!
Norm from the Community News Newspaper was next. He let us know that the Best Of Northwest County list, which contained many Overland businesses, was out. Next he talked to us about the paper’s effort to build a monthly Overland edition and invited businesses, organizations, and residents to submit positive articles and events for it. Depending on space limitations these submissions will appear in the paper that comes out the last Wednesday of each month (the submission deadline is the close of business on the Wednesday the week before). This edition also needs advertiser support to succeed and grow. Their hope is that this will grow to become close to what the Localite once was for our community, but the success of this edition is largely be up to all of us (you can see some of the articles this paper has already run about Overland by clicking here). Norm closed by telling us to be on the lookout for their upcoming advertising promotions including a big one for Veteran's Day. Learn more about advertising in the Community News by clicking here.
Autumn in the Park 2024 - September 28th 3PM - 9 PM at Norman Myers Park
Ken Crowder and Councilperson Beth Ruckman closed the meeting by telling us about the OBA's upcoming Autumn in the Park event, happening Saturday, August 28th, starting at 3 PM - 9 PM (or once the movie ends if it’s a little later) at Norman Myers Park. Everything at this event (other than vendor and food items) will be free for the community, including a petting zoo, live music, an evening family movie in the park, and more. This event has been funded entirely by the OBA for years now along with the help of community sponsors and donations. Sponsorships start at $100.00 for those who want to support this fantastic local event. For $250.00, sponsors can have signage on-site, and for $500.00, you can sponsor the band, movie, petting zoo, etc. Contact Councilperson Ruckman for more information. Additionally, Overland businesses, clubs, charities, and other organizations are invited to participate (and of course more volunteers are always welcome).
More information will be coming soon and we’ll do our best to keep you informed as it does. For now, here are few pictures from last year’s Autumn in the Park:
This was another great, informative OBA meeting and an excellent opportunity to meet and visit with neighbors, local business owners, and community leaders. The OBA's next meeting will be on Tuesday, September 10th, 2024, at 7 AM. We hope to see you all there!
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