March 2024 - Overland Business Association (OBA) Meeting
Last week's Overland Business Association (OBA) meeting was hosted by the Ritenour School District at the Huskey Support Center on Midland (home of many things including Ritenour Co-Care).
Ken Crowder started the meeting by remembering Jim Wade, who recently passed away, and the numerous ways he volunteered in our community. Jim was an amazing story teller with an immense amount of wisdom to share.
Ritenour Superintendent Dr. Kilbride spoke next. He let us know that the great meeting space we were using is also used in partnership with Mathnasium, an international tutoring company with over 1000 franchises world-wide, as a satellite campus. 200 spots in this program are available to Ritenour Middle and High School students evenings and weekends at no cost. This building also support the Ritenour Ace Program, which focuses on helping kids graduate who were otherwise at risk of dropping out, as well as many other great programs in our district. Of course it is also the Home of the Ritenour Co-Care Food Pantry which provides support to families in need throughout our School District. You can learn about the different ways you can help support our pantry by clicking here.
Dr. Kilbride also spoke about the District getting new electric school buses thanks to an over 9 million dollar grant from the EPA that, combined with the trade ins of most of the existing diesel buses, will fund the new buses and the infrastructure needed to support them. The district will retain 4 diesel busses for special trips. Learn more about this from STLPR here.
Next Dr. Kilbride updated us on the District's continued interest in Community WiFi that he shared with us last month. The goal is to provide broadband access for every student (or possibly every household) in the district. Currently they're analyzing FCC regulations to determine what restrictions they'll need to navigate to accomplish this, assuming there is a regulatory path to support it.
Dr. Kilbride shared much more information about our school district at the meeting that won't fit here, but you can learn more about it all at the Programs and Community pages of the districts website.
Norman Merchant of the Community News newspaper was up next. He brought copies of the paper to share and let us know they plan to have the first monthly Overland section in their paper come out on March 27th. This section will include articles, announcements and ads that focus on our area. It will be published monthly and available space will be based on advertising support.
The Community News is a 103 year old, free local weekly newspaper you can pick up at local grocery stores every Wednesday. In addition they plan to add racks at the Overland Community Center, Overland City Hall, Chimi's Restaurant, Overland Hardware, John's Butcher Shoppee and possibly more locations throughout our area.
He also told us about the paper's “What's Happening” section which shares info about local events for free (limited to available space). The Community News also accepts community announcements and articles (publication is based on space limitations as well).
You can click here to find your closest location to pick up a copy of the Community News paper, or here to find out how to contact them.
Next was Kandice Miton spoke about the Gingerbread House Daycare on Lackland. They have some interesting programs coming up including a Summer Science Camp parents may want to check out.
Councilperson Beth Ruckman closed the meeting with an update on the 2024 Overland Community Parade which will be on Saturday, May 18th. The route is changing to a longer one this year. The parade participants will form up at the Overland Christian Church at 2200 Lackland at 9 AM. The parade will start at 10AM and head East on Lackland, then North on Woodson and it will end at the Overland Farmers Market (in the City’s Pavilion between Woodson and Verona). The theme of the parade will be the "Wild Wild West". All are welcome to participate. For more info contact Councilperson Ruckman at (314) 913-0841.
We’ll share more about the parade as we learn it. For now you can click here to check out some great pictures from last years parade.
Grant Davis of Scooters Coffee once again provided their amazing coffee for the meeting. If you haven't tried them yet... why not? You can find more information about their coffees, teas, pastries, breakfast sandwiches, and more from their online menu here.
This was another great, informative OBA meeting and an awesome opportunity to meet and visit with neighbors, local business owners, and community leaders. The OBA's next meeting will be on April 9th, 2024 at 7 AM. I hope to see you all there!
Follow the OBA on Facebook here.
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