Overland Business Association (OBA) October 2023 Meeting
The Overland Business Association (OBA) had another great meeting this morning. Here are the highlights:
Ken Crowder started things off by mentioning 4 businesses and organizations that were attending an OBA meeting for the first time:
Dave McHenry, of the Overland Moose Lodge 1948 was in attendance and though he had to leave before the end he mentioned how much he appreciated all he learned both before and during the meeting. He planned to share this info at the next Lodge meeting. You can find more info about our local Moose Lodge on Woodson here:
Jason and Brittany Wyatt, the owners of Forward Collision, a new body shop business coming to the old Phil Paul Service Station on Lackland Road, where also there this morning. They told us they hope to open by the end of the month. Jason is very experienced in auto body repair and looks forward to serving you in the future. For more information you can find them on Facebook here:
Harvey Mitchell of the Charles L. Crane Agency, a St. Louis based independent Insurance and Risk Management company, was in attendance. Harvey recently moved to Overland and is currently looking for office space in town as well as getting more involved in the community.
Dejuan Harris and Ella Jones of Hills Heavenly Helping Hands at 9443 Lackland Road told us about their in-home care business that provides support and services that allow people in need to remain in their homes. They also work with family caregivers to give them much needed breaks from time to time.
Next Mayor Little reminded us about the upcoming FREE Concert in the Park tomorrow (Wednesday, Oct 11th) 6-8PM at Norman Myers Park featuring The Wurst Bavarian Band! There will also be grilled bratwursts while supplies last! This will be Overland’s last Concert in the Park for the 2023 season and the city’s first nod to Oktoberfest (at least since I lived here). Don’t miss it! More info (including a sample of their music).
He also thanked everyone who donated to support the 2023 Autumn in the Park Fall Festival which was fully funded by a barbecue fundraiser (which raised $1585.00 in a few delicious hours) as well as generous support from numerous local businesses and residents.
Finally the Mayor echoed the joy many of us are feeling as St. Louis County's resurfacing of Midland finally gets underway.
(editor's note: I drove through there today on my way home from work and it was a joy)
Ritenour Superintendent Dr. Kilbride spoke next. He let us know that several Prop S. projects were reaching completion including the new Fitness Center at Ritenour High School, which will have a Grand Opening on Oct 24th at 5:30PM. While being a great benefit to our students this facility will also be open to the public.
He also spoke about Eureka Promise, a full tuition scholarship to Eureka College available to all Ritenour Graduates who meet the criteria! This is a private Liberal Arts college in Eureka Illinois that also happens to be where Dr. Kilbride received his undergraduate degree in elementary education from.
#GoHuskies
Next Angela Gabel, President of the Ritenour Co-Care Food Pantry Board of Directors spoke to us about the upcoming Ritenour Co-Care Spooktacular Trivia Night event which is their biggest fundraising effort every year. Though it’s sold out, at the time of this meeting they had 1 cancellation so contact them at rccfoodpantry@att.net if you interested in participating.
She also spoke about fundraising being down a bit this year and asked local businesses to consider becoming sponsors of the Trivia Night, and asked those who could to consider donating to the Pantry (which you can even do online). We'd also like to remind everyone about the Ritenour Co-Care Milk Club, the easiest way to support the pantry.
The main speaker today was David Mohler of Thompson Supply Company , who is the President of the Spirit of St. Louis County Rotary Club. This local club was founded in 1940, originally as the Overland Rotary Club and has since expanded its service area. Dave told us the Rotary, whose the motto is "Service Above Self", is America's oldest service organization. It was founded in Chicago in 1905 and now has 1.4 million members within 46,000 local clubs in over 200 countries.
The Rotary Club is involved in funding and supporting many projects in our area and beyond like Shoes for Orphan Souls, Old Newsboy Day, Scouting For Food, Helping to install Water Cisterns on Navajo reservation lands, providing violins to Ritenour music programs, coat drives, luggage drives, scholarships, volunteering at Ritenour Co-Care on Wednesdays and much, much more. They’re an amazing local organization that gets things done for people in need. Learn more about their efforts at their website linked above. You may also want to check them out in person. They meet every Wednesday, 7AM at Higher Grounds, the coffee shop in the basement of Zion Lutheran Church on Dorsett Road.
The meeting ended with Doug Bray of Ritenour School District sharing a great video of this years homecoming parade.
All of the awesome businesses in town are a big part of what makes Overland a Great Place to Live. Learn how supporting them by Buying Local helps us all. Overland also needs volunteers. The city, service organizations like the Rotary, charities like Ritenour Co-Care, the School District and more all have one thing in common. They all need more volunteer help. Learn how you can be a big part of ensuring Overland is always a Great Place by giving as little as an hour a month of your time to any of the many organizations that could use the help here.
Once again Scooter's was back with their amazing coffee that they donated for the meeting. If you haven't tried them yet you're really missing out! Check out their many coffees, teas, pastries, breakfast sandwiches, and much more.
This was another informative OBA meeting and a great opportunity to meet and visit with neighbors, local business owners, and community leaders. The OBA's next meeting will be on November 14th, 2023 at 7 AM (add link AND FIX DATE IN IT). I hope to see you all there! You can find more information about the OBA on their website as well as on Facebook.
You can find information about all of the events happening in Overland this month (that I'm aware of) on our Events Page!
#OverlandMO #OverlandBusiness #RitenourRocks #RotaryClub #OverlandCharity #RCCFP