Volunteers with the American Red Cross of Hancock County responded to an early morning fire on Wednesday in Rawson.
Red Cross volunteers Pat Swisher and Steve Switzer responded to the call for help at the home on S. Main St. and provided the family with temporary shelter and assistance for immediate needs such as food and clothing. They also provided the family with Red Cross blankets and comfort kits of personal hygiene items.
Bluffton Center for Entrepreneurs offers two February workshops covering the basics of websites.
The sessions are part of BCE’s HOW (Hands-on Workshop) series.
Ryan Lowry of Bluffton leads the workshops offered on two dates. Workshops are Friday, Feb.19, and Friday, Feb. 26, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the BCE office, 110 S. Main St., Bluffton.
Both workshops cover the same information. These are offered on different dates to accommodate more participants.
Dr. Justin Kantner, O.D., Bluffton optometrist, is the guest speaker at the 7 a.m., Friday, Feb. 12, Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce breakfast. The free breakfast is in the Bluffton town hall.
Kantner will tell about his plan to step away from his small-town practice and move with his wife, Elya, and their young son, Caleb, to southern rural Paraguay. There, he will become an optometrist and church planter. Elya will become a Bible translator.
Mark Weidner takes advantage of a free walking day at Bluffton Family Recreation. BFR is in the midst of Keeping Active 2016. The program, which continues until Feb. 26 offers several free opportunities for area residents. One of those is the free use of the indoor walking track. Free walking will be available Thursday, Feb. 11, during BFR's hours of 5:30 am. to 9 p.m.
Dr. Rebecca Janzen, assistant professor of Spanish at Bluffton University, will present her speech titled, “We See Them but We Don’t Know Them: Mexican Ideas About Mennonites,” for Forum at 11 a.m. on Feb. 23 in Founders Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
Her argument centers on the perceptions of Low German-speaking Mennonites in Mexican film and photography. Janzen will argue that by better understanding how Mexicans understand Mennonites, bridges between the two can be built.
Senior graphic design majors, Beth Ross, Paulding, Ohio, Abby Graber, Goshen, Ind., and Jenny Brown, St. Marys, Ohio, will be available to discuss their most prominent work from the four years they have spent at Bluffton during a reception to be held in the Grace Albrecht Gallery of Bluffton University’s Sauder Visual Arts Center on Sunday, Feb. 28 from 2-4 p.m.
The exhibit is open from Feb. 22 through March 4. The respective collections feature: digital prints, sculpture, painting, drawing and photography.
Dr. Naima Johnston-Bush will perform, “Spiritual Songs,” at 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 24, in Yoder Recital Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
Johnston-Bush will use multimedia to create a musical adventure that explores the Negro spiritual as a historical American art form. She will sketch the history of this expression of faith through music from the 1600s to the present.
