Sick teddy bears get TLC at EMS for Children Day
Children of all ages are encouraged to bring their sick or injured stuffed animals for evaluation and repair on Friday, June 23, at the 2017 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for Children Day event at Regency Furniture Stadium, 11765 St. Linus Drive, Waldorf, starting at 5:30 p.m. This event will take place prior to the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs game, scheduled to begin at 6:35 p.m.
Stuffed bears will be provided while supplies last for children who do not have stuffed animals to bring. There will be emergency vehicles and give-away items to promote pediatric emergency medical care within the community and to prevent children’s illnesses and injuries.
Each year, the federal EMS for Children program partners with the American College of Emergency Physicians to celebrate EMS for Children Day. National EMS for Children Day features hundreds of grassroots activities coast-to-coast as local communities and medical personnel focus activities on raising public awareness about the need for specialized emergency care for children.
For questions about this event, contact Suzanne Chagnon, public outreach and public education coordinator, at 301609-3470 or Chagnons@ CharlesCountyMD.gov. Citizens with special needs may contact the Maryland Relay Service at 711, or Relay Service TDD: 800-735-2258.
Free notary services available at county public libraries
The Charles County Public Librar y (CCPL) announced four of the five local branches will have a licensed notary public (Mobile Librar y excluded). The licensed professional notary public services are here to make life easier. Once documents are notarized, library personnel will help citizens make any necessar y copies.
A notary public acts as an impartial third-party witness to not only the signature of a document, but also that all parties who signed a document did so willingly and under their own free will. Types of documents that may require notarization include: wills, trusts, deeds, contracts and affidavits and the notarization of these documents will be provided to Charles County residents, free of charge.
In order to be prepared, customers should bring a valid, government issued photo ID when they visit the library branch. Some documents may require witnesses in addition to the notarization. In most cases, the notary cannot act as a witness. Check with the local branch for witness availability. Not all library staff are licensed notaries. Please call ahead to the branch you plan to visit for the availability of a notary and the times available to have documents notarized.
Charles County Library branch hours of operations:
• Monday-Thursday 9 a.m.-8 p.m. • Friday 1 p.m.-5 p.m. • Saturday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Charles County branch locations offering notary services: La Plata Branch, 2 Garrett Ave., La Plata, 301-934-9001; Potomac Branch, 3225 Ruth B. Swann Dr., Indian Head, 301-375-7375; P.D. Brown Branch, 50 Village St., Waldorf, 301645-2864; Waldorf West Branch, 10405 O’Donnell Place, Waldorf, 301-6451395.
Film festival to partner with Black Box Theater
The Steering Committee for the Southern Maryland Film Festival announced its 2017 Charles County MiniFest, made possible through a partnership with the Indian Head Center for the Arts and Black Box Theater. The inaugural partnership is being held Saturday, July 15, with a family-friendly block from 4-6 p.m. and a block for more mature audiences from 7-9 p.m. Each block of films presented by the Steering Committee of the Southern Maryland Film Festival.
Having successfully run two film festivals in 2015 and 2016, in downtown Leonardtown, the SMFF Committee has taken a year off from the “big fest” and scheduled mini-fests in Charles and Calvert counties instead — including partnering with the Indian Center for the Arts. Having benefitted from the generosity and faith of the local arts and business communities in St. Mary’s, the committee hopes to garner even more support from their two neighboring counties, to spread the word about its upcoming film festival in July 2018, and to inspire more artists from the tri-county area to create and submit films.
According to Pam Frank, IHCA administrator, the Indian Head Black Box Theater hosts local theatrical productions and charity fundraisers known as Comedy with a Cause. This will be the first time the theater has hosted a movie event.
“We like the idea of offering different programming to our community and hope this event will draw some people who may not have visited us previously,” she said in a press release. To aid in that effort, the theater will be offering refreshments for sale during the intermission, including cash bar and various local food trucks on site.
The movies being shown are a combination of 2016 juried winners, 2015 audience award winners and committee favorites from the last two years of the Southern Maryland Film Festival. Eligible works were filmed, at least in part, in Charles, Calvert or St. Mary’s counties; had related content to the area; or had at least one Southern Maryland resident or native on the filmmaking team.