EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is part of a holiday series that will run through Dec. 25 in the Grand Forks Herald.

GRAND FORKS — Though some work on Christmas out of obligation or financial strain, others choose to spend their holiday working to create a positive experience for those who can’t be at home with their families.

For a second year, Cpl. Lexi Smart offered to spend her holiday with residents of Grand Forks’ Regional Youth Assessment Center, which houses youth either in need of emergency shelter, detention or something in between.

“I know that this time can be really hard for the kids,” Smart said. “Some of them have been there a lot longer than others, and they are missing out on seeing their family. I wanted to be a smiling face that maybe can help brighten their day.”

Her family works to accommodate her schedule, which is something they’ve gotten used to over the years because another relative of theirs works as a firefighter.

Smart tries to spend the holiday providing normalcy for the kids while they’re at the center. Last year, she and a coworker bought gifts for the kids. Because they spend so much time together, Smart and her coworker had ideas for what the kids would like and what they’re most interested in.

“We wrapped them, too, so they got to have a little bit of familiarity with Christmas, they got to unwrap gifts,” she said.

The Regional Youth Assessment Center houses juveniles, typically between ages 10 and 17, who either need to be in detention throughout court proceedings, are in trouble that doesn’t meet the level of detention or simply need emergency shelter.

Smart has been working at the center for about two years, and as a corporal, she’s out on the floor, talking to residents, playing games with them and ensuring their wellbeing while they live at the center.

She decided to work there because she plans to become a math teacher after graduating college, and wanted more experience working with kids ages 10-17. Since taking on the role, Smart decided to pursue a criminal justice minor in addition to her math and education majors.

“Working here has inspired me to maybe want to be a math teacher at a correctional facility one day,” she said.

She finds value in trying to motivate and inspire youth. She also wants to make sure they feel comfortable and know they’re not alone.

“I can relate to some of their stories,” Smart said. “A lot of our kids, they go through really hard things in their childhoods. A lot of what they’ve been through has led them to where they are now.”

Many of the youth at the shelter haven’t gotten into any trouble, Smart said, but she feels even those who have deserve understanding and empathy.

“They know what they did is wrong, and I know what they did is wrong, but I think that there’s always a backstory to it,” she said. “You have to understand a lot of these kids were just dealt the wrong hand in life.”

CHARLESTON — The West Virginia First Foundation has announced the latest recipients of funding through its Momentum Initiative Grant program, awarding nearly $18 million to support programs aimed at addressing substance use disorder, prevention, recovery and related workforce programs in the state.

“The Momentum Initiative Grant reflects a new way of responding to the substance use crisis; one grounded in evidence, shaped by local expertise and guided by accountability,” said Jonathan Board, WVFF executive director. “We traveled the state, listened to those holding the line in their communities, and answered the call to honor the lives lost by putting these resources into the hands of those ready to create real, lasting impact for West Virginia.”

Funding for 76 projects was approved by the West Virginia First Foundation board of directors earlier this month, with an eye toward supporting programs which include foster care, non-parental caregiver initiatives, youth prevention, recovery housing, behavioral health and workforce development and re-entry and diversion programs.

Eight grants were awarded to programs in Region 1, which includes Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall and Wetzel counties.

Those grants include $125,000 to Youth Services System for its Afterschool Youth Prevention Program; $249,397 to West Liberty University for its Hilltopper Pathways: Out-of-School Re-entry and Support Program; $216,065 to Northwood Health Systems for its Workforce for Wellness program; $125,000 for HoH-Share Inc. for the Mother Jones Center for Resilient Community Youth Prevention Program; and $250,000 to the Greater Wheeling Coalition for the Homeless for its Recovery First Re-entry Initiative Program.

The Young Women’s Christian Association of Wheeling received three grants, including $124,744 for YWCA Wheeling – Youth Prevention; $380,000 for YWCA Wheeling – Cathy’s Haven; and $186,450 for its Women Inspired in New Directions program.

“We were intentional in building a structure that reflects both feedback and best practices,” said Greg Duckworth, WVFF board chairman. “What emerged is a landmark opioid abatement model, distinct from any other foundation of its kind, made possible by volunteer Board Members and Expert Panelists dedicated to serving West Virginia.”

Statewide awards include $954,469.45 for National Youth Advocate Program for its Foster RISE project; $974,751 to Pressley Ridge for its Pressley Ridge Treatment Kinship Care Statewide Services; $975,000 to West Virginia CASA Association Inc. for its Continuum of Care for Children and Families Impacted by the Opioid Crisis; and $947,916 to West Virginia Wesleyan College for its WVWC and WV CASA Capacity Building Initiative.

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin doesn’t condone the actions that led to wide receiver D.K. Metcalf’s two-game suspension by the NFL following an in-game altercation with a fan, but added Metcalf has his full support during the appeals process.

The league punished the two-time Pro Bowler by forcing him to sit out the first-place Steelers’ final two games and fining him for taking a swipe at Detroit Lions fan Ryan Kennedy in the second quarter of what became Pittsburgh’s 29-24 victory.

Tomlin said Metcalf shared his side of the story with him, but declined to get into specifics.

“I won’t discuss what he and I discussed,” Tomlin said. “I think I’ve been pretty clear there.”

Former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson said on a podcast late Sunday night that Metcalf told him Kennedy used a racial slur and verbally disparaged Metcalf’s mother, an allegation that Kennedy denied through his attorneys on Monday.

Tomlin cited Metcalf’s appeal hearing and what he described as “legal ramifications,” though he did not define what those might be. An email to the attorneys representing Kennedy by The Associated Press was not immediately returned.

Metcalf remained in the game and finished with four receptions for 42 yards. Kennedy left his seat to meet with stadium security at Ford Field but was allowed to return.

Asked if the Steelers have any in-game protocols in place to try and mitigate interactions such as the one between Metcalf and Kennedy, Tomlin said, “We certainly may, but I might not be privy to it because my eyes and attention is (on) what’s going on on the field” and made it a point to credit the team’s “top notch security group.”

Tomlin would not elaborate on what his reaction was to seeing the video of the confrontation, though he acknowledged what he called the rise in “volatile rhetoric” in sports at all levels.

“Not only (in) our business, (but) college, youth sport parents,” he said. “I think it’s just a component of sport that’s developed and developed in a big way in recent years, and it’s unfortunate.”

There were reports that when Metcalf played for Seattle, he reported Kennedy to team personnel when the Seahawks visited Detroit. Tomlin did not speculate when asked if there’s anything more teams can do to protect players in those situations.

“Me speaking on it and speaking on it in detail and particularly expressing my opinion regarding things doesn’t help the circumstance in any way,” he said.

Metcalf’s suspension means Pittsburgh (9-6) will be without its top pass catcher as it tries to lock up the AFC North title on Sunday in Cleveland. His absence means Roman Wilson, who has been a healthy scratch the past two weeks as the Steelers have opted to go with experienced veterans Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Adam Thielen, will likely get an opportunity to return to the lineup.

Tomlin did not rule out the return of star outside linebacker T.J. Watt, who has missed each of the past two games while recovering from surgery to repair a partially collapsed lung sustained during a dry needling treatment. Tomlin said Watt has been in the team facility lately and is “hopeful” Watt will be cleared to practice.

The Steelers need to win one of their final two games or have Baltimore lose one of its final two games to win a division title for the first time since 2020. The longtime rivals are scheduled to meet in Pittsburgh in Week 18.

Anna Lakin Guerry, 11, and her 9-year-old brother Joe sifted through wrapped gifts and cardboard suitcases Friday afternoon at Starkville Public Library, packing up more than just paper souvenirs. Inside each suitcase were crafts, activities and a passport to travel the world, no place ticket required.

The Guerrys were picking up their second “suitcase” as part of the Bulldog Explorers Program, a monthly initiative led by Mississippi State University professors Kelly Moser and Kenneth Anthony. Each box introduces children to a different country through hands-on crafts, basic foreign language lessons and cultural exploration.

This summer, Anna Lakin opened her first suitcase and embarked on a trip through Spain with basic vocabulary words, a food guide and materials to make Spanish clay dolls.

“I’ve only done one before,” she told The Dispatch on Friday, suitcase in hand. “There was a passport in there and a sheet that had different foods in that language. The activity … you were supposed to make this doll out of clay, but it was hard.”

Although the first suitcase proved to be a challenge for Anna Lakin, she said she was excited to try again this month.

Since February, Moser, an associate professor of Spanish and World Language Teaching in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literature, and Anthony, department head for the Department of Teacher Education and Leadership, have delivered 50 suitcase boxes to the library on the last Friday of each month (or the next to last Friday this month, since the library will be closed the day after Christmas).

Past destinations have included Argentina, Spain, Uzbekistan and more, with each kit pulling together crafts, foundational geography, cultural lessons and foreign language exposure, often developed with help from MSU faculty and staff.

Moser said the idea grew out of noticing the popularity of subscription boxes like KiwiCo, intended to help kids learn about science, technology, engineering, arts and math.

“I didn’t see anything similar to what we’re doing with Bulldog Explorers, which is really our way to connect younger students to both the local community and the diversity that we see in the local community through languages and different cultures represented,” Moser told The Dispatch on Thursday. “… It’s not a typical subscription in the way that one family might be coming every single month. We’re trying to get as many people to have access as possible.”

The boxes are free and available on a first-come, first-served basis. While the program is designed for kindergarten through eighth grade, Moser said activities are especially well-suited for first- through fifth-graders.

To make lessons engaging, Moser and Anthony connect each country back to Mississippi, weaving in facts like how the state was once a French colony, or how both Mississippi and Uzbekistan share cotton as a cash crop, or even simply, what the distance is between Starkville and Rome, Italy.

A suitcase of adventure?

December’s suitcase revisited countries from previous months through the lens of winter holidays and celebrations around the world.

“The focus is going back to all the places we’ve been in the past and looking at how different cultures celebrate winter holidays,” Anthony told The Dispatch on Thursday. “One of the cool things about this one is oftentimes we think Christmas is celebrated the same way. … But they’re very culturally influenced.”

The box explores traditions like how in France, children leave shoes by the fireplace for Father Christmas to fill with treats, while in Italy, La Befana flies on a broomstick to deliver gifts or coal on Jan. 5th. It also explores how Hanukkah is celebrated throughout the world.

Nearly all the faces filtering through the library Friday afternoon were new to the program, though children’s coordinator Loraine Walker said repeat families are a familiar sight.

“Once people get started on this program, they’re hooked,” she told The Dispatch on Friday. “It’s wonderful. … I mean, it’s like a suitcase of adventure. All of our families, once they start coming, they keep coming. But we’re lucky. Word of mouth is getting around so we are getting new ones too.”

Anna Lakin’s mother, Josie Guerry, said they’ve visited several times since their first experience to find that the suitcases were already gone.

“They’re very popular,” she said. “… I just think it’s awesome that it’s something you can do easily, and it’s in a place that everybody can get to easily. (Anna Lakin) really did have fun with it.”

Interest has already spread beyond Starkville with some suitcases sent to families in Louisville, Hattiesburg, Columbus and Flowood. Moser and Anthony plan to increase deliveries to 75 suitcases each month in January.

“For us, the idea was something small, and we weren’t sure people would be interested in it,” Moser said. “So we were just pleasantly surprised that families were interested in something like this.”

Anthony said the response from families underscores the value of subjects often overlooked in school.

“We both care about subjects that are kind of marginalized in school curriculum,” Anthony said. “It is a nationwide thing, and it’s a generational thing. If you’re going to skip a class, it’s going to be social studies, and if you’re gonna drop something from a degree program at university, it’s going to be a foreign language.

“To me, this idea that people really are attracted to learning about foreign languages, other places and other cultures, yet they may not get it in the organized school curriculum and school setting, I think this indicates that there’s value in it,” he added. “That’s the big thing and it’s heartening to me, as a social studies guy, to (see) people actually care about their world.”

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The Jefferson Parks and Recreation Department has two youth sports programs starting soon.

According to JPRD Assistant Director Lyndsey Wathen, a Youth Volleyball Camp is happening this coming Monday and Tuesday for third-sixth graders. She states that the third and fourth grade session is from 10-11:15am and the fifth and sixth graders are from 11:15am-12:30pm, both taking place at the Greene County Community Center. Wathen points out that the camp is being led by the Greene County High School Volleyball Varsity Head Coach Chris Heisterkamp and Adrianna Vargas. The cost to participate is $10 for community center members and $15 for non-members.

Wathen notes the other program is a second through sixth grade Girls Basketball League that will be on Sundays in January from 1-2pm also at the community center. The cost to participate is $30, which includes a t-shirt and there is a discount rate of $10 for any girls that did the basketball camp this past October. 

To sign up for either program, contact the community center at 515-386-2134 or click here. 

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