Posted: Aug. 25, 2017 3:40 pm

COMMUNITY service was on full display last Saturday in both Quincy and Canton, Mo.

About 600 volunteers wearing "#FORQUINCY" T-shirts spread out over about 40 locations in Quincy doing a wide variety of projects, including cleaning public areas, mulching in parks, visiting with residents of the Illinois Veterans Home and raising money for three local families in need.

Meanwhile, nearly 350 volunteers worked at about 20 sites in the Canton area as part of Culver-Stockton College's eighth annual Extreme Dome Makeover. Work completed by C-SC students, staff members and community residents included landscaping, painting, washing windows, planting trees and other upkeep projects.

Making a difference in the lives of others and the communities in which they live was the central theme of both events, and those taking part should be commended for their service and support of neighbors.

The Quincy project, called Love the Q, was launched by the Crossing Church as a way to promote the idea of exciting the city's residents to serve and put others first. Projects were divided into four categories -- beautification, the park district, food service and community outreach. Participation was not limited to members of the church.

Kory Hollensteiner, family pastor at the Crossing, helped organize the event as a way to demonstrate that "everyone can contribute to making the city better." He would like for similar one-day events to be held twice next year, but the primary focus will be identifying avenues for residents from all walks of life to serve all year to benefit the quality of life and look of Quincy.

Extreme Dome Makeover has been a tradition since the program was introduced in August 2010, when volunteers were asked to make over the exteriors of four Canton homes owned by residents who were known to do good things for others.

All incoming students are now required to participate in Extreme Dome Makeover as part of the college's first-year experience course. However, they were joined by other C-SC students, faculty and staff, as well as community volunteers.

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and his 3-year-old son, Joshua, were among those involved in Canton beautification efforts. He summed up the day when he said: "What we found in all of that work is if you brought people together in shared service, you can make a difference."

Certainly those are words we can all live by the year-around.

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Volunteers show power of community service - Herald-Whig

TAMPA, Fla (WFLA) Could the Westchase Homeowners Association tell residents no lawn mowing or other outdoor house work before 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday?

Its an issue that could go before voting members at its meeting on the second Tuesday in October.

Earlier this month, a resident went before the board, complaining about a neighbors lawn service mowing starting at 7:30 on Saturday mornings. Kristen Braghi of the Bridges felt that was much too early for that type of work on the weekend.

Currently, the association has no operating hours regulating such issues.

Jerrold Scott owns Blue Tech Services, a lawn maintenance and pressure washing company that operates in the area. He heard about the proposal and is not surprised.

Well, I just think its typical in todays society, said Scott, sitting on his mower. Usually, when you have a group of people working for another group of people, they make rules and we just have to follow them.

Not everyone in the neighborhood feels outdoor work on the weekend should be regulated. Steve Holroyd understands many workers want to get an early start to beat the heat and avoid the afternoon thunderstorms that routinely pop up this time of year.

I know these guys are trying to beat the heat as we spoke about earlier, said Holroyd. Id like to see them get out and get this done in a timely manner.

Ruben Collazo, president of the neighborhood association, said he will recommend voting members take no action on the issue at Octobers meeting. If they take his recommendation, the issue would die. Collazo feels paying people to patrol the neighborhood searching for violators on Saturdays and Sundays would be far too costly. He also believes enforcement would also be an issue.

If the measure does pass, pressure washing would also fall under the umbrella of outdoor weekend work.

News Channel 8 attempted to reach Braghi, but our efforts were unsuccessful.

As for Scott, he says, whatever the association decides, he and his crew will be on board.

The bottom line is we have to survive. We have to make money, said Scott. So, if we can only work after 9 a.m. thats what well do.

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How early is too early to mow your lawn on the weekend? - WFLA

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Naturalcare Cleaning Service | Houston Maid and house ...

Published 10:08am, Friday, August 25, 2017

Project Playhouse winners receive key at Minute Maid

The key to HomeAid's All American Playhouse, the 2017 Project Playhouse that was designed and constructed by Taylor Morrison and Darling Homes, was officially presented to the winner at Minute Maid Park on Aug. 16.

The Buckner family received the key on the ball field prior to the Astros vs. the Diamondbacks game. Project Playhouse raised over $106,000 for HomeAid's mission, to build new lives for homeless families and individuals through housing and community outreach.

This is the eleventh anniversary of HomeAid's Project Playhouse, a fundraiser that builds hope and homes for Houston's homeless community. HomeAid Houston is a 501(c)(3) charity of the Greater Houston Builders Association. It is also the 11th year that HomeAid has partnered with the Houston Astros and the Astros Foundation on this fundraiser.

Jonathan White, Taylor Morrison, division president and Michael Pomerleau, Taylor Morrison senior superintendent who oversaw the playhouse construction, drew the winning ticket on July 19.

Taylor Morrison/Darling Homes designed and constructed this year's playhouse, named "The All American Playhouse," with donated materials and labor from GHBA members. Its team created a star-spangled design that included the American flag incorporated onto its exterior, a front porch and Dutch-style doors.

The playhouse was fully loaded with amenities including air conditioning, a flat screen TV and gaming console, and child-sized furniture and decor to match the theme.

The Taylor Morrison/Darling Homes Project Playhouse team included: Michael Pomerleau, Jonathan White, Amy Haywood Rino, Bill Dalton, Franklin Gonzalez, Daniel Cogan, David Wood, Caroline Noel, Sarah Starr, Keeley Motton, Roger Hollingworth, Rainbow Hayden, Roo Popp, Tara Slusser, Katlynn Thomas, Liz Parsons, Sarah Amaya, Tim DeRouen, Noira Bolin, Danielle Woods, Lewis Walker, Joyce Anderson, Mirna Colindres and Raquel Connor.

Prior to the on-field key presentation, several Project Playhouse sponsors and volunteer groups were honored in Union Station. They included the "Hall of Fame" sponsors, Apex Foundation, Champion Energy Services, RoofTec and Wisenbaker Builder Services; the winning ticket sales team sold 229 tickets raising $1,145. The individual with record-breaking ticket sales, Lisa Clark, HomeAid board member and vice president of Ryko Development, sold 1,757 tickets raising $8,785.

Jonathan White, division president for Taylor Morrison, Amy Rino, division president for Darling Homes, Bo Butler, president of the Greater Houston Builders Association, Salty Thomason, president of HomeAid and Bette Moser, executive director of HomeAid presented the key in front of the fans.

For information, visit http://www.homeaidhouston.org or call the GHBA at 281-970-8970.

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Project Playhouse winners receive key at Minute Maid - Chron.com

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Although the Express claims that the Italian media are reporting Arsenals openness to a Mustafi departure to Inter Milan, SportWitness point out that it doesnt actually say anywhere in the Gazzetta dello Sport article that Arsenal are open to it.

Other than that, the strongest evidence we have that the German defender might leave the Gunners is that Arsne Wenger hasnt completely ruled it out, just saying that the final days of the window are always unpredictable. Sky Italia say that the player has agreed to a move to Inter but the clubs havent agreed a deal. Thats called tapping up.

But taking a look at the other side, it would certainly be a strange move by Arsenal to sell the most expensive defender in their history a year after they bought him without bringing in a replacement. All in the same window that Gabriel leaves for Valencia.

There hasnt even been anything particularly reliable confirming that Mustafi even wants to go. Hes spent years in England before, with Everton, and only left when he couldnt get into the team.

Shkodran has also just welcomed his first child into the world, so moving to a completely new city (Milan) would be pretty disruptive.

If he does want to go, Arsenal have less than a week to negotiate a decent fee and spend it on a replacement.

Crazier things have happened in the transfer market and at this football club, I guess

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Mustafi move may not be as close as you think - Daily Cannon (satire) (blog)

Arsenal are preparing for a potential exodus of players in the finals days of the transfer window, with the club finalising the 7 million departure of Kieran Gibbs to Watford and prepared to sell Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez.

Major incoming signing are now unlikely but a combination of Oxlade-Chamberlains ongoing refusal to accept a huge new contract offer of 180,000-a-week and Wengers desire to reduce his squad has meant that there will still be significant transfer activity at Arsenal between now and Thursday.

Oxlade-Chamberlains participation against Liverpool today is in doubt following his failure to agree a new contract and, unlike their stance with Alexis Sanchez, Arsenals attitude is that they are ready to sell rather than potentially lose him for nothing next year if the valuation is met. Chelsea and Liverpool are interested and preparing to bid but, as of Saturday morning, Arsenal had not received the expected 35 million offer.

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Arsenal prepare for player exodus in finals days of transfer window - will Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain be one of them? - Telegraph.co.uk

By John EwoldtMinneapolis Star Tribune

You can now mow your lawn without lifting a finger or shaming your spouse or child.

Plowz & Mowz, the app-based service that can send a mowing service to your home with the press of a button on a smartphone, is now synced with Amazon's Alexa voice-activated assistant.

A simple, "Alexa, send someone to mow my yard tomorrow" will get the job done, assuming you have already signed up online or by phone with your address, specifics about the size of the job and a credit card.

Plowz co-founder Wills Mahoney launched the app service in 2014. Similar to Uber, app firms hire local contractors to do the work, but each service call is a one-time expense without a contract.

The new Alexa-enabled service is for "people who want to get their lawn done or their driveway plowed in the easiest way possible," Mahoney said. "If you wake up at 5 a.m. and look out the window and see that it's snowing, now you don't even have to turn on your phone." Users can also ask Alexa for status updates.

The service is expected to appeal to Plowz & Mowz power users, who are often early adopters, but it was the company itself that came up with the idea, not its consumers. Nearly 36 million Americans are expected to use voice-activated assistant devices like Amazon's Echo and Google's Home, according to eMarketer.

One of Plowz & Mowz competitors, Eden Lawn & Snow, also started to build in voice-activated assistance with its service but later canceled it. "We actually built out the initial steps for Alexa but then we started doing focus groups and saw no actual cases of people who would use it," said Ben Zlotnick, chief executive of Toronto-based Eden.

Zlotnick said he found Eden was losing business by being too app-focused and added services to the company's website. "We've seen an upswing in orders from seniors since we launched a web-based app," he said. "We have to look at it from a practical standpoint. How are they going to order it?"

Both companies continue to refine and expand their services.

Initially, the app service was limited mostly to driveway snow removal and lawn mowing, services often performed by the same landscaping company.

Over time the number of services has expanded to sidewalk shoveling and salting, leaf raking into compostable bags, shrub trimming and removal, garden bed mulching and cleanup.

Mahoney said his company now allows customers to keep using the same contractor for services if they rated its service with five stars. Eden still operates on a first-come, first-served basis, so whichever contractor is in the area and has availability is given the job.

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When an app is too much trouble: 'Alexa, get the lawn mowed' - The Providence Journal