Amanda Glensky

Flying Pig Ranch Studios Wins Hermes Award for Second Year
Again in 2011 the prestigious Hermes Creative award is presented to Flying Pig Ranch Studios for their work with the Autism Society. Thanks to Flying Pig Ranch for being such wonderful partners in every way!

West Palm Beach, Florida (PRWEB) May 31, 2011 — FPR STUDIOS (aka Flying Pig Ranch) has won a second Hermes award for their production of “The Time Is Now.” This four-minute video was produced as a fund raiser for the Autism Society designed to stress the support needs of the Society’s ongoing assistance to the autistic community. The script for the original production was written by Amanda Glensky media specialist of the Autism Society and was produced at FPR Studios sound stage in West Palm Beach Florida.

The coveted Hermes gold statue is the second award given to FPR Studios with Platinum awarded last year for FPR Studios’ production of “Look Where I Stand.”

Hermes international awards are given for creative professionals involved in the concept, writing and design of traditional and emerging media. Hermes Creative Awards recognizes outstanding work in the industry while promoting the philanthropic nature of marketing and communication professionals.

There were over 4,400 entries from throughout the United States, Canada and several other countries in the Hermes Creative Awards 2011 competition. Entries came from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, PR firms, design shops, production companies and freelancers.

Hermes Creative Awards is administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (http://www.amcpros.com). The international organization consists of several thousand marketing, communication, advertising, public relations, media production and free-lance professionals. AMCP oversees awards and recognition programs, provides judges and rewards outstanding achievement and service to the profession.

The Time Is Now from Flying Pig Ranch Studios on Vimeo.

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They have pledged to help the community around the clock, 365 days a year. So, the local emergency responders, crises don’t hold off because of a holiday.

While most are celebrating the season with their families, the volunteers and officers of the fire companies and police department of Springfield Township will either be working or on call, just as they were for Thanksgiving and other holidays throughout the year.

As Don Sirianni, deputy chief of the Oreland Fire Co., said, “Fire doesn’t take a holiday.”

For the Oreland, Flourtown and Wyndmoor fire companies and the Springfield Township Police Department, holiday operations are no different from everyday preparedness.

The Springfield Township Police Department remains regularly staffed over the holidays and with undiminished services, just like any other day, said Cpl. Lee Allen, president of the Springfield Police Association.

Fire Chief George Wilmot of the Flourtown Fire Co. said no person is at the station on a regular basis because it’s completely staffed by volunteers.

But he always has a good idea of how many volunteers will be in town at a given time, and he knows who will be out of town, which stays true during the holidays, he said.

But they also have back up.

“The three companies in Springfield rely on each other,” Wilmot said.

The other Springfield fire companies, each made up of volunteers, are also constantly keeping track of who is available in case of emergencies, volunteers said.

Volunteers do not plan their holiday celebrations around whether they might get called in for duty.

Being a firefighter means one might have to excuse him- or herself from holiday dinner with the family, Sirianni said.

“It gets in your blood. If you’re around, you go,” he said. “Neighbors helping neighbors is the way we look at it.”

Calls are not more common over the holidays than at other times of the year, volunteers said. But they have certainly occurred.

John Fleming, volunteer firefighter and EMT of the Wyndmoor Fire Co., said the company has come out on Thanksgiving to respond to oven fires and last year arrived to extinguish a Christmas tree fire just a few days before Dec. 25.

The Flourtown Fire Co. has also responded in the past to calls on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Wilmot said.

The Oreland Fire Co. had a three-year streak in which volunteers responded to serious fires on Christmas Eve, Sirianni said.

For these groups, the holiday season also means celebrating among the families of fellow members and reaching outward to spread some cheer as well.

For the Oreland Fire Co., December means decorating the town for the holiday season, an effort expanded this year to include the Springfield Rotary, Oreland Lions and Flourtown Fire Co. to deck the streetlights of Springfield.

For Flourtown and Wyndmoor volunteers, the holiday season means driving Santa Claus on a fire truck. Flourtown firefighters make these runs twice during the week of Christmas — once in Erdenheim and again in Flourtown — and give candy canes to the children, which they have been doing for about 50 years, Wilmot said.

Wyndmoor volunteers have begun a tradition in which they — and Santa — bring gifts to the Stenton Family Manor, a homeless shelter in Philadelphia. It started began last December when a basement flooded and ruined gifts meant for these families. The company delivered toys and brought Santa to the shelter, Fleming said.

Members have also been working with United Cerebral Palsy organization for 12 years and have done work with the Ronald McDonald House, he said.

Combined, the three fire companies will have answered about 800 calls by the end of this year, according to numbers provided by the volunteers contacted.

Among some of this year’s notable events, the Wyndmoor and Flourtown companies received the Golden Pin Award from Holmatro, a rescue tools company, which recognized them for saving a life at a vehicle rescue scene, Wilmot said.

A driver crashed on Bethlehem Pike the beginning of 2009, and responders had to extract him from the vehicle, he said.

This year, the Wyndmoor Fire Co. spent hours on vehicle, water, ice, high-angle and confined-space rescues, hazardous materials containment, emergency medical services and police assists, Fleming said.

In March, Wyndmoor and Oreland firefighters spent more than four and a half hours extinguishing a structure fire on Camp Hill Road, according to an e-mail from Fleming.

In August, over a seven-hour period, Wyndmoor and Flourtown volunteers, along with the nearby Barren Hill Fire Co., completed six flood-related responses, including vehicle rescues and hazmat investigation, he wrote.

Wyndmoor also has a MEDPOD truck, which contains equipment for a mass- casualty accident, which members used in August when the power went out at a health care facility.

The fire companies are always looking for more volunteers to help them serve the township.

The police officers in the township are also active in the community. The police association, an 11-year-old group that comprises both active and retired officers, is separate from the police department.

Members provide services throughout the year, such as renting a truck for shredding papers and providing the service free to residents every spring, Allen said.

The association also sponsors youth sports leagues in the township, offers a $1,000 scholarship to graduating seniors, and donates to charitable organizations like the Women’s Center of Montgomery County and Mainline Animal Rescue.

“We wish everybody a happy holiday. Be fire safe and fire conscious — not only during holidays but during the entire year,” Wilmot said. “We’re always trying to think of the safety of the community and trying to make it a safer place for all of us.”

Classmates called him “Truth” during his poetry slam days at Cheltenham High School. When he began to rap, emerging artist Due Truth added the “Due” to his nickname to reflect his passion to restore hip-hop to its golden days, a feat he says is due.

Due Truth, otherwise known as Marcus Anderson, said his music represents “intelligence in entertainment,” a realization of his aim to challenge listeners through his lyrics while laying down a dance-worthy beat.

“It’s what they’ve been hearing — they just haven’t heard it. It’s where the hip-hop should be. It takes you right back to your ’95s, your ’96s, your ’97s, you know, when everything was all good and the people who were best at their craft were the ones who made it,” he said.

“It wasn’t about what you wore, what your swag was and all that … it was about the feelings you could convey with your music.”

The Glenside resident’s premier album, “Evolution,” is set to hit stores Nov. 27, and he will make an appearance at Hibbert’s INC in Glenside on Friday, Dec. 4, at 6 p.m., to help promote his album.

The tracks on “Evolution,” with its single “Fresh to Death,” are reminiscent of some of the more progressive rappers, like Common, but at the same time, he said it has the same entertainment value of artists Jay-Z or Nas.

The album is his personal attempt to help hip-hop evolve to the next step because “if it didn’t evolve, then it would just die, and I don’t believe hip-hop is dead at all,” he said.

“My inspiration for the album is actually how hip-hop is right now. It’s far from what I remember it being in the late ’80s going into the ’90s-era hip-hop. It seems as though it’s greatly misdirected. And the focus has gotten out of having real skill or real rapping prowess,” he said.

“Evolution” is about being lost and misdirected; it’s also about looking at common experiences through the lens of lessons learned in the past, and its lyrics offer recourse instead of complaints, he said.

Musically, the album borrows from jazz, which is perhaps most evident in the flute track for “Go, ” a song about the desire to get away for a moment when life gets tough.

There’s a history behind this influence. When Due Truth began rapping, he used to freestyle during jam sessions with a jazz band.

He also values harmony and incorporates it into his music.

He wasn’t always so focused on hip-hop — it’s something he fell into.

Due Truth was born in Roxborough and moved to Montgomery County when he was 11 years old.

The 2006 Cheltenham High School graduate started out doing spoken word competitions in high school. He won a poetry contest during his senior year.

“Doing spoken word is definitely where it’s all rooted. I never really grew up wanting to be a rapper. I got really good at spoken word and I just found my way into it,” he said.

He hopes to use this album as a springboard to more opportunities. Once the album comes out, he’s hoping to do some shows, get a tour together and release a second album in the future.

Due Truth’s music is online at www.facebook.com/duetruth2009 and at www.reverbnation.com/duetruth.

To those who don’t see the juvenile justice system every day, it can seem pretty black and white: The bad children go to jail.

But it’s not that simple, said Sandra Simkins of Wyndmoor.

Her new book, “When Kids Get Arrested: What Every Adult Should Know,” attempts to shed light on the juvenile justice system, namely that it’s more serious than one might think.

“I’m trying to reach out to parents, coaches, church leaders, school officials and anybody who works with kids,” said Simkins, associate clinical professor at the Rutgers School of Law in Camden and co-director of the school’s Children’s Justice Clinic.

Simkins co-directs the Northeast Region Juvenile Defender Center, where she gives consults with and trains children’s advocates in surrounding states.

She is also a former assistant chief of the juvenile unit in the Defender Association of Philadelphia.

Frequently, she has received phone calls from parents who felt lost when their children were arrested, she said, and she wanted to make information available to them in her book.

“Over and over I’ve seen

parents become very confused by the juvenile court process and not know where to turn,” she said.

It is important that parents and children understand their rights and the system, because the manner in which a child’s case is handled largely influences the outcome, she said.

Simkins has seen two children charged with the same offense, but their cases had radically different outcomes.

Her major tips for parents are not to waive their child’s right to a lawyer and not to let children talk to the police without one.

“Parents frequently encourage children to waive the right to a lawyer, and by doing that it always makes it worse for the kid,” she said.

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted this right to children, who have to be 10 to be arrested in Pennsylvania, she added.

Parents also need to understand that what happens in the juvenile justice system can severely affect a child’s future, contrary to the assumption that juvenile court may be easy on children.

The system is more punitive today than it was 15 years ago, when a child could get arrested and then have his “slate wiped clean,” Simkins said.

“Now, if a kid gets arrested, there are long-range consequences that go into adulthood,” she added.

For example, a child’s record of indiscretion may disqualify him from joining the military or receiving college loans, she said. The “zero tolerance” policy adapted by many schools is also significant because it brings many more children into the juvenile justice system, and guidance counselors and school officials should be aware of what happens when a child is arrested, she said.

The “school to prison pipeline” is something she discusses in the book because she wants to educate parents to make smart legal choices for their children, she added.

According to Simkins, everything goes downhill when a child gets involved in the juvenile justice system.

Simkins first became interested in this subject while working at the public defender’s office in Philadelphia, particularly working with girls.

“Girls that ended up in the juvenile justice systems always had a really tragic background,” she said.

Ninety percent of girls she worked with suffered abuse in their lives and landed in the juvenile justice system because they got into a fight with someone at school or at home, Simkins said.

Everything got worse when they entered the system, she said.

“Seeing that the system was often unable to make it better and often made it worse made me want to do more and make this my career,” she said.

Those who often end up in the system are poor, don’t have parents or have special needs, she said.

”I like being a voice for those kids,” she said.

Millions of children get arrested every year, she added.

“One out of three children of color is going to spend some time on probation or parole or prison in their lifetimes. One out of three,” she said, adding that the United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world.

Simkins said her goal was to take what she learned in Philadelphia, a city with fantastic organizations like the Juvenile Law Center, and write a book with a national scope.

“The attorneys in the public defender’s office in Philadelphia are outstanding. Not everybody has that,” she said.

This is Simkins first book, and it was exciting for her that her daughters could watch her go through the process of having an idea, writing a chapter and then incorporating revisions, she said.

She has lived in Wyndmoor for eight years and has a “really supportive husband” and two daughters, 10 and 12, who attend Springfield Township schools.

Springfield Township residents will see an increase of more than $80 in their sewer tax next year but no increase in township property taxes or refuse charges, according to a proposed 2010 township budget presented by the board of commissioners Nov. 11.

Under the proposed budget, a household with a property assessed at the township average of $175,400 will pay $591.10 in township real estate taxes next year. This is the same as in the three previous years, according to the commissioners’ summary.

Springfield homes will see an average increase of $87.24 on the sanitary sewer rental fee tax, a change largely due to an increase in the sewer charge Springfield pays to Philadelphia for sanitary sewer conveyance and treatment.

Last year, Philadelphia raised sewer taxes 37 percent to meet federal water regulations, but the increase was not fully reflected on the 2009 budget because the commissioners covered about 68 percent of it by dipping into its sanitary sewer reserve fund.

These sewer fees are expected to increase another 22 percent in 2010, and the cost will be passed on to the households that use the municipal sewer system, commissioners said.

Homes with their own septic systems will not be affected by the new sewage fees, board President Jeff Harbison said

The proposed 2010 budget is about $17.3 million, an increase of about 0.3 percent from in 2009.

In addition to sewer fees, changes in the 2010 budget reflect contractual increases in salary and employee benefits, utility expenses and the use of capital reserve funds for the purchase of equipment and special projects including storm-water management.

Residents will continue to pay for sanitary sewer service and refuse collection and disposal through separate fees.

Springfield residents can comment on the budget at public meetings Dec. 9 and 16 at 8 p.m. in the township building.

The board of commissioners is scheduled a vote on the budget Dec. 16.

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Before administrators proposed to move eighth-graders to the middle school, Bill McVeagh considered moving out of the Springfield Township School District so his rising eighth-grader would not have to go to high school earlier than would be appropriate.

“Many of the people in the community for years have been concerned with eighth grade in high school,” he said. “Many of the parents in the community were concerned at the point to thinking of pulling students out and putting them in private school.”

These concerns are that socially, developmentally and maturity-wise, eighth-graders are experiencing one of the most difficult times in their lives, he said.

At that age, the experience of being the “top dogs” of the middle school might give them the confidence to excel both academically and in their transitions to ninth grade, he said.

He added that he has “nothing but kudos” for the school district administration.

Some of the other parents who spoke at a Sept. 24 public forum for middle school parents agreed with McVeagh and administrators that the proposal to restructure the school district is a good idea.

Others were concerned that bringing fifth-graders to Erdenheim Elementary and eighth-graders to Springfield Township Middle School would take away the opportunities these students have now.

A few parents urged administrators to consider how a change would affect the gifted program for fifth and eighth grades if the school board were to pass the proposal, which will be up for a vote later this month.

One parent said that her children, graduates of Springfield, valued spending their eighth-grade year in high school because it exposed them to the arts early.

Other parents asked the administrators to keep in mind that some students are actually ready for more responsibility as eighth-graders.

Another concern was that children missed out on the more focused and grade-appropriate academic instruction that administrators promise the restructured system would allow.

According to administrators, one of the benefits of restructuring the schools would be higher academic achievement. Students would have schedules appropriate for their instructional needs, and it would be easier for teachers in the same grade level to work together because they would all be in the same building, they said.

For fifth-graders, this means more time for language arts instruction, which is difficult to schedule when adhering to a middle school schedule, said Superintendent Wendy Royer.

If fifth grade is moved to elementary school, students would be instructed by one teacher all day, rather than having a schedule with a few different classes and instructors, she said.

The new structure would increase rigor across all grade levels, administrators said.

Some parents asked if present fifth-graders are not having enough language arts instruction, and if there would be a curriculum adjustment so next year’s sixth-graders could receive language arts instruction comparable that proposed for next year’s fifth-grade class at Erdenheim.

The middle school faculty and staff have been targeting the language arts curriculum in order to heighten student performance, said Alice Snare, principal of the middle school. They already have adjusted the fifth-grade schedule to improve language arts instruction and made sure that the time allocated for the subject would not be interrupted, she said.

For example, a library tutorial might take place during a different class, Snare said.

“Because we want to do better doesn’t mean our students aren’t being served,” said Carol Rohrbach, director of curriculum and staff development. “We are doing a very good job … we want to do even better.”

Royer said Sept. 25 that she does not think there will be any changes to the proposal before the school board members discuss it at their next meeting.

“The meetings gave us a lot of insight into what the parents’ concerns were,” she said. “I felt that we gave parents their assurances that academic programs would not be compromised by the restructuring of schools.

“There seems to be a lot of sentiment for returning fifth-grade to elementary, and that didn’t surprise me.”

About 40 parents spoke during the elementary school meeting and about 21 at the middle school meeting, Royer added.

“I know the administration was really pleased with the turnout and the comments that they got from parents and the community,” she said.

The school board will discuss the proposal at its Oct. 6 meeting and vote Oct. 20. Once the board takes action, school district officials need to get started quickly to prepare for the change, Royer said.

Her plan is keep parents informed during the entire process, she said.

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When Susan Zemmel and Larry Schiff moved their dental office to 813 Bethlehem Pike, Erdenheim, they planted new trees that attracted song birds. Their neighbors were so pleased to see the new species that they sent thank you notes.

Last month, the owners of Schiff & Associates Aesthetic & Family Dentistry were recognized for another contribution to the area. On Community Day, Sept. 13, the Friends of Historical Bethlehem Pike presented its third annual Acorn Improvement Award to Schiff and Zemmel and their architect, Banny Jesudason of JLM Design Group on Germantown Pike.

The award honors property owners and designers who address historical preservation, pedestrian consideration, beautification, environmental improvements and appropriate economic development.

“It’s always nice to be recognized,” Schiff said at his office Sept. 17. “We very much support their efforts to get the Bethlehem Pike historical feel.”

“We think we did a good job fitting into the community,” Zemmel added.

Mimi Leitzel, the Wyndmoor-based interior designer for the project, nominated the building for the award in June. Leitzel, one of Schiff’s patients, heard about the Acorn Award and thought the property would be a great candidate.

“This building shows potential inspiration for other renovations on the pike, and provides not only a service to patients, but newly renovated spaces for other tenants to build thriving businesses,” she wrote in her letter of nomination to the Friends.

Schiff and Zemmel, who were married in 1986, bought the Bethlehem Pike property in 1990, although planning for the renovations did not begin until two years ago, when they had grown out of their space.

“It was an eyesore with old systems, and we wanted to be able to incorporate all of the new technology available in our field,” Zemmel said.

Not about to leave their strong ties with the Erdenheim community, Schiff and Zemmel explored ways to develop the property. The most viable option was a multimillion-dollar project to build on and around the current structure.

Workers broke ground in June 2008. Throughout the construction, Schiff and Zemmel continued their normal operations from their second floor office, as did the Twisters Wellness Center, located on the bottom floor of the building.

“It was a little bit of a challenging project for us, mainly because we had to add a third floor without adding a disturbance to the two lower levels,” Jesudason said in an interview Sept. 18. “We had to come up with a very unique structural system to construct a third level.”

This process included building a third floor supported by six corkscrew-shaped steel stilts, called helical piles, which were drilled into the ground. A concrete slab was placed on top of the piles, columns added and steel beams installed across the existing building to make the floor.

Then, the new and old windows had to be matched and everything with a stone base, Jesudason said.

“This approach still has a residential quality and scale, but is inviting and suitable for a commercial building solution,” Leitzel wrote in her nomination letter.

Schiff and Zemmel moved into the new third-floor office Jan. 20. The new space can accommodate modern and environmentally friendly technology. The interior is the ultimate in high tech, Zemmel said.

The office is completely digital, save for a back room with folders of hard copies of documents. All lights in the office are activated by motion sensors, and doctors use a digital X-ray machine because it emits less radiation and energy than other models.

“We are much more efficient now than before,” Schiff said.

Patients sit in ergonomic massage chairs during their appointments and can watch cable television — or the work going on in their mouths — on overhead monitors. The individual exam rooms are soundproof.

“When it’s comfortable for the patient and you take that stress out of the visit, everything is simplified,” Zemmel said. “You can offer the highest-quality dentistry available.”

The building also has its own water supply sanitized in a plant within the office. Everything in the sanitation room can be opened by the tap of foot-level lever or light kick with the knee.

The Acorn Award is on display at the coffee bar across from a bamboo fountain in the lobby.

“Winning the award is a great thing,” Jesudason said. “We honor that and hopefully it will give us the opportunity to reach out to other potential clients in the area who will look at the building and come to us.”

Both originally from New York, Zemmel and Schiff met when she was a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania and he was a faculty member. Their children were born here. Schiff played Santa Claus one year for the Erdenheim Civic Association and delivered presents to local children on Christmas Eve.