20080331 Update on "Carrolls Idol"

Carroll’s Idol

March 12, 2008 – March 31, 2008 UPDATE on previous March 14, 2008 posts: 20080312 Carroll's Idol NBH: 20080312 Carroll's Idol

By Kevin Dayhoff

Photo captions:

Top: Members of the Carroll’s Idol committee compare notes after auditions at the VFW Post in Westminster, Monday evening, March 10, 2008

Bottom: Audrey Cimino and Eileen Gist confer as other members of the Carroll’s Idol committee compare notes after auditions at the VFW Post in Westminster, Monday evening, March 10, 2008

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Ten winners from the Semi-Finals will progress to the finale on Friday, April 25th at Grace Lutheran Church at 21 Carroll Street, in Westminster.

Community celebrities as well as Jennifer Franciotti from WBAL will be on hand to present and judge the competition.

Tickets are $10.00 adults; $8.00 seniors; $5.00 Children 12 and under.

For more information visit their website: www.g9m.org/carrollsidol or e-mail: www.Carrolls_Idol@yahoo.com

Tickets will go on sale at all New Windsor Bank branches, Orbital Hair Co. Salon/Spa and Shipley's Fine Jewelry, Buttersburg Inn in Union Mills on March 7th.

All proceeds will go to The Community Foundation of Carroll County, Inc. so they may continue their philanthropic efforts in our community.

Sponsors of this event are WTTR, Carroll County Times, Dutterer’s Flowers, New Windsor State Bank, Orbital Hair Co. Salon/Spa, Friedel Travel Services, Shipley's Fine Jewelry, Metalloy Production Studio, Jean Burgess Productions, Boscov's, J&P Pizza and Hearty Party Entertainment

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March 12, 2008

There were smiles all around the room last Monday night after 15 Carroll Countians got together at the Westminster VFW Post 467 at 519 Poole Rd Westminster to belt out some tunes.

That was when the first 15 contestants of “Carroll’s Idol” gathered around a few tables to discuss some organizational details for our county’s very own version of the hit TV series, “American Idol.”

“I want to thank the judges for being so positive. We didn’t have a Simon (Cowell.)” said one of the members of the team, Sharon Templeton above the chatter.

“On behalf of the Community Foundation I want to thank everyone involved,” said Audrey Cimino, the foundation’s executive director as she surveyed all the activity.

A brainchild of Eileen Dutterer Gist and Cheryl Schuster, the project is a fundraiser for operating capital for the Community Foundation. Gist reminisced, “I called my friend Audrey, knowing how much she’s into music… I want to put on (a talent contest) to raise money for the (Community) Foundation.”

“Let’s do it,” said Cimino. “Cheryl has been thinking about something similar.”

The next step in the contest is for approximately 20 contestants to audition at the Freedom Optimist Hall in Eldersburg this evening. 20 contestants will then progress to the semi-final on Tuesday, March 18th at the Westminster VFW Post 467. This competition is open to the public.

Ten winners from the Semi-Finals will progress to the finale on Friday, April 25th at Grace Lutheran Church at 21 Carroll Street, in Westminster.

Community celebrities as well as Jennifer Franciotti from WBAL will be on hand to present and judge the competition.

Tickets are $10.00 adults; $8.00 seniors; $5.00 Children 12 and under.

For more information visit their website: www.g9m.org/carrollsidol or e-mail: www.Carrolls_Idol@yahoo.com

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.

www.kevindayhoff.net http://www.youtube.com/kevindayhoff http://www.livejournal.com/

E-mail him at: kdayhoff AT carr.org or kevindayhoff AT gmail.com

His columns and articles appear in The Tentacle - www.thetentacle.com; Westminster Eagle Opinion; www.thewestminstereagle.com, Winchester Report and The Sunday Carroll Eagle – in the Sunday Carroll County section of the Baltimore Sun. Get Westminster Eagle RSS Feed

“When I stop working the rest of the day is posthumous. I'm only really alive when I'm writing.” Tennessee Williams

20080312 Carroll's Idol

Carroll’s Idol

March 12, 2008

By Kevin Dayhoff

Photo captions:

Top: Members of the Carroll’s Idol committee compare notes after auditions at the VFW Post in Westminster, Monday evening, March 10, 2008

Bottom: Audrey Cimino and Eileen Gist confer as other members of the Carroll’s Idol committee compare notes after auditions at the VFW Post in Westminster, Monday evening, March 10, 2008

*****

Westminster Maryland - There were smiles all around the room last Monday night after 15 Carroll Countians got together at the Westminster VFW Post 467 at 519 Poole Rd Westminster to belt out some tunes.

That was when the first 15 contestants of “Carroll’s Idol” gathered around a few tables to discuss some organizational details for our county’s very own version of the hit TV series, “American Idol.”

“I want to thank the judges for being so positive. We didn’t have a Simon (Cowell.)” said one of the members of the team, Sharon Templeton above the chatter.

“On behalf of the Community Foundation I want to thank everyone involved,” said Audrey Cimino, the foundation’s executive director as she surveyed all the activity.

A brainchild of Eileen Dutterer Gist and Cheryl Schuster, the project is a fundraiser for operating capital for the Community Foundation. Gist reminisced, “I called my friend Audrey, knowing how much she’s into music… I want to put on (a talent contest) to raise money for the (Community) Foundation.”

“Let’s do it,” said Cimino. “Cheryl has been thinking about something similar.”

The next step in the contest is for approximately 20 contestants to audition at the Freedom Optimist Hall in Eldersburg this evening. 20 contestants will then progress to the semi-final on Tuesday, March 18th at the Westminster VFW Post 467. This competition is open to the public.

Ten winners from the Semi-Finals will progress to the finale on Friday, April 25th at Grace Lutheran Church at 21 Carroll Street, in Westminster.

Community celebrities as well as Jennifer Franciotti from WBAL will be on hand to present and judge the competition.

Tickets are $10.00 adults; $8.00 seniors; $5.00 Children 12 and under.

For more information visit their website: www.g9m.org/carrollsidol or e-mail: www.Carrolls_Idol@yahoo.com

*****

20080312 Carroll's Idol NBH: 20080312 Carroll's Idol

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.

www.kevindayhoff.net http://www.youtube.com/kevindayhoff http://www.livejournal.com/

E-mail him at: kdayhoff AT carr.org or kevindayhoff AT gmail.com

His columns and articles appear in The Tentacle - www.thetentacle.com; Westminster Eagle Opinion; www.thewestminstereagle.com, Winchester Report and The Sunday Carroll Eagle – in the Sunday Carroll County section of the Baltimore Sun. Get Westminster Eagle RSS Feed

“When I stop working the rest of the day is posthumous. I'm only really alive when I'm writing.” Tennessee Williams

20050309 Heading WEST to help those in need we

Heading WEST to help those in need

03/09/05 Alex Gayhart

In 1983, long before he became mayor of Westminster and just after purchasing a farm and establishing his own business, Kevin Dayhoff was rear-ended in his vehicle by a drunken driver.

The incident left Dayhoff unable to work and, therefore, unable to pay the bills. He says today that he was fortunate enough to be able to borrow the money he needed to maintain self-sufficiency.

But the experience left him with a life-long concern that others may not be so lucky.

More than 20 years later, Dayhoff was recently approached by someone with a somewhat similar situation , a local senior citizen who found herself without a basic need and with no way to fix it.

The water pipe leading into her home had failed and she had gone without water for two months. Otherwise self-sufficient, this senior just had no money and no recourse to take care of the problem.

"After I discovered her plight, I saw to it that water was reestablished at the house, because I deemed the situation a basic health, safety and welfare issue," Dayhoff said.

It was not through the city of Westminster or through the mayor's position that this woman found help. It was also not through any local nonprofit or through any government welfare program that she was able to take care of a problem that threatened her well-being.

There was actually no recourse for her.

This was not the first time Dayhoff, his wife or a somewhat large network of people in the community have been faced with a situation in which someone had an emergency need.

Dayhoff says he and this group of people have, over the years, provided a bag of groceries, found a working hot water heater to donate or gave some firewood to warm the house of a person in an emergency situation.

"For many years there's been an informal group of us (to help)," Dayhoff said. It's these instances that have inspired Dayhoff and a group of others to create the Westminster Emergency Safety Trust.

"All too often, in community leadership, we see folks who are unable to qualify for well-deserved assistance," Dayhoff said. "It is when unexpected costs arise that this self-sufficiency becomes endangered."

Dayhoff and the community focus group involved in establishing this trust have been working to raise funds so that emergency needs can be met when no other service can be provided.

“This fund is intended to be a 'when all else fails' (alternative)," said Dayhoff.

"The WEST Fund is a fund that's ... a stop gap measure for those folks who fall between the cracks," said Charles Harrison, president of the county chapter of the NAACP and a member of WEST's focus group.

"There is the Carroll Community Foundation, there's public health, but oft times, people's situations don't meet the criteria for any of those types of funds," he said.

WEST is set up through the Community Foundation of Carroll County - an organization that receives, invests and distributes funds for charitable, cultural and educational purposes for the benefit of Carroll citizens.

Dayhoff said he and the Community Focus Group - though many of them have helped by picking their own pockets - are looking for a way to have a formal pool of funds to help.

“We want to put something in place that's sustaining," he said.

Harrison was reminiscent of the "old days" when there might not have been much in the way of government assistance, and so the community rallied around those in emergency situations.

"The community solved problems," Harrison said. "So that's what this fund does." He added that he'd like to see this fund expand throughout Carroll County.

Those who would like to donate to the WEST fund may do so by sending a check payable to the Westminster Emergency Safety Trust to: Executive Director Audrey Cimino, Westminster Emergency Safety Trust, Carroll Community Foundation, P.O. Box 170, Westminster, MD 21158.

For more information, call Cimino at 410-876-5505.

E-mail Alex Gayhart at agayhart@patuxent.com.

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