PLUS: Local effort sends aid to Ukrainian refugees Hollow Oak Land Trust opens new bridge from Montour Trail MOON AREA performs The Addams Family page 14 Bringing back AND page 24 Moon Edition Serving Moon Area School District May/June 2022 One of 4 editions serving 16 airport area communities www.awmagazine.com FREE Direct Mail Community Publication M agazine Allegheny West4 • Allegheny West Magazine • May/June 2022 { } Contents Local effort sends aid to Ukrainian refugees Hollow Oak opens new footbridge from Montour Trail Moon Area School District News Bringing back “The Olde Y” PTC helps local veteran jumpstart career Summer Fun Guide Moon Edition May/June 2022 - - - - - - 8 9 14 16 18 19 Allegheny West Magazine-Moon Edition is published in January, March, May, July, September, and November, six issues a year, Hughey Publications, LLC, P. O. Box 220, McDonald PA 15057. Mailed and distributed free to residents and businesses in Crescent, Moon and Moon Area School District. Reproduction of any artwork, photographs, or copy prepared by Allegheny West Magazine is strictly prohibited without written consent of Hughey Publications LLC. Copyright 1999-2022 Allegheny West Magazine. All rights reserved. Views and opinions expressed by contributors and/or advertisers are the responsibility of the contributors and not those of the publisher of Allegheny West Magazine. WE PROUDLY SPONSOR AND SUPPORT: A variety of community, school, and nonprofit organizations in our coverage areas of Cornell, Moon, Montour, and West Allegheny. We are committed to recycling our used and leftover products. We encourage our readers to be responsible and dispose of this magazine when finished enjoying it. Consider passing it along to someone else, or placing it in your neighborhood recycling bins. Thank you in advance for doing your part for our earth. MEMBER Allegheny West Magazine - Moon Edition, is an all positive, good news publication mailed free into the homes and businesses of the Moon Area School District communities of Moon and Crescent to connect communities, promote people, heighten awareness about the richness of the airport region, and build pride in the western suburbs of Allegheny County. Allegheny West Magazine Dear Readers, As I’m sure you’re well aware, summer is just around the corner and that means it’s almost fair season. As such, I’m very happy to be bringing you our Summer Fun Guide this month. Starting on page 19, you’ll find our special section packed with local summer happenings, including fairs, festivals, car cruises and more. After many of these events were either canceled or postponed these past couple of years, it’s great to see so many of them returning. Check out our guide and keep this edition handy as a reference in the months to come. On page 16, read how the owner of the old Western Area YMCA building has revitalized it and now wants to convert it back into a sports complex. He can’t do it alone, however, and is asking for public input. Then, on page 9, we take a look at a new footbridge that recently opened along the Montour Trail and will create some new possibilities for hikers and mountain bikers. It’s even possible to hike from there all the way to Moon Park. On page 8, read up on a local effort to send aid to Ukrainian refugees in Poland. You may recall reading about DTCare, the organization highlighted in this article in our November edition. On page 14, check out the latest news out of Moon Area School District, including more about its stellar recent musical performance. Look for our next edition in July. Until then, I hope you have a great start to summer. From the Publisher Doug Hughey, Publisher/Editor P. O. Box 220, McDonald, PA 15057 Phone: 724.673.3161 E-Mail: info@awmagazine.com www.awmagazine.com Doug Hughey Garret Roberts Jill Bordo Pat Jennette Jocelyn Grecko Sarah Kizina www.ddswebdesign.com Pat Jennette ABOUT THE COVER Moon Area students Sasha Konitzer, Holly Clark, Madeline Sollinger, Madeline Zabela, Jack McBride, Austin Keys, Kayla Kosarik and Nathan Grimes portray characters in the school’s spring musical production of “The Addams Family.” Read more on page 14. PHOTO BY JAMIE GREENEMay/June 2022 • www.awmagazine.com • 5Heritage Valley Health System 6 • Allegheny West Magazine • May/June 2022 Park Manor Medical Associates Same Location . . . Same Great Physicians . . . New Name! Lauren Ayersman, DO Bradley Heiple, DO Kehkeshan Shah, MD Denise Wegrzynowicz, DO Tara Degnan, PA-C Collin Wurst, PA-C Family Practice Robinson & Primary Care West are joining to form Heritage Valley Multispecialty Group Park Manor Medical Associates. While the practice has a new name, its compassionate physicians remain the same. By merging the two practices, Heritage Valley Health System will be able to introduce some exciting changes, including the addition of two physician assistants to better serve patients. To schedule an appointment, call (412) 749-6920. Heritage Valley Multispecialty Group Park Manor Medical Associates 2201 Park Manor Blvd | Pittsburgh, PA 15205 | (412) 749-6920Heritage Valley Health System May/June 2022 • www.awmagazine.com • 7 Spring is a time of rebirth and new beginnings, and so it seems like the perfect time to introduce Heritage Valley Health System’s new website. While still located at www. heritagevalley.org, the website has been improved with a number of updates. At the new site, patients can take advantage of enhanced features such as finding a doctor, viewing the health system’s complete wide range of services and checking the Activity Monitor to see how busy a location is before seeking treatment. As well, users may log directly into their personal Health Link Patient Portal or create an account if they haven’t yet done so already. The website also has important information about visitation and the latest news regarding vaccines. While Chrome is the best browser to use when viewing the website, it will work with all modern browsers, including Firefox, Safari and Microsoft Edge. Please note that Internet Explorer is not fully compatible with the new site. Heritage Valley Health System has so much to offer. Visit www.heritagevalley.org to see for yourself! Heritage Valley Health System launches new websiteCAround Your Town Around Your Town A handful of times each year, volunteers gather at the freight forwarding company DTGruelle in Moon Township to help pack medical supplies bound for other parts of the world. Operating under a nonprofit wing of the company called DTCare, and utilizing the expertise of DTGruelle, those efforts have resulted in shipments going to places such as Panama, Lebanon and other countries where the aid is needed. Since February, however, DTCare’s efforts have shifted and are now largely focused on sending aid to Poland. There, supplies are being distributed to Ukrainian refugees, millions of whom have crossed the border over the past couple of months during Russia’s invasion of the country. On May 3, DTCare sent a 40-foot container to Poland, its largest shipment to the country yet. Natasha Thompson, program coordinator for DTCare, says the nonprofit previously sent 10 smaller shipments to Poland with items such as hygiene kits, MREs and individual first aid kits. Those kits contain tourniquets, chest seals for treating entry and exit wounds, compression needles, burn dressings and other items. Local volunteers have been helping to pack and assemble the kits, as well as load supplies. Organizations like the Brother’s Brother Foundation, Concordia Medical Equipment, local churches, school districts, the Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania and the Buffalo Cartridge Company in Ohio have helped source both those supplies and monetary donations. With their support, DTCare has sent well over 2,000 hygiene kits, 14,000 MREs and 250 first aid kits to Poland. Thompson says the supplies have gone to refugees both in Poland and in Ukraine, where the UN estimates 6.5 million people have been displaced. More than 3.1 million Ukrainians are estimated to have crossed the border into Poland and another 2.6 million Ukrainians are believed to have fled to other neighboring countries since fighting started. “The individual first aid kits are distributed to medics and first responders to help people who are dying,” says Marco Gruelle, president of DTCare. “These kits are designed to save people’s lives in combat situations, whether that means aiding a soldier who got shot or an elderly lady who sustained injuries after her apartment building was shelled.” Thompson says that demand for the supplies DTCare sends is ever-growing. At the same time, though, she says the nonprofit is beginning to have difficulty sourcing those supplies. Transportation and shipping costs are also rising, and Thompson says it costs DTCare thousands of dollars just to ship a container like the one it did at the beginning of May. Still, DTCare is planning to send two or three more shipments in the coming weeks. Thompson says about a dozen or so volunteers will likely show up to help assemble those shipments. “The support from the Pittsburgh and Ohio communities has been incredible,” she says. “We have had a good turnout of volunteers for every single first-aid and hygiene kit assembly event we have held since Russia invaded.” Anyone who would like to donate can do so at www.dtcare.org/ donate or send a check to DTCare at 301 Moon Clinton Road, Moon Township, PA 15108. Anyone wishing to donate goods or host a goods drive can contact Thompson directly at (412) 527- 5658. They may also call Courtney Robson at (704) 770-5044. Local effort sends aid to assist Ukrainian refugees STORY BY DOUG HUGHEY PHOTO SUBMITTED These volunteers helped pack this container at DTGruelle in Moon Township with hygiene kits and medical supplies. The container was shipped to Poland in May. 8 • Allegheny West Magazine • May/June 2022CAround Your Town Around Your Town Over the past 10 years, a system of trails in the Montour Woods Conservation area has become popular with area hikers and mountain bikers. Located in the steep ravine along Hassam Road, the rugged, scenic trails meander through thickly forested parts of Robinson and Moon townships all the way to Moon Park. One section in the 10-mile train system follows a pristine stretch of a stream called Meeks Run that supports 20 species of fish. Another passes a small cave and vernal pools supporting frog species. The system also has some serious elevation gain leading up to its ridges. Along the border of Moon and Robinson townships, the trail system comes very close to the Montour Trail. At shallow parts of Montour Run, it has even been possible to cross over between the two trails, but not without getting wet or with some serious difficulty. When the water is high, crossing the stream can be downright dangerous or impossible. Traversing the two trail systems just got a lot easier, however, thanks to a new footbridge that was completed earlier this year. The 210-foot bridge passes over Montour Run, connecting the Montour Trail near Mile 1.5 with what’s known as the Cave Trail in the Montour Woods Conservation Area. The bridge provides plenty of additional options for trail users who can now travel easily between the two trail systems. “This bridge has been a real missing link for people using the Montour Trail who would like to get into the woods,” says Sean Brady, executive director of Hollow Oak Land Trust, which owns the Montour Woods Conservation Area. Brady says the project has been in the works since 2017 and was no small feat to get constructed. It was made possible thanks to grants from the Pennsylvania DCNR, the Allegheny Regional Asset District and the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County. Both the Montour Trail Council and the Forest Grove Sportsmen Association also provided necessary easements, Brady says. He says actual construction took about a year. The bridge features ramps at either end to make access easier for those with bikes. It sits at the end of a spur that branches off the Montour Trail near Hassam Road. In addition to providing ease of access, the bridge also opens up additional parking for Hollow Oak trails along Hassam Road. Currently, the only other trailhead on the road sits halfway up the hill and can fill up quickly. Those who would like to jump on the Hollow Oak trails will thus now be able to park along the Montour Trail near where it intersects with Hassam Road. In addition to those parking areas, there are several other trailheads, but in other locations. One sits at the end of Nike Road and another is at the end of Downing Drive, closer to Moon Park. A map with trails and trailheads can be viewed at hollowoak.org. Brady says that, eventually, Hollow Oak’s goal is to create a loop that will take people along Hollow Oak trails all the way from the footbridge to Mile 3.5 of the Montour Trail. Along the way, trailgoers will pass through Hollow Oak’s Trout Run Conservation Area near the intersection of Montour Run Road and Beaver Grade Road before going back onto the Montour Trail. The loop will follow Hollow Oak trails for about seven miles and the Montour Trail for about three miles. Brady says he has already witnessed increased trail usage thanks to the new footbridge and expects that to grow once the greenway loop is completed. For now, there are a number interesting hikes from the footbridge, including a three-mile hike to Moon Park and another to the old Nike missile site in Moon Township. Hollow Oak acquired that property in December. Coming up, Hollow Oak is planning an official ribbon cutting to celebrate the bridge’s completion May 26 at 10 a.m. followed by a community event in June. Follow them on Facebook for the latest or visit hollowoak.org. HOLT opens new foot bridge from Montour Trail STORY BY DOUG HUGHEY PHOTO SUBMITTED Hollow Oak Land Trust opened this new footbridge earlier this year. It connects the Montour Trail with trails in the Montour Woods Conservation Area. May/June 2022 • www.awmagazine.com • 9Next >