The World Health Organization has issued its first-ever guidance for how much screen time
children under five should get. Kids under the age of five old should only be exposed to screens
for an hour each day. The health organization does recommend that less is better when it comes
to screen time. For children under one year of age, the organization says that the child should
receive zero screen time. Guidelines from the World Health Organization are very similar to the
guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics. That group says parents of young children
under two should choose “high-quality programming” with educational value that can be
watched with a parent to help kids understand what they’re seeing.

The City of Port Huron has a unique opportunity to raise funds for a matching grant of up to $250,000 to design and construct a concrete skate park. If the City of Port Huron, along with the community, are able to raise the funds; the Tony Hawk Foundation will match the funds. The skate park will include features such as bowl transitions and ramps, a street section including ledges, stairs, rails, and a potential pump track. The park will be skateboard, scooter, BMX, and rollerblade friendly. The goal is for donations to be raised in full by July 1st of this year. To make a donation you can visit Go Fund Me’s website under “A New Port Huron Skate Park” or make a check out to the City of Port Huron and drop it off at McMorran Place Arena.

This Saturday, April 27th will be the 2nd annual Blue Water Feed the World Project through Kids Coalition Against Hunger whose goal is to package an annual output of more than 8 million meals a year by the end of 2020. To date, food has been sent to over 100 food pantries in the northeast quarter of the United States, and 23 countries around the world. On Saturday, the Blue Water Area will do its part of helping prep 150,000 meal from 8 am to 12:30 pm. Right now the organization is looking for volunteers to help make it happen. If you are interested in volunteering you can visit www.kcah.info

The City of Port Huron was recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation as a Tree City USA community for its commitment to urban forestry. This is the 22nd year Port Huron has earned this national designation. The Tree City USA program is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the National Association of State Foresters and the USDA Forest Services. The City of Port Huron’s Forestry Department, in cooperation with the Port Huron Area School District, will celebrate this year’s Arbor Day on Friday, April 26 by planting a tree at the Early Child Learning Center.

The Culinary Institute of Michigan Port Huron are coming home with some hardware from this year’s SkillsUSA Competition. Students Devon Bokeno and Joe Herrera both won SkillsUSA Postsecondary Michigan State Championships and have advanced to the national competition in Louisville this summer. Three other CIM Port Huron student chefs earned silver or bronze medals in the competition. This is the fourth year in a row that students from CIM PH have won the state championship in both categories. CIM Port Huron instructors also were recognized with recent awards, including Chef Scott Twichell, lead baking and pastry chef instructor at CIM Port Huron, and Chef Paula Recinella, CIM program director/restaurant manager at the Port Huron campus.

A Beautiful Me is celebrating its 11th birthday this week. The local non-profit founded by Karen Palka in 2011 aims to provide interactive workshops that foster self-worth for girls in 3-12th grade. Since beginning in 2008, A Beautiful Me has impacted hundreds of girls in St. Clair County and beyond through their programming. The non-profit recently expanded services this year through the Closet by A Beautiful Me launching a store-front in downtown Port Huron that trains young women that have gone through the A Beautiful Me workshops in leadership, retail and more. Happy birthday to A Beautiful Me