Here are upcoming Crestview Public Library-related events. The library's address is 1445 Commerce Drive.

AGES 3-5 LIBRARY CLASS: 10:15 a.m. Tuesdays, Crestview library. Topics: Aug. 29 and Sept. 5, Grandparents; Sept. 12 and 19, Magic Pasta Pot; Sept. 26 and Oct. 3, Hats Off to You (wear a favorite hat); Oct. 10, airport field trip at Bob Sikes Airport (www.emeraldcoastaviation.com); Oct. 24 and 31, Autumn and Halloween (wear a non-scary costume on Oct. 31); Nov. 7 and 14, Giving Thanks; Nov. 28, On the Road, Dec. 5 and 12, Wrap It Up.

AGES 0-2 LIBRARY CLASS: 9:15 a.m. Tuesdays, Crestview library. Topics: Sept. 1 and 8, Grandparents (bring biological or honorary grandparents if you like); Sept. 15 and 29, Mice; Oct. 6 and 13, Piggies; Oct. 20 and 27, Autumn and Halloween (wear non-scary costume if you like); Nov. 3 and 17, Thanksgiving; Dec. 1, On the Go; Dec. 8 and 15, Christmas.

FIRST TUESDAY TALKS: 10:30 a.m. first Tuesdays at the library. Topics are: Sept. 5, Fall Gardening in Northwest Florida, by Larry Williams, Okaloosa Extension Service; Oct. 3, Seniors and Fraud, by JB Whitten, Seniors vs. Crime spokesman and city councilman; and Nov. 7, How to Love Your Wardrobe, by Anna Maria Garza, fashion designer and stylist.

FAMILY LIBRARY TIME: for ages 4 and up. Visit the library for details as the date nears. Here are other FLT Crestview library events.

• 6:30-7:15 p.m. Sept. 22 — The Library Run is a tour. Learn to use the catalog and race to find items.
• 5 or 6 p.m. Oct. 17 — Escape Room, 10 people per session. Register at the library to solve puzzles together.
• 6:30-7:15 p.m. Nov. 21 — Wild Things. Guess which wild animal left that. Dissect owl pellets.
• 6-7:30 p.m. Dec. 19 — Noel Night. Music, makings and munchies.

READ TO DOZER: First Saturdays, 10-11 a.m.; for children ages 4 and up.

COFFEE & CRAFT: 10 a.m. second Saturdays, Crestview library. Call 682-4432 to reserve your spot.

TEEN TIME: 2-4 p.m. Fridays in the meeting room, Crestview library. Wii and virtual reality games, etc. For grades 6-12. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: LIBRARY EVENTS

CRESTVIEW — Attendees will learn the essentials for getting started in business at a Florida Small Business Development Center Starting a Business workshop.

The seminar is 1-5 p.m. Aug. 30 at the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce, 1447 Commerce Drive. It includes information on idea evaluation, legal business structures, regulations & licensing, taxation and finding capital.

Cost is $50 (cash or check at the door) for the public, and free for University of West Florida students and employees with a Nautilus card.

Event instructors include Florida SBDC certified business consultants, faculty from higher education, government experts, and private-sector professionals.

Call 586-7809 or go to www.sbdc.uwf.edu and click on "Training Opportunities" for more information or to register.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'Starting a Business' workshop set in Crestview

PENSACOLA — NAI Halford welcomed a Baker resident as a member of their professional team of commercial brokers and Realtors.

Doug Constantine is a licensed Florida real estate agent, and will serve NAI Halford clients in Okaloosa County with an emphasis in the Crestview market. He will also assist with the company’s Fort Walton and Destin business.

Constantine, who recently worked for with Assurance Realty of NWFL, LLC, brings regional experience to the firm. His sales portfolio for the past seven months includes $1,522,200 in closed sales.

Constantine spent 20 years in the US Air Force until 2015, serving on Eglin Air Force Base from 2002-2004, and he worked with a number of area defense contractors.

He is married to Jennifer and has two children, Hannah and Dylan.

NAI Halford opened in Pensacola in 1983 as Doug Halford and Associates. It serves the Northwest Florida market with a focus that includes sales, leasing, management, and consulting in commercial real estate.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker man joins real estate firm

CRESTVIEW — Healthy Woman is a free North Okaloosa Medical Center resource, with the mission of empowering women to make informed health care decisions for themselves and their loved ones.

The organization's 14th annual dinner, a three-course meal by Chef Ernie Danjean, is 6 p.m. Aug. 24 at the Crestview Community Center, 1446 Commerce Drive.

"The purpose of the annual dinner is to provide an elegant, educational and entertaining evening. We hope the attendees leave motivated, inspired and refreshed," HW spokesperson Alicia Booker said.

Comedian and motivational speaker Diana Jordan will provide the keynote address for the event. She'll use that sense of humor to impart a message based on the theme, "Live Laugh Love."

"I thoroughly enjoy the programs because they are full of useful information and give you the opportunity to ask specific questions of the speaker or get hands-on experience, like with the Heels and Wheels hands-on auto maintenance clinic or the breast self-exam education at the Paint it Pink events," Booker, an HW member since 2010, said.

Tickets are $30 per person. Visit www.northokaloosa.com/healthywoman or call 689-8446 to purchase.

More about Healthy Woman

Healthy Woman membership is free. Sponsor and community partner funds are used to support its programs throughout the year, including such projects as Back to School Stress Free, the Annual Paint it Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Event and Dance Your Heart Healthy.

"Healthy Woman events are held quarterly and help to provide women in our community information about health, relationships and life issues. Each quarterly event has a different focus based on feedback from the community on what they would like to know more about," Booker said.

"I would like to thank the many corporate partners that have faithfully supported the Healthy Woman Program.  Their involvement has helped us grow the program and educate our community since August of 2003," she said.

Visit NorthOkaloosa.com/HealthyWoman or contact Booker at 689-8446 to join.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: NOMC Healthy Woman dinner to feature comedian Diana Jordan

Editor’s Note: This continues our Celebrate Community series on nonprofit organizations that improve North Okaloosa County residents’ quality of life.

CRESTVIEW — Crestview residents have launched a nonprofit, Bright Future Ministries, with the goal of helping homeless people rebuild their lives. Charles Salis Jr. and his wife, Candice, along with his father, Charles Salis Sr. of Detroit, Michigan, are setting the groundwork to establish a local shelter.

Charles Jr. said the idea to form Bright Future Ministries grew when he worked as a manager at the McDonald's on US Highway 90 in Crestview.

"I noticed a lot of homeless people that would want to come in and just cool off, and try and get something to eat, so I began to talk to them and many just needed a little help to get back on their feet. And that the shelters we have only give them a place to sleep, but offer no programs to help them start their lives over," the Crestview resident said.

Further research on the issue is what gave him and his wife the motivation to research homelessness and current shelters in Crestview.

"We learned that most shelters in our area don’t allow families to stay together in the shelter. The mother and children must go to one location and the father to another. And if the father has kids and is single, in most cases (they) have no place to stay together."

Charles Jr. resigned from the McDonald's manager position to be able to focus full time on establishing Bright Future Ministries. He, his wife and father plan to provide emergency shelter to homeless individuals and families within the next year, and provide them with the items they need to feel normal, Charles Jr. said. This includes things like clothes, shoes, socks, underwear and toiletries.

After it is established, the goal is to eventually expand the shelter to a full-service site, with skills training, discounted daycare to low-income families, employment services and two meals a day to any homeless persons. Services would also include Narcotics and Alcoholics Anonymous assistance, and help getting a General Education Diploma.

His wife said that helping in homeless shelters requires unconditional love and compassion for people of all kinds. "A person must be able to see everyone through the eyes of love … kindness is not just an act — it is a lifestyle," Candice said.

To better assist the people they want to help, the Salises acquired degrees in social work and other categories. "The degrees each of us hold will allow us to help a greater number of people," Charles Jr. said.

The former Eglin aircraft weapons loader and police officer has a master's in business administration and healthcare management. He also served as a firefighter temporarily at North Okaloosa Fire District.

Candice is currently working toward her master's in psychology. She is a BFM Board of Directors member and secretary, has a Bachelor of Science in forensic psychology, and associate of science degrees in paralegal studies and medical coding and billing.

Charles Salis Sr. is a licensed master social worker. He holds a bachelor of science in psychology and a master of science in social work, and serves as a member at large of the ministry's board of directors.

WANT TO HELP?

Interested persons may make a donation in person or online at http://brightfutureministries.webs.com to contribute to the Bright Future Ministries mission. They may also like, share, or follow www.facebook.com/BrightFutureMinistries/.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'Kindness is not just an act — it is a lifestyle'

CRESTVIEW — Ballet & Barre, a local dance studio, will have a fall bazaar to raise funds for a set building.

The Fall Bazaar at Ballet & Barre is 1-5 p.m. Sept. 30 at 520 Main St. N, Crestview.

Dance students will volunteer at the pumpkin patch, photo, temporary tattoo and hair chalk booths.

The studio is also selling booth space to vendors for a $20 donation.

For more information visit the studio.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Dance studio plans fall bazaar fundraiser

CRESTVIEW — Sheila Dunning received the 2016 Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of County Agriculture Agents during their annual meeting and professional improvement conference recently in Salt Lake City, Utah.

This award is for agents with more than 10 years of service in Cooperative Extension who have exhibited excellence in the field of Extension Education. It is only presented to 2 percent of the County Extension Educators in Florida each year.

Dunning is the commercial horticulture agent in Okaloosa County. She provides a comprehensive program to landscape and lawn maintenance professionals, property managers, garden center employees, and pest control operators.

Her Florida Association of County Agricultural Agents service includes membership, being District I director, and chair of the Scholarship and Natural Resources committees. She’s an active member of NACAA, Florida Nursery Growers and Landscape Association, International Society of Arboriculture, and the Florida Association of Natural Resources.

Her honors include National Finalist in Search for Excellence in Natural Resources and Search for Excellence in Landscape Horticulture.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Dunning accepts Distinguished Service Award

HOLT —Scout Pack 532 in Holt seeks kindergarten through fifth-grade students to join them. The group is also enrolling adult leaders and volunteers.

An information meeting is 6 p.m. Aug. 21 at the First Baptist Church of Holt Fellowship Hall, 532 US Highway 90.

Register at www.beascout.org.

Contact Natalie Chandler, 537-8408 and ngcoop@gmx.com; or Courtney Strom, 228-365-1995 and Courtney.strom.3@gmail.com, for more information.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Scout troop seeks members, leaders and volunteers

CRESTVIEW — If you have an event you would like to submit, send your first and last name and information about the event to news@crestviewbulletin.com.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 3 things to do this week in Northwest Florida

CRESTVIEW — Oliver Wade’s band, Belles and Beaus, performs every Saturday at Crestview’s Senior Activity Center; their gathering purportedly is the only scheduled activity that evening at the facility. 

However, Wade, 78, and his band mate have told the News Bulletin that various individuals have advised them to leave the center at their regularly scheduled time, or were otherwise prevented from using the center after their arrival.

The reason — an amphitheater roughly 300 feet adjacent to the senior center, to them, takes precedence over the seniors’ activities, and Belles and Beaus often have to perform at the same time as artists at the amphitheater, who audibly drown them out. 

Wade said performances at the amphitheater are scheduled without notice from officials at the Department of Public Works, which oversees the senior center. On one occasion, Wade said, his band was even told to leave after they had set up their musical equipment, so people at the amphitheater could count their group’s ticket money in the senior center.

The News Bulletin reported on this issue last month, but has anything changed, in Wade’s view?

“… Wayne Steele’s [the public services director] response [was] that he always gave us notice…” Wade said, adding he doesn’t believe that’s been the case.

Steele told the Bulletin that time is of the essence; conflicts arise when amphitheater performances are scheduled on a Friday, and city workers lack enough time to tell Wade and his band mates by Saturday.

Wade also said that when he initially set out to schedule a time for Belles and Beaus to perform, Steele said they didn’t have any evenings available on a log.  

“He implied when I was in his office that he had a log and the secretary said, ‘we’ll check and see,’ after I didn’t leave right away and he said they didn’t have any nights open,” Wade said. “So I hung around until ‘lo’ and behold’ they had Tuesday evenings open and no one was going there on Tuesday nights …”

Wade says that at the time he went down to the senior activity center to see if any seniors were using the center in the evening — just to check — and no one was there for six nights straight. 

That led Wade to question something.

“I would like them to explain if they have a log or not,” Wade said. “If he has a log, I would like to know how come he said no nights were open during the week when I proved that there were no people there any night of the week. The lights were off, the doors were locked.”

The Bulletin contacted Steele informing him that the paper was writing a follow-up to Wade’s initial complaints and asked him if there is a ‘log’ of activities at the center.

In response, he said he could not immediately interview; and, he said, “… I have NOT received any comments or we haven't been contacted by anyone from the parties using the senior center, before or after the story was released.”

At the Bulletin’s request, the assistant director of public works, Chuck Powell, provided a copy of the center’s log, a calendar of activities at the senior activity center. The only evening activity scheduled at the center was Wade’s band, Belles and Beaus, on Saturday nights, according to the document.

Wade hasn’t returned to the center to request another nighttime activity for seniors because no one has responded to his most recent request to join an evening writers group. 

“I haven’t been back up there to try to get a nighttime spot because I put the word out there for a writers group and didn’t get any response from the old folks so I just gave that up,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview resident still wants answers about perceived limited access to senior center