The College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation will hold its Annual Meeting On Tuesday February 7, 2006, at Twin Towers. You do not want to miss this year's Annual Meeting!

• Celebrate this year's successes.
• Hear what will be accomplished in Banner Year 2006.
• Visit and celebrate with neighbors and support College Hill's bright future.
• Hear guest speaker Rob Daumeyer, editor of the Cincinnati Business Courier, tell us how how our community can utilize the media to promote itself and achieve stronger economic development.

The evening begins at 6:00 pm with registration and a half hour "Meet and Greet." Dinner is at 6:30 pm. The meeting begins at 7:15 pm. There is no charge to attend just the business meeting.

Dinner is $20 For dinner reservations call Karen Hartman or Robin Cook at 513-681-5648.

Hurricane Katrina drastically affected the Gulf Coast. It also changed life here in College Hill. You can hear first hand accounts from people who have been to the devastated Gulf Coast to help with relief efforts and see photos taken by acclaimed photographer Barry Carlin at a potluck at College Hill Presbyterian Church on January 17. The potluck starts at 6:30 pm in the church’s Fellowship Hall. Folks whose last names begin with A through L are encouraged to bring salads; M-Z people, bring desserts.

Two weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit the South, Karen Lane, director of Feast of Love in College Hill, sent a truck 780 miles to the Gulf Coast filled with enough diapers, formula and other baby items to help meet the needs of 120 infants. The drivers came back with stories of cars tossed into tree tops, stores that would accept only cash, roads crowded with power company vehicles, tree service companies and National Guard units. They had seen no buildings without damage.

Cincinnati children, filled with compassion after watching the TV news, had gone out into their neighborhoods collecting carloads of supplies and checks to send through Matthew 25 Ministries (based in Blue Ash).

The Cincinnati Presbytery swung into high gear coordinating with the denomination’s disaster assistance department. Teams which included many from this part of town took a week off from work to help in the relief effort. They traveled to Gulfport and lived in a tent village. Some were members of the “Chain Saw Gang,” cutting and moving fallen trees. Some mucked out incredibly dirty homes. All heard stories from people who barely escaped the floodwaters. One elderly man had stood on his kitchen table for six hours with only his head above water. The result was that homeowners, paralyzed by the utter devastation, took heart and got involved in restoring their property.

College Hill residents and College Hill Presbyterian Church members formed a team that explored the option of bringing refugees to the College Hill neighborhood. As time went on, a young mother and her two sons came to live in one of the church’s mission homes by Llanfair Retirement Home. They had been rescued by helicopter from the roof of their New Orleans home and airlifted to safety. Due to the kindness of numerous people, she now has a job here in Cincinnati and the boys are attending city schools.

The devastation is so bad that relief efforts will be ongoing for a long time. More volunteers are needed.

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McAuley High School varsity basketball coach, Mr. Mark Kling, chalked up his 200th career win in early January. He was honored before the game against Seton on January 5, a game which McAuley won, giving him over 200 wins. Of those victories, about 115 of them have come while Mr. Kling has been head coach at McAuley.

Coach Kling has a long and varied coaching history. A 1975 graduate of St. Francis High School Seminary, Mark played JV basketball and varsity baseball as a college student at Thomas More. He accepted his first coaching job while still in college at his alma mater, St. Francis. In 1980, Kling went on to coach at Moeller High School for a few years, and then came to McAuley from 1984-89. He left coaching for a while, and returned to coach the Roger Bacon girls to become the state champions as well as the state runner-up. Four years ago, he returned to McAuley as head coach.

You have a chance to make a big difference in the lives of the people right here in Cincinnati. This year, Cincinnati Children's College Hill Campus will be hosting its first blood drive. Your blood donation could help an accident victim, someone receiving an organ transplant or a cancer patient battling their disease. In fact, since each blood donation is separated into its components, you can actually save three lives!

Please consider donating blood at the blood mobile on January 30, 2006. The Hoxworth van will be parked in the lot at the yellow building in front of Children's College Hill facility.

Contact Pam Donaldson at (513) 636-0809 as soon as possible to schedule your appointment.

Now, more than ever, there is no need to leave the neighborhood when you feel like a casual weekend evening out--or simply some great coffee and conversation with friends.

This week, the new College Hill Coffee Company and Casual Gourmet joined Bacalls Café, LaRosas, Shakers, Sisters, Goodies, Chung Ching and Papa Johns on the Avenue as a fun place to spend a weekend evening in our own community.

Make this weekend a weekend on The Avenue!

The McAuley High School athletic department will sponsor a grade school basketball night on Monday, January 30, in the Sister Michaeleen Arena at McAuley. Admission will be free for all grade school girls and boys, who are urged to wear their school colors or spiritwear, if possible. Prizes will be given away during all three games.

McAuley’s opponent that night will be Northwest High School. The freshman game starts at 4:30 pm; the JV game at 6:00 pm; the Varsity game at 7:30 pm. The spirit shop will be open and the concession stand will be available with drinks, snacks and hot LaRosa’s pizza.

For more information, please contact Jill Hallahan, Athletic Director, at 513-681-1800 ext. 1152.