Bill Bates Marlin Drive West, is the 2019 president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He served as AIA’s 2018 vice president and has been a member of its board of directors since 2011. He has chaired boards for Design Center Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation as well as the Green Building Alliance.
Bates recently retired from Eat’n Park Hospitality Group, where he was the vice president of real estate and responsible for the restaurant growth division. He was also an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
Sari Gruber, Ashland Avenue, will play Musetta in Pittsburgh Opera’s production of La Bohème on March 30 and April 2, 5 and 7 at the Benedum Center. She is reprising the role, which she played for Pittsburgh Opera in 2014 when the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called her performance, “funny and seductive.” Gruber will be joined by her 12-year-old daughter, Katharine, who will be appearing in the production as an extra. Visit www.pittsburghopera.org for tickets.
DISABILITY SUMMIT Whether you need someone to understand how difficult it is to be a caregiver to someone with a disability or mental health issue, or you want to learn about advocacy in Washington or you need a laugh, you will find it at one of the 30 informative sessions at State Representative Dan Miller’s Disability and Mental Health Summit, March 12-15, at Beth El Congregation, 1900 Cochran Road.
Admission is free but many of the session will fill, so register now at disabilitysummit.com. The summit includes a resource fair on all days, featuring state, county and local agencies, service providers and advocacy/support groups. Continuing education credits are available.
Key programs include: “Jennifer Antkowiak: Caring for the Caregiver,” Wednesday, March 13, 9 p.m.; “Gab Bonesso: Riding the Wave of Mental Health with Humor,” Thursday, March 14, 9 a.m.; “W. Gerald Oleksiak: Update from the Secretary of the state Department of Labor and Industry,” Friday, March 15, 9 a.m.; and a congressional conversation about the importance of disabilities and mental health with congressmen Mike Doyle and Conor Lamb, Friday, March 15 at 11 a.m.
Mt. Lebanon High School senior Vivian Salvucci received an award at Carnegie Mellon University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day Writing Awards competition. Salvucci’s piece, Liar, received a Best of School prize. High school and university award recipients read from their personal narratives addressing individual experiences with racial difference and discrimination.
PITTSBURGH MAILING TURNS 35 Pittsburgh Mailing, in Stowe, is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. Why are we telling you this? The magazine you’re reading gets to you thanks to the expert handling it receives there. Once Knepper Press prints our magazines, they go to Pittsburgh Mailing, where inserted advertisements are blown in and the magazines are then bundled and sent to the post office.
The business, headed by Fred Smallhoover, began as a small, family-owned shop in Carnegie but has blossomed into a 100,000-square-foot full-service center with the latest technology.
LACE UP FOR THE RACE The 23rd annual Martha’s Run, a 10K, 2-mile run and 1-mile walk, is scheduled for 9 a.m., Saturday, April 13, at the Mt. Lebanon Recreation Center. Children’s races, including longer distances for older children, begin at 10:15.
Money raised from the race has gone to beautify dozens of parks in the area, and has paid for Martha’s Playground, $50,000 worth of play equipment in Mt. Lebanon Park.
Martha Dixon, an FBI agent, was killed in 1994 attempting to stop a gunman in a Washington, DC, police station. She received the FBI Memorial Star and Medal of Valor.
DONATE Mt. Lebanon Aqua Club needs your help. Volunteers will be collecting personal care items, such as combs, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap and shampoo, at the club’s Last Splash swim meet, March 23 and 24. The items will be donated to the South Hills Interfaith Movement (SHIM). Cash donations also accepted.
Last year’s Mt. Lebanon Aqua Club food drive brought in more than $1,100 in cash and 240 pounds of food for SHIM’s food pantry. High school swimmers staffed the food drive during four sessions of our weekend swim meet and used creative costuming to bring attention to the drive.