bserver O
EAST COUNTY Thursday, april 7, 2011
You. Your neighbors. Your neighborhood.
SPORTS
Girl Power reigns supreme at 2011 Pirate Puff Classic. PAGE 23
OUR TOWN
A&E
summer fun
Discover a world of fun and excitement in our annual guide to summer camps. SEE INSERT INSIDE
Actress Melliss Kenworthy knocks us out in 10 minutes. PAGE 12.
beauty and the feet
Courtesy photo
+ UPCC resident thanks paramedic
Unlike most of Superman’s beneficiaries, University Park resident Richard St. Hilaire got to thank his hero in person. On March 30, St. Hilaire met and personally thanked paramedic Jamie Butler, who on Oct. 11, 2007, provided care en route to the hospital when St. Hilaire experienced a life-threatening heart rhythm. After doctors reviewed the care given by Butler, they told St. Hilaire if it weren’t for her quick actions and skills, he would not be alive today. “I just have not stopped thinking about it since it happened, but I wasn’t sure what your protocol was for someone to meet and thank the crew in person,” he says. “Jamie saved my life, and I just wanted to tell her thanks in person.”
+ Nolan student wins state fair
Move over, Bill Nye. Nolan Middle School eighth-grader Ethan Howell won first place in the Medicine and Health section of the junior competition at the State Science and Engineering Fair in Orlando April 1. He also won one of two Best in Fair awards out of more than 50,000 middle school submissions.
in-depth
By Pam Eubanks | News Editor
Cyndee Vanderford enjoys watching her 4-year-old son, Matt, play with toys in their East County home. Matt joined his new family — Cyndee, his father Scott, and siblings Michael, Melanie and Michelle — in the United States in early March after growing up in an orphanage in Uganda.
By Prayer, By Plane Three East County families returned last month from Africa with the newest additions to their families. Now, a total of four Ugandan orphans have new homes, new opportunities and, most importantly, new families.
EAST COUNTY — Sitting on the living room floor with Legos in hand, Matt Vanderford looks completely at home. His mother, Cyndee, grabs a larger Lego piece, and much to the delight of her youngest child, engages him in a short game of peek-a-boo with the toy block serving as a camera both to hide her face momentarily and to take her son’s picture. The 4-year-old grins a wide, toothy smile before mimicking the gesture and bringing the toy to his own face and then to his mother’s. Cyndee relishes the moment. Just a few weeks ago, Matt didn’t have toys to call his own. In fact, he didn’t even have a home, parents or a fighting chance. In his home country of Uganda, his mother abandoned him, leaving
him on the side of a road when he was just an infant. But that all changed when Cyndee and her family welcomed him into their East County home in March. Following in the footsteps of Bayside Community Church members Tony and Georgia Gamelin, the Vanderfords and two other East County families last month returned from Africa with their newly adopted children. The families hope a life here will provide the orphans with opportunities beyond their wildest imaginations. Already, it’s working.
FIRST OF FOUR
Pam Eubanks
Three-year-old Brianne Gamelin bounds across the liv-
SEE UGANDA / PAGE 10
Georgia Gamelin and her husband, Scott, pictured with their children, Brianne, Bryce, Bryan and Brittany, have joined another couple at Bayside Community Church to start Bridge of Life, a new ministry aimed at helping orphans and their caretakers.
INDEX Births...................19 Classifieds ...........27
Cops Corner............5 Crossword.............27
Opinion...................6 Real Estate...........22
Sports...................23 Weather................27
Vol. 7, No. 14 | Two sections www.YourObserver.com