In brief: Plum, Oakmont area events, week of May 6, 2024

Plum to honor Rustic Ridge responders

A ceremony honoring the first responders to the Rustic Ridge house explosion is scheduled to be held at 6 p.m. May 13 at the municipal center on Mike Thomas Way.

The event, sponsored by the borough, will be held at the outdoor amphitheater or, in case of inclement weather, in the municipal center’s gymnasium.

Plum has invited members of the borough’s four volunteer fire departments, paramedics and representatives of outside agencies that were part of the response to the Aug. 12 explosion on Rustic Ridge Drive.

Oakmont-Verona Memorial Day celebration

The 2024 Oakmont-Verona Memorial Day parade and ceremony will take place Monday, May 27. The 132-year-old community tradition honors the memory of veterans who served the country.

The parade will begin in Verona on East Railroad Avenue with a marching starting at 9:30 a.m. The route will lead onto Allegheny River Boulevard across the viaduct to Pennsylvania Avenue and proceed up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Verona Cemetery at Oakmont. After the parade, a ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. with guest speaker Lieutenant Michael Pietragallo, a Navy veteran.

Attendees who know a veteran who passed away over the past year whose arrangements were outside of Verona and Oakmont can send their name, date of death and branch of service to seantruby@yahoo.com to be recognized in the program.

People can make a donation in memory of a veteran by sending a check with the veteran’s name and branch of service to the Oakmont-Verona Memorial Day Committee, c/o Matt Wimer, Treasurer, 1208 Tynsfield Road, Oakmont, PA 15139.

Vitalant schedules blood drive in Oakmont

Vitalant will hold a blood drive from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 26 in the parish hall at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 374 Delaware Ave. in Oakmont.

Vitalant is a nonprofit blood and biotherapies healthcare organization that provides blood to hospitals and patients across the U.S., specialized laboratory services, transfusion medicine expertise and research.

Appointments to donate can be made online at vitalant.org, by calling 877-258-4825 or with the Vitalant smartphone app.

Riverview students receive accolades

Riverview School District students traveled to the University of Scranton on April 20-22 to present projects at the National History Day State Finals, the second step in the National History Day process, according to a district release.

The students were sophomores Aicha Jaafar, Grace Johnson and Rosalia Lascola; and freshmen Carson Bodnar, Juliette Brun, Ayden Fichte, Sophia Gagetta, Catie Hoolahan, Hannah Hudack, Blake Huffman, Noah Hunter, Cara Johnson, Nico Lascola, Seeley Lippert, Aliyah Lookabaugh, Lilly Murphy, Ryland Ogrodowski, Nick Penkrot, Kieran Pisoni, Oden Rebarchak, Miles Sigal and Michael Woodrow.

They presented a variety of projects focused on historic topics related to the 2024 theme of “Turning Points in History.”

For the third straight year, Riverview students finished in the top two places within their categories including Brun, Hudak and Ogrodowski winning first place for their senior group performance titled “The Treaty that Built Europe.” Gagetta, Johnson and Lookabaugh won second place for their senior group performance titled “Tears of Gold: A Tudor Tragedy.” With the wins, each group earned the opportunity to present at the National Finals from June 9 to 13 at the University of Maryland.

In addition, Jaafar took home the Irwin Marcus Award for her paper titled “Bly in Blackwell’s: A Turning Point for Mental Health and Journalism.” The paper will be published in the Pennsylvania Historical Association’s “Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies,” later this year.

Plum participating in ‘Crazy Crayon’ effort

The Plum Borough Recycling Committee is partnering with the National Crayon Recycling Program to recycle used and broken crayons for the “Crazy Crayons” initiative.

While most crayons end up in landfills, they are a petroleum product that is not biodegradable. However, like other oil-based products, crayons and their paper wrappings can be recycled.

The effort provides recycled crayons to children all over the world.

A collection box for new, used or broken crayons is located in the lobby of the municipal center, 2000 Mike Thomas Way.

Rain barrel workshop slated

A rain barrel workshop will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. May 30 in the banquet hall of the Plum municipal center, 2000 Mike Thomas Way.

Water captured in rain barrels can be used for lawn care, gardens, and washing cars. They can help reduce the flow of stormwater runoff, minimizing pollutants and is a free water source for irrigation.

Participants will be provided with a barrel and hardware to assemble their own rain barrels to take home. A short demonstration will be provided to ensure barrels are ready for use.

The cost is $35. Space is limited and registrations are being taken on the borough’s website, plumboro.com.

Plum Class of ’74 reunion in works

The Plum High School Class of 1974 will celebrate its 50th reunion Sept. 13 at Veltre’s Wedding & Event Center, 324 Coxcomb Hill Road in Plum.

For more info, call 412-366-6689 or email plumalum74@gmail.com.

‘Bowl for the Cure’ scheduled

The 15th annual “Bowl for the Cure” will be held beginning at 9 a.m. May 18 at Nesbit’s Lanes, 3501 Leechburg Road in Plum.

The cost is $20 per person or $100 per lane and includes bowling, shoes, pizza, pop, random drawings, a 50/50 drawing, basket auction and door prizes.

Proceeds benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation, a nonprofit that raises money to help those diagnosed with breast cancer and survivors.

For more information, contact Seanna at 412-510-3876 or by email at bowlforthecure@comcast.net.

Pull tabs collected for charity

The Plum Recycling Committee is collecting aluminum can tabs as part of the “Million Tab Challenge” benefitting Pittsburgh’s Ronald McDonald House.

Collection containers are at 18 locations in Plum — borough building, community center, EMS building, Holiday Park firehall, Italian Club, John Anthony’s, Lelulo’s, Plum Library, Longwood at Oakmont, Nestbit’s, Oakmont Elks, public works building, recreation desk at the borough building, S&T Bank on Saltsburg Road, Shooti’s, Shop ‘n Save on Golden Mile Highway, Stanford and the Sampson YMCA.

Tabs are taken to a local scrap metal yard and weighed for cash, which is used to support the mission of the Ronald McDonald House. For information, contact Morgan Knox with the Pittsburgh Ronald McDonald House at 412-246-1103.

Oakmont library offers chess club

A free chess club for kids ages 8 to 19 is available at the Oakmont Carnegie Library.

The class meets from 3 to 5 p.m. Mondays. No experience is necessary, and no registration is required. Sessions will include introducing chess pieces and how they move, opening moves and setups, controlling the center and mid-game scenarios, checkmating and endgame, and chess etiquette.

The library is at 700 Alle¬gheny River Blvd. in Oakmont.For details, call 412-828-9532.

Group offers support for weight loss

The Oakmont TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) chapter, a support group to help those struggling with weight loss, meets Tuesday evenings at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 1261 Pennsylvania Ave. in Oakmont. Meetings begin with a private weigh-in between 5:45 and 6:10 p.m.

Anyone interested in joining can attend a meeting and decide if TOPS is right for them. For details, call 412-828-3854 or email jmjkwj@gmail.com.