Groundbreaking ceremonies for two big MSKTD projects recently – Sweetwater’s new office/warehouse addition and Erin’s House for Grieving Children new home.

Sweetwater broke ground on its 110,000 sf expansion on Wednesday, November 14^th.  In attendance for the ceremony were Governor Mitch Daniels, Mayor Tom Henry, city/county officials and economic development staff.   The new addition, a combination of warehouse/office/conference & training space, brings with it 315 full-time positions.   Big thanks to Sweetwater founder and president Chuck Surack on his continuing commitment to the Allen County community.

On Thursday, November 15^th, Erin’s House for Grieving Children broke ground on their new home off St. Joe Center Road next to the new YMCA project.   With a residential/homey atmosphere, the new 14,500 sf facility will include program rooms, a rec room, a craft room, gathering room, and administrative offices and training room.  The site will also include space for a memory garden.   Watch for future opportunities to help support the building project.

what gets you “in the doghouse?”!!!

Ahh yes, only the creative minds at MSKTD could come up with a “Puppy Pub” as our contribution to the “In the doghouse” charity event benefiting Mad Anthony’s Children’s Hope House.

Seriously, a beautiful piece of furniture – a big thanks to the MSKTD team, Wood Technologies and F&M Tile & Terrazzo for their contributions to the design and construction of the Puppy Pub.

In addition to designing their Lutheran campus facility, MSKTD is a longtime supporter of Children’s Hope House, with Jim Kratzat serving on its founding board.

Date of the event is August 30^th 2012.  Additional details can be found here – with a link coming soon that will allow you to view and also place bids on the themed dog houses.  Be sure to check it out!

Thanks to all of our friends who “liked” MSKTD’s entry for One Eleven Design’s 2011 Furniture 4 Kids table auction benefiting the FourEver Friends Scholarship fund.  MSKTD’s “Jungle Fever” table and chairs were live auctioned that evening and the winning bid of $700 went to our own Jim Kratzat, who donated the table/chairs to our friends at Erin’s House for Grieving Children.Special thanks to our design team of Amber Kolkman, Joleen Burns, Heather Krebs, Christine Spatt and your carpenter helpers for all of your hard work!Congratulations One Eleven Design on your tenth anniversary and thank you for bringing together the talents of our local design community to support this foundation so close to your hearts.

Keep Indianapolis Beautiful …. check out MSKTD’s donor profile in the latest newsletter.Indy staff Kyle Hardie and Sarah Savage are both actively involved in KIB’s young professional group SOLAR.

Yes, there are more!Congratulations to Barb Stoneburner on 25 years of service to MSKTD!In addition to her front desk and administrative duties, Barbie is responsible for coordinating the high school ICE student program.  She has been substitute mom/aunt/counselor/good listener/positive influence to dozens of our high school “runners” through the years.Barbie also leads several of MSKTD’s community efforts.  She organizes our annual Christmas Bureau Family Adoption, coordinates our bi-annual Red Cross Blood Drives and is co-founder of the Blue Jean Friday charity initiative.For her contributions to the success of MSKTD over 25 years, the Board of Directors proclaimed the week of June 6-10  “Barbie Stoneburner Week,” and presented her with a “mandated” day of vacation, a very special vacation gift, and THE prime front row parking space for the week.Did I fail to mention she also started as a child?

As part of our ongoing Blue Jean Friday campaign, our “Denim Crew” contributed $195 to Family & Children’s Services of Fort Wayne for the month of January. Family and Children’s Services “promotes and develops healthy relationships in individuals, families and communities so they are empowered to make positive life choices.”  Great job Denim Crew!Upcoming charities include Erin’s House for Grieving Children, Foundation for Fighting Blindness, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, SPCA, Community Harvest Food Bank, and Making Strides/Breast Cancer.And on a daily basis, MSKTD staff and our tenants MAGTECH/Fortune Wireless support Habitat for Humanity by collecting cans; Ronald McDonald House by collecting pop can tabs, and our Christmas Bureau family by selling cookies at our reception desk. That’s right, we assuage our guilt from our unhealthy eating habits by giving to others…

MSKTD Architect Adam Weesner as a member of team:INfill, a part of the Leadership Fort Wayne Class of 2010, updated us on their upcoming partnership with Habitat for Humanity – Fort Wayne – project:INfill

Rick Dahlstrom volunteers his time to be President of the local chapter of the Foundation Fighting Blindness.  He recently wrote an article which was published in the Journal Gazette.  MSKTD has chosen to support the Foundation with our Blue Jean Friday charity fund-raising in May.  Rick is an Architect with MSKTD and has been with us for 18 years.  He has managed prominent projects such as the Ball State University Student Recreation and Wellness Facility.  MSKTD is proud to have him on our team.

Good job MSKTD staff and partners for making December a big month for helping out others!  In addition to another huge effort for our annual Christmas Bureau family, we were able to help both Community Harvest and the St. Mary’s Soup Kitchen thru our Blue Jean Friday program.

Jim Kratzat won the Bring the Hope slogan contest.  The winning slogan is: “Indiana: crossroads of the rest of you guys”.  Congratulations Jim!Bring the Hope sponsored the contest.  Jim’s charity is Black Pine Animal Park.