Often times, large natural disasters bring out the giving, caring side of people but unfortunately it also brings out nefarious characters who try to take advantage of those who would like to help.

The Indiana State Police has been contacted by concerned citizens saying they have received telephone calls from individuals identifying themselves as State Police representatives. The caller said they are soliciting funds for victims of Hurricane Harvey.

The persons that received these calls did not fall victim to these phone solicitors but instead did the correct thing and reported the incident.

The Indiana State Police is not soliciting funds for the victims of Hurricane Harvey and will not be contacting citizens by telephone requesting funds.

If you are contacted by anyone requesting payment or money for an event or situation, tell them to send you information through the mail and you will review the information to make an informed decision. If the call is legitimate they should be able to send you the requested information. Do your homework and make a well informed donation. Don’t fall victim while trying to help other victim’s.

As with most scams, the calls can be originating from cell phones or over the internet from all over the country or world. Tracking down this 21st century con artist is no easy task. As defined by TechTarget, caller ID spoofing is a technology that allows a caller to masquerade as someone else by falsifying the number that appears on the recipient’s Caller ID display. Just as email spoofing can make it appear that a message came from any email address the sender chooses, Caller ID Spoofing can make a call appear to come from any phone number the caller wishes, including the Indiana State Police.

The Indiana State Police feel that a well-informed public with a healthy dose of mistrust is the best defense in combating phone scammers and reminds everyone that these phone scams and cybercrimes are becoming commonplace. 

The Indiana State Police ask everyone to talk to their family about these phone scams and to have a plan in place should a scammer call you or someone you love.  Because phone scams have become nothing short of an epidemic, being aware of potential scams is a great first step in protecting yourself from falling victim to one.

There will be something super about this year’s WSLM Rock N’ Run with the Washington County Family YMCA on Saturday, Sept. 30. 

“Since we pitched this idea to the YMCA five years ago as a fundraiser, we continue to think up new themes and with the success of superhero movies we felt it would be fun to have everyone come out and dress as their favorite superhero and walk or run the course,” said Becky White, President and CEO of Salem Media. 

The 5^th Annual Rock ‘N Run 5K: Super Hero Edition will kick off Saturday September 30^th. 

Registration begins at 8am, race starts at 9am. 

Early registration is $20 and guaranteed a t-shirt on or before Sept. 15^th.  

After Sept. 16^th, late registration is $25.

“It’s been a positive way to partner with the YMCA and the community to get people involved and introduced to fitness and running – or even just moving around,” said White. “Parents with children and all ages come and participate in this event which continues to raise money for the YMCA, which helps its members with their fitness goals.” 

Go online to register at www.eventbrite.com and search Salem, IN, or print out the attached registration form and fill out and mail in with your check.

“We are really looking forward to a fun event,” said Kristy Purlee, CEO of the Washington County Family YMCA. “This event not only promotes fun and health, it also promotes social responsibility,” said Purlee.

The YMCA offers financial assistance to families and individuals to ensure that everyone is able to participate in their mission. All proceeds raised from the 5k event will aid in making the financial assistance program possible.

If you’d like to help with the event, please call WSLM at 812.620.7271 or reach the Washington County Family YMCA at 812.883.9622.

Click here for your RockNRunRegistration entry form. 

The temporary closing will not effect the Depot train museum but the Stevens Museum and the Pioneer Village will be closed for the duration. 

Old Settlers Days will be taking place at the museum Sept. 16 and 17. 

Having gone through their own flood experience in May, Salem and Washington County residents are getting together to help those in Houston who have faced flooding on a grand scale – being inundated with millions of gallons of water and having 100,000 homes destroyed. 

Tony Mendizabel, minister of Mt. Tabor Church along with the church’s youth minister, Luke Wenger have banded together with other church members to reach out to the community to seek help for those in Texas. 

“Our church has taken monitory donations to International Disaster Emergency Service (IDES) and  I came up with the idea of taking donations. I thought since we had went through the flood, people might want to send items to Texas. It’s gone fast,” said Kristine Neff Shetler, a member of Mt. Tabor. 

Here’s a list of the supplies they’re asking for:

Diapers, baby wipes, baby items, clothing, undergarments, medical supplies, toiletries, paper towels, bleach, inflatable air mattresses, non-perishable food items, and bottled water.

For more information, contact Tony (219-477-8669) or Kristine (812-896-2212) to schedule a drop off.

1) Pray. Pray for those affected, the first responders, and those who are coordinating relief.

2) Monetary Support. Mount Tabor is directing all donations to IDES. We will be taking up a special offering on September 10th or you can go to ides.org and donate today.

3) Bottled Water. Drop off bottled water to the church. If nobody is here just leave it outside the doors.

“We are working with Southern Hills Church and Pekin United Methodist Church on a second trip that will be coming up. There’s more to come out of this,” said Shelter. “We’d like all items to be at Mt. Tabor by 6p Friday,” said Shetler.

“There’s a lot that they need,” she added on WSLM’s Coffee Club show this morning. “I wanted to make sure we took the right things and not the wrong things because I didn’t want to be told we can’t bring this. I contacted the Mayor’s office, which directed me to Feeding Texas. A lady there named Julie is coordinating the food banks in that area. All items donated will go to the food banks. Anybody there helping give relief will get the supplies they need and take them to the disaster areas.”

The community is working together to get items into the church’s hands before this weekend and will be collecting more items to send down on Sept. 10. 

Here is a list of collection points and what businesses are doing:

The YMCA is also collecting for Mt. Tabor.  Items will be picked up by 5pm, Friday Sept. 1st

All IN Pediatrics are collecting diapers for adults and children as well as wipes.  Collections will end Wednesday, Sept. 6th.  All IN Pediatrics is located at 1025 N. Jim Day Rd. in Salem.

New Hope United Methodist Church and Southern Hills Church are collecting hygiene kits with include hand towels, wash cloths, combs, nail clippers, toothbrush, bandaids, etc.  For a complete list of the exact items needed, please call New Hope UMC at 812-883-2569 or SHC at 812-883-1637.  All donations must be dropped off at New Hope UMC by 7pm on Tuesday, Sept. 5th.  New Hope UMC is located at 4957 W. State Rd 60 in Salem.

Walmart-Salem- Walmart is doing a money campaign drive with The American Red Cross Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund starting today thru Sept. 6th. Anyone can donate through the registers any amount they want to give. All money will go 100% to this fund through the American Red Cross.

Amber’s Dance Studio- is collecting dance supplies for studios.  They are also doing shirts.  

Salem and West Washington Community Schools are joining with Orleans Community Schools and Mt. Tabor Christian Church to send supplies to the flood victims in Houston.  

Items must be dropped off at Salem High School by 3pm, tomorrow, Friday September 1st. A trailer will be leaving to take the items down this Saturday morning

Salem City Hall and the Washington County Courthouse will also be collecting items to be taken to Houston.

The Washington County Community Foundation will be giving away $30,000 in its fall grant cycle. 

The foundation will be reviewing grant applications from non-profits serving Washington County. 

The grants will be issued from the foundation’s Touch Tomorrow funds. 

Grant applications for the fall grant cycle are available at the WCCF office, located at 1707 North Shelby Street, Suite 100. 

A download is also available at https://wccfapplyonline.biz/index.php/view-grant-application

The application deadline will be at 3:30p Sept. 14

For additional information, contact Judy Johnson or Lindsey Wade-Swift at 812.883.7334. 

The Washington County Community Foundation is now offering scholarships to non-traditional students through its Education Matters initiative. 

Education Matters is a regional undertaking organized by the community foundations that serve Washington, Scott, Harrison, Clark and Floyd counties to try to increase the number of working adults in our region start but never completed some form of post-secondary education – education that extends beyond high school. 

You might be surprised to learn that in Southern Indiana, only 25 percent of our workforce has an associate’s, bachelors or professional degree – compared to 38 percent nationally. 

“Yet one in four of our community’s adult workers has earned some college credits,” said Lindsey Wade-Swift, of the WCCF. “That’s over 3100 in Washington County. For whatever reason they started but never completed their post-secondary education. This represents a tremendous amount of untapped potential in our community.”

The community foundations that created Education Matters, have elected to concentrate on a small sliver of the overall issue, those one in four of our adult workers who have some post-secondary credits but did not complete their degrees or certifications. 

This population of people who started but didn’t finish their education is where the Washington County Community Foundation sees opportunity to implement immediate changes that can drive our educational attainment numbers up, ultimately having real impact on our community, said Wade-Swift.