People, Places & Events

Band Boosters set Valentine breakfast at KHS
Special to The Monitor
KEMP–The Kemp Band Boosters will be serving a Valentine’s Day pancake breakfast from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb 14, at the Kemp High School Cafetorium.
A silent auction will be held, featuring baskets of love created by the band students and items from local sponsors. Other fund-raising activities will be held.
Breakfast will feature heart-shaped pancakes, plus sausage or bacon, along with juice or coffee for $5.
Everyone is invited, especially those who tend to forget Valentine’s Day!
We’ll be furnishing all but the serving in bed, so come on out to help our boosters and high school band students raise funds for their spring break trip.
As usual, sponsor donations are greatly appreciated and volunteers are needed.
 

Reneé Templeton fund-raiser set Valentine’s Day
Special to The Monitor
EUSTACE–A Valentine’s dinner fund-raiser for Reneé Templeton will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, at the First Baptist Church of Eustace.
The menu will include pork tenderloin, garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, dessert, coffee and tea.
Tickets are $10 per person.
Those interested in attending may call (903) 340-5326 for ticket locations.
The Reneé Templeton Hope fund has been established at Prosperity Bank (formerly Franklin Bank).
All of us have different views on life, but most of us have never had the view that Renee’ Templeton now has.
In September, while helping her husband, Rusty, cut down a tree, Templeton was injured when the tree fell on her.
Her back was broken at T-12, severing her spinal cord and leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. Her view is now from a seated position in her wheelchair.
She had surgery soon after the accident and spent months in rehabilitation at Baylor in Dallas and the Olympic Center in Tyler.
Her therapists all agree that she has progressed at an incredible rate and is ahead of schedule in the grand scheme of rehab.
There are things that you can’t rehab for.
The Templeton’s built a home in Eustace in 2003 with all the things they had always wanted in their home.
A large kitchen with double ovens, a jacuzzi tub, a large walk-in shower, a fireplace and a large den with room for a big, soft sofa.
They still have all those things, but those are the very things that Renee’ finds impossible to use.
There were many modifications that had to be made just so she could come home.
There were doorways to enlarge, shower doors to remove and carpet to pull out.
Faith Construction of Eustace sent crews who donated their labor to make sure all of this was completed.
“We could have never done it without the help of Paul and his crews,” Templeton said. “They were a great blessing to our family,” he added.
She has always been an avid cook. She and her friend, Sharon Strickland, began a catering business in 2003.
They have catered events for as few as 10 and as many as 400.
“My kitchen is what I miss most. Being able to get in there and bake a cake or make a casserole whenever I want,” Templeton said.
Although her cabinets have been rearranged so that the most used items are in the lower cabinets, there are still obstacles. “She can put a pan on the stove, but she can’t see over in it to see if it is boiling or not,” Strickland said.
Transportation is a trick too. The wheelchair that Templeton uses will not fit into the trunk of their Toyota Camry without some work.
The wheels, arms, cushion and wheelie bars have to be removed so that the chair can fold and fit into the trunk.
This requires someone being there with her wherever she goes.
“You lose your independence,” Templeton said. “Before the accident, if I decided to go to the grocery store to pick-up a few things, I just did it without any hesitation. Now, I have to make sure there is someone to help me. That is a big deal,” she added.
There is assistance available for people with these types of injuries.
The Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) helps people get the devices and aids that are needed for their lives to return to “normal,” as much as possible.
The short term things-transfer boards, shower chairs, and wheelchairs are not too long in coming.
The bigger things, like transportation, a van for example can take 18-24 months to secure.
“There are things, every day, that we realize need to be modified and purchased to help her with this transition,” Rusty Templeton said.
“But the funds are sometimes not there,” he added.
To help the family with expenses, friends planned a breakfast in September and are now planning a Valentine’s dinner for them.
“We really want to help them with anything we can, Strickland said.
“Templeton is an incredible person and has shown great strength and determination.
“We are hosting this dinner to help raise the money they need to get a van, so that she can get some of her independence back,” she said.