Editor, Author at Milwaukee Independent

Jodi Gibson: Building a Zoo for Milwaukee’s future generations

Posted by Editor | May 30, 2018 |

One of Jodi Gibson’s childhood memories revolved around a photo of her taken at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Now as the President and CEO of the Zoological Society of Milwaukee, she saw that there had been practically no change to the exhibit she adored in her youth. After all those years it remained frozen in time, and Gibson felt there was an opportunity to update the Zoo complex to the mutual benefit of the animal and the public. On May 24, Gibson was part of the team that announced a $25 million capital campaign, and a roadmap for the...

Artistic Beasties to build awareness for Zoo’s Window to the Wild fundraising effort

Posted by Editor | May 30, 2018 |

Beasties Safari is a summer-long public art project of the Zoological Society of Milwaukee to build awareness of the Window to the Wild Capital Campaign. Presented by Blue Moon, the campaign is raising money for Adventure Africa, which will include new exhibits for the elephants, hippos and rhinos. The Beasties will be on display through Labor Day, September 3. Beasties By The Numbers 42 Beasties are on Safari with 17 on Zoo grounds – including a 16-foot Beastie outside the Zoo entrance, 7 in the Waukesha area and 18 in Milwaukee. Each Beastie has a sponsor. Blue Moon is...

Girl Scouts navigate cemetery labyrinth to plant American flags in honor of veterans

Posted by Editor | May 25, 2018 |

In preparation for the Memorial Day holiday on May 28, more than 150 Girl Scouts and family members from the Sun Lakes Council spent a day traversing nearly 200 acres of soggy grass to plant patriotic banners on the graves of veterans buried at Forest Home Cemetery. After a morning rain on May 19, the young volunteers from Muskego, Big Bend, and Wind Lake honored fourteen hundred veterans. “Each year we are involved in a service project, and for 2018 it is a military focus, around soldiers and veterans,” said Carmen Jegers, an organizer of the Girl Scout volunteers....

A Milwaukee street located next to Dr. Lester Carter’s historic pharmacy renamed in his honor

Posted by Editor | May 23, 2018 |

After six decades as a practicing Pharmacist, Dr. Lester L. Carter, Jr. was recognized for his service to multiple generations of the community with an honorary street name outside the pharmacy that he built into a pillar of the Amani neighborhood. The street naming ceremony was held at the corner of 24th and Burleigh streets, in front of the Hayat Carter Herbal Pharmacy. The event was attended by dozens of area residents, who have depended on Dr. Carter’s remedies over the years, and elected officials from the city, county, and state. “Dr. Carter is a trailblazing Black business owner...

Hashim Zaibak: Expanding the dream of Dr. Carter to build healthy communities

Posted by Editor | May 23, 2018 |

Two men who were separated by age and place of birth, found a shared bond in their love of helping people, experience in the study of pharmacy, interest in herbal remedies, and finding themselves as outsiders who relocated to Milwaukee. Dr. Lester L. Carter, Jr. grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and was the first African American to open his neighborhood pharmacy in 1968. Hashim Zaibak, Pharm. D. was born in Palestine and came to America in 1992. In 2011 he began the Hayat Pharmacy chain in the Milwaukee area, taking the company’s name from the Arabic word for ‘life.’...

Chris Abele and Microsoft partner to fund expansion of Computer Science in local High Schools

Posted by Editor | May 16, 2018 |

County Executive Chris Abele recently announced his personal donation of $250,000, together with a matching commitment for contribution from Microsoft Philanthropies, to expand Microsoft’s Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS) program in the Milwaukee area. The program helps high schools build and grow sustainable computer science programs through partnerships between classroom teachers and technology industry volunteers. “It is more important than ever for children in Milwaukee to be prepared for the jobs of the future,” said Abele. “Computer science is a vital and inevitable driver in today’s global innovation economy and our students need to be able to...