Host Families

Sixteen students from Spain need local host families from June 30 until July 27. What is a host family? Young couples, single parents, grandparents, families with small children or families where both parents work all can be host families. Sponsor Vickie Erickson says, "You will get unforgettable experiences, increased understanding of another culture. Make a lifetime friendship by adding a new member to your family. " Contact Erickson at 443-987-1199 or vickieerickson4@yahoo.com , for more information.

For those looking to get outdoors before going indoors to watch the Orioles and Ravens on television Sunday, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy wants you. As part of the National Public Lands Day, the ATC Visitor Center in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., is hosting its second-annual Family Hiking Day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. next Saturday. Admission is free. According to Javier Folgar, marketing and communications manager for the ATC, the activity in Harpers Ferry grew out of the national event.

Talking about Pedro Silveren's wedding brings tears to the eyes of Betsy Harner. It probably always will. Silveren played for the short-season Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds in 2006 and 2007. He got married in March 2009, but his mother couldn't make it out of the Dominican Republic for the wedding, and Silveren asked Harner to walk with him down the aisle. "Oh my gosh, you can't even imagine what that meant to me," said Harner, wiping her eyes. Betsy and Michael Harner became close to Silveren by opening their home to him as a host family.

Gustavo, a 12-year-old orphan from Colombia, has spent a week at camp, attended the Catonsville July 4th parade and watched an IronBirds baseball game at Ripken Stadium during what he has been told is a vacation to America. In reality, he and nine other Colombian orphans who have traveled thousands of miles are in search for a permanent home, even if they don't realize it. For Gustavo, the ideal home would be in Harford County near his siblings. He is staying in Havre de Grace with a family who adopted his older sister Daniela two years ago. Another older sister, Yaqueline, will soon become part of a Bel Air family.

Kidsave International is seeking host families for its Maryland Summer Miracles Program, which brings orphanage children, ages 7 to 12, to the U.S. to experience family life and attend camp. The intent is for children to meet a family interested in adopting or advocating on their behalf. Host families are needed for an expected seven children from Taiwan for five weeks during July and August. Host families are expected to provide a loving, stable environment for the child, get the child to camp, attend all required Kidsave functions and advocate for the child during his/her visit.

Stacy Fair is running out of time.The Abingdon woman has only seven more days to find homes for 16 teen-age foreign students who are scheduled to arrive in Harford County next Sunday for a monthlong visit.Her quest to house the group of 25 students has not been easy."Maybe it's because it's summer," says Mrs. Fair, the local coordinator of International Education Forum, a nonprofit student-exchange organization.She has advertised, she has hung "urgent" posters in local neighborhoods, and today and tomorrow, she'll be staked out at a table at Harford Mall looking for host families for students from Spain and Russia.

Sarah Mazzorini is coming back. The Italian teen-ager lived here two years ago with her American family under the auspices of the Education Foundation for Foreign Study and attended Hammond High School. She has returned this summer to visit her American family for three weeks before returning home.Lisa Solomon, who helps place the visitors in Howard County, says the program still is looking for a few good homes.The students who come to visit are a studious and independent lot. They all speak English.

Martin Vogt's route to the first day of classes at South Carroll High School Monday began more than 4,200 miles northeast of Mount Airy -- in the suburbs near Olten, Switzerland.Olten is a small city of about 20,000 people about an hour from Zurich. Martin, 17, has traveled to Florida, California, Nevada and Hawaii with his family, but the Swiss youth wanted to experience the United States as a high school student."I wanted to get to know the USA better -- not as a tourist," he said.Martin's wish came true thanks to an opportunity provided by Youth For Understanding, a nonprofit international student organization based in Washington.

Families are being sought to host players coming to Harford County for the Cal Ripken World Series next month. The series will feature 10 teams from across the country and six teams from abroad. The series is the culmination of the season for the 12-year-old participants of Cal Ripken Baseball, the largest division of the Babe Ruth League. Players will begin arriving Aug. 8 and will depart Aug. 19. In addition to teams from the United States, teams from Australia, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico and South Korea will be playing in the series.

Bruno Suarez, a Spanish exchange student, considers himself lucky.The transition from Spanish to American secondary school has been smooth for the 16-year-old, even though he does not have a host brother or sister attending Francis Scott Key High School with him.A recent change in Carroll's administrative regulations, however,may make it more difficult for students like Bruno, who lives with the Cogswells on a farm outside Taneytown, to attend county schools...

Scotchtown Hills Elementary School will host a family dinner night on Nov. 10, 5-7 p.m., at the school 15950 Dorset Road, Laurel. Join the students and staff at Scotchtown Hills Elementary School as they host a fundraiser in support of the school's healthy kids club. For more information, call 301-497-3994. —Lauren Budik

When she was 11 years old, Alexis Ross discovered she had type 1 diabetes. She had lost 20 pounds, lacked any energy and was unable to quench her thirst. Finally, one day, she was rushed to the hospital by her mother, Caroline. "My blood sugar was over 1200," Alexis said quietly. "Normally it should be between 80 and 150. " She spent a week at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore. The seventh grader learned to give herself four injections of insulin a day, and to check her blood sugar six to nine times daily.

Sixteen students from Spain need local host families from June 30 until July 27. What is a host family? Young couples, single parents, grandparents, families with small children or families where both parents work all can be host families. Sponsor Vickie Erickson says, "You will get unforgettable experiences, increased understanding of another culture. Make a lifetime friendship by adding a new member to your family. " Contact Erickson at 443-987-1199 or vickieerickson4@yahoo.com , for more information.

Talking about Pedro Silveren's wedding brings tears to the eyes of Betsy Harner. It probably always will. Silveren played for the short-season Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds in 2006 and 2007. He got married in March 2009, but his mother couldn't make it out of the Dominican Republic for the wedding, and Silveren asked Harner to walk with him down the aisle. "Oh my gosh, you can't even imagine what that meant to me," said Harner, wiping her eyes. Betsy and Michael Harner became close to Silveren by opening their home to him as a host family.

I have had a stranger knock on my front door asking for money for the bus so he could get to a hospital where his wife was in labor. I have had strangers asking for my signature on a petition or for a donation to a cause. I have had politicians want to introduce themselves to me and women who want to save my soul. I have had strangers at my door selling memberships, subscriptions and candy or looking for work or a ride. And I have managed to say no to just about everybody.

When it comes to immersing themselves in another culture, exchange students from Howard County don't fool around. The second that Spain defeated Germany to win its first Euro Cup football championship in 44 years, county students visiting the Spanish city of Tres Cantos last month joined with a few hundred local teens to frolic fully dressed in the town's fountain. "It was the most incredible moment of the trip - of our lives!" said Erica Blum, a rising senior at River Hill High School.

It was about three weeks ago that Churchville's Olga Perkins got a phone call from 12-year old Alejandro "Chuckie" Canales of Mexico City. "Chuckie asked me if his room was available," said Perkins, who with her husband, Bob Perkins, are one of the host families for the second Cal Ripken World Series in Aberdeen. "I told him, your room is always available." Canales is the only returning player on the defending champion Mexico team that is off to a 2-0 start in this year's series after an 8-0 victory over the Dominican Republic (0-1)

The local coordinator of the International Education Forum is "desperately" seeking host families for two Spanish high-school boys and their teacher due to arrive in Pasadena tomorrow evening.The three, who are part of a larger group of exchange students, were left without lodging when their hosts canceled at the last minute, explained Sharon Harrigan, the program coordinator.The students are two boys, ages 15 and 16. Their teacher is a 34-year-old woman.They are among a group of about 30 students and teachers who will spend three weeks in the area.

For 11 months of the year, Deb Norcross stays busy working as a financial analyst, playing chauffeur for three active boys - Tyler, 12, Hunter, 11, and Parker, 8 - and juggling five schedules. Despite her hectic life, the Forest Hill resident has opened her home and heart to two more boys every August for the past six years. She acts as a surrogate mother, providing them with transportation, meals, laundry service and entertainment. She takes on the added responsibility because the positives far outweigh the negatives, she said.

Individuals with disabilities and senior citizens ages 60 and older who cannot use the fixed route bus to get to the polls for Maryland's Presidential Primary Election Day on Tuesday can use Harford Transit's Paratransit services. The service is provided to and from locations within three-quarters of a mile of a bus route during normal operating hours. Eligible riders may reserve trips the day before they want to travel. Harford Transit can also schedule trips one hour earlier or later than the requested time.