The Gail Walker Memorial Scholarship was created in memory of former board member Gail Walker, who died in 2008. The Leona Bruno Scholarship was created in memory of the first manager of Members Advantage Credit Union.

Scholarships will be given to candidates who demonstrate scholastic achievement, personal integrity, and who are involved in their community. For more information and to download applications, visit www.macuonline.org. Applications will also be available at the credit union’s Michigan City and Portage locations.

Applications will not be accepted via e-mail; they must be mailed in or dropped off. All walk-in applications must be received by March 31 and all mail-in applications must be postmarked by March 31.

LaPorte Savings Bank employees shown at a Habitat for Humanity building site in the publication Creative Liviing.

Creative Living, a publication of Northwestern Mutual, featured the LaPorte Savings Bank in its Winter 2012 edition. The bank was recognized in the Good Works section, which highlights volunteerism, for its culture of volunteer service promoted in all the communities it serves – Chesterton, Michigan City, Westville, Rolling Prairie and LaPorte.

Bank President Michele Thompson stated: “… for a business to thrive, its community needs to thrive. Because we serve the public directly, the people who use our services are also those who use community resources like the YMCA, the hospitals and our schools. It just makes sense that we should invest time, talent and financial resources in areas that significantly impact our customers’ and employees’ quality of life.”

LaPorte Savings Bank employees serve numerous nonprofit organizations, whether on boards of directors or through committee involvement, financial support or volunteer manpower. Creative Living recognized LaPorte Savings Bank as a company that is “getting it right” when it comes to sharing its success and helping to building stronger communities.

Established in 1871, LaPorte Savings Bank is a full-service lending institution.

Harris

With 20 years of experience in public relations and marketing, Harris brings expertise and knowledge in several marketing disciplines including crisis communications, strategic planning, interactive marketing, public relations, search engine marketing, social media strategies, project management, and media planning, a Morse press release stated.

A graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington, Harris has worked with companies and organizations of varied sizes, including national RV manufacturers, community financial institutions and local nonprofit organizations.

“Stacey has the skills and knowledge required to blend traditional marketing strategies with new technologies in order to achieve increased return on investment,” said Sharee Morse, president of Morse & Company. “We are thrilled at what this will mean for our clients, and are eagerly anticipating taking our menu of services to a higher level.”

Harris will advise clients on all aspects of branding, marketing and advertising for all types of businesses. She will lead the agency in new business development and help direct the agency as it embarks on its 21st year.

“It is an honor to join the Morse & Company team,” Harris said. “I’ve had the privilege of knowing Sharee Morse and most of the Morse team for many, many years, and have had the chance to work with them in the past on different client projects. To be able to join the team now as a partner is an absolute honor. I’m excited about the high quality of marketing services we will be providing to the northern Indiana community.”

Prior to joining Morse & Company, Harris worked with HuebnerPetersen Marketing Services, based out of Fort Collins, CO. In the late 1990s she was public relations manager for Blue Chip Hotel & Casino, where she worked not only to promote the Casino, but also to lead its effort in having a positive impact on the community through in-kind and monetary donations via local sponsorships and community initiatives.

Morse & Company can be reached at 219-879-1223 or www.morseandcompany.com.

“Best Lawyers” is regarded as a definitive guide to legal excellence. Selection is by invitation only and is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey. Lawyers are not required or allowed to pay to be selected.

For more information regarding these attorneys, visit www.nlkj.com.

Shop vendors including Harry & David, Pampered Chef, Lia Sophia, Party Lite, Mary Kay, Tupperware, Gold Canyon Candles, and more. Plus, baked goods by Rittenhouse will be available. Additional vendors are welcome.

Come early for breakfast, which will be served from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. for $6, and will include french toast casserole, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and beverages.

For more information, contact Heather at 219-872-6800.

1. Nobody cares more about your money than you. Much of the financial service industry is broken. Corporate greed continues to dispense big bonuses, and advisor greed continues to prey on the trust of individual investors, as evidenced by the recent headline from Reuters’ “Wells Fargo Investments, LLC Fined $2 Million for Unsuitable Sales to the Elderly.” Investors need accountability for their investments and retirement by demanding 100% transparency from their advisors. Trust is great, but seeing is believing when it comes to your money.

2. Political dysfunction is robbing your retirement. After a year of political wrangling, the stock market is right where it began. Even as I write, the arm-crossed rhetoric of Washington and the eyes-wide-shut attitudes of Europe continue to drive “the markets.” The buy, hold and hope habits of long-term investors must change to: Buy what you know and know when to sell. Don’t invest in “the market.” Instead, gain ownership in solid companies that have proven track records of paying (and increasing) dividends.

3. Change is the new “normal.” Without change, a baby boomer would sit in front of a black and white TV, watching one of five channels, and waiting for a neighbor to get off the party line so he could call a friend. Investors can’t wait for interest rates to return to the double digits of the ’80s or for the next tech-bubble to push the markets higher. Individuals must create investment plans based on today’s realities.

So, as we turn the page to 2012, enjoy personal memories — but to the markets, say: “Lessons learned.”

IN ADDITION to being President and Senior Advisor of LaPorte-based Osborn Wealth Management, Drummond Osborn, CFP, is also a self-proclaimed retirement activist. As his firm focuses on conservative portfolio management and values-based retirement planning, he and his partner continue their personal crusades to educate and enlighten individuals on preparing for and enjoying retirement. For questions/comments, contact him at 1-800-889-7401 or at Drummond@OsbornWealthManagement.com.

Jeff Bernel

“Notre Dame is at an exciting crossroads when you consider the intersection of the Gigot Center’s mission, the foresight of establishing Innovation Park, the cross-curriculum ESTEEM master’s program, and the support of the commercialization of the university’s research, among other factors,” Bernel said. “We share the following mantra with our entrepreneurship students: Start small, think big, and dream bigger. This will be the Gigot Center’s guiding polestar.”

Bernel first arrived in LaPorte in 1976 from Buffalo, New York, serving as general manager of Bernel Foam Products. He was chairman of American Rubber Products in LaPorte from 1979 until 2005. From 2006 until 2010 Bernel was chairman and CEO of Unitek Sealing Solutions, LaPorte.

In 2001, Bernel established Bernel Investment Management LLC, an industrial real estate investment and management firm that specializes in early-stage venture investments. He has been involved in a number of industrial real estate ventures, new startups and venture turnarounds in the United States and internationally.

Bernel has taught and designed courses in management, strategy, entrepreneurship and executive education for Mendoza College. He, along with former Gigot Center Director James Davis, created the Irish Angels network that currently lists more than 200 members who support the Gigot Center’s mission of education, launching new businesses and social entrepreneurship.

Bernel serves on the Mendoza Graduate Alumni Board and the Gigot Center Advisory Board and is a former board member of numerous for-profit and not-for-profit businesses. He earned his executive MBA degree from Notre Dame in 1994. He was recognized as the 2002 Distinguished EMBA Alumni Award recipient.

The Gigot Center was established in 1998 with the mission of providing an academically rigorous business education for graduate and undergraduate students interested in entrepreneurship. In keeping with the Notre Dame mission, the center offers a number of programs aimed at furthering social entrepreneurship, including the microventuring certificate program that focuses on wealth creation through small startup ventures. Gigot also conducts the annual Notre Dame Business Plan Competitions, which award more than $100,000 in prizes to top winning teams from among 100-plus entries.

The manager will serve as the liaison between downtown businesses and the above-mentioned agencies, according to a press release. The position will be funded by those entities.

Mike Seitz, chamber president, said a connection is needed between the revitalization of downtown LaPorte and the participating agencies. “That is what this position will be designed to do: assist the downtown and its businesses with marketing, providing background information on the programs offered by the Urban Enterprise Association and linking with the Convention and Visitors Bureau to promote LaPorte tourism and shopping. The chamber will develop a CVB satellite office providing local tourism information.”

“There are many activities taking place throughout the year in the downtown area that need promotion. These activities help bring attention to the downtown. The downtown development manager will assist these activities by providing marketing and coordinating any assistance that can be provided by the sponsoring agencies. All of the participating organizations bring valuable resources to the table that can assist the businesses in the downtown and surrounding areas. This person will be the ombudsman for these local businesses,” Seitz said.

LaPorte Mayor Kathy Chroback said, “We have been actively working toward the formation of the position for some time. Our downtown has the potential to be a real tourist destination; charming buildings, landscaped streets, quaint shops and eateries. What we need is someone who can promote all that we have to offer. This will truly revitalize the area.”

Jack Arnett of the visitors bureau said, “We felt that there has been a need in the LaPorte community and the (bureau) needs to take a more active role in and proving a presence in LaPorte. We have been discussing and planning for this position for the last six months. It has taken time to ensure the funding was in place and a job description developed.

Seitz also added that the groups have received the green light for the move from LaPorte Mayor-elect Blair Milo.

Thaddeus Cutler, owner of the Thaddeus C. Gallery of LaPorte, has always loved to paint. In August 2011, he challenged himself to paint one painting a day for 99 consecutive days. The idea sprang from the classic tune, “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.”

After over three months of dedicated work, the series of paintings will culminate in an exhibition this December. All 99 paintings of 99 bottles of beer will be on display together for the first, and most likely the last, time.

The opening reception will take place Friday, Dec. 2. Doors will open promptly at 5 p.m. at the gallery, 822 Lincolnway. The reception will continue until 8 p.m. Special guests will include musical quartet Box Set of South Bend, and Backroad Brewery of LaPorte.

All works will be reproduced in a limited-edition book available through the Thaddeus C. Gallery. To preview the exhibition, visit www.99bottlesofbeerproject.com.

Gallery hours are Wed/Thur/Fri 10-6 and Sat 10-3. For more information, visit www.thaddeusc.com.

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Hours of operation for the showroom will be Wednesdays through Fridays from noon to 5 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or by appointment. To make an appointment, contact Mark Krentz at 219-369-6805.

The frame-making facility for Thanhardt-Burger and Newcomb-Macklin frames is located at 1308 Lake St. and is managed by Randy Krentz. Hours at the factory are by appointment: 1-800-826-4375.

To view Thanhardt-Burger’s handcrafted frames and artwork, visit www.thanhardtburger.com.