Health + Wellness

On The Floor With Them

For Dr. Alex Schechter, veterinary medicine begins on the ground Article by Marshall Zweig | Photography by Amy Gillespie Before he was a doctor, with a staff of twelve licensed nurses and a visiting cardiologist, Alex Schechter was a boy in Franklin who wanted to be a dog. Not just a veterinarian. He was three when he knew that. At five, he decided to become an animal.  He lived on the floor. He crawled. He barked. His parents called him Dog Boy. By the time he was nine, he’d worn his...

Health + Wellness

Bringing Up North to Downtown

Step inside a building designed to connect children with ‘outside’ Article by Marshall Zweig | Photography by Amy Gillespie The first thing most kids interact with at the Outdoor Adventure Center isn't the tree, the snowmobile simulators, or the fishing experience built to make you feel a tug on the line. It's the bear. Just inside the entrance, there's a small den with a motion sensor. Get close, and the bear wakes up. Kids run in and out for the better part of an hour, shrieking with...

Education

No Appointment Necessary

No cages, no clocks: just a black-doored sanctuary that's open to anyone who needs it Article by Marshall Zweig | Photography by Amy Gillespie Every morning, before anything else, Lisa Hill goes to the quarantine room. These are the new arrivals: cats who just got here, who don’t know yet where they are or what comes next. Lisa checks on each one. “Hi, new friends,” she says. It’s a small gesture, but it says something about how New Beginnings Animal Rescue works. Nobody here is in a hurry...

Health + Wellness

Already Home

Two callings, one mission: build a place where kids can come home to Article by Marshall Zweig | Photography by Amy Gillespie Every weekday afternoon, a van pulls up outside three Royal Oak schools and kids pile in. The van doesn’t take the kids to their houses; instead, it goes to The Salvation Army community center on North Main.  But when they arrive, they’re already home. That's how Majors Jennifer and Steve Woodard tend to describe what they do here: they focus on what a child feels...