Briefs are concise reports on what’s happening around Chester County. Our briefs this morning:

Third Mushroom Drop to be Bigger and Better than Ever

The third annual Kennett Square’s New Year’s Eve event known as the Mushroom Drop is getting bigger and better this year, as it will feature a heated event, face-painting, professional dancers, a live band and an elaborate laser show.

For this year, both merchants and residents proposed that the event be expanded with beer and wine sales, which has since been approved by the borough. It made clear however, that laws about open containers of alcohol will still be enforced.

The event will start at 6p.m. with a laser show which will repeat every hour until the big moment – the mushroom drop.

“I love this event and I think it’s a remarkable amount of exposure for the town,” enthused Dan Maffei, Councilman. “I think people in general like celebrating; whether they are from Kennett Square or somewhere else.”

Additional information about starting times for various events can be found here.

Kennett YMCA Members Bring Christmas Spirit to the Needy

Members of the Kennett Area YMCA have shown their big heart and generosity once again, making sure that over 220 needy children will have a much brighter Christmas.

During the past few weeks, members of the YMCA have been “adopting” families by picking up ornaments with suggested ideas for their presents off of the “Angel Tree”. This Friday, families visited the YMCA to pick up their presents from Santa himself, to children’s delight. The gifts made the day brighter for children from 6 months to 17 years old.

Other YMCA’s from Chester County have also participated in the program, with West Chester’s YMCA giving away gifts to 800 families in need.

“It’s nice to see the children get their gifts,” said Daniela Silva, the YMCA’s Outreach Director.

Malvern Company Redefines Mammography

Founded with the goal of redefining mammography and improving women’s healthcare treatments, Malvern based Ella Health is looking into expanding both locally and nationally.

The company, which opened its doors three years ago and now operates seven 3D centers nationwide including one in Langhorne, recently raised $1 million in a private stock sale, adding to the total of $19 million raised since it was founded in 2011. The newly acquired funds were used to open two new centers in Maryland.

Following interviews with over 100 women, Ella Health made sure to counter all the usual issues that made women postpone their exams indefinitely. Some of the methods turned out to be as simple as treating its patients as people, not numbers and having soothing music playing.

“We are looking to expand across the country and here,” said Joseph M. Shikorsky, Ella’s CEO. “One is not the number of centers we plan to have in the Philadelphia region.”

WCU President’s Medal for Service Awarded to Senator Dinniman

West Chester University has awarded its President’s Medal for Service to State Senator Andy Dinniman for his leadership and service to the university, its students and educators.

The award was presented to Dinniman during the recent commencement ceremony by West Chester University, President Greg R. Weisenstein, to honor Dinniman who has served on the faculty of West Chester University in a variety of capacities over the years. This includes teaching a popular course on Global Perspectives as part of the university’s Interdisciplinary Course Curriculum.

“It’s been a privilege to serve West Chester University, to be a part of the academic and larger community,” commented Dinniman before going to say that it is an honor “to contribute in a meaningful way to the scholarly discourse that continues to make public institutions of higher education, like West Chester, so great.”

No Tax Increase for West Chester in 2016

On Wednesday night, the West Chester Borough Council unanimously adopted the budget which ensures that there will be no tax increases for the next year, bringing Christmas to West Chester residents a few days early.  

The approved 2016 budget is predicting the borough will collect $46.59 million in revenue and spend $46.59 million, with a difference of only $2. Both numbers represent a significant increase to last year’s budget which totaled $34.36 million for both revenues and expenditures.

The West Chester budget, which can be viewed by residents on the borough’s website, is properly balanced, as required by the borough’s Home Rule Charter, with no changes made to the sewer fee.

“I am very impressed by no new taxes,” remarked Cassandra Jones, from the Borough Council. “That’s a great thing.”

Scholarships Presented to Four Local Nursing Students

Four $1,000 scholarships were awarded to local nursing students by the Brandywine Health Foundation during a holiday reception that was sponsored by the Brandywine Hospital and the Brandywine Valley Cardiology’s Cardiac Rehab Center on December 8th.

The recipients of the Cardiac Rehab Scholarship for 2015 are Amanda Smyth, Alisha Burgess, Anne Ford and Mercedes Harris. The Cardiac Rehab Nursing Scholarship Fund has provided scholarships to 63 nursing students since its inception.

“It’s so important that the fund was started and that it’s been maintained and funded and continues to benefit students over 20 years later,” commented Frances Sheehan, President and CEO of BHF. “We know that while there are tremendous changes going on in health care with potentially hundreds of thousands of Americans becoming insured and a great deal of pressure on providers to care for the previously uninsured, there will be a serious need for nurses for decades to come.”