By Allison Roorda
Community Post
The eighth Auglaize County VALU Class celebrated its graduation ceremony on Wednesday, June 24 with a tour of Joint Township District Memorial Hospital followed by lunch at the Auglaize and Mercer Counties Convention and Visitors Bureau.

During the tour of JTDMH, the class learned the hospital’s history.  The four townships of St. Marys, Noble, Jackson and German came together in 1954 to form a hospital as a memorial to area vets, according to Anne Larger, community outreach coordinator for Grand Lake Health.
Larger said the hospital started as a 30-bed facility in 1954 and has grown to 125 beds with 350 hospital employees and more than 700 employees total through Grand Lake Health.
At the graduation lunch the class learned about the difficulties the visitor’s bureau has faced so far this year.
Donna Grube, executive director of the Auglaize and Mercer Counties CVB, spoke to the recent graduates on the examples of leadership she has seen.
“There have been some really challenging things happening this year,” said Grube. “What has impressed me so much is how many leaders have stepped forward to help fix these challenges.”
Grube spoke of three challenges that Auglaize and Mercer Counties have seen in regards to tourism: closing the Armstrong Musuem, the Grand Lake St. Marys Algae Toxin Advisory and the threat to the Holy Relic Shrine in Maria Stein.
The Ohio Historical Society’s cuts proposed earlier this year to close down the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum for financial reasons.
“It’s a great museum,” stated Grube. “Here we have a guy, small town, humble beginnings, and he became the first man to walk on the moon. I think it’s an example of the small town spirit around here.”
The museum receives between 20,000 and 40,000 visitors yearly, making it a financial asset to the county, according to Grube. To keep the museum opened, concerned citizens formed the Armstrong Museum Association, which included representatives from local school districts, villages, cities and historical societies.
“Right now, the prognosis is cautiously optimistic,” Grube said.
The challenge of the Algae Toxin advisory, Grube explained, is keeping interest and use of the lake high.
“It does make marketing issues very difficult,” said Grube.
The process of cleaning up the lake is foreseen to be a long road and involves everything from natural barriers on the lake—such as marshlands and reeds—to watching the amount of run-off from fields that contain manure and fertilizer.
“A lot of leaders have stepped up,” Grube said of the lake project. The Grand Lake St. Marys Improvement Association has made contacts with ODNR as well as local individuals for opportunities for funds and resources for the lake.
The most recent challenge has been the Relic Shrine in Maria Stein. The average age of the Sisters caring for the Shrine is 67. The Sisters are meeting with a futures planning committee to discuss the direction of the Shrine. They are looking at arranging a board to oversee and upkeep the Shrine while the Sisters would still be responsible for the religious duties.
“It’s a beautiful, lovely place of peace and prayer,” said Grube. “It’s very important for the history of our area. It’s an important spot in the Land of the Cross-tipped Churches.”
Grube emphasized she was impressed with the level of leadership every challenge was met with.
“Of the three groups I’m working with on these three issues, there’s no overlap,” explained Grube. “There’s a lot of leadership in this area; it’s a can-do area.”
Kelly Kill, executive director of the St. Marys Area Chamber of Commerce, congratulated the class and handed out diplomas to the participants.