‘Tis the Season for Holiday Charity Giving

With the holiday season fast approaching, many worthwhile local charities deserve your attention, especially those serving Pinellas County and the Gulf Beaches. Here’s a sampling of those worth your consideration – all can use volunteers and donations.

Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce CEO Robin Miller introduced the first annual Festival of Trees that combines creativity and the holiday spirit — with five Gulf Beaches city locations. “Set for Saturday, November 24, from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm, the fund-raiser with creatively decorated artificial trees will benefit both our Chamber and Tampa Bay Watch, capping its 25th anniversary year of ‘protecting the Bay every day’,” Miller said.

Participating towns and locations include:

  • St. Pete Beach Community Center, 7701 Boca Ciega Drive;
  • Madeira Beach City Center, 300 Municipal Drive;
  • Treasure Island Community Center, 154 106th Avenue;
  • Indian Shores Municipal Center, 19305 Gulf Blvd; and
  • Indian Rocks Beach City Hall, 1507 Bay Palm Blvd.

Various sponsor levels are available:

Bright Star Media, $10,000; Tree Topper, $5,000; Tinsel Town, $1,500; Village Sponsor, $500; & Tree Sponsor, $99 per tree. For more details on sponsorships and volunteering for the Festival of Trees, contact Emily Roberts at the Chamber by phone 727-360-6957 or email to emily@tampabaybeaches.com

PCSO Ride & Run With the Stars

For the 15th consecutive year, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) will kick off the holiday giving season through a Food Partnership with the Indian Rocks Beach Rotary Club, Beach Community Food Pantry at Calvary Episcopal Church, Pinellas Suncoast Fire Rescue District, and Publix. The partnership aims to limit the number of families who go hungry by delivering food to families who otherwise could not afford traditional holiday meals around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.

Volunteers load patrol cars with hearty Publix meals, including items like fully cooked turkeys, cornbread, mashed potatoes, green beans, loaves of bread, and more, and deputies deliver them to families whom they have identified in their daily work within the community.

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri notes that the PCSO also hosts the largest law enforcement-organized holiday charity fundraiser in the Tampa Bay Area, raising over $500,000 in donations and proceeds since it began 25 years ago.

On Saturday, December 1st at Fort De Soto Park, Ride & Run With The Stars (R&RWTS) will celebrate its silver anniversary with the customary day’s worth of family activity including a 5K chipped race, 10K and 25-mile bike rides, a “Challenge” 5K run and 25-mile bike ride combination, and a “Family Fun” 1-mile walk or skate.

Post-race activities include the opportunity to refuel with food truck fare, a Kids Zone with arts and crafts and a climbing wall, a fly-in visit from Mr. and Mrs. Claus on the Sheriff’s Office helicopter, and a silent auction with tables full of gift baskets, vacation tickets, gift certificates, and more. All proceeds support the Sheriff’s Holiday Sharing Project, through which PCSO members use the money raised to shop for holiday gifts, clothing, food, and other necessities for families in need. Like the food drive partnership, the gift packages are hand-delivered by familiar-faced deputies.

To get involved with Ride & Run With The Stars – registering for a race, ordering a t-shirt or Silver Anniversary Challenge Coin, sponsoring the event, or donating — contact Lieutenant Joe Gerretz at 727-582-6287, and visit www.rideandrunwiththestars.com for more information.

CASA

CASA (Community Action Stops Abuse) has been helping domestic violence survivors and their children for the last 40 years! Its dedicated team of experts has provided the most comprehensive provision of services in the area with the ambition to end domestic abuse. Our mission is to provide safety, empowerment and prevention services supporting every walk of life.

CASA serves men and women of all genders, ages and ethnicities … 1 in 3 Women are victims of domestic violence … 1 in 4  Men are victims of domestic violence… 1 in 15 Children are exposed to intimate partner violence each year, and 90% of these children are eyewitnesses to this violence and  7 in 10 Survivors reported that their abuser also targeted pets.

“Our new logo and tagline better communicate CASA’s approach to domestic violence in our community,” said Lariana Forsythe, CASA CEO. “We want a logo and color palette that conveys strength and empowerment, with a tagline that urges society to no longer turn a blind eye to those experiencing domestic abuse. Through this rebrand, we’re asking the community to stand with us in our work to bring this systemic issue to the forefront so that no survivor feels like they have to live in silence.”

CASA programs provide: Emergency Shelter, Justice advocacy, Support groups, Youth programming, and Economic empowerment programs. The newest is a Domestic Violence Awareness Training for the Workplace program. Starting with this holiday season, the community can “Stand Up To Silence” year round by donating, volunteering, or purchasing items on CASA’s Wish List on www.casa-stpete.org/GetInvolved.

Wish List categories include Emergency Clothing, Personal Care Items. Household Kitchen, Bath, Bed & Cleaning Supplies, Kids Bikes, Tricycles and Scooters, Non-Perishable Food (snacks and dinner), Gift Cards (Dollar Tree, Winn Dixie, Aldi, Walmart), Support Group Materials & Art Supplies, and Books. Shop from CASA’s Amazon Wish List and have items shipped directly to us OR  bring donations to our office at 1011 First Ave North, Second Floor, St. Petersburg 33705.

The Kind Mouse Feeds Kids

The Kind Mouse mission is to assist Pinellas families in transition and their chronically hungry children, while developing the next generation of volunteers to carry on the work. After the downfall of the economy, Gina Wilkins, an architectural draftsperson learned of the estimated 36,000 hungry kids in her county. She founded The Kind Mouse Productions, Inc. where she – with the help of many volunteers – send home weekend nonperishable foods to these children. 

The group also helps the families, along with their pets, downsized by the economy with a 90-day program. To date, over 190,000 kids have been fed by The Kind Mouse, mostly by youth outreach groups Mice In Training and Mice Interns – ages 5 – 18. It’s “Kids Feeding Kids.”

Getting the community involved, this will be the Seventh Annual Hotel Food Drive Competition from Nov. 12 through Dec. 14 and Holiday Office Food Drive from Nov. 26 through Dec. 11. As Gina told Paradise News, “To jazz it up a bit, the hotels actually compete for poundage of Mouse Nibbles (little snack-size food) – given each weekend to hungry local children in Pinellas County who do not know where their next meal outside of school is coming from. The top hotel gets a trophy and bragging rights, with last year’s winner the Crowne Plaza Tampa-Westshore.

“Participation is as easy as 1,2,3. 

#1 Kind Mouse delivers empty bins to you. 

#2 You fill the bins. 

#3 Kind Mouse picks up your filled bins. Mouse Nibbles most needed include Shelf Stable Milk, Juice Boxes, Cereal (Hospitality Size), Vienna Sausages, Pop Top Pastas, Jif To Go, Granola Bars. Pudding Cups, Jell-O Cups, Fruit Snacks, Cheese & Crackers, Peanut Butter & Crackers.”

Any local hotel or business can assist The Kind Mouse in this program. Just email to events@thekindmouse.org and bins to collect food will be delivered and picked up at the drive’s end day. Volunteers are always needed and individual donations are always welcome – just go online to www.thekindmouse.org and then click on Volunteer and/or Donate.

PARC – Disabilities to Capabilities

PARC is proud to provide over 40 services and programs to more than 800 children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Celebrating 65 years in the community, PARC strives to spread the vision, mission and values that have been instilled throughout its history – “Turning Disabilities Into Capabilities.”

PARC helps children and adults focus on what they can do rather than what they are unable to do.  Children and their families receive early intervention services from an interdisciplinary team including teachers, social workers, nurses, behavior analysts, and therapists. 

For adults, PARC embraces a “person centered” approach that allows staff to assist PARC participants in making their own choices.  PARC staff also work with individuals who are important in the participant’s life, such as family members, guardians and friends. 

For the holidays, PARC’s ‘Wish Upon a Star’ program was created to ensure that each of the more than 800 children and adults that attend PARC fulfill their personal “wish” to receive a special gift for the holidays – partnering with local companies as sponsors to allow their employees to voluntarily fulfill PARC wishes. Sponsors can receive a ‘Star Tree’ or display the wishes in their own unique way. Employees then choose a star and fulfill “a wish” for a very special person. PARC staff and volunteers pick up gifts, with group photos encouraged. For more information or to become a company sponsor, contact Andrea Castaneda, at (727) 341-6929 or e-mail acastaneda@parc-fl.org. 

You can now purchase PARC Holiday Cards created by artists from its Inspired Artist Studios. Six designs are available, including two for Hanukkah, offered in boxed sets of 12 for $10.00. You can add a generic Holiday message or personalized note and each artist gets half the proceeds from their sales. All other proceeds go back to PARC’s Inspired Arts Program. If you’re interested, contact Mattie Mingst, at (727) 345-9111 or e-mail inspired@parc-fl.org. 

PARC’s Aktion Club, a service club for adults with disabilities that helps develop competent, capable, caring leaders through the vehicle of service, is now accepting food donations for their 3rd Annual Food Drive to benefit one of several charities that help make a difference in the lives of others. Non-perishable items currently being requested are canned tuna, pasta, rice, peanut butter, and canned vegetables, plus personal hygiene items. Several ‘drop-off’ boxes are set up around PARC’s campus at 3190 Tyrone Boulevard North, St. Petersburg, with donations accepted through November 12th. To learn more, contact Kaitlyn Goffe, at (727) 345-9111 ext. 6304.

Karen Higgins told Paradise News, “As PARC President and CEO, I am privileged to be witness to so many fantastic achievements, such as a child taking their first steps as a result of on-site therapies, the adult who has learned a job skill and obtained employment in the community, and the residents at one of PARC’s four homes that have been given the opportunity to participate in a community activity alongside their peers. Our website – www.park-fl.org – helps you learn more about these programs and the individuals we support.”

Jewish Federation Programs

The Jewish Federation of Pinellas and Pasco Counties (JFP&PC) has supported the local community since the early 1960’s, with the annual campaign for 2018 raising $1.5 million. Maxine Kaufman, Director of Arts, Culture & Education, told Paradise News, “We energize Jewish identity for all, funding Hillels of the Florida Suncoast, Birthright Israel, the local Jewish Educators Council, the Florida Holocaust Museum, the Federation’s PJ Library and young family programming.

“We also support popular programs like the Tampa Bay Jewish Film Festival, Israel Independence Day, Heritage Day at the Rays, Young Adult Division and sponsor many community-wide events like the Tampa Bay Food Festival. We connect everyone to the beauty of Jewish culture.

“Through funding the work of Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Services, Jewish War Veterans, Menorah Manor, Jewish Burial Society and Benjamin Tower Foundation, the Federation ensures that those in the most dire need are taken care of. In 2017, the Federation was proud to secure $60,000 in emergency funding for repair work at our local Jewish cemetery in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.  

“We also maintain a community calendar and eNewsletter; and our one-on-one concierge services to those who call and email the office looking for references for everything from professionals to places to eat to where to live or go for help.

“With your support, we are able to support those in need, offer programs that unite the community, and respond to crisis anywhere. Locally, donors can subsidize one household’s Jewish Press delivery for a year ($18); fund two kids’ PJ Library monthly Jewish book subscriptions ($72); provide one week of Kosher Shabbat dinners at Philip Benjamin Towers for Jewish seniors ($180); or fund one month of emergency assistance for two families through the Koved Fund ($360).”   

Annual fundraising campaign kicks off Saturday, Nov. 4 with the Catalyst 2019 Event, “Israel Story Mixtape: The Stories Behind Israel’s Ultimate Playlist”, 6:00 to 9:00 pm in the Margarete Heye Great Room at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Tickets are $54 or $118, available online at the Federation website, www.jewishpinellas.org. Volunteers are needed for the campaign Super Sunday Phone-a-thon, Dec. 2 at the Federation offices, 13191 Starkey Road, Suite 8, Largo. For more information, to volunteer or to donate, email to info@jewishpinellas.org

Wreaths Across America at Bay Pines

The tradition of placing wreaths on the graves of fallen soldiers and veterans started in 1992 at Arlington National Cemetery. Wreaths Across America has grown to include cemeteries in all 50 states, and more than 20 cemeteries overseas. 

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, Caravel Chapter, has a mission this year to place a wreath at every veteran’s grave on December 15th at the Bay Pines National Cemetery in St. Petersburg. Last year there were over 5,000 wreaths delivered but there are over 40,000 graves. In a bustling community such as Pinellas County, much greater participation is possible and should be expected. 

Mastry’s Brewing Co., 7701 Blind Pass Rd, St Pete Beach will spotlight Wreaths across America over the Veterans weekend holiday. On Saturday and Sunday, November 10 &11 from 6-10 pm, volunteers from DAR Caravel Chapter will be on hand to answer questions and take wreath sponsorship orders. Enjoy a great craft beer while supporting this worthy cause. You can make a huge impact this year by being a sponsor – $15 per wreath — and/or volunteer. Please contact Diana Schwarz at First Home Bank for more information at dianasf11@aol.com.

Article by Steve Traiman

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