“Mayor Mike”: “The heart and soul of this community is working together.” Yes!

“The heart and soul of this community is working together.” That got our attention right away. "Mayor Mike" was quoted in an article in The Gabber the other day. It was Debbie Wolfe's account of how the MY Foundation fed hundreds of people in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. In the photo from a couple of years ago, that's former Gulfport mayor Mike Yakes and Maddy Guenther, who set up the MY Foundation to help people in the community. That picture is from a fundraiser dance at the Casino in 2015 to raise money for exactly the kind of need the MY Foundation filled after the storm. We've mentioned this before but it bears repeating. This is another example of why we love being part of this kindhearted community. Thank you, Mike and Maddy, and everybody who volunteered when people needed help. By the way, there was a fine feature story about Mayor Mike in the Tampa Bay Times a few years ago. It was written by a talented young man who is now a reporter for the Washington Post. 

This is how our community came together in a desperate time of need after Irma

The other day we were talking about how our community handles adversity. (Very well, thank you!) Here's another shining example. This is Heavy's Food Truck and it came out to Gulfport after Hurricane Irma to feed people affected by the storm. How it all came about is the subject of the article in The Gabber. We recommend that you read it.

Hurricane Irma was no match for the generosity shown in our community

We have to say, our community does adversity pretty well. Did you see Debbie Wolfe's terrific story in The Gabber about Gulfport during Hurricane Irma? In the photo above, that's council member Christine Brown holding her cat Marble. She's with her friend Shelly Vail with whom she volunteered before and after the hurricane. They're hunkered down in Christine's safe room in her house during the storm. Read Debbie's story about what happened behind the scenes: people helping people.  That's what our community is all about.

OLLI at the Opera starts in October, and the first performance is Bellini's Norma

Speaking, as we were, of things coming up that you ought to make note of, OLLI at the Opera has it's first performance on Saturday, October 7. The first performance is Norma,  Bellini's masterful opera about a Druid princess and trials and tribulations. This series is presented in HD live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Mark your calendar. The second performance is The Magic Flute a week later, and then The Exterminating Angel in November and Hansel and Gretel in December. All the performances are shown in the Miller Auditorium at Eckerd College. You can get more detail by downloading the OLLI catalog here.

OLLI is going to Cuba in January, and you should plan for it now or you could miss it

We usually wait until just before an OLLI event to tell you about it but this one will take some planning, and besides, it's limited, so we thought you'd like to know sooner. It's an expedition to Havana in late January and early February, and it's limited to 14 travelers.  You'll get to meet with acclaimed academics, musicians and art curators.  You'll visit an organic farm. You'll enjoy rum and dine in some of Havana's finest, independent paladars. And much more. You can get all the details by downloading the OLLI fall catalog, which you can find a link for here.

Congratulations to Eckerd College for making the list of best colleges in the nation

It was nice to see our very own Eckerd College make the U.S. News & World Report list of best colleges in the country. We don't want to boast too much but ... of course Eckerd made the list. We're proud of our local school and we can see why the magazine put it on the list. The article mentions the waterfront location and the ocean theme that permeates not only the curiculum but also many of the recreational activities. Here's a link to the article.  Congratulations, Eckerd!

Here's an example of how to build a strong community: participation at the local school

People are making a difference in our community every day. We were intrigued by this story in The Gabber about Gulfport Montessori Elementary School. That's Jess Hathaway in the photo. He's showing off a mural created by students in the after-school program at the school. The story talks about the school's progress on the standardized state tests, which is admirable, of course. Way down in the story, though, is this: a new initiative last year has city employees and Stetson Law students mentoring kids. What's more, the community is pitching in to help raise money for the PTA to carry out its improvement projects. Participation makes strong communities. Bravo!

Bruno Falkenstein's mission is to protect those sea turtle nests along St. Pete Beach

By now Bruno Falkenstein is a legend in Pass-a-Grille but it's always nice to see another write-up about his efforts to protect the sea turtles that nest along the beach. The latest is a feature in the Beach Beacon about him and the organization he created awhile back called the Sea Turtle Trackers. The photo above is from an earlier article from WUSF News. Bruno has been diligently trekking up and down the beach for years seeing to it that the turtles are safe and the nests are marked and not disturbed. Everybody in Pass-a-Grille knows Bruno, and if they just moved here they're going to get to know him pretty quickly. All the best to Bruno and the Sea Turtle Trackers.

Their gift of education is a huge inspiration to give something back to the community

Here's a heartwarming story in The Weekly Challenger about a lady in our community, Tamika Davis (in the picture), who is a single mom with a special needs child, and is being helped to pursue her education by a timely scholarship given in the name of a graduate of Eckerd College and the University of South Florida. Betty J. Gaston, for many years a librarian at St. Petersburg College, has established an endowed nursing scholarship in her name.  She and her sisters also established a scholarship endowment in the name of their parents, who never had the opportunity to get a college education but recognized the value of education and saw to it that their children did go to college. The Gaston family's commitment to giving back to the community is an inspiration to all.

The caller says you just won a sweepstakes worth $5 million. Don't buy it. It's a scam.

Police say a Gulfport woman paid some $80,000 to a telephone scam artist after being told she had won a huge sweepstakes competition. People fall prey to telephone scammers more often than you would imagine. Brian Hartz had a "word to the wise" warning story in The Gabber. It gives some warning signs that tip you off a call might be a scam. Worth taking a look. Better safe than sorry.