Author: AMI Kiwanis

Foundation For Dreams, Dream Oaks Camp

Elena Cassella, Executive Director of Dream Oaks Camp, a program of Foundation for Dreams spoke to members of the Anna Maria Island Kiwanis.

Dream Oaks Camp was a living dream of its founder, Eddie Mulock.  In 1995 he set forth to build a camp designed to meet the needs of children with physical and developmental challenges.

Partnering with Southwest Florida Boy Scouts, the Foundation built Dream Oaks Camp in 2000.  In 2001, the first summer campers, 56 in total, were welcomed to the camp.  Today services are provided to more than 700 campers per year; with a 3:1 camper to counselor ratio or better.

Elena explained the strongest asset to the Camp is its staff members.  They are truly inspiring because of the level of energy and enthusiasm they each bring by seeking new ideas to a program or by adjusting an activity to include all the children.

Each child is assessed & a unique program is designed to focus on that child’s abilities to strengthen his or her social skills & behavioral skills.  Regardless of physical, medical or emotional challenges, each session includes the participation of all the children; as each staff member is dedicated to planning & modifying strategies to accomplish that.

Parents and staff collaborate to identify two targeted goals for the child to progress towards during their stay at the camp.  The low camper to staff ratios of 3:1 or better, allows each child to receive a very high level of individualized care & support.  The main ingredient is having fun while learning new skills and developing productive behaviors.

The facility offers Summer Camp June-August, Weekend Camp August-May and Day Camp year-round.  To find out more about this amazing camp go to their website at www.foundationfordreams.org

The Builders’ Club Activities Has Students Helping Community

The Builder’s Club at the State College of Florida Collegiate Schools is a project of the Anna Maria Island Kiwanis Club.  The students are in middle school at the Anna Maria Island Elementary.  They meet once a month & do projects benefiting the community.   The leader of the Club is a mom volunteer, Esther Merrick, and there are currently 26 students  involved in the activities.  Some of the activities are pictured.  For the month of February the students made dog toys and took them to the pet shelter.

          In March the students made cards for children living at the YMCA Roberta Leventhal Sudakoff Youth Shelter.  Pictured are samples of some of the cards.  The shelter provides temporary housing and safe care for youth ages 10 – 17 who have run away, are experiencing family conflict or have been locked out of their homes.

          In April, the Builder’s Club students will be potting plants for Earth Day.  The finished products will be given to retirement homes to hopefully bring a bit of joy into the lives of some senior citizens. 

Police Chief John Cosby, Bradenton Beach Police Department

On Saturday, March 26, 2022, Police Chief John Cosby of the Bradenton Beach Police Department provided information to AMI Kiwanis members on “All Hazards” emergency preparedness.  Police Chief Cosby stated the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is activated not only for hurricanes; but for many other reasons.  Mostly recently, the EOC was activated for the Piney Point disaster & in 2021 for the COVID-19 situation that developed.

The Local Mitigation Strategy (LMS) is a multi-jurisdictional plan to reduce the identified hazards within the County.  The County Emergency Management leads 8 teams that focus on several areas to maintain a readiness for “All Hazards”.

  • Preparedness
  • Response
  • Recovery
  • Mitigation

The cost of mitigation recovery is shared among the City (12.5%), the State (12.5%) and the Federal Government (75%).  The better prepared the City & the citizens are the quicker the recovery & the mitigation can take place.  

  1. Citizens should have a plan & know where you will go & be sure to keep your family members informed of your plan.
  2. Try not to go to the shelter; as the space is extremely small – should be used by those people that have absolutely nowhere else to go.
  3. There are several of the shelters that take pets; however, the pet must be in a crate & you must be able to provide papers showing the pet has had all required inoculations.
  4. There are shelters that provide special needs.  If that is the case, find out which shelters provide this ahead of time.  The EMS will provide transportation to the facility.
  5. Prepare for 5-7 days of food & water (remember to provide for your pet).
  6. Have cash; as most banks & ATMS will not be operational.
  7. Make sure to review your insurance policy to determine the type of coverage you have.  This might mean making a call now to your insurance provider to make sure your coverage is what you want.

Police Chief Cosby stressed to be sure to watch news & keep abreast of any hazard that might be impending.  Ideally, the order to evacuate is given 72 hours in advance; however, it is usually much less because of changes over that period of that 72 hours.  

For more information, visit the website www.mymanatee.org

Feeding Empty Little Tummies

On Saturday, March 19, the President & CEO of Feeding Empty Little Tummies (F.E.L.T.), Kim Bailey made a presentation to the AMI Kiwanis Club at their meeting place in the Chambers of the City of Bradenton Beach City Hall.

F.E.L.T. developed Manatee County’s Backpack Program in 2011 and it is designed to help end child hunger.  Each week, on Friday, backpacks filled with food for a child to have to eat over the week-end are provided to children in need from K-12.  There are approximately 1,600 needy – homeless and food insecure – students in Manatee County.  F.E.L.T. provides approximately 1,275 backpacks weekly.  Unfortunately, many of the high school students are reluctant to take part in the program because of the stigma of being identified as homeless or at risk for nutrition among their peers.  

It is important that the children not be singled out and thus be identified as homeless, so the backpacks are of different colors.  The child returns the backpack on Monday & then the next Friday receives another backpack.

At the present there are 72 participating schools and 115 volunteers.  Since its inception 899,735 meals have been served.  Each child in the F.E.L.T. backpack program is pre-qualified by Project Heart, the Manatee School District’s Title X Homeless Education Program, providing education related support services for students who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.  
For more information, visit the F.E.L.T. website www.feltinc.org.  You can make a donation and/or become a Partner or Sponsor. 

Mangrove tree

Seagrass and Bivalve Restoration

A new member of the Anna Maria Island Kiwanis Club is part of a team launching an aquaculture initiative to pursue getting bivalves, clams & oysters as mitigation products, just like mangroves & seagrasses are now. 

Florida has the largest coastal environment in the continental US.  Excessive nutrients, primarily nitrogen, are the greatest threat to the coastal environment.  Nitrogen nourishes microalgae blooms, which we see in the form of green & brown water in the ocean.  One of the potential effects of excessive nutrients may be prolonged and larger algal blooms, which may include Red Tide events.  These microalgae, when in excess, shade the coastal environments, stunting our fish nursery/seagrass beds and create dead or crippled marine environments that cause marine mammal and fish mortalities.

In proper balance, microalgae are the cleaners of the ocean and they exist everywhere, in every corner, temperature and salinity.  Once they get thick in the water, they shade not only the seagrasses and corals, but they also shade themselves.  Overly shaded algal biomasses do not receive sufficient sunlight to survive.  They stagnate and die, fouling the marine environment and no longer filter & clean the water.

The simple solution is to continually remove the excess microalgae, which will allow it to re-grow faster in a virtuous cycle, and do what it does best, suck up excess nutrients, which it does better than anything else.  Just as microalgae are the best cleaners of the ocean, bivalves are the best at filtering microalgae. 

The naming of bivalves, clams and oyster, as mitigation products will allow development of sustainable aquaculture businesses and jobs, preservation & restoration of our greatest natural asset.  This action will be saving commercial and recreational fisheries for the future, knocking back algal blooms, including possibly red tide & preserving the basis of our tourism industry. 

For more information, email Barbara Baker at vaughn5139@tampabay.rr.com

Source information provided by Jeff Sedacca, Curtis Hemmel & Angela Colins 

Take Stock in Children of Manatee 2021 Graduation

Sandy Haas-Martens, Secretary of Anna Maria Island Kiwanis Club, has been involved with Take Stock in Children for many years.  She has served as the Director for the past 11 years and has now been named a Director Emeritus. 

Take Stock in Children provides annual funding to assist economically disadvantaged youths with obtaining tuition for college/technical training.  Kiwanis members provide mentoring services while students are in high school to enhance their acceptance into college. 

Sandy attended the very first formal graduation this past Sunday.  The graduating class consisted of 34 students from seven high schools in Manatee County.  The graduation was held outside at LECOM Park; and it was a beautiful sunshiny day.

Two highlights of the morning were naming of the Student of the Year and the Mentor of the year.

Miss Jazlynn Stuart of Southeast High was named the Student of the year. Jazlynn started in the program in ninth grade and is a KEY CLUB member!

The Mentor of the Year is Sue LaMastro.  Sue has been involved as a mentor since 2011.  She has devoted many hours to the betterment of local students.  Her dedication, caring attitude & hard work have been instrumental in the success of many young people in Manatee County.  Sue is the wife of Anna Maria Island Kiwanis Club member Dr. Bob LeMastro.

Power play

Author, speaker and agent for social change, Kevin Carroll offers a plethora of pithy and playful prose to ponder.

Story by Kevin Carroll

If I’ve learned one thing, it is this: Circumstances don’t have to dictate one’s destiny.

Here’s how I know. My parents chose their addiction over raising their three sons. The pinnacle moment of my parents’ neglect resulted in the three of us being “rescued” by a stranger, shuttled down to a Greyhound bus station in Bowling Green, Virginia, placed on a bus alone (ages 8, 6 and 3) and sent on a 200-plus mile, one-way fare to my grandparents’ house just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Read the full story at KiwanisMagazine.org

Heroes on the COVID-19 front lines

While a horrifying pandemic quickly raged, many Kiwanians stayed on the front lines ready for the fight. These are just a few of the brave members among us.

NOTE: Interviews for this feature took place in December 2020.

Angelo Ciardella Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Personal support worker in long-term care; nursing student at St. Clair College
Secretary-treasurer, Kiwanis Club of Windsor; district administrator for CKI Eastern Canada

For two months, I volunteered to relocate four hours away to Mississauga in order to help another home owned by the company I work for that had been heavily affected by COVID-19. I spent my birthday — and all of May and June — living in a hotel and working alongside an amazing group of dedicated people to care for those who call that facility home. 

Read the full story from KiwanisMagazine.org

Easter Sunrise Service on AMI

April 17th – Kiwanis of Anna Maria Island’s Easter Sunrise Service

The 57th Annual Easter Sunrise Service will be held at 6:30 a.m. on Easter Sunday, April 17, at the Manatee County Public Beach.  The Island trolley will be up & running at 6 a.m.  Bring blankets & chairs to sit on & dress for the weather.  Donations are appreciated either at the Easter Service or on this website.  The offertory collected will be divided equally among the participating island churches and the AMI Kiwanis for their SCF Key Club Scholarship Program. 

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Kiwanis of Anna Maria Island
464 63rd Street
Holmes Beach FL  34217

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