The Juvenile Welfare Board is looking for new ways to reach out to kids about the benefits of reading during the summer. So they teamed up with Tampa Bay rapper Corey Thornton to make a music video that shows kids having fun reading and working with their parents while they learn.
Thornton says it’s the perfect match. He knows reading is the key to success and music is the key to connecting with kids.
“There is just something about the beat. It brings everybody together,” Thornton offered.
Danielle Hintz with the Juvenile Welfare Board says not all children are naturally attracted to reading.
“We hope that by having a video out there, it gets them inspired and excited,” she explained.
To kick off the promotion, they handed out flash drives with the video, along with food for families at a summer break spot.
“We decided to hand out the video at the same time that food was being distributed because this is a site that people are already coming to during a challenging time with COVID-19. It’s a double opportunity to nourish both the child’s bodies and their minds,” Hintz said.
In March, she started wondering: How are we going to pay rent?
Her husband’s work as a house painter had shut down because of the coronavirus. Her disability check barely covered utilities and internet access, so the two grandkids she’s raising could finish school at her Clearwater townhome.
“We have a wonderful landlord,” said Debbie Marquez, 51. “But how long would he let us slide?”
In April, she started worrying: A notice appeared on her door. She had three days, it said, to “pay rent or deliver possession.”
Florida’s governor had prohibited evictions until May 17. But then what?
In May, she started panicking: Her husband still hadn’t gotten unemployment benefits.
They had no idea how they would ever pay $950 each month for April, May and June. They spent their stimulus check on insurance, insulin and medical bills. She swallowed her pride and went to a neighborhood food pantry.
There, in a bag of donated groceries, she found hope. Covid Cares Pinellas Fund, said a flyer. One-time assistance for rent payment.
“You have no idea what that meant to us,” Marquez told a counselor on Tuesday. “I’d never had to ask for help with rent, and I had no idea how to do it.”
Sinking into a chair in the High Point Neighborhood Family Center, Marquez pulled out a folder filled with forms. She had come to thank Cuvette Holloway, the family support specialist who helped her get federal rent assistance. “I don’t know what we would have done without you,” she said.
Then she put a pile of papers on the counselor’s desk and asked, “Can you help my daughter?”
***
Tampa Bay already struggled to provide enough affordable housing, area agencies said. Job losses caused by the pandemic have created an unprecedented, overwhelming problem. Thousands of Floridians are still waiting for unemployment checks and now owe up to four months of back rent. Many don’t know when they will go back to work.
“Evictions already have been filed and are just waiting to be acted on,” said Duggan Cooley of the Pinellas Community Foundation. “You’re going to see lots more throughout the summer.
“I’m incredibly concerned about what comes next.”
On June 17, Cooley’s nonprofit released a report called The Looming Storm: The State of Evictions in West Central Florida. The study, co-sponsored by the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg, the Allegany Franciscan Ministries and the United Way Suncoast, says that 886 households in Tampa Bay are facing eviction.
It predicts that 5,907 more families in the area could lose their homes.
“We’re hearing a lot of tenants saying they don’t have to pay their back rent,” Cooley said. “That’s not the case. The bills haven’t stopped. They’re just piling up.”
Late Tuesday, the governor extended the ban on evictions through Aug. 1. That gives renters another month to catch up — or fall further behind.
“It’s going to get worse,” said Beth Houghton, who oversees Pinellas County’s Juvenile Welfare Board. “In April alone, we had three times the number of requests for rent assistance as the year before.”
Between mid-March and the beginning of June, more than 11,700 people called 2-1-1- to ask for help paying rent in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota and DeSoto counties, according to the Looming Storm report.
Florida received $240 million in federal Covid Cares funds to help with mortgage and rent relief. That money was sent to each county, where leaders decided how to disperse it. In Pinellas, applications go through the 2-1-1 center, which quickly became overwhelmed.
Callers reported waiting more than three hours on hold. Others flooded local social service centers in person. With libraries closed, many lost access to computers, printers and scanners — so they couldn’t download forms or send documents.
“Families who are struggling need help to figure out how to navigate all these agencies, all these requirements and processes,” said April Putzulu of the Juvenile Welfare Board. “We knew we needed to help them. So it’s almost like we called in the National Guard.”
Community groups partnered to train counselors to help people fill out forms and file documents. They set up appointments at Pinellas’ eight neighborhood family centers.
They told people that if they had lost their income due to the coronavirus, they were eligible for up to $4,000 per household — a one-time payment that would go straight to their landlord, that they would never have to pay back.
Recipients must be U.S. citizens, have less than $4,000 in the bank and have earned under $4,300 a month for a family of four. Federal Covid Cares funds can also help pay mortgages, homeowners’ association fees, water and electric bills, even internet access. Each request requires at least eight different documents.
Pinellas already has given more than $1 million to help 1,053 households, said county spokesman David Connor. Another 2,900 people have applied for an estimated $3.3 million.
Hillsborough County has allocated about $15 million in federal funds for utility, rent and mortgage assistance, according to the county website. Counselors also are available at the county’s five community resource centers.
Local governments and grants can provide other assistance.
“Funds are still available,” Connor said. “We encourage people to apply.”
***
Holloway helps Marquez with assistance for mother and daughter. [JOHN PENDYGRAFT | Times]
In her mustard-colored office at the High Point Neighborhood Family Center, counselor Holloway flipped through the forms Marquez handed her and frowned.
Marquez’s daughter had applied for federal assistance on May 28, but her case was still “under review.” Desiree, 30, has three children, including a baby born in March. She had been on maternity leave from her job as a home health aide since then. Her husband, an assistant manager at a hotel on Clearwater Beach, had been furloughed since spring break and still hadn’t received an unemployment check. The family hadn’t had any income — or paid any rent — since April 1.
“They’ve been scraping by on their stimulus checks,” Marquez told the counselor. “My daughter tried to apply for rent relief on her own, but she keeps having to re-send stuff, fill out more forms. I told her she had to call you.”
Holloway smiled behind her mask and clicked on her computer. “Do you have your daughter’s case reference number? I’ll put in a request for her.”
Since federal funds became available, Holloway and others at the Clearwater family center have helped 30 families pay rent, said Director Margo Adams. “If the funds stop, I dread what will happen to them,” she said. “We can’t let all of these people become homeless.”
Holloway asked Marquez a few more questions about her daughter, then emailed a “navigator” at the 2-1-1 center, requesting a status update. “They have a lot of people asking for help,” she told Marquez. “It might just be taking a while.”
Marquez’s own application had been approved at the end of May. But on that last day of June, her landlord still hadn’t gotten the check. She had shown him an email saying money was coming, so she no longer feared being evicted. “He says we’re good,” she said. “At least for now.”
They talked about her grandkids. She had just signed up the 5-year-old for kindergarten. His older sister will be a senior in high school this year. They talked about her health, her husband, how strange and scary these last few months had been. “Maybe we’ll get another stimulus check,” Marquez said.
Marquez holds a folder with all her documents while talking with Holloway. [JOHN PENDYGRAFT | Times]
She put the papers back in her folder, picked up her purse. She was walking out the door when Holloway said: “Hang on! I just got an email back!
“Your daughter’s case is complete. They’re just waiting for approval. She should hear something by next week.”
Marquez clasped her hands and cried: “Oh, thank you! That’s such a relief.”
In the parking lot, she called her daughter. “It’s going to be okay.”
LARGO, Fla. — The City of Largo is offering financial help to residents who have fallen behind on housing and utility bills because of COVID-19.
The Resident Assistance Program opens at 9 a.m. on Friday, June 5. It’s available as a second line of assistance after countywide programs.
According to a press release, residents must first determine if they pre-qualify for the Pinellas CARES Financial Assistance or Juvenile Welfare Board Family Services Initiative (FSI) programs by vising this website.
If you do not qualify for those programs or do but need additional help, you can proceed to the Largo program.
Be prepared to provide the following documentation for eligibility: • Documented Loss of Income • Proof of Residency and Household Size • Current Income and Assets Documents • Duplication of Benefits Prevention • Housing Bills for Requested Assistance
Additional forms and documents, like signed waivers and authorization forms, will also be requested to determine eligibility. Click here to apply or call 727-586-7453.
ST. PETERSBURG — It saddens me to announce that I will not be returning as the Transformation Zone leader next year. My heart was filled with indescribable joy when the St. Petersburg community accepted me into their family with open arms. The Transformation Zone’s sacred river of success included being scholar-centered, maintaining high levels of family participation, and a community of wonderful people who love their children.
All children are geniuses, waiting for adults to strike the match of learning possibilities, through the endless landscape of education. It was this match that sparked an academic turnaround at Melrose Elementary and within the Transformation Zone Schools under my leadership. It was this match that sparked clergy, community leaders, and parents to form a triangulation of success not previously witnessed in Pinellas County Schools.
It was this match that sparked a new covenant between the Transformation Zone Team and “THE” ZONE Professional Educators to successfully educate our children. These sparks caused my heart to swell at the thought of endless relationships I have established with:
Our Scholars & Families
Men of Yesterday Today and the Future, President Jack Fletcher
Former Councilman Karl Nurse
Journeys in Journalism Advisory Committee, President Gretchen Letterman
Local Business and Corner Store Owners
Petersburg Police Department
Zion Progressive MBC, Rev. Louis Murphy Sr.
Greater Mt. Zion AME Church, Clarence Williams
The Faith Based Ministers in south St. Petersburg
Former quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jamies Winston
Parent Support for Education Council, Pastor Martin Rainey
The Naomi and Titus 2 Covenant Alliance Ministries, Inc., President Terry Hodge
First United Methodist Church of St. Petersburg, Pastor Craig W. Nelson
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, President Maria Scruggs
Concerned Organizations for Quality Education for Black Students President Ricardo Davis and Dr. Goliath Davis
Suncoast Mental Health Counselors, Supervisor Anneta Carter
Juvenile Welfare Board
Family Navigators PEMHS Director of Community & Family Services, Courtney Covington
University of South Florida St. Petersburg, Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock
Associate Dean & Professor, Dr. Brenda Walker Ph. D., J.D.,
AnnMarie Alberton Gunn, Ph. D., Associate Professor Literacy Education
Former Fla. Department of Education, Chancellor Hershel Lyons
Horace Mann, John Baron Crager Exclusive Agent Suncoast Insurance LLC
Pinellas Education Foundation
City of St. Petersburg
The Carter G. Woodson Museum
Transformation Zone Parent Ambassadors, Family Liaisons, Student Services Teams, Head Plant Operators and crew, Cafeteria workers, Crossing Guards, Office Staff personnel
A very special thanks to the families of two individuals who passed away. These individuals, Mr. Robert Southard, Family Liaison (April 13, 2020), and Mrs. Cheryl Maxwell, Special Education Associate (March 9, 2019), served our scholars, families, and community in a commendable way. They were the wind beneath my wings during my two-year tenure as principal of Melrose Elementary.
I will miss the community leaders, parents, faculty, staff, Transformation Zone principals, assistant principals, instructional coaches, and, most of all, our scholars. Their faces, stories, and love will always be hidden within my heart.
I always remind my strong scholars to not sit in the shadows, but to stand in the sun! Thank you for being the match sparking this special part of my life’s journey. In “THE” ZONE schools, we educate by the motto: Transformation = Heart + Effort.
It’s not just summer camps that have been affected by lifted statewide restrictions on youth activities. Child care centers that had been limiting their classes to nine children per teacher have now learned they can go back to full enrollment.
A Zoom meeting held Thursday by the Pinellas County Early Learning Coalition’s board of directors planned to discuss a report from last week on what was considered a critical shortage of child care. That has been negated, said Lindsay Carson, the CEO of the organization.
Though Gov. Ron DeSantis focused on summer camps and athletics when he made his announcement Friday lifting all restrictions on youth activities, the final draft of his order arrived Tuesday with the added words “and child care.”
Though DeSantis has said his orders related to the coronavirus pandemic didn’t close child cares, limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people effectively halted the business model that put as many as 25 children together in a classroom. Nearly 60 percent of the child care centers in Pinellas County have closed these past months, and the ELC feared many would never reopen.
Of the 679 private child care centers in Hillsborough County, 312 were closed during the peak of the shutdown, said Gordon Gillette, CEO of the Hillsborough Early Learning Coalition. That number is down to 56 closed centers as of this week. Even with slots reserved for children of first responders and health care workers, there is an estimated 5,000 spaces available in the centers, he said.
“I think parents and families are still keeping their kids home for the most part and the supply of child care is exceeding demand at this point,” Gillette told the Hillsborough County Emergency Policy Group on Thursday afternoon.
Now the concern in Pinellas is the work force behind the work force. The focus shifts to having enough child care workers to meet the demand as Floridians head back to work. Just as employment is starting to rise, so is the rate of unfilled jobs at child care centers.
In an ELC survey of local providers, the number of unfilled positions went from 2 percent in March to 6 percent in May. It’s not just a local trend. A survey of child care providers conducted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children found that 85 percent of child care operators are running on less than half their regular enrollment capacity, and the majority of those are operating at less than 25 percent of capacity.
“The staff who are furloughed in many cases are earning more on unemployment than as preschool teachers because of the added $600 a week from the federal stimulus,” Carson said.
Plus, closed technical schools and community colleges have shut down the pipeline of newly certified teachers. As a result, the ELC is working with CareerSource Tampa Bay and St. Pete Works to provide online instructions and certifications to get more child care workers trained and certified.
To address the workforce shortage, the ELC is working with CareerSource Pinellas and St. Pete Works to recruit, screen and train new child care workers. There are currently 32 listings on the Community Jobs board on ELC website for local childcare providers, Carson said. “As parents return to work, we’ll need to fill even more positions.
Emergency Care Scholarships worth an average of $5,000 per child ihave been given to first responders and health care workers through the emergency relief funds passed by Congress. But a host of other essential employees, from grocery clerks to delivery drivers, could also be eligible for child care help.
The ELC board voted unanimously on Thursday to seek state approval to allow the organization to prioritize the child care subsidies for low-income, essential workers that don’t qualify for the Emergency Care Scholarships.
Carson also alerted the board that Florida’s free Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten program may have an option available to families whose VPK school year was cut short. If a child had not completed at least 70 of their VPK program because of an extreme hardship, they will be able to re-enroll and take VPK over the summer.
“The pandemic qualifies them for re-enrollment and would give them a full summer VPK program,” Carson said, though she noted that might be just a small portion of this year’s VPK class, since kids who started last fall hit the 70 percent mark already. Still, it’s an option for those who might have started VPK late.
Board member Susan Rolston, who also serves on the Juvenile Welfare Board, said when she saw the news that the state would waive its previous policies and allow parents to elect to hold their children back and let them repeat this school year, “I had assumed it included VPK.”
No, Carson said. She said she has been told firmly by the state Department of Education that parents will not have the option of repeating VPK.
“I’m fully aware there’s a cost associated with that, but it is a lot cheaper to repeat a VPK year than it is to repeat a third grade year,” Carson said. “If we can take the time to invest early on at a smaller level and give children those foundational supports, that may be a better investment so they are more successful in the K-12 system.”
Rolston agreed.
Lisa McClendon-Brailsford, program facilitator, Girls Inc., Pinellas Park, helps student Kristina Williams, 9, Clearwater with her stain glass window art project while social distancing, Wednesday, April 22, 2020. Girls Inc. was previously an after school care facility for girls, but is now a full-day facility for the female children in the care of essential workers. [ SCOTT KEELER | Times ]
Many of the closed child care centers the ELC surveyed plan to reopen in June. They will still have some safety standards in place, such as temperature checks and limiting parents entering the building by having them drop off children at the door.
The ELC will also be advocating for some kind of summer bridge program to help kids whose VPK program was cut short, to get those kids ready for kindergarten. They also want to find ways to get materials to parents who have elected to keep their kids at home, and ways to give kids coping skills.
“Our kids are going through a lot,” Carson said. “They miss their teacher and their friends and when they return to that cozy place, they will find adults wearing masks.”
LARGO — The city of Largo has added another safety net for residents suffering financial hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
City commissioners voted unanimously May 19 to establish the Resident Assistance Program, which will provide Largo households with as much as $4,000 to pay for housing and utility expenses.
According to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s May 22 report, 63,981 people were unemployed in Pinellas, compared with 20,577 in March and 13,757 in April 2019.
Pinellas County and the Juvenile Welfare Board have provided assistance programs for those in need, but it’s likely many didn’t qualify or are still in need of aid.
That is where this program will kick in, said Arrow Woodard, housing grant specialist with the city of Largo.
“Our program was designed to avoid duplication of benefits by assisting households that are either deemed ineligible by that program (the Pinellas CARES Act Individual Assistance Program) or if they have utilized the maximum amount under that county program but they are still unable to return to work or they’ve still had extended financial hardship due to COVID-19,” she said. “And so we would be able to provide that additional rent and mortgage assistance up to $4,000.”
Woodward said she hopes the program, which will be funded through state housing funds, will be operational by early June. Payments will be made directly to landlords, mortgage companies and/or utility companies as needed.
Eligibility is limited to low-income households of individuals or families with at least one applicant who is 18 and older and resides within the city limits. Applicants must provide documentation of residency, identification, income, assets and need. Eligible applicants must also be able to document that they were unable to receive funding through other COVID-19 assistance programs.
A link for an application will be provided on largo.com, and applications will also be accepted by calling the city’s Housing Division at 727-586-7489, ext. 7314.
“Thank you for putting this program together,” Mayor Woody Brown told Woodard. “I think it’s going to help a lot of people in Largo.”
CLEARWATER – It has been a challenging time these past few months, especially for parents and children having to juggle work and school life in new, creative ways.
To help give parents a break and to keep children active, the city of Clearwater will be offering limited-capacity summer camps June 8 through Aug. 7.
New safety precautions will be in place to keep children and staff safe. They include assigning a staff member for a group of nine campers who will stay with the same group all day, daily wellness checks of staff and campers, and eliminating field trips or large gatherings.
With spaces being limited to maintain CDC physical distancing guidelines, the city will be holding a lottery for camp spaces beginning Wednesday (May 27). Clearwater residents, local business owners and city employees will get priority in the lottery. Lottery forms can be found at myclearwaterparks.com/camps and will be collected through Monday (May 25). The lottery will be held Wednesday and parents will be notified starting Thursday (May 28).
Countryside Recreation Center, the Long Center, Morningside Recreation Complex: * Ages 5 (completed kindergarten) to 12 * June 8-Aug. 7 * 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. * Participants must sign up for the entire nine-week camp. There are no weekly options. * $700 for those paying upfront for the whole summer or $80 per week with $160 due at registration. * A limited number of scholarships are available for those who qualify.
Ross Norton Recreation Center: * Ages 5 (completed kindergarten) to 12 * June 8-Aug. 7 * 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. * No Cost – Children must be enrolled in the Juvenile Welfare Board-sponsored out-of-school time program. * Participants must sign up for the entire nine-week camp. There are no weekly options.
CLEARWATER, Fla. (WFLA) – Between coronavirus and the mysterious illness in children that’s been linked to it, what will summer camp for hundreds of thousands of kids look like?
“Just because things are opening up does not mean the pandemic is ending. This pandemic is going to continue into next year. There’s no doubt about that,” said John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital Pediatric Infectious Disease Physician, Dr.Juan Dumois.
8 On Your Side asked him if parents should be worried about sending their kids to camp.
“There’s going to be greater potential for kids to transfer coronavirus between themselves. Most of those kids won’t get very sick, some might, but the bigger risk is when they bring those viruses home,” said Dr. Dumois.
8 On Your Side is looking into what local summer camps are planning to do to keep kids safe and how parents can help before sending their kid out the door.
The staff at the Morningside Recreation Complex in Clearwater is busy preparing for camp to start in 2 weeks. They have a lot of precautions including that every child will get their temperature checked before leaving their car.
Kids will be strongly encouraged to bring and wear their own mask during indoor activities. They’ll be separated into “home pods” which will be groups of 9 or less with the same counselor. Kids will remain with that group for the entire summer. Kids will also have their own arts and crafts supplies.
“Each kid will have a container labeled [with their name]. In that container they’ll have their own arts and crafts projects, own crayons, arts and crafts supplies, glue, that way these will not be shared,” said Clearwater’s Recreation Manager Shaun Beasley said.
Clearwater Emergency Manager Jevon Graham says they will be disinfecting constantly and they have a plan if any child does become sick.
“The very first thing is to make sure we separate them from the other students. We’ll do temperature checks again and then make sure to contact the parent to bring them home. If they are having a fever we’re going to require they don’t return for at least 3 days of being fever free and possibly a doctor’s note,” said Graham.
Graham said the most helpful thing all parents can do keep came safe is keep their child home if they become sick or were recently around someone with coronavirus.
The City of Clearwater announced Wednesday that they’re offering limited-capacity summer camps from June 8 through Aug. 7.
According to the city, new safety precautions will be in place, including daily wellness checks of both staffers and campers and eliminating field trips or large gatherings. Staff members will also be assigned to a group of nine campers. The same group will stay together all day.
“With spaces being limited to maintain CDC physical distancing guidelines, the city will be holding a lottery for camp spaces beginning May 27,” city officials explained. “Clearwater residents, local business owners and city employees will get priority in the lottery.”
You can sign up for the lottery on the City of Clearwater website. Forms will be collected May 19 through 25 and the lottery will be held May 27.
The City of Clearwater Communications Department went on to say that at the Countryside Recreation Center, the Long Center and Morningside Recreation Complex will have summer camps with the following guidelines:
Ages 5 (completed kindergarten) to 12
June 8 through Aug. 7
8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m
Participants must sign up for the entire nine-week camp. There are no weekly options.
$700 for those paying upfront for the whole summer or $80 per week with $160 due at registration.
A limited number of scholarships are available for those who qualify.
The communications department also said this about the Ross Norton Recreation Center summer camps:
CLEARWATER, Fla. (WFLA) – Between coronavirus and the mysterious illness in children that’s been linked to it, what will summer camp for hundreds of thousands of kids look like?
“Just because things are opening up does not mean the pandemic is ending. This pandemic is going to continue into next year. There’s no doubt about that,” said John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital Pediatric Infectious Disease Physician, Dr.Juan Dumois.
8 On Your Side asked him if parents should be worried about sending their kids to camp.
“There’s going to be greater potential for kids to transfer coronavirus between themselves. Most of those kids won’t get very sick, some might, but the bigger risk is when they bring those viruses home,” said Dr. Dumois.
8 On Your Side is looking into what local summer camps are planning to do to keep kids safe and how parents can help before sending their kid out the door.
The staff at the Morningside Recreation Complex in Clearwater is busy preparing for camp to start in 2 weeks. They have a lot of precautions including that every child will get their temperature checked before leaving their car.
Kids will be strongly encouraged to bring and wear their own mask during indoor activities. They’ll be separated into “home pods” which will be groups of 9 or less with the same counselor. Kids will remain with that group for the entire summer. Kids will also have their own arts and crafts supplies.
“Each kid will have a container labeled [with their name]. In that container they’ll have their own arts and crafts projects, own crayons, arts and crafts supplies, glue, that way these will not be shared,” said Clearwater’s Recreation Manager Shaun Beasley said.
Clearwater Emergency Manager Jevon Graham says they will be disinfecting constantly and they have a plan if any child does become sick.
“The very first thing is to make sure we separate them from the other students. We’ll do temperature checks again and then make sure to contact the parent to bring them home. If they are having a fever we’re going to require they don’t return for at least 3 days of being fever free and possibly a doctor’s note,” said Graham.
Graham said the most helpful thing all parents can do keep came safe is keep their child home if they become sick or were recently around someone with coronavirus.
The City of Clearwater announced Wednesday that they’re offering limited-capacity summer camps from June 8 through Aug. 7.
According to the city, new safety precautions will be in place, including daily wellness checks of both staffers and campers and eliminating field trips or large gatherings. Staff members will also be assigned to a group of nine campers. The same group will stay together all day.
“With spaces being limited to maintain CDC physical distancing guidelines, the city will be holding a lottery for camp spaces beginning May 27,” city officials explained. “Clearwater residents, local business owners and city employees will get priority in the lottery.”
You can sign up for the lottery on the City of Clearwater website. Forms will be collected May 19 through 25 and the lottery will be held May 27.
The City of Clearwater Communications Department went on to say that at the Countryside Recreation Center, the Long Center and Morningside Recreation Complex will have summer camps with the following guidelines:
Ages 5 (completed kindergarten) to 12
June 8 through Aug. 7
8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m
Participants must sign up for the entire nine-week camp. There are no weekly options.
$700 for those paying upfront for the whole summer or $80 per week with $160 due at registration.
A limited number of scholarships are available for those who qualify.
The communications department also said this about the Ross Norton Recreation Center summer camps:
Ages 5 (completed kindergarten) to 12
June 8 through Aug. 7
8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
No Cost – Children must be enrolled in the Juvenile Welfare Board sponsored out-of-school time program.
Participants must sign up for the entire 9-week camp. There are no weekly options.
Ages 5 (completed kindergarten) to 12
June 8 through Aug. 7
8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
No Cost – Children must be enrolled in the Juvenile Welfare Board sponsored out-of-school time program.
Participants must sign up for the entire 9-week camp. There are no weekly options.
CLEARWATER, Fla. (WFLA) – The City of Clearwater will be offering limited-capacity summer camps June 8 through Aug. 7.
New safety precautions will be in place to keep children and staff safe.
Those precautions include assigning a staff member for a group of nine campers that will stay with the same group all day, daily wellness checks of staff and campers and eliminating field trips or large gatherings.
With spaces being limited, the city will be holding a lottery for camp spaces beginning May 27.
Clearwater residents, local business owners and city employees will get priority in the lottery.
Lottery forms can be found at myclearwaterparks.com/camps and will be collected May 19-25.
The lottery will be held May 27and parents will be notified starting May 28.
Countryside Recreation Center, the Long Center, Morningside Recreation Complex:
Ages 5 (completed kindergarten) to 12
June 8-Aug. 7, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Participants must sign up for the entire 9-week camp. There are no weekly options.
$700 for those paying upfront for the whole summer or $80 per week with $160 due at registration.
A limited number of scholarships are available for those who qualify.
Ross Norton Recreation Center:
Ages 5 (completed kindergarten) to 12
June 8-Aug. 7, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
No Cost – Children must be enrolled in the Juvenile Welfare Board sponsored out-of-school time program.
Participants must sign up for the entire 9-week camp. There are no weekly options.
On Monday morning, at the height of the torrential storm surging through Tampa Bay, three Pinellas County School buses pulled into the parking garage of the Mahaffey Theater in downtown St. Petersburg.
Volunteers, masked and gloved due to the coronavirus pandemic, began bringing out palettes filled with boxes loaded with healthy meals and snacks for children and families in need.
Over the weekend, the lobby of the theater, closed because of stay-at-home regulations, had been turned into a food-packaging site — a staging area for Meals on Wheels for Kids, a new program launched by the nonprofit Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger.
“Our goal is to fill a gap and help struggling families and children, and we’ll continue to do that until school opens up,” says Caitlin Peacock, executive director of Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger.
About 55,000 children in Pinellas County receive low-cost or free lunches through National School Program, says Peacock. But with schools closed, that service was no longer available. While there are other emergency food distribution sites at community centers, libraries, and YMCAs, as well as food pantries, not all families can get to them.
“A family may not have a car or the head of household may be chronically ill or have too many small children at home to be able to walk to a distribution site,” says Peacock.
Tampa Bay Network To End Hunger had already identified a need for a program that would allow an alternative option for children during spring break and summer vacation. But with COVID-19, the need became even more urgent. “We thought, we have got to launch tomorrow,” says Peacock.
Working in partnership with Share Our Strength’s No Kids Hungry, Pinellas County Schools Food and Nutrition, Daystar Life Center and the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County, as well as the Foundation for A Healthy St. Petersburg, Tampa Bay Network To End Hunger launched the first-ever Meals on Wheels for Kids on March 23.
The program is now serving about 550 children or 25,000 meals per week. The meals are delivered directly to the children’s home, similar to the long-standing Meals on Wheels program for seniors. But rather than volunteers driving to each recipient’s home using his or her own car, the food is delivered by school buses between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Two Meals on Wheels volunteers accompany each school bus.
“The boxes are too large to fit into a typical car,” says Peacock. “We are giving families a week’s worth of food items — enough for five to seven family-style healthy meals, along with frozen items and produce. One of our volunteers was a bus driver and suggested we use school buses. We thought this was a fantastic idea and the school system supported that idea. “
In April, the program got another boost when Bill Edwards, a St. Petersburg entrepreneur, donated $100,000 through the Edwards Family Foundation. The former owner of the Tampa Bay Rowdies, Edwards manages the Mahaffey Theater under a long-term contract with the city.
“Bill recognized that with school closed, there might be a gap in children receiving free lunch every day. He said, ‘I want to do something to feed hungry children’,“ says Amy Miller, Executive Director of the Edwards Foundation For The Arts, the fundraising arm of the Mahaffey Theater.
In addition to his gift to expand the number of meals delivered to area children, Edwards agreed when Miller suggested using the lobby of the theater, closed during the coronavirus, as a food distributing staging site for the program.
“It became this cool trifecta with all of us — the Edwards Family Foundation, The Mahaffey Theater staff, and the Edwards Foundation For The Arts — all coming together to help make this happen,” says Miller. “We’ll continue to do this as long as we can.”
In addition to the Mahaffey Theater, Daystar Life Center and Clearview United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, as well as the Catherine A. Hickman Theater in Gulfport are serving as weekly food distribution staging sites, enabling the program to reach an even broader group of children in both St. Petersburg and Gulfport.
The program currently serves St. Petersburg zip codes 33701, 33703, 33704, 33705, 33707, 33708, 33709, 33710, 33711, 33712, 33713 and 33714, and is expected to expand to include neighboring zip codes.
“Support from our community is critical during this difficult time,” Peacock said in a press statement. “Our new partners will allow us to provide a much-needed service by distributing more meals to children that are at home and unable to access an emergency feeding site. They will also allow us to bring together community members to volunteer their time to help prepare the food that will be delivered.”
According to the Tampa Bay Network To End Hunger Meals on Wheels For Kids website, more than 75 volunteers are needed each week to assist with packing over bags of food and riding along on school buses to assist with meal delivery.
For more information, to make a donation, or to assist as a volunteer with meal packaging and distribution, go to the Network to End Hunger website.
